The sharp snaps of snare drums and tropical tones of the marimba filled the Alumni Recital Hall during KSC’s Percussion Ensemble’s performance on Nov. 29.
The set of six songs was played by the six members of the ensemble, with guest addition of professor Jim Walker, director of the ensemble. The members of the ensemble were first-year Nicholas Dahl, first-year Noah Horgan, senior Michael Vlachos, sophomore Chase Broadway, junior Garrett Currier, and sophomore Tori Young.
Young said although the beginning of rehearsals were “clunky,” the ensemble really solidified throughout their weeks together.
“We have a really solid section and all of us really get along which is nice… The communication inside and outside the ensemble really changes how it sounds. No matter how good a musician is, if you don’t like playing with the people you’re not going to enjoy it,” Young said. Walker said that, “This seems to be something that’s common in the world of drummers and percussionists in general. We seem to be very supportive of each other…Drummers are very supportive and they’re happy to see their fellow drummers doing well.”
The ensemble performed a piece called “#33” by American percussionist John Bergamo that Young described as a “trust exercise” for the ensemble during their rehearsal time.
Walker during his description of “#33” at the performance, said the song is “like one of those pieces that groups have developing organically… it starts to become its own creation.”
Walker added that, “it was an atmospheric piece, which translated through its sparse but intentional tones from the ensemble.” Young said she believes the most rewarding piece to perform was “Battlestations II” written by Rich Holly.
“Battlestations [II] was really, really tough and was probably the piece we worked the most on and that was the best it had sounded… When we can all look at each other like, ‘Yeah, we shredded. That was the best we played.’ That’s a good feeling. And the mallet stuff too was tight,” Young said.
Young said the composer of Battlestations II, Rich Holly, is friends with Walker and that they talked about the piece and the Percussion Ensemble’s performance of the song.
“[Walker] told us in rehearsal that [Holly] was looking forward to hearing the recording of Battlestations. No pressure!” she said. Currier, Young, and Broadway all had solos in the Tuesday night performance in the last few songs of the program.
Young said she’s had many opportunities in the past to grow and fail at solos and improvised solos.
“I [improvise my solos] every time, basing off the scale. I often like to quote other songs and quote the original motif in the piece. Last night in my solo for ‘Scarlet Woman’ [by Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter], I quoted the song ‘Low Rider,’” Young said.
Walker said Currier and Broadway took a more structured approach to their solos.
“With Garrett and with Chase… they both decided with a set length of solo, knowing going into it knowing it would only be eight measures… I left it up to the individual soloist’s preferences and followed accordingly.” Percussionist Garrett Currier was unavailable for an interview.
Abby Provencal can be contacted at
aprovencal@kscequinox.com
