YOU CAN’T BEAT THE SEASON IT’S THE SPRING PERCUSSION CONCERT AT UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
Percussion students at Utah State University will be featured in a spring concert Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Kent Concert Hall of the Chase Fine Arts Center on campus.
This spring concert will wrap up the year for percussion students, and provide even more diversity for audience members than ever before, said Dennis Griffin, head of the percussion program in the Music Department. Members of the Caine Percussion Group will perform, as well as the Utah State Percussion Ensemble. Special guests for the concert will be members of the Music Therapy Ensemble on Taiko drums.
“This concert ranges from ragtime to Debussy and points in between,” Griffin said. “We’re pleased to include the Taiko drums as well.”
The concert will open with the Caine Percussion Group, a student ensemble established this year. The students represent the top percussionists in the department, who receive scholarship assistance through the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation. Three members of the group took the top three places at this year’s state percussion competition.
The five-member Caine group opens with “Ku-Ka-Ilimoku” by Christopher Rouse.
“This is a very difficult selection and the students are rising to the occasion,” Griffin said. “It has very interesting meters. This is music you cannot conduct because the subdivisions are so difficult. There is a lot of communication between the players.”
No melodic percussion instruments will be played. Griffin calls it very primitive, tribal and exciting. He said it is among the strongest pieces ever performed at Utah State.
The Caine Group will also perform “Head Talk,” a piece the positions the players in a semi-circle on the floor and each has three or four drum heads that have been removed from the instruments. This is a well-written work that includes theatrical elements, Griffin said. Rounding out the Caine Group’s selections are selected xylophone rags by George Hamilton Green.
The Music Therapy Ensemble, friends and guest artists make up a group of about 20 who are featured in the concert. About half perform on Taiko drums on a Matsuri theme. Taiko means “great drum,” and the art form originates in Japan. Matsuri is a celebration piece performed at Japanese festivals. The choreography and Taiko drumming technique was taught by Annette Kearl, a music therapy instructor in the music department. The improvisation portion of the concert piece features Leraine Horstmanshoff of Salt Lake City on the didjerido, an Aboriginal instrument. George Grant, also of Salt Lake, is another guest who provides overtone singing.
“Our intention for this evening is to celebrate the coming together of diverse cultures; to remember ourselves as one rather than as separate,” Kearl said.
Following intermission, the Utah State Percussion Ensemble will take the stage for four selections. “Factions” features a large ensemble divided into percussion and keyboard choirs who perform a musical dialogue back and forth. The next selection, “Contrasts,” typifies its title, Griffin said. Musical dynamics, tempos and timbres are contrasting.
Cassidy DuHadway, a junior at Utah State, is featured on the marimba in “Concerto for Marimba and Percussion Ensemble” by Ney Rosauro. DuHadway was a third place winner at the state percussion competition. The work includes Brazilian rhythms, Griffin said, and audiences should enjoy the selection’s “playability,” which includes four mallets on the marimba at most times, he said.
The concert concludes with “Street Beats I,” by Sherrie Maricle. The term street beats refers to the beat or rhythm used in old-style street marching. The focus is on the snare, tenor and bass drums and cymbals – creating the sound of the drum corps marching down the street accompanying the marching band, Griffin said.