Complex syncopation and irregular rhythms from marimbas and trash cans reverberated in MacNamara Rehearsal Hall. 

The Hillsdale College Percussion Ensemble played its annual spring concert April 11 featuring contemporary composers. Audience members tapped their toes while listening to dramatic rhythms and tonal sounds created by the ensemble. 

The concert, titled “Beauty and the BEAT,” emphasized melodies coming from rhythmic patterns, according to Ethan Williams, a sophomore and Hillsdale Percussion Ensemble member.

“Everything in the program has a very intense beat to it,” said Stacey Jones-Garrison, artist and  teacher of music in percussion studies. “There is a multitude of percussion sounds and combinations represented in the music.” 

One piece, “Head Talk,” incorporated random objects such as a whisk and plastic wrap as instruments. Ensemble members acted out the playfulness and chaos of thoughts going through the head.  

“‘Head Talk” brings out the rhythm part of percussion, which makes it really fun because the piece is supposed to be a theatrical kind of rhythmic mix,” Williams said. “The fun thing about percussion is you can kind of make your own instruments, and improvise.” 

While “Head Talk” depicted obscure rhythmic patterns, “Lux Aurumque,” slowed the pace of the program and brought peace to the audience through its tonal harmonies, sophomore Paul Heil said. 

Acclaimed composer Eric Whitacre, known for his landmark chorale pieces, composed “Lux Aurumque” for a choir. The ensemble played its arrangement of the piece with marimbas, creating dissonant sounds similar to a choir, according to Jones-Garrison. 

“In all the years I’ve been here, we’ve never played a marimba chorale,” Jones-Garrison said. “It’s a new sound, using marimbas instead of voice, which is exciting because it’s one of the most beautiful sounds. It’s haunting and organ-like.”

Percussion ensembles began in the 1930s, and grew in popularity by the ’90s, according to Jones-Garrison. As the ensembles evolved, so did the instruments. 

“The marimba went through a lot of changes,” Guest Percussionist Mark Douglass said. “They had a low E first so they could use the guitar music because there was no literature. Then, they had a low E marimba, a low F marimba, and then finally, a low C. Now, we have a grand marimba with five octaves.” 

The first piece of the concert featured four marimbas, snare drums, a vibraphone, bells, bongos, a grand piano and kratales, which reflects the evolution of percussion ensembles, Williams said. 

“The ensemble only has six full members, and three of them are first-time percussionists who play piano,” Jones-Garrison said. “I showed them how they could drum on the piano with different percussive instruments because they are laid out in the same format as a piano. It’s a matter of getting them to move their wrists correctly and slightly changing their technique.” 

The pianists reflected their musical skills through melodic pieces on rhythmic instruments, and transitioned to trickier syncopation patterns in other works Jones-Garrison announced to the audience. 

Jones-Garrison said that last year’s theme was world percussion, so they emphasized Caribbean music with the steel drums. 

“Every single culture has their own percussion in their folk music,” she said. “As this element was being drawn in, everybody became inspired by the ethnic sounds.” 

Along with instruments adopted from various cultures, the ensemble surprised the audience with objects with no musical heritage until the contemporary movement: trash cans, buckets, brooms and cleaning supplies. “Sweep Dreams” used these household objects, creating an unexpected and groovy ending to the program. 

Another piece, “White Pines,” featured a long marimba solo at the beginning played by Jones-Garrison. The composer, Michael Burritt, will give a concert at Hillsdale in the fall. The piece highlights the versatility of percussion instruments. 

“‘White Pines’ incorporates all different kinds of sounds and noises into a percussion ensemble, because it allows for a certain flexibility that a lot of other instruments don’t have,” Williams said. “You can’t whistle while playing the violin, that doesn’t happen.” 

Overall, “Beauty and the BEAT” captured the harmonious capabilities of the traditionally rhythmic instruments featured in the program. 

“Because we’re performing these songs on melodic percussion instruments a lot of times, the chords make it sound just beautiful,” Jones-Garrison said. “I hope the audience found the concert fun, joyful and energetic.”