Next Saturday, March 22, the Hillsdale College Percussion Ensemble will take the audience on a world tour of percussion.
“Percussion ensemble concerts always trend toward music from all over the globe since percussion is so prominent in the folk music of most cultures,” Teacher of Music and percussion instructor Stacey Jones said. “We will definitely be offering up a unique combination of sounds this year – Polynesian, Slavic Balkan, Mexican, and African cultures will be represented.”
The ensemble is smaller than in previous years with only nine members including Jones, who is directing the ensemble for her second year, but they will be joined by various guest performers including vocalists and various instrumentalists. Jones said the smaller size allowed her to carefully choose the pieces for each individual skill level in the group.
Senior Ian Ostaszewski said he is particularly excited for a piece that uses only the drumheads, instead of the drums.
“I’m really excited for that one because it is kind of theatrical, and we do a bit of acting,” Ostaszewski said.” I think it will be fun, and people will like it.”
Seth Hendrickson, a fifth-year senior and singular percussion major, said he appreciates the percussion ensemble because percussion is often forgotten.
“It’s a good showcase of chamber music for percussionists. It kind of gets overlooked when it comes to chamber music because of things like string quartets and a lot of these classical instruments, but there is a lot of good stuff in percussion, and nobody really gets to see that very often. Its nice to share that with traditionally-minded students,” Hendrickson said.
Jones also says the concert will include a wide variety of sounds and effects.
“Percussion ensemble requires a completely different instrumentation for every piece in the program, from melodic sounds of various keyboard instruments, to drums from around the world, to auxiliary and sound effects such as Ocean drums, Chinese opera gongs and rain sticks,” Jones said. “The change-up and extreme contrast alone between pieces is intriguing.”
There is also a significant variety in levels of skill represented in the ensemble.
“I like how the personnel and personality of the ensemble changes every year,” Jones said. “I enjoy working with the beginners, involving them in a quality program and artistic experience they can be proud of. The veterans of the group always get the extra experience of leadership. We have members of the ensemble who are primarily harp or pianists, and another who is a senior and just started taking percussion lessons this year to enrich his last year here. It has been an enjoyable journey for all of us.”
The concert will be held in McNamara Performance Hall at 8:00 p.m. on March 22.
