Monday, 4/14/97
Percussion Ensemble varies rhythms
Concert features rarely performed 20th century compositions
By Jammie Salagubang
Daily Bruin Contributor
What type of music includes something that resembles a toy
windup siren in the musical score, distinguishes tin cans as
instruments and recognizes flower pots as more than plant bearers?
Alterna-hippie? Perhaps some folksy punk? Try chamber music – the
kind the UCLA Percussion Ensemble will play tonight at Schoenberg
Hall.
"It’s a very, very different sound from what most people
consider classical music," says Jennifer Zeuschner, a first-year
transfer student studying music education and ensemble member.
The change in chamber music could be attributed to composers who
sought new directions in musical growth.
"There was a period of percussion writing where a number of
composers liked to take unusual instruments or unusual sounds of
everyday life and write music for it," says Mitchell Peters, the
director of the Percussion Ensemble.
Another reason behind this new sound could be that composing
percussion ensemble music is a relatively modern idea.
"They (composers) didn’t really start writing percussion
ensemble (music) until the 20th century," says Daniel Doerfler, a
second-year music student.
That means audiences won’t be seeing names like Mozart and
Beethoven or hearing works with titles that need a European
translator.
What they will hear is a piece by Christopher Rouse titled
"Bonham"- as in John Bonham, the Led Zeppelin drummer who inspired
the work.
They’ll also see titles like "Whack!" by Ryan Dorin, who
graduated from UCLA last spring. Dorin wrote this piece especially
for the Percussion Ensemble, which will perform it for the first
time at the concert.
There’s also a case of art imitating art. Nigel Westlake’s
percussion composition, "Omphalo Centric Lecture," was inspired by
Paul Klee’s painting with the same name.
Although banging on pottery and cans may sound more like a jam
session for 3-year-olds, the ensemble is for serious musicians.
Most of the 13-member group are music majors who gained entrance
through audition only.
"It’s not a class where people come to learn to play. It’s a
class where people who know how to play get the opportunity to
play," Peters says.
A person who plays for the ensemble must have knowledge and
mastery of a variety of instruments. For example, an ensemble
player who knows how to play the marimba (an instrument resembling
a xylophone) with four mallets must also know how to play softly on
a snare drum, tune the tympani and play a congo drum.
"You have so many different techniques that a percussionist is
responsible for that it’s a full-time job just keeping up with
these things," says Peters. "To sit down and play one instrument,
like a violin, would be a luxury."
Some ensemble members have tried the single (instrument) life
but once they tried percussion there was no going back. David Iba,
a senior music major, first tried the clarinet and various other
instruments over a period of four years, but once he played
percussion, his "musical chair" instrument days came to an end.
Besides honing technical skills, the ensemble’s main focus is on
the music. Iba says he joined the ensemble primarily for the
percussion playing.
"You get to play a lot of new works which most ensembles don’t
play," say Zeuschner.
For the last concert of the year, Peters has selected music he
hopes will appeal to his students and the audience.
"I think anyone can appreciate this music just because of the
percussive element," Zeuschner commented. "Even though the the
melody itself is percussive, there’s always a groove to it that you
have to find and that you have to feel."
MUSIC: The UCLA Percussion Ensemble plays Monday at 8 p.m. in
Schoenberg Hall. Admission is free. For more information, call
825-4761.