by Peter Henderson
Very few live performances can match the experience of watching a percussion concerto or ensemble. The instruments and techniques used in a given piece can be anywhere from impressive to bizarre. I especially encountered this when attending Mason Gross Wind Ensemble’s final performance of the Spring 2018 semester, consisting of several percussion centric pieces.
The night began with Joseph Schwanter’s aptly named “Percussion Concerto,” performed by Mason Gross Percussion Performance Master Student Colin Williams. The stage was littered with dozens of percussion instruments played by four musicians accompanying Colin. He began the piece in a traditional multi-percussion setting, playing an introduction across four toms, bongos and a bass drum. It was interesting to hear instruments that usually find themselves just keeping rhythm behind the orchestra instead being the center of attention for the whole group. Throughout the 30 minute piece, the soloist played everything from hanging bells to xylophone, even dipping a miniature gong inside a bucket of water to bend the pitch. The creativity that composers exhibit in writing for percussion pieces like this is hard to match for any other instruments. The most impressive feat of it all was that Colin had it all memorized, as he hopped from instrument to instrument.
This was followed one of the weirdest pieces I have ever seen performed live, “Board Game” by Mason Gross Percussion department head Joseph Tompkins. This performance consisted of seven percussionists, Professor Tompkins included, tapping on wooden planks with golf gloves that had thimbles glued onto the fingertips. Each player had a chance to take solos, and the audience couldn’t help but laugh at how strange it looked. Tompkins is well known for his snare drum solos, but he also has a number of more experimental pieces, such as “Trio,” which has three drummers play back and forth between a snare drum and a bass drum.
Tompkins concluded his presence onstage with the piece “Riffs” for solo drum set and orchestra by Jeff Tyzik. Very few composers have attempted to make drum set the center of an orchestral piece, but Tyzik executed it well with obvious influences from latin jazz. In the back half, two latin hand drummers came on stage to accompany Tompkins.
It is rare that percussion is truly explored in a classical setting, mostly due to a majority of early orchestral music consisting of only timpani, snare drum, cymbals, and occasionally xylophone. This special concert, which featured all modern pieces, showed what a percussionist really has to offer in their arsenal. Despite the experimental nature of some of the pieces played, the music was accessible and enjoyed by everyone in attendance, and every performance ended with a standing ovation.