Dylan Kollat - Junior Recital
This junior recital is presented in partial fulfillment of the B.M. in Music Performance
I. Madrigal - My Lady White
II. Spring... Birds Sing... A Gift of Rings
III. For Pretty Alison
My Lady White is the title of a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer. The muse of inspiration is always seen as female, and Chaucer’s 14th century saw a full flowering of this idea. Male artists chose living women as the embodiment of their highest ideals and creative impulses. These relationships were entirely spiritual in nature, allowing the artist free expansion of imagination and feeling. Chaucer’s White Lady was Blanche (White), wife of John of Gaunt, a leading nobleman and diplomat of the time.
Madrigals are brief vocal pieces of the 16th and 17th centuries that allow for intense word painting and emotional expression. I have used the title ‘madrigal” for my pieces because they are brief, evocative, and feel to me like vocal pieces without words. The first piece, My Lady White, evokes the idea of the feminine muse. The second, Spring…Birds Sing…a Gift of Rings, gives the feeling of exuberant new life and committed relationship. A Gift of Rings is the title of a poem by the 20th century English poet Robert Graves. The third piece, For Pretty Alison is dedicated to my wife, my enabler and grounding point of many years. Notes by Maslanka
In the fall of 2006 a dear family friend gave me a tour of his workplace - the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). This is home to an atomic particle accelerator where atoms are violently slammed into each other at indescribable speeds and a collision detection center takes “pictures” of the results. Among the many results recorded at Fermilab are a type of subatomic particle known as “quarks” and scientists refer to them as one of six “flavors” - bottom, up, down, strange, and charm. This helps scientists at this facility, and others, to understand the nature of matter, anti-matter, space in general, and even the most fundamental components of time itself. I was moved at this visit by how their work was so reverent in one way, but playful in another. With names like “strange,” charm,” and the term, “flavors,” I was reminded of the musical giants I have come to revere who also walked this fine line between playing God and being a child.
This work is presented as a suite of the six flavors of quark, with a seventh dance entitled “collision.” Accompanying the snare drum is a recording made entirely of sounds I recorded in the Collision Detection Center at Fermilab expressly for a soundscape in this work, though a significant amount of liberties have been taken to present this as a technically and intellectually challenging experience, while at the same time visceral, playful and organic - not unlike the work of Fermilab’s scientists themselves.
Musically, this work is inspired by the contributions of important composers of snare drum repertoire including Askell Masson and Jacues Delecluse, while at the same time humbly trying to give respect to the likes of John Pratt and Charley Wilcoxon. Notes by Wahlund
Claude Debussy’s influence has been visible within generations of composers, not only from his homeland of France but in other countries as well. Debussy developed his musicianship at the Paris Conservatoire and chose while there to pursue a career as a composer. His distinctive musical language, characterized by French influence, further developed the current limits of form and harmony while remaining highly nuanced with piano and a full orchestra. I originally learned this piece on the piano as a summer project. Unexpectedly, the vibraphone transcription proved to be just as challenging to develop due to the differences in technique, sound production, and compositional texture.
I. Leaving Home
II. Cruising Speed
III. Lost in Philly
IV. Arrived, Phone Home
Travel Diary is a kind of meditation on travel, particularly for those who don’t do it that much. While not literally programmatic, each movement has some characteristics that reflect the sense of its title. The first movement, “Leaving Home,” surveys the percussion ensemble, looking around to see what we’ve packed for the trip, making sure we have what we need. In the second movement, “Cruising Speed,” we get onto the highway or into the air and are on our way. The third movement, “Lost in Philly,” was inspired by a minor disaster I once had after packing my wife and two small children in the car for a trip from Princeton to Los Angeles and promptly taking a wrong turn leaving us searching for a way to get past Philadelphia (with the younger child asking “Are we there yet?”). Finally, the last movement, “Arrived, Phone Home,” has some references to old signaling devices, horn calls, Morse code, and ends with a spirited feeling of relief to have finally arrived, only to sink into a relaxing sleep at the end.
Travel Diary was commissioned by the Meehan/Perkins Duo in 2007 and first performed by them at the Round Top Festival in March 2008. Notes by Lansky
The title track of Steely Dan’s sixth album, written in 1977, features drummer Steve Gadd and jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Donald Fagen claims that the title comes from the name of a Korean woman who married his high school friend’s brother. In addition, the album was deemed by the Library of Congress to be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important” and was added to the United States National Recording Registry in 2011. Steve Gadd’s solo on the track earned him an award for Best Performance from Modern Drummer magazine. In our performance, I play Gadd’s solos note for note but in the last sixteen bars add some of my own ideas.
Katelyn DeLadurantey, Vocals John Anthony, Lead Guitar David Depanicis, Rhythm Guitar Ed Davis, Percussion Andrea Dreier-Cline, Piano Clay Colley, Keyboard Mark Higgins, Saxophone Dave Traugh, Bass
Dylan Kollat is a junior music performance major at Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music. Originally from North Jackson, Ohio, Dylan graduated from Jackson-Milton High School in 2009. While in high school Dylan performed with the Marching Band, Wind Ensemble, and the Youngstown Symphony Youth Orchestra, serving as principal percussionist his sophomore year and principal timpanist his junior and senior years. Dylan performed as a soloist with the orchestra after winning the Senior Concerto Competition that fall. He also participated in the District V Honors Band, the Ohio Band Director’s Conference Honors Band at the University of Akron, and the Inter-County League Honors Band.
At Dana, Dylan has studied percussion with Dr. Glenn Schaft, Dr. Elizabeth Delamater, and Patrick Wagner. Dylan has performed with the Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Winds, Concert Band, Opera, Percussion Ensemble, Marching Band, Dana Brass, and Jazz Ensembles I and II. He has served as section principal in the Wind Ensemble, principal timpanist in the Orchestra, and section leader in the Marching Pride. In addition to his studies at Dana, Dylan has performed in the Capital Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps from Columbus and the Glassmen Drum and Bugle Corps from Toledo. He is currently the drum line instructor/arranger for Champion High School and will be the YSU Marching Pride’s assistant drumline instructor/arranger this fall. Dylan maintains a private teaching studio with Motter’s Music and is employed as a drummer for the Warren First Assembly of God church in Warren. He is a member of the Youngstown Percussion Collective and will serve as the organization’s president in the fall. Dylan can be heard playing marimba on their recording of the commissioned work “Forms of Things Unknown.”
Dylan would like to thank his parents, family, friends, and teachers for their love, encouragement and support.