Kevin Rabold - Junior Recital
This Junior Recital is presented in partial fulfillment of the B.M. in Music Performance
The first Mexican Dance used to be the ninth etude from a book called Etudes for Marimba. Upon hearing this etude Warren Benson, one of Stout’s composition teachers, thought it should be removed from the book and a second piece be written in the same style. These two separate works were then called Two Mexican Dances. The first dance was written in only one day and no changes were made, however, the second dance was originally started on vibes and took a much longer time to take form.
This rudimental snare solo is comprised of three sections, all of which are constant notes with hardly any breaks with the last section being more cadenza like in nature. The dynamics written into the piece are hardly varied as the only three present in the piece are piano, forte, and fortissimo, aside from other nuances. Each section could stand alone from the others, but when all three are combined it is easy to hear repeating rhythmic themes throughout the piece.
1. Improvisation
2. Perpetual
3. Ethereal
4. Mecanique
In this piece dedicated to John Beck, one of Burritt’s teachers, it is easy to hear how the titles of the four movements capture the material being performed. While all four movements are unique, they all contain recurring elements. In Improvisation there is no time signature at the start of the piece along with an absence of a key signature allowing for this portion to be improvisatory in manner. A recitative section is also present in this movement that occurs again in the last movement. All four movements are not written in a specific key, but seem to stay around the same tonal center.
From the composer:
CaDance is an intentional misspelling of the term “cadence”, meaning the drum ostinato which accompanies a marching band. Here, the two drummers have ostinatos of different lengths (50 and 49 eighth notes respectively) and are constantly changing phase with respect to each other. Each of the drummers is also playing in two different meters (4/8+5/8 and 3/8+7/8) so it is up to the listener to determine what (if any) the meter is and where (if any) the downbeat is.
Cory Doran, percussion
The first track off of Jaco Pastorius’s The Birthday Album. The band included Michael Brecker and Bob Mintzer on sax, Don Alias on congas, Peter Erskine on drums, and Othello Molineaux on steel drums.
Joe Scheller, sax
David Traugh, bass
Gianna Colella, keyboard
Kevin is a junior percussion performance major at Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music. Born and raised in Franklin Park, PA, Kevin has studied piano since age five and percussion since age nine. He is a 2006 honors graduate of North Allegheny High School where he performed in the wind, jazz, and percussion ensembles and was section leader in the Tiger Marching Band. During his sophomore year he served as principal percussionist for North Allegheny’s production of Titanic, which won the 2005 Gene Kelly Award for best all-student orchestra. He was twice selected as a PMEA all state musician and as a MENC all eastern musician. He has also performed with the River City Youth Brass Band. Upon graduating from North Allegheny, Kevin was presented with a Pennsylvania State Senate Meritorious Citation for his musical accomplishments. Kevin now serves as head percussion instructor of the North Allegheny Tiger Marching Band.
At Dana, Kevin performs as section leader in the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, principle timpanist in the Dana Symphony Orchestra, and with Jazz Ensemble II and the Percussion Ensemble. In the past he has also performed with the brass ensemble, jazz combos, and the YSU Marching Pride. He also serves as president of the Youngstown Percussion Collective. Independent of the university Kevin was a member of Matrix Indoor Percussion during the 2007 season.
Kevin has received the John Phillip Sousa Award and the Frank Farina Fine Arts, Blackwood Theater Organ Society, Tuesday Musical Club, Pittsburgh Piano Teacher’s Association, and the Dana School of Music Scholarships.
Kevin wishes to thank his many teachers past and present for sharing their knowledge and talents: Barbara Kelly, P.J. Gatch, Paul Evans, Roger Humphries, Glenn Schaft, Stephen Gage, and Rob Ferguson. He also thanks his family and friends for their love and support.