Notable performances include the 2018 Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, Percussive Arts Society Ohio Chapter Days of Percussion at Capital University, Ohio Northern University, Youngstown State University, and Ohio Music Education Association Conferences in Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. A central part of our mission involves collaborations with composers in the commissioning, premiering, and critically acclaimed recording of their works. Our 2005 release "Dark Wood" includes six premiere recordings and commissions. Our commission project with New York City-based percussionist/composer John Hollenbeck on his "Ziggurat" for five percussionists and four saxophonists, was premiered at the Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City, and is available on his 2008 release "Rainbow Jimmies." The Youngstown Percussion Collective's 2012 release "Forms Of Things Unknown" is a concert-length suite by YSU professor of jazz studies, bass, and composition, Dr. Dave Morgan. Our 2012 recording of Ron Coulter's "Cajon Trio" will appear on an upcoming 2019 Coulter CD release.
The four inventions on the first half of this program are part of Levitan's collection of Eight Two-Part Inventions scores for two percussionists, each playing a battery of four unspecified instruments. One of the instruments in each battery has a relatively long sustain while the others are arranged in relative order of pitch. Notes by the composer
La Llorona (The Weeping Woman) Gavota and Comitan are beautiful tunes from the rich folkloric marimba tradition of southern Mexico.
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Premiere performances were presented by Battery Four percussion, January 2003 at Delaware Symphony Chamber Music. "Quick Blood" is mostly for mallet instruments (marimbas, vibraphones, xylophone) often in the "four hands" method of having two people simultaneously share an instrument. Melodies are passed note-by-note back and forth from one marimba to the other. The music is "tonal," meaning that it uses the sorts of diatonic harmonies that are common to much older classical music. It is rhythmically very vigorous, with a feeling of perpetual motion. There is also a very dramatic use of the large orchestral bass drum. The title "Quick Blood" comes from Silverman's orchestra piece Her Quick Blood Runs Dancing, of which this percussion quartet is a slightly expanded and embellished re-orchestration of the middle movement. The original, longer title is itself taken from a poem written in 1640 by Thomas Carew, a contemporary of Shakespeare. It's a love-poem sung by chorus in the orchestral work, that Silverman chose to continue a series of works that address historical conflicts between religion and science. Notes by Ted Wilks
This piece was conceived after reading the following quote: Schopenhauer believed that art, in particular music, had - has - the power to cause the will, the irrational, striving will, to somehow turn back onto and into itself and cease to strive. He considered this a religious experience, although temporary. Somehow art, somehow music especially, has the power to transform man from an irrational thing into some rational entity that is not driven by biological impulses, impulses that cannot by definition ever be satisfied. - Philip K. Dick, "The Transmigration of Timothy Archer" Transmigration is meant to exemplify the reflective nature of music, and its ability to (at least temporarily) transform us into rational beings. Notes by the composer.
Amadinda is an African xylophone, found in Uganda and surrounding areas, consisting of wooden logs and gourd resonators that sit on the ground. Distinct musical parts are played by two players who sits across the instrument from each other and play fast interlocking parts where one players notes occur exactly between the other player's notes. Ron Coulter is a Hermitage, PA native and alum of the Dana School of Music, 2002 Bachelor of Music and 2004 Master of Music. He presently serves as assistant professor of percussion at Casper College in Casper, Wyoming and previously served for ten years at Southern Illinois University. Ron holds artist endorsements with Black Swamp Percussion, ProMark Inc., and Pearl/Adams Inc. Ron is an active performer/composer/lecturer who has returned to Youngstown State University as a recitalist, clinician, and to coach the Youngstown Percussion Collective in their recording of his 2008 cajon trio, Jam Box. Notes by Glenn Schaft.
Overkill was premiered in 2015 by the Lee University Percussion Ensemble, in Cleveland, Tennessee. The piece is based upon a single "cell," heard as the opening statement, which is manipulated and varied throughout the piece. Classic rock fans will recognize the main rhythmic theme, which is played over and over, hence the title of the work. Notes by the composer.
Thanks to Avedis Zildjian Cymbal Co., Remo Inc., Innovative Percussion Inc., and Black Swamp Percussion for their product and artist support.
