Program Notes:

Anthony Di Sanza is a recognized international performer and educator who has performed, presented master classes, and held residencies in North America, Europe and Asia. Anthony earned the Bachelor of Music Education degree from Youngstown State University, and holds the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in percussion performance from the University of Michigan. His principle teachers include Michael Udow, Salvatore Rabbio, Julie Spencer, Joseph Parlink, Boca Rum, Michael Spiro and Abdulhamid Alwan. Currently Associate Professor of Percussion at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he is an endorser of Sabian Cymbals, Black Swamp Percussion, Remo Drumheads and Encore Mallets, as well as an educational endorser of Pro-Mark Drumsticks.

Angels: Since 1995, I have occasionally composed chamber music I call, "music of co-existence," where each player has a separate part, and plays it without regard to the other players. There is no score, just parts. The music relies more on chance coincidences than performer choices. I compose this kind of music to avoid typical relationships among the players, getting a rich blend of musical combinations. Angels is an example of this type of music. Each movement achieves co-existence in a different way. Notes by Stuart Saunders Smith

Ragtime Music: During the last twenty years of the 19th century, a revolutionary method of playing popular music emerged in the United States - a style of creative, syncopated transformation and embellishment of a melody.  Essentially an Afro-American phenomenon, the style was crystallized by Black pianists into a genuinely classical compositional form called the “Rag,” a word probably derived from vernacular descriptions of the highly syncopated melodic lines as “ragged.” These melodies were set against a steady, march-like bass pattern played by the pianist’s left hand.

After 1915 the rag began to be transformed, and its infectious syncopation was applied to many types of popular and some classical music. Stravinsky’s “Ragtime for Eleven Instruments” and Debussy’s “Golliwog’s Cakewalk” are examples. The term “ragtime” came to refer to all music that used the characteristic four-against-three syncopation of the earlier piano rags. By 1920 a type of ragtime became popular along with a new dance called the foxtrot. Known as “novelty ragtime”, this music was highly technical, programmatic, and speedier than previous rag music, and it was a perfect vehicle for an instrument that had recently been engineered to a high standard of quality by manufacturers in the Chicago area - the xylophone.

During the 1920’s the xylophone as a solo instrument reached a peak in popularity.  Xylophone soloists appeared with piano accompaniment, in dance orchestras and concert bands, and were heard regularly on radio broadcasts and phonograph records. George Hamilton Green, Sammy Herman, and Harry Breuer, the best-known xylophonists of this era, won critical acclaim as well as tremendous public esteem. All were great artists, but perhaps the most important was George Green, who, until his retirement in 1940, reigned supreme among xylophonists. He was a great technical innovator, as well as a prolific composer, and hence played a major role in the creation of an extensive solo literature for the xylophone. This body of music came to include transcriptions of standard overtures, Hungarian rhapsodies, violin concertos and concert piano selections, as well as original compositions for the xylophone in the form of medleys, rags, and novelty dance music. Notes by Bob Becker

Shadow Chasers: In his writing, the English author C. S. Lewis referred to our time on earth as the "Shadow Lands." Many implications can be drawn from this metaphor. I have always considered myself, and most people, to be someone who chases after the things of the Shadow Lands (a "Shadow Chaser") rather than those of a higher calling. I too often look for rewards here instead of in my relationship with God. This is a battle I will constantly fight. Notes by Michael Burritt.

Musique de Table is by Belgian composer Thierry De May. It is for three percussionists, each using a small wooden table. The tables are amplified by means of contact microphones attached underneath. The piece is precisely notated with a combination of traditional and unique graphic symbols. Notes by Glenn Schaft

Daniel Levitan’s Marimba Quartet was commissioned by the Manhattan Marimba Quartet in 1987. The players must use traditional two-mallet technique as well as less familiar “ghosted,” or very soft notes as in jazz and must dampen ringing notes at specific times as in Javanese gamelan music. The first movement is in a highly syncopated seven-beat meter and concludes with a beautiful chorale section. The second movement is inspired by jazz and popular rhythms and harmonies. Notes by Glenn Schaft. 

Nicholas Sainato is a senior Jazz Studies major at Youngstown State University. He previously attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA and Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, CA. At YSU, Nicholas is a member of the Jazz Ensemble 1, Jazz Combo, Percussion Ensemble, and the Youngstown Percussion Collective Touring Group. Nicholas is also the drummer for the pop group The Strange Familiar from Akron, OH. They were featured on Season Five of NBC's America's Got Talent, and their songs have been featured on television shows such as the CW's Vampire Diaries and ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars and Switched At Birth.

Special thanks to Avedis Zildijian Company, Remo Inc., ProMark Inc., Dynasty USA, and Black Swamp Percussion for their product and artist support. Thanks also to Roger and Gloria Jones for their generous donation of a mint-condition marimba to the YSU Percussion Studio. They are long-time supporters of our Percussion Ensemble concert series.