Studio Series. The PLU Percussion and Steel Pan Ensembles. Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at 8pm Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center

Transcription

1 Studio Series The PLU Percussion and Steel Pan Ensembles Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at 8pm Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center

2 Pacific Lutheran University School of Arts and Communication / Department of Music presents Studio Series The PLU Percussion and Steel Pan Ensembles Dr. Miho Takekawa, Director Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at 8pm Lagerquist Concert Hall, Mary Baker Russell Music Center Welcome to Lagerquist Concert Hall. Please disable the audible signal on all watches, pagers and cellular phones for the duration of the concert. Use of cameras, recording equipment and all digital devices is not permitted in the concert hall. PROGRAM PLU Steel Pan Ensemble Afro-Blue...Mongo Santamaria ( ) Arr. Matt Dudack Partita I, BWV J. S. Bach ( ) Sarabande Arr. A. Grise Sugar Bum Bum... Lord Kitchener ( ) Arr. Brad Shores Prelude Op. 28, No Frederic Chopin ( ) Arr. Chris Tanner St. Thomas... Sonny Rollins (b. 1930) Arr. Kinsall Mark Burch, Kyle Doughton, Tim Hager, Donovan Klega, Matthew Kusche, Sean Murphy, Cierra Richards, Jacob Shaffer, Darek Solomon, Eric Zabala Supporting musicians: Elliot Turner (guitar) Nathan Adams (bass) INTERMISSION

3 PLU Percussion Ensemble Ku-Ka-Ilimoku... Christopher Rouse (b. 1949) Austerity Measures... Nicholas Papador (b. 1972) Postludes for bowed vibraphone...elliot Cole (b. 1984) Inspirations Diabolique... Ricky Tagawa (b. 1947) Introduction Dance Perpetual Motion Matthew Kusche, solo Shayla Chaykin, John Doster, Emilio Gonzalez, Tim Hager, Matthew Kusche, Eric Sundberg, Leinani Tadio, Eric Zabala Faculty member: Ron Gerhardstein Living Room Music... John Cage ( ) Program Notes Sugar Bum Bum s composer Aldwyn Roberts, best known as Lord Kitchener a name given him by Growling Tiger, directed the evolution of Calypso for nearly six decades. A ten-time winner of the Road March award and an 18-time winner of the Panorama Steel Drum Orchestra Competition, Roberts was inducted into calypso's Sunshine Awards Hall of Fame in His hits, which ranged from up-tempo party tunes to politically infused songs, included Green Fig Man, Chinese Never Had a VJ Day, The Beat of the Steelband, Tribute to Spree Simon, and Pan in Harmony. A native of Anima, Trinidad, Roberts was taught to play the guitar by his father, a blacksmith by trade. He quickly mastered the instrument. When he was forced to leave school, following the death of his parents in 1936, he found employment singing for water company workers while they laid pipes. Recording his first local hit, Shops Close Too Early, in 1938, he was named Calypso King of Anima each year between 1938 and Moving to Port of Spain in 1942, Roberts joined the band Roving Brigade, performing in local movie theaters. His first major gig came when he was hired to become a regular performer at calypso club, the Victory Tent, and given a salary of one dollar a night. His future was secured after scoring with a major hit, Green Fig Man, in Opening his own calypso club in 1947, Roberts became a mentor for the younger brand of calypso musicians that he dubbed "the Young Brigade." He soon tired of the limited opportunities to earn a living as a musician in Trinidad. Leaving his homeland, he spent six months in Jamaica before moving to England, where he became a major star, often performing in three different clubs in a single night. Settling in Manchester, he opened a calypso club where he performed nightly. He introduced American audiences to his music during tours of the United States in the mid-'50s. Returning to Trinidad in 1963, after living abroad for 16 years, Roberts quickly resumed his status as a calypso performer. Beginning in 1963, he won three straight Road March competitions. He also won the award in 1967 and 1968 and began a string of seven consecutive wins between 1970 and He won the Panorama Contest for Best Instrumental in 1964, the same year that he opened the Calypso Revue Tent. Robert's political leanings were not received well by the Trinidadian government. Although a petition was circulated in 1993 demanding that he be given the Trinity Cross, Trinidad's highest civilian award, the government chose to give him a lesser award instead. Roberts turned their offer down. On February 11, 2000, Roberts succumbed to a severe infection brought on by a blood disorder and organ failure. His passing was mourned throughout the West Indies. Ku-Ka-Ilimoku In Hawaiian mythology, Ku is perhaps the most fundamental and important of gods, occupying a place similar to that of Zeus in Greek mythology or Odin in Norse legend. Ku is manifested in several forms: as Ku-Ka-Ilimoku he represents the god of war. Thus, this work for percussion ensemble is best viewed as a savage, propulsive war dance. Ku-Ka-Ilimoku, commissioned by the Syracuse Symphony Percussion Ensemble, was completed on August 5, 1978.

4 Austerity Measures explores numerous interactions of pitch, rhythm, spatiality, and temporality, and does so under a number of compositionally imposed limitations (or austerities ). The piece is restricted to small and portable instruments as well as ones that are largely conventional and easy to find. The composer also limits the work in terms of duration and technical difficulty. The music and gestures in the piece are inspired by textures and concepts by composers such as Cage, Grisey, Tenney, and Xenakis, yet the piece utilizes meters, rhythms, and tempi that make performances attainable in less rehearsal time and for a wider variety of performers. Moreover, the use of advanced orchestral accessory technique and select rhythmic devices (hockets, canons, and accelerations) provide pedagogical opportunities for intermediate and advanced student performers. Opening with a unison set of pulses in the claves, the music gradually splinters apart with grace note gestures of increasing density. The high pitch level of the claves gives these shattering gestures a complex polyrhythmic affect and an overall sense of deceleration. Rehearsal Letter A introduces the drums and explores rhythmic concepts of hocket and hemiola. Letter B features performer-chosen metal and wood instruments, first with a unison soli, and then with dynamic and accelerating swells. Rehearsal Letter C is a double duet of triangles and tambourines playing in an orchestral style, but in a more exposed and intimate chamber setting. After a set of climactic staggered rolls on the drums, Letter E culminates the piece with a three-voice hocket/hemiola pattern between the drums, woods/metals, and the claves. The piece concludes with a return to the shattering gestures on the claves, the last featuring the wind chimes and triangles to end the piece with a shimmering sense of release. Austerity Measures was the 3rd Prize winner in the Portland Percussion Groups 2015 "Nothing With Wheels" call for scores competition. About the Director: Dr. Miho Takekawa was raised in Tokyo and currently resides in Seattle. She teaches at Pacific Lutheran University, where she heads the percussion studio and directs the school s percussion and steel drum ensembles. During the school year she was an interim professor of percussion at the University of Washington School of Music. She is currently serving on a board of trustees for the after-school steel pan orchestra, Steel Magic Northwest. She is also an organizer of an annual fundraising event for the Tohoku people affected by the 2011 earthquakes/tsunamis. Miho began piano at age three and took up percussion at thirteen, ultimately graduating from Tokyo s prestigious Kunitachi School of Music. She earned both Master s and Doctoral degrees in percussion performance from the University of Washington School of Music in Seattle, where she was awarded the coveted Boeing Scholarship, among other honors. She is a sought-after performer in many styles of music, working with groups ranging from classical music (such as the Seattle Modern Orchestra) to Mexican Banda music, to steel band and African drumming. She performs with Diego Coy Musica Colombiana, Pan Duo, and many other groups, and is a founding member of the Miho & Diego Duo ( Significant awards include a Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship and grants from King County 4Culture. In addition to her own performance career, Miho directs the North Rainbow Steel Drum Group (Sapporo, Japan) and serves as an arranger for the Hirosaki University Steel Pan Group. She has worked to foster cultural exchange between Japanese and American youth groups, leading or coordinating tours by the University of Washington Husky Marching Band and the University of Washington Wind Ensemble (Seattle), Musica Grato Himi (Toyama, Japan), the Tamana Girls High School Band (Japan), the Graham-Kapowsin High School Band (Washington State), the Left Coast Brass Quintet (Seattle), and Seattle percussionist Tom Collier. Many of Miho s past activities can be found at A Brief History of the Steel Pan The steel pan or steel drum originated in the Caribbean Island of Trinidad. Historically, the African slaves were forbidden from playing any traditional instruments for fear that this would lead to an insurrection. However, from the banned skin drums and the outlawed tamboo bamboo bands, they continually searched for and found innovative ways of making music to accompany the people's songs and dances at carnival time. In the 1930 s the descendants of these African slaves started beating out rhythms and harmonies on pieces of metal to express the music sounding in their heads. Each pan is constructed by hand, starting with the bottom of a 55-gallon oil barrel. The bottom is hammered out into a concave shape, and the different notes are marked on the surface of this "bowl." (There is currently no standardized arrangement of the notes; each tuner has their own preferred setup for the different ranges of pans). The edges of these areas are then "grooved" into the surface, by hammering grooves into the surface of the pan using a hammer and a nail punch (or chisel). This isolates the different areas of the surface, allowing for the creation of distinct pitches on the drums. Common practice calls for the larger (lower-pitched) notes to be situated near the edge of the barrel, with smaller (higher) pitches towards the center What is Calypso? Although the name calypso probably was coined in Trinidad, the roots of this music lie both in African song as well as in European folk traditions such as ballads; a combined heritage that manifests itself throughout the Caribbean. Calypso is performed at seasonal celebrations in the English-speaking islands, such as Carnival in Trinidad, Crop Over in Barbados, or Junkanoo in the Bahamas. With

5 the advent of the recording industry in the early twentieth century, calypso also became a mediated popular music, and the Trinidadian version gained particular fame and influence in the Caribbean and internationally. Typical steel pan layouts: Lead (Tenor or Soprano) Pan Double Seconds: Six Bass

6 Fall Events At Pacific Lutheran University (updated October 6, 2016) ALL MUSIC EVENTS ARE IN MARY BAKER RUSSELL MUSIC CENTER, LAGERQUIST CONCERT HALL AT 8PM UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SEPTEMBER 11 Sunday, 3pm Richard D. Moe Organ Recital Series: Nathan Laube, guest organist. Tickets: $15 General Admission; $10 Senior Citizen and PLU Alumni; $5 PLU Community, Students & 18 and under 21 Wednesday, 8pm Regency Concert Series: Jazz Sound Trio 23 Friday, 8pm Artist Series: Jason Gilliam Euphonium Recital 25 Sunday, 3pm CANCELLED Artist Series: Stories and Etudes performed by Diana Walker OCTOBER 1 Saturday, 10am French Lyric Diction Masterclass with Elizabeth Brodovitch, free admission, MBRC Sunday, 3pm Artist Series: Gina Gillie, horn 2 Tuesday, 5:30pm Artist Series: Two-Piano Concert with Tracy Cowden and Richard Masters 5 Wednesday, 8pm Regency Concert Series: Regency String Quartet, MBRC Friday, 8pm Jazz Series: University Jazz Ensemble, Karen Hille Philips Center 8 Saturday, 8pm Regency Series: Regency Voices 9 Sunday, 3pm Richard D. Moe Organ Recital Series: Jonathan Ryan, guest organist. Tickets: $15 General Admission; $10 Senior Citizen and PLU Alumni; $5 PLU Community, Students & 18 and under. 11 Tuesday, 8pm Orchestra Series: University Symphony Orchestra with Jennifer Rhyne, piccolo soloist 14 Friday, 3pm Enrichment Series: Orchestra Invitational Concert, free admission 15 Saturday, 8pm Band Series: University Wind Ensemble 16 Sunday, 3pm Choir of the West 90 th Reunion Concert, free admission 18 Tuesday and 19 Wednesday, 8pm Fall Choral Concerts 30 Sunday, 5:30pm Regency Concert Series: Lyric Brass Quintet NOVEMBER 1 Tuesday, 5:30pm Studio Series: Harp Ensemble, free admission 3 Thursday, 7pm PLUtonic/HERmonic, free admission with ticket 5 Saturday, 4pm Enrichment Series: Music Education High School Symposium Concert, free admission 6 Sunday, 3pm Richard D. Moe Organ Recital Series; Kathrine Handford, guest organist. Tickets: $15 General Admission; $10 Senior Citizen and PLU Alumni; $5 PLU Community, Students & 18 and under. 7 Monday, 8pm Orchestra Series: University Symphony Orchestra with Svend Ronning, guest violin soloist 8 Tuesday, 8pm Regency Concert Series: Camas Quintet, MBRC Wednesday, 8pm Jazz Series: University Jazz Ensemble, Karen Hille Philips Center 10 Thursday, 8pm Studio Series: Keyboarding Students, free admission 12 Saturday, 3pm Artist Series: Oksana Ezhokina, pianist and Richard Treat, cellist NOVEMBER, Cont. 13 Sunday, 3pm Choral Series: Choral Union Tickets: $15 General Admission; $10 Senior Citizen and PLU Alumni; $5 PLU Community, Students & 18 and under 13 Sunday, 5:30pm Studio Series: Early Music, free admission 15 Tuesday, 8pm Studio Series: Steel Pan and Percussion Ensemble, free admission 17 Thursday, 18 Friday, 19 Saturday, 7:30pm; 20 Sunday, 3pm Opera Production: G. Youtz: Fiery Jade Cai Yan, Karen Hille Philips Center, Tickets: $15 General Admission; $10 Senior Citizen and PLU Alumni; $5 PLU Community, Students & 18 and under 19 Saturday, 3pm Studio Series: Woodwind Students Recital, free admission 19 Saturday, 4:30pm Studio Series: Brass Students Recital, free admission 20 Sunday, 8pm Studio Series: Guitar Orchestra and Ensemble, free admission 29 Tuesday, 5pm Studio Series: Saxophone Quartets and Jazz Combos, AUC Cave, free admission 30 Wednesday, 8pm Band Series: University Concert Band and Wind Ensemble DECEMBER A PLU CHRISTMAS In Sweet Rejoicing Tickets go on sale Tuesday, November 1 Saturday, December 3, at 8pm - Lagerquist Concert Hall Sunday, December 4, at 3pm - Lagerquist Concert Hall Monday, December 5, at 7:30pm - Benaroya Hall, Seattle Friday, December 9, at 8pm - Lagerquist Concert Hall Saturday, December 10, at 8pm - Lagerquist Concert Hall 1 Friday, 8pm Studio Series: Piano Ensemble Concert, free admission 3 Saturday, 1pm Studio Series: Sølvvinden Flute Ensemble, free admission 6 Tuesday, 8pm Studio Series: String Kaleidoscope, free admission 8 Thursday, 8pm Choral Series: Sounds of Christmas 11 Sunday, 3pm Studio Series: Composer s Forum, free admission 11 Sunday, 5:30pm Studio Series: Songwriters Workshop, MBRC 306, free admission JANUARY 7 Saturday, 5 and 6:30pm Northwest High School Honor Band, free admission 21 Saturday, 4pm Northwest Jazz Band Concert, Karen Hille Philip Center, free admission 22 Sunday, 3pm WSMTA 4-Piano Benefit Concert, admission to be announced 27 Saturday, 8pm Artist Series: South Sound Saxophone Ensemble 28 Sunday, 5pm Honor Orchestra for Strings Concert, free admission To Order Tickets: On Line: On Campus: PLU Concierge Desk (253/ ) At the Concert: Lobby Desk in Mary Baker Russell Music Center CONCERTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE All ticket sales are final - no refunds MUSIC EVENT TICKET PRICES: $8 GENERAL; $5 SENIOR CITIZENS (55+). MILITARY,& PLU ALUMS; FREE TO PLU COMMUNITY, STUDENTS & 18 AND UNDER UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. CONCERTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AND SOME CONCERTS MAY BE ADDED AFTER PUBLICATION.