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THE BLUE BANNER I Photo by Alex Milstein - Staff Writer The African Ensemble performs at Lipinsky Auditorium last Thursday. UNCA Percussion Ensemble plays concert in Lipinsky Max Miller nmiller@unca.edu - Staff Wrifer The drum solo holds a reputation as the ultimate signifier of excess. When one imagines percussion compositions, one pictures a sweat-soaked drummer, high on speed, pounding at toms franti cally for 10 minutes straight as the au dience quickly loses patience. Fortunately, UNC Asheville music department’s Percussion Ensemble concert did not resemble a live take of Led Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick.” Nine students, percussion experts and rook ies alike, tore through a variety of tunes on the marimba, xylophone and drum- kit, among other instruments. The ensemble’s performance in Lipinsky last Thursday served as the culmination of their hard work this se mester and gave them a chance to show off their skills before a live audience. However, the concert was nearly a fiasco when key member Davis Brock was stricken with kidney stones and had to drop off the bill. “I didn’t even know until we were setting up,” said Alex Farrar, a ju nior music technology student. “He was all white in the face, and I was like, ‘What’s wrong, are you nervous or something?’ And he was like, ‘No, I have a kidney stone.’” Brock decided he could not perform shortly before the concert began, but the ensemble managed to conceal the missing elements in most of their num bers. “In most of the songs, Davis had a re ally important part. It kind of sounded like the body was taken out because he plays mostly chords, but I thought ‘Don’t Wake the Pig’ came out pretty well,” Farrar said. “It’s hard to say when you’re playing, because I was fo cusing really hard on what I was doing, but I probably thought that one sounded the best.” “Don’t Wake the Pig” was an origi nal composition by the ensemble’s own Max Witt, a freshman music student who spends his musical education and energy on composing. The piece was inspired by Witt’s pet pig, with dynam ic shifts in tempo and mood reflecting the little porker’s demeanor when her slumber is disturbed. “My miniature pot-bellied pig, Aretha, is a glorious, black little pig,” Witt said. “She’s sassy when she’s wo ken up, so the whole piece starts out slow when she’s asleep, and then when she wakes up, it’s pretty fast and bom bastic.” Witt’s piece was not the only piece composed by an ensemble member. Music student Dustin Hooper also wrote a piece entitled “Kitchen Witch es,” which the group performed using coffee cans, pots, pans and other kitch en implements with Hooper providing buzzing melody with a straw. “I always m^e it clear at the begin ning of the semester that if anybody wants to write something, we welcome it,” said Matt Richmond, music lec turer and director of the Percussion Ensemble. “This group is really good at finding new sounds and being creative, and I really encourage the students to write for it as much as they can.” Richmond has directed the Percus sion Ensemble every year since he began teaching at UNCA. He said he finds the ensemble a great opportunity for students to learn about the diverse nature of percussion composition and performance. “Part of being a percussionist is that you have to play a lot of differ ent instruments,” Richmond said. “I wouldn’t want somebody to just play the marimba the whole time or just play the drum set the whole time. You want to give them a variety of experience.” Fortunately, the students did not skimp on variety when suggesting tunes for the concert. The group opened See DRUMS page 11
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