(alternative title: Better Know a Contemporary Percussion Artist)
Over the next few weeks, I am going to be releasing videos of my recital onto Youtube, one video at a time, once a week, until I am out of videos. My reasoning is that anytime someone I like posts six or seven new videos, I watch two or three before my ADD kicks in and I am drawn to some gem in the “related videos” window, and soon my whole afternoon has disappeared. This approach hopefully avoids some of that, by only asking the viewers to give me 10 mins. of time per week to check out my videos. I’m not sure if it will work, or how I would even know if it does work, but I think it’s worth a try.
Now, time to catch up those of you in the Guidoverse (Dave – I’m copywriting the word “Guidoverse.” Bam. That just happened.). I actually started this project last week, and intended to post something about it here, but for various reasons, not the least of which being the setting in of summer laziness, I am only now getting to it. I also really wanted to get to it yesterday so I could squeeze “youtubesday” into this post, but an unforeseen personal event (read: impromtu round of frisbee golf) prevented me from doing so. Regardless, I posted my second video today, so there are now two videos for you to check out. With no further ado, Recital video #1!:
Flame Head for percussion and electronics by Joseph Waters
Most of the rhythmic material in Flame Head is derived from Haitian ritual drumming. Like many Afro-Caribbean styles, Haitian drumming often uses ambiguous patterns which can be heard simultaneously in either 6/8 or 3/4 time signatures. The version in this video is for fixed audio on an mp3 track, but another version exists which uses a second performer who triggers samples in real time. I am hoping to perform this version sometime in the near future.
Recital Video #2:
Improvisado for solo marimba by José Luis Maúrtua
This is a piece I comissioned from Dr. Maúrtua with funding from the College of Music and the Graduate School at Michigan State University. This composition is based on Afro-Caribbean and South American dance rhythms. Overall, it is in a large scale ABA form, with the outer movements sharing a similar character and tempo. This form is reflected at a smaller level in the individual movements, which feature an exposition/digression/recapitulation form.
That’s all for now. Stay tuned for new blog posts.
(updated 5/3/09: fixed link to second video)
