Justin Ward
Dr. K.M.NG
Music Appreciation
8 November, 2014
UAH Percussion Ensemble, Percussion Soloist & Steel Band Concert
On November 4, 2014 I attended the UAH Percussion Ensemble, Percussion Soloist & Steel Band Concert in Robert's Recital Hall at 7:30pm. The concert was broken down into three parts where the first part consisted of percussion ensembles, the second part consisted of solo percussion performances, and the third part consisted of steel drum band ensembles.
The first part of the concert in the percussion ensembles consisted of two selections, the first being Etude Number 125, from the All American Drummer and the second being Afta-Stuba by Mark Ford. The first performance, Etude Number 125, was created by Charley Wilcoxon in his book of 150 drum solos called "The All-American Drummer." Charley Wilcoxon is a composer who started playing music at the age of 8 and by 14 he was touring with minstrel groups and movie orchestras.
He moved to Cleveland, Ohio and played there from 1922 to 1933, even opening a music store he started in the Great Depression in the 1930s. His book, along with this piece, was written on January 1, 1945. The instrument used in Etude No. 125 is the snare drum. In the concert, Debi Loach and Ben Mefford, both performed this piece on snare drums. The beat to this solo was pretty constant with there being 3 beats in the measures. The piece to me sounded pretty much mezzo-forte with it not being too loud but lou enough for the audience to hear it. This piece to me was okay, it was something to tap my foot too but the piece had a pretty simple beat.
The second part of the concert consisted of percussion solos. In this part they played several selections including...