The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 26, Ed. 1 Friday, April 3, 1992 Page: 17 of 24
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ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
THE RICE THRESHER FRIDAY. APRIL 3. 1992 17
Drum it up
Percussionist duo stages mock ninja fight at eclectic ensemble concert
by Michael Mathis
The keynote of the Shepherd
School percussion ensemble con-
cert Sunday*evening was an
eclectic blend of musical styles
and the concert showed off the
vitality and professionalism of the
group. Under the guidance of Di-
rector Richard Brown, the players
displayed consistently high stan-
dards of musicianship In respect
to both musical technique and
communication wtththeaudlence.
Precision, nuance, and sensi-
tivity were heard In both soloistic
and ensemble playing, as well as
In a broad spectrum of playing
styles. The music ranged from
recent and vintage classical and
popular to ethnic, and several
pieces defied categorization al-
together.
Popular styles were strongly
emphasized on the program. It
began with "Anteneben" (1985)
by Bob Becker, a salsa composi-
tion notable for its avoidance of
cliches artd the use of marimbas.
"Log Cabin Blues" and
"Xylophonia" were arrangements
of classical ragtime and cakewalk
pieces by George Hamilton Green,
and featured marimba and xylo-
phone exsembles, respectively.
"Xylophonia" Included a fine solo
by Andrea Moore.
"Rock Etude No. 6" (1986) by
Bill Douglas featured five players
performing Interlocking riffs In
homogeneous tone colors—the
first section was vocalized, the
second used one marimba, and
the third used toms. However,
since the riffs were taken from
the usual context—electric gui-
tars, amplifiers, and long hair—
their origin was not recognizable.
The music sounded as If It came
from an undiscovered country.
There were two pieces by Japa-
nese composers. "Sudden Foot-
steps" (1971) by Katsutoshi
Nagasawa was a virtuostic duet
Khris Guthrie gave
a stunning perfor-
mance on piccolo
and miraculously
made her instru-
ment sound like
the traditional
Japanese wooden
flute.
which built upon traditional Japa-
nese styles. Khris Guthrie gave a
stunning performance on piccolo
and miraculously made her instru-
ment sound like the traditional
Japanese wooden flute.
"TOH!" for two percussionists
by Mlnorl MlkJ Is a strong contem-
porary classical piece that ex-
plores the Interactive potentials
of two percussionists. The play-
ers were dressed like nlnjas and
simulated a ninja dance and battle,
Winners of the U Blue poetry contest...
Toenails Exoskeleton
I noliced it was time to cut my toenails, neglect having
nurtured them to great lengths.
I wanted to clip them and send them to my love,
(I was so proud of their fruition)
but I had second thoughts.
van Gogh should have thought twice before he delivered
his ear to Rachel,
wrapped in drawing paper
If he really loved he would have given them both, but
probably he should have just left it where it
was to begin with
or maybe his toenails would have been better received.
I talked to my love on the phone last night,
she likes van Gogh but didn't want my toenails
emphatically.
Of course, I was already thinking that maybe I should
keep them after all
because I imagined some foreign eyes, many years from
now, reading our letters, one after
another, when two toenails, dried crescent moons of
keratin, drop from a sandwich of
time-browned pages.
Before judgment they recall gifts of love letters:
dried rose petals, locks of hair, newspaper
clippings, remaining wisps of perfume, they even
consider van Gogh's ear, but toenails...
Toes get to know each other, like families,
Left and right are not so far apart. Going places:
in a sock, in a shoe, swimming in a puddle, cool
grass, cooler mud,
Rejoicing before a fire in winter, tears shed over ants in
summer.
The nails are children, friends growing up together, then
suddenly one day they're gone.
And the world is a body sloughing off cells constantly,
friends you've known since your dermis days,
who you thought would always be around,
move away or die from a scraped knee or drown in a
warm bath, all blue and pruny.
Flakes torn from a calloused hand, loosed on climate
controlled winds
(Eighty percent of the dust in your house is human skin).
You know one day that this will happen to the one you
love,
the one who has always been at your side and
you get scared.
You want to send a message of what forever means: that
if anything ever happens, some cosmic
separation, that you'll search when the body releases your
layer; that you'll reunite somewhere,
but you don't know what all this is or how to
say it,
so you clip the nails from your big toes and send them
together
to your love, hoping no one reads her mail.
—iSteven Clancy
Rain ninning through a tar hole
turns the ceiling khaki there and there.
The milk makes a nipple, drops —
tap and tap and lap on the desk
then
pop and pop in the wastecan.
It's a noise for making sleep to.
Loud noise and 1 yell —
awakened, not yet aware
the mounted horns fell
from the nail
that suddenly stirred
through the sheetrock,
toothpasty under the wet wallpaper.
Adrenal inated
but crumpled under the morning
blanket, I miss the one rat
that plagued the house,
crawling in the walls, chewing his teeth
down to size on the beams.
A hairy and waim animal alive
six feet away from the bed.
Brie and a cocked spring made me alone again.
The fallen cowhorns insist something.
Proper burial?
I must eat no more meat?
A curse on me has ended?
Why ask?
The pudgy winter clquds still hang around outside,
like admirers.
1 am still in the bed.
and big bovine fingernails fall
when a puddle becomes deep.
—Aron Danhurv
A & E is proud to announce this year's
University Blue poetry contest winners:
Lovett sophomore Steven Clancy and Han-
szen senior Aron Danburg. All works sub-
mitted to the University Blue before the fall
deadline were considered. English profes-
sor Terrence Doody was the final Judge.
Each winner, by the way, gets $25.
but it Is questionable whether the
theatrics contributed to the
audience's appreciation of the
deeper values of the piece.
Also included were two pre-
mieres. Craft and strong concept
characterize "Tropopause," by
graduate student Aubrey Tucker.
Nine percussionists are used in
his creative rendition of Illinois
Jacquet's tenor saxophone solo
with the Lionel Hampton Orches-
tra In 1942. Playing from a big
band chart format, percussionists
are substituted for the usual horns
and the vocabulary of the piece
Involves an integration of serial
techniques and Jazz tonality and
Improvisation.
"Whack!" by Arthur Gottschalk,
Is a piece for electronic tape and
live percussion that creatively
integrates the highly contrasting
musical materials found in the
tape and percussion parts at the
beginning of the piece. The relent-
less rhythms and motives played
by the percussionists and the
tape's more fragmented motives
are gradually interchanged
throughout the piece, resulting in
a fascinating weave of interac-
tions.
In addition, arrangements of
the "Little Fugue" by J.S. Bach
and "Dialogue for Drums" by
Murad Kazhlayev were performed.
The latter piece featured the live
performance of Zakhar Rafailov
on the "nagara" (a type of folk
drum from the Soviet Union) in
which the ensemble formed a
backdrop to Rafailov's extended
cadenza utilizing the extremes of
rubato. The percussion ensemble
Includes John Burgardt, Catherine
Lee, Joanna Nelson, Christ!
Cambell, Erick Loftis, Steeve
Steele, Nathan Davis, Andrea
Moore, and Joel Stein.
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Avocation
Al Dane & Suzanne Prats - R&B
Pam Cummings - 7-9
Seith Davis - 9-1 2
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Classical Woodwinds
Houstonian - Big Band
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Kim, Leezie & Carson, Chad. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 26, Ed. 1 Friday, April 3, 1992, newspaper, April 3, 1992; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245811/m1/17/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.