UVM Percussion Ensemble - Spring 2025
Allegro – James Rago       MIDI audio        

Allegro for Percussion is scored for a fairly traditional ensemble of drums, timpani, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, and mallet percussion.  The piece is based on the interval of a perfect fourth and its inversion, the perfect fifth, that are primarily heard in the timpani.  In that way, the timpani plays much more of a melodic role in the piece than the mallets, which tend to play only octaves and arpeggios of perfect fifths and fourths.  Mr. Rago is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music and has been timpanist of the Louisville Orchestra since 1967.
The Inner Rhythm – Nicholaus Meyers          YouTube video with score             SoundCloud audio

The Inner Rhythm brings together the sounds of Kumi-Daiko (Japanese drumming) often referred to as Taiko drumming along with Native American traditional drumming. The ensemble is based around ten various drums ranging from high pitch to low pitch. Throughout the work there are three groups of instruments that work together or in unison with everyone. With the constant eighth note running throughout the piece, the performer must internalize the rhythm to help keep the piece moving toward its conclusion. 
Tala Convergence – Barbara Benary                 MIDI audio of the 5 cycles at 60 BPM        MIDI audio of the 5 cycle vs. the 6

American composer Barbara Benary describes her collection of chamber music entitled System Pieces as “structures for an improvising chamber ensemble” with directions for how the pieces are to be played rather than with traditional musical notation.  Tala Convergence is based on South Indian rhythm cylces called tala.  Tala contain a fixed number of beats, put together in an additive manner.  For example, one of the most famous talas is Adi Tala: and 8-beat cycle grouped 4 + 2 + 2. Tala is also synonymous with clapping, and it is quite common to see members of the audience clapping the tala at a South Indian Classical (Karnatic) Music concert.  Tala Convergence is made up of five talas, from five to nine beats each.  Benary marks the grouping of each tala by indicating the performer either clap their hand on their leg (with the letter W) or hit their leg with the back of their hand, palm up (a softer sound indicated with the letter C).  Therefore, the 8-beat Adi Tala grouping of 4 + 2 + 2 beats is indicated by C - - - W - W - (each dash indicated a beat that is counted but not struck).  Additionally, each performer taps a bell on the first beat of each cylce.  Our performance will alternate between a regular presentation of the tala cylces (sometimes overlapping) and a sort of music "game" where two players perform different talas at the same time until their first beats (marked by the bells) are heard at the same time, at which point one player drops out.

Percussion Movement (from Symphony No. 1) – Alexander Tcherepnin      
YouTube video (unknown ensemble)           

Alexander Tcherepnin (St. Petersburg, 1899-Paris, 1977) was the son of a well-known Russian composer, and from an early age was exposed to the music of Paris, London, and other European cities.  Tcherepnin completed his first symphony while visiting America in 1926.  The second movement of this symphony is played entirely on percussion instruments and is, therefore, one of the very earliest percussion ensemble pieces.  The reaction of the audience to this movement at the 1927 Paris premiere was so strong that police were called to restore calm, just as they were at the 1913 Paris premiere of another work by a Russian composer: Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.  

Boboobo Songs – trad.         UVM Percussion Ensemble audio from S07 concert (recording quality not the best)

Boboobo is the most common social music and dance of the Northern Ewe people of Ghana, who live on the border of Togo in a region formerly known as German Togoland.  It is generally played and danced at social occasions by members of a Boboobo cultural group.  Boboobo is taken from an old circle dance, and became one of the first new genres to emerge during the during the time that Ghana transitioned from a British colony called the Gold Coast to becoming the first black governed country on the continent (for that reason the Ghanaian flag has one star and the country is known as "The Black Star of Africa").


High Drum (video)                             Low Drums - Part 1 (video)               Low Drums - Part 2 (video)                Low Drums - Parts 1 + 2 (video)  
Lead drum + rattle (audio)                 Lead drum + bell (audio)                   Lead drum, bell, + rattle (audio)        
Lead drum + stick drum (audio)                     Lead drum, bell, rattle. + stick drum (audio)                                  High + low drums (audio)          
Full performance + low drum (audio)             Full performance (audio) [low drums do low part, then high drums do low part]  

MIDI recording of the song                Video of the Anlo Kodzi Dunenyo Cultural Group performing Boboobo songs in Ghana
Groove Juice – Drew Morris       YouTube video (with score)        

I don’t remember where the idea for Groove Juice came from. It was one of the first pieces I wrote after deciding to write music full time. It feels like that was ages ago, when in fact it was about a year and a half ago. I wanted to introduce 4-mallet technique in an accessible fashion, but also provide moments that would make the performers feel like they were really grooving. The title came about because I just said “groove” and then the first thing that popped in my head was “juice”. Maybe I was thirsty at the time, I don’t remember. Later I discovered Groove Juice was the name of a cymbal cleaner. My piece has no relation this particular brand of cymbal cleaner, but maybe I should contact them!   - Drew Morris


Bamboom – Andrew Smith       UVM Percussion Ensemble F19 audio           MIDI audio

In the summer of 2001, I received a grant from the Dean's Development Fund to travel to Ghana, West Africa, and study African music.  The trip attracted all types of individuals – composers, dancers, singers, and percussionists, including Andrew Smith.  The first weekend that we were in Ghana we took our cockroach infested bus up to the mountains to see some unusual music based on bamboo stomping tubes rather than drums.  This was fascinating music, and one of the highlights of the trip for many of us (even if we didn't take into account the torrential thunderstorm we performed in).  Bamboom is based on that music, and is written for Boomwhackers (brightly colored musical tubes that produce a definite pitch).  Andrew Smith is Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Texas – El Paso, where he teaches percussion, conducts the Percussion Ensemble, and directs the drumline of the 250-member UTEP Marching Band.