UVM Percussion Ensemble - Spring 2026
Kinka  – trad. Ghanian      video of "performance" + lead drum part from F25         video of Ben Paulding playing Kinka parts 
video of Ghanaian performance with dancers
Practice videos:     bell pattern       rattle pattern       kagan pattern     
        Kidi:     rhythm 1          transition   
                     rhythm 2          rhythm 2 w/transition
                     rhythm 3          rhythm 3 w/transition         rhythm 3 w/transition in + out      
                     rhythm 4 w/transition in + out

We will be joined for our concert by Ghanian master drummer Emmanuel Agbeli who will perform the traditional Ghanaian musical style Kinka with us.  Last fall, one of his colleagues, Ben Paulding of Brandeis U., taught us the basic patterns (videos from that class and him playing all the patterns are above).  Ben will be back with us on March 4 and April 1.

Kinka is an energetic recreational, secular music of the Anlo-Ewe people of western Ghana.  
Loud and Soft [open instrumentation version] – Molly Joyce       video - Sandbox Virtual Percussion Ensemble        video of quartet version of whole piece (listen to first 3:26)          link to click tracks (more useful for a virtual performance, but could be good to play along with....)
 
Loud and Soft [open instrumentation version] is an excerpted selection from a larger work for Sandbox Percussion, which explores transitions from non-pitched to pitched instruments. The excerpted selection is the beginning of the larger work, and explores an exploration of starting in timbral unity for the four primary percussion parts, and eventually forming into a more diversified sound. Therefore, this selection also involves open instrumentation in order to be open to as many percussionists as possible, and engage as many instruments and sound sources possible.

With the work I wish to ask when the timbral transition occurs among various instrumental bodies; when it switches, breaks down, and leads to new possibilities. I examine how such singular yet divergent instrumental body of percussion can transform from that of non-pitch to pitch timbres collectively and individually. Exploration between such binaries correlates to my artistic focus on divergence and contrast, specifically as one with a disabled body that embodies opposites, and the endless possibilities from such. I have often pursued this compositionally, including All or Nothing for symphony band, which interrogates expectation of silence and full ensemble, as well as Head to Toe for solo percussion, which explores the transition from hand to feet playing.

Molly Joyce is a composer and performer whose work explores disability as a creative source. Described by The Washington Post as “one of the most versatile, prolific, and intriguing composers working under the vast new-music dome,” her music has also been praised by The New York Times for its “serene power.” Joyce frequently performs on an electric vintage toy organ that physically suits her disability, as well as further adaptive music technologies. Her 2025 album State Change was praised by The Wall Street Journal and long-listed for NPR’s Best New Albums. Joyce has presented work at Carnegie Hall, Hirshhorn Museum, National Sawdust, and is currently a Dean’s Doctoral Fellow at the University of Virginia.
Millennium – Chris Brooks        video (No. Carolina Agricultural Univ. Percussion Ensemble)
 

The "pit ensemble" of contemporary marching bands involves instruments that historically have been associated with concert bands or symphony orchestras: timpani, xylophone, bells, marimba, etc.  Chris Brooks, a composer/arranger who has been actively involved in writing percussion parts for marching bands, uses these instruments, and that sound, in Millennium.  The piece begins with a snare drum figure with accents that imply a 5/4 meter divided asymetrically into grouping of eighth notes (3+3+2+2).  This figure floats over the top of constant eighth notes in the shakers and rhythms in the wood blocks and guiro that are firmly anchored in 5/4 time.  The bass marimba and timpani take up a version of the 10/8 rhythm that ushers in the sound of vibes, bells, and, eventually, marimbas.  A transitional section, in which the vibes and bells outline suspended (quasi-jazz) harmonies, leads to a middle section in which a fast-note melody gradually builds to a unison statement by the xylophone, marimbas, snare drum, and tom-toms.  A short section containing solos leads back to the original theme.

Pattern Study #2 - Stacey Bowers      melodic patterns at 80 bpm            melodic patterns at 110 bpm

Pattern Study #2 is one of several pieces American composer/percussionist Stacey Bowers has written that do not have strict instrumentation.  That is, they can be played by various sized groups with different configurations.  The piece may begin with a short improvisation in Mixolydian mode (a major scale with the seventh note lowered a half step) out of which arises a bass line.  The rest of the group then plays a series of melodies in different time signatures, making the ensemble independent from the bass line ostinato. 


"The patterns can be played by any number of musicians playing any pitched instruments.  A tape machine could be employed to playback pre-recorded patterns or for the purpose of tape-delay techniques. Move freely among the following patterns, repeating each as often as desired.  Also improvise on the basic scale above.  Although the bass line should always be heard, like the other patterns, its tempo should be doubled, tripled, reduced, etc.  Non-pitched percussion instruments can be used to sustain a pulse.  Tempo is variable." - Stacey Bowers (1976).

The University of Vermont

Textures  – George Frock      audio of UVM Percussion Ensemble (original version)


In Textures, the ensemble is divided into four groups by texture: wood, metal, shakers, and drums.  The wood group consists of claves, woodblock, and temple block; the metal group of cowbells and a frying pan; the shakers, of  maracas and a shekere; and the drums of bongos, congas, and tom-toms.  The piece begins with an eight-measure introduction that leads to a thirty-six measure repeated section.  This section is played the first time by the wood instruments.  A short solo leads to subsequent repeats in which the metal instruments, shakers, and drums join, each fetured before the next group enters.  A drum duo leads to the second large section, in which all four groups are heard in densely layered rhythms, again with short breaks featuring each group.  The piece concludes with an extended passage of repeated rhythms, before a brief unison coda.

Liz – Daiki Kato         Video of the Liz Marimba Quartet                Video of the Sextet version                 YouTube audio with scrolling score (fast!)        

Liz for Marimbas was commissioned by Liz Marimba Quartet and premiered at their debut recital on September 23, 2017. They are from the graduate school of Elisabeth University of Music in Hiroshima Japan. The title is from Elisabeth's nickname.