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University of Arizona
PERCUSSION STUDIO |
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The UA Percussion Studio Website reflects one of the most active and forward-thinking studios in the country. There's always something exciting happening in the studio. Check out some of our recent activities below. Oh, and don't forget to visit our Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and MySpace pages.
The Percussion Studio celebrates THREE students who have won teaching positions this Year. Yes, THREE!!!!
DOUG SMITH, DMA 2011, has been awarded the Assistant Professor of Percussion position at Utah Valley University.
JOSH ARMSTRONG, DMA Candidate, is now the Assistant Professor of Percussion and Assistant Director of Bands at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi.
SCOTT SHINBARA, DMA Candidate, is the new Adjunct Instructor of World Music and Percussion Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
The Percussion Studio was awarded another grant from the College of Fine Arts and the School of Music to host eight Guest Artists at the UA through video conferencing technology. Called DISTANT DRUMMING, this year's masterclass presenters included Jim Atwood, Steven Schick, John Parks IV, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Kevin Bobo, Alan Abel, Anthony Cirone, and Peter Erskine.
The first DISTANT DRUMMING SERIES took place during the Spring 2010 semester and featured artists from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil. Each presented master classes and worked with UA's students. Distant Drumming guest artists included Michael Schutz, Beverly Johnston,
and Bob Becker from Canada; Morris Lang, Keith Aleo, Douglas Walter, and Tim Adams from the USA;
and Pedro Salvador Velasco, Jose Alicia, and Fernando Rocha from South America.
Rosewood Marimba Band
As a direct result of the Distant Drumming series last Spring, the Rosewood Marimba Band has been invited to give two featured performances at the 17th Annual Puerto Rico International Percussion Festival. Held in August, this Festival is one of the most prestigious in the Americas.
Last year, Rosewood came back to life after a 10-year hiatus, and under the direction of Kyle Maxwell-Doherty, the group has never sounded better! This is a highly select group of performers who are admitted to the group after competitive auditions. This year, the group includes sophomores Christopher Ozorio and James Steele II, along with Master Candidate Stephen Tipping and DMA candidates Eric Hines and Kyle Maxwell-Doherty.
Malleus Quartet, UA's new DMA percussion group, presented its debut performance on Saturday, December 4. Led by DMA candidate Doug Smith, the group performed Cage's 1935 masterpiece, Quartert, Omphalo Centric Lecture by Nigel Westlake, and Ginastera's Second String Quartet arranged for marimbas. I
The Spring semester concert took place on April 14th, and included performances of Away Without Leave by Bob Becker, Observations by Tristan Perich, L'énamourée by Reynaldo Hahn, Fugue No. 5 in F Minor by Felix Mendelssohn, Dan Levitan's Marimba Quartet, and the new Jennifer Hidgon Percussion Concerto featuring Eric Hines.
Malleus is made up of members Josh Armstrong, Eric Hines, Kyle Maxwell-Doherty, and Doug Smith.
Percussion History and Literature, a fully-online course developed by Dr. Norman Weinberg, was offered for the first time last Fall as a course at Temple University and at the University of Central Florida. In the Spring, the course was being taught online at the Universiity of North Texas, the University of South Alabama, and the University of Arizona. For more information, click here. Or, you can click on the Percussion History and Literature menu on the left.
The course was highlighted in a article by Kurt Gartner that was recently published in Percussive Notes: Norman Weinberg, Setting the Standard for Online Percussion Course Instruction. You can read the article about the course by clicking on the link.
The UA Pride of Arizona Drumline is the focus of a new, national ad campaign for Yamaha Drums and Percussion. See it here.
The UA Pride of Arizona has received the prestigious honor of being selected by the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) as one of the top five marching bands in the country for the band's 2008 "Weather Report" field show. Read the article in the Tucson Weekly here!
Norman Weinberg's Faculy Artist Recital was the first "LIVE WEBCAST" from the University of Arizona School of Music. This took place on September 21, 2009 from Crowder Hall. Since then, The Percussion Studio continues to present live webcasts of many events: ensemble performances, student recitals, and guest artists. This year, we'll be presenting nearly every percussion-related event live on the web. Check out the "LIVE WEBCAST" menu on the left for up-to-date information.
Kyle Maxwell-Doherty, DMA Candidate, was invited to perform Integrated Elements No. 3: Divide by Five for Gyil and Soundscape at the 2011 SEAMUS festival at the University of Miami in Florida.
Kyle commissioned composer and percussionist, Rob McClure when he was finishing his MM degree in composition here at UA. Integated Elememts has been recorded by Kyle and you can order the work through Rob's website.
Kyle's own arrangement of a Stamitz' Symphony in Eb Major was recently published by Row-Loff Productions.
CrossTalk was part of a collaborative project called "SPEED" that was awarded $30,000 from the College of Arts and Sciences. The collaboration includes over 10 faculty and 50 students and combines forces of CrossTalk with the Stage Technology Program, the School of Electrical Computing and Engineering, and the School of Dance. Performances of SPEED took place at the Marroney Theature on May 8, 2010. It was a fantastic experience for all involved.
Josh Armstrong and Kyle Maxell-Doherty were invited to perform at the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy held at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. They performed their own arrangement of Fugue No. 5 in F minor by Felix Mendelssohn.
CrossTalk won first place in an international video competition sponsored Alternate Mode. For this honor, the group won a brand new TrapKAT electronic percussion controller. The group performed Licorice and Cigarettes by UA faculty member, Jay Rees. Norman Weinberg, co-director of CrossTalk, also took home an "Honorable Mention" for the video of his original composition, Beijing. Check out both of the videos here!
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