WCAMS - Listening List

Some of you know that I get to hang out with an incredibly cool bunch of people each summer for one week. They are the members of the West Coast Amateur Musician's Society and they have an annual camp at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC. This camp allows people to explore their musical talents, old and new. They get an opportunity to play in chamber groups orchestras, choirs, solos, duos and (my unbiased favourite) the Wind Ensemble! It is too late to participate this year, but definitely check out their web site and think about attending next year. Break your kids, bring your parents, bring your grandparents! If you are in the area and are looking for something to do this evening, head to the Atrium at Trinity Western University at 7pm and check it all out.

I promised the members of the Wind Ensemble that I would post a recording list of their repertoire for tonight's concert. They will be performing the following three pieces. Below each are recommended recordings for each:

Poem by Scott Boerma
WASBE 2007 - Repertoire Session 1 - Dublin Concert Band

Ghost Train - 1st Movement by Eric Whitacre
Luminaries - North Texas Wind Symphony
Wind Tracks - University of Florida Wind Symphony

Second Suite in F by Gustav Holst
Basic Band Repertory - Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra
Passions - North Texas Wind Symphony
Holst/Handel/Bach - Cleveland Symphonic Winds
Holst - Dallas Wind Symphony

All of these recordings can be found on Amazon.com or at Mark Custom Recordings. Some are also available as digital downloads from the iTunes Music Store.

Summer Listening

I just got a note about a radio show that might interest you. If you live in the Atlanta area, you may already know about WABE's Summer Winds program that will run for the next few weeks on Tuesday nights at 9pm. It is hosted by Dr. Scott Stewart of Emory University and will "celebrate the rich and varied repertoire of the wind band/ensemble, including music from the early Renaissance through the current day." If you are not in the Atlanta area (like myself) you are not out of luck. Log on to their web site and listen on line!

Happy summer and happy listening!

Even the kitchen sink!

What do boobams, xylophone, pedal bass drum, congas, bongos, tomtoms, cowbells, woodblock, temple blocks, suspended cymbals, marimba, waterphone, sizzle cymbal, thunder sheets, junk metal, tambourine and vibraphone have in common?

If you read the last post, you will probably guess correctly that these instruments are somehow all involved in Adam Gorb's Elements - Suite for solo percussion and symphonic wind ensemble. In fact they are all played by one person, our soloist. I'm going to save talking about who is going to play all of these instruments for a later post and focus this time on what all of these instruments are.

You may know that percussion instruments can be divided into multiple different families. They are all, by definition, instruments that are struck in some way but the resulting sounds can be very different. One family of instruments is the pitched keyboard instruments. In this piece, our trusty soloist plays xylophone, marimba and vibraphone. The xylophone and marimba are both made of wood. The xylophone being the higher, little brother of the marimba. The vibraphone is a metallic instrument that has quite a long ring to it and is manipulated with a pedal to dampen the ring and a rotating fan to create a vibrato effect. These instruments are often confused and many people use the word xylophone to indicate any number of pitched keyboard percussion instruments.

We then have a number of metallaphones, or non-pitched (or more correctly - instruments without specific pitch) instruments made of metal. These include the cowbells, cymbals, thunder sheets and junk metal. these are all struck with wooden sticks or yarn mallets and, although they do not have a specific pitch, they do have a myriad of sounds and relative pitches. The cowbells and cymbals are common instruments but the thunder sheet and junk metal are more rare. A thunder sheet is a large piece of sheet metal that is shaken to imitate the sound of thunder. Junk metal is just that: pieces of metal of varying shapes and sizes, often scavenged from an auto wrecker. Trust me, when you go to an auto wrecker and ask for pieces of metal to play and jump into the dumpster with stick bag in hand, you get some strange looks. But you also get some very cool sounds!

Then we come to the family of instruments most commonly referred to as drums. In this piece, we have a bass drum from a drum set played with a pedal, we have congas, bongos, tom toms, a tambourine and boobams. The drum set bass drum, I'm sure everyone has seen. Congas and bongos are also quite common. They are the drums used in many Latin American styles of music. The congas are 2 1/2 feet tall and are played with the hands. Their little brothers are the bongos and they are quite a bit smaller, connected in pairs and played with the fingers. The tambourine is a universal hand drum with jingles mounted around the shallow wooden shell. Tom toms are often double headed drums most commonly found on drum sets. Finally, the boobams are the most rare of all of the drums that will be used. They come in sets and are best described as high pitched bongos with very long shells or tubes.

This leaves three remaining instruments. The woodblock and temple blocks are resonant wood instruments, the temple blocks coming in sets of relatively pitched blocks. The most interesting of all of these instruments is the waterphone. This doesn't really fit into any group of instruments and is best described by looking on the creator's web site. Essentially, a series of relatively pitched metal rods are attached to the perimeter of a metal disk that are then struck and bowed creating a quite eery effect.

It's truly an amazing array of instruments that will have to be heard live to truly get the full effect. The variety of sounds coupled with the almost dance like way that the soloist moves through and around them all to play is an exciting aural and visual experience. But, you have the chance to see and hear it all on October 18th, at Evergreen Cultural Centre!

Adam is coming!

Can you believe it? Neither can I! He's really coming. It's true. Adam is coming to our city! He'll even be at our next concert.

I know, you're asking yourself that all important question. Not how did they manage to get him. No, not even is he going to perform. Yes, the question is: "Who is Adam?"

Adam Gorb is one of the most refreshing composers to come out of the UK in quite some time. His music is incredibly varied and always interesting for the players and the audience. He writes music for advanced ensembles based on challenging themes. Towards Nirvana explores the life of Siddhertha Guatama, the Buddha. Yiddish Dances is a "party piece" that is a romp through various Klezmer dances. Adrenaline City is a concert overture written for a number of US military bands that pushes everyone to the limit.

Not everything that he has written is for advanced bands. In most cases, composers of advanced literature don't do well when writing for younger musicians. They either dumb it down in every aspect and the music is simply bad or they don't understand the requirements of young musicians and can't make it easy enough for them to play. Adam is able to create quality music that is interesting for even the youngest of musicians. My faves include Parade of the Wooden Warriors, Candlelight Procession and Sunrise and Safari. Each of these are simple from a technical standpoint but have quirks that keep everyone on their toes.

Adam is coming to Vancouver in October to hear PSWE's performance of Elements his concerto for percussion and winds. We will also be performing Burlesque for clarinet choir and Midnight in Buenos Aires a fantasia on the "darkness, violence, mystery and seductive passion that is all an intrinsic part of the Tango." He will be visiting university music programs in Vancouver and Calgary while he is here and presenting at the British Columbia Music Educators Conference.

Stay tuned for more on Adam, his music and future happening in PSWE.