Coming together

DRUMatiX presented the first of two nights of performance for its 15-year retrospective. William Jackson introduced it at one stage by noting that percussion is the oldest of musical forms and that’s “inexhaustibly diverse”. I’ve been thinking about both those claims. It’s easy to think that it’s the oldest musical form. Certainly, it’s basic, requires no complex and constructed instruments although it wields a few these days. There’s something essential and would-be prehistoric about slapping or slamming or hitting one thing against another, and there’s lots of timber amongst the instruments and that’s a product that’s been around forever. The other claim is inexhaustibly diverse. That’s more difficult, but this concert showed a vast array of styles and dynamics and tuned and untuned instruments, so maybe it’s true. Here’s the program.

Gary’s France’s Celebration was an exciting and joyous rock drum rhythm, enhanced by three snares/toms and interspersed with a melody on glockenspiel, vibes and other tuned percussion and played by an array of performers across the stage.
Next was Kalabash, the first Nigel Westalake tune, this one played on two wonderfully thuddy and luminous marimba by four players. This was all child-like tonality, bouncy and intriguing as the melody flowed over barlines in what I guessed was some sort of polyrhythm overlaying 4 and 3. It had to reference Africa, but I found that more with the later Westlake piece. Then a blindfolded duet in 3/4 with a rhythmic melody on woodblocks and accompaniment with damped toms, called Blindfold music. Bree van Reyk said she’d arranged this after noting that orchestral audiences were as interested in the choreography of percussion as by the sounds. Then some John Cage music for prepared toy piano, arranged for 4 percussionists. Then a long work of many movements, Transmutations by Anthony Pateras, performed by six percussionists on drums and cymbals and any number of other percussionable instruments laid out on a long bench in front of them, and led by a conductor. Perhaps it was here I noted the dramatic lighting and I had my own choreography moment. After interval, the first movement of Steve Reich’s Drumming, played by four performers with eight mallets on eight bongo drums. I recently gave up on a CD of this after a few minutes, but music works so much better when played live. Then Musique de Tables, by Thierry de Mey, with three women sweeping tables and tapping and clapping to three, dramatically lit charts. What a demonstration of dynamics, as I strained to hear the swishes of hands lightly drawn across folding tables. What a stunner! Then my favourite Nigel Westlake, Omphalo Centric Lecture, again with four players on two marimba, but this time accompanied by two drummers and with some African vocals and thumb piano. There were two further items on the program which maybe they didn’t; perform, or otherwise I merged in my mind with the Westlake composition. Certainly there was no change of instruments or performers.

Then the magnum opus, Coming Together by Frederic Rzewski. Eric Ajaye came on stage in work-house chains to recount the words of Sam Melville, 6 months in Attica and killed in the subsequent riot. This was tense, political, emotional, with repeated lines.
The text was from a letter to his brother. You can read the text on the Net, but some lines stood out “i am in excellent physical and emotional health. there are doubtless subtle surprises ahead but i feel secure and ready” and and “i can act with clarity and meaning. i am deliberate - sometimes even calculating - seldom employ histrionics” and “i read much, exercise, talk to guards and inmates, feeling for the inevitable direction of my life”. Wikipedia suggests Melville was not so innocent but neither was Attica. This was a charged environment that we can only imagine in these TINA days. The music was powerful, incessant. I looked for the steady bass and found it as an unceasing electronic keyboard line, subtly varying and played with mallets. Miro provided an imploring, muted trumpet melody while colour and fills and chords came from a bevy of 12 percussionists. This was stunning and overwhelming and purposeful music.

The final words of the night were thanks given to Gary France, associate professor, obvious friend and open-hearted supporter of the group and “a facilitator of dreams”. This truly seemed a wonderfully effective and creative department. There was obvious love of the form and support and respect for all within it and readiness to take part in whatever projects arose. Great music of considerable diversity, but also an honest presentation of active musical inquisitiveness. What a privilege to attend this retrospective. Let’s hope this retrospective doesn’t mark the end DRUMatiX performers were percussionists Gary France, Bree van Reyk, William Jackson, Steve Fitzgerald, Charles Martin, Christina Hopgood, Yvonne Lam, Anna Ng, Veronica Bailey, Jonathan Griffiths, Bart Haddock, Jacinta Dunlop, Adam Cooper-Stanbury, Wesley Faulkiner, Niki Johnson, Jared Synnott and Thomas Chalker with Eric Ajaye (vocals) and Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet). Also Josh Chaffey (sound) and Owen Horton (lighting).

Last schooldays

Given work, I don’t attend many recitals, but I got to Rohan Dasika’s classical, licenciate recital. He played Bach, Bottesini and an intriguing-sounding modern piece called Failing. The Bach was his Cello suite no.3 played in Gmaj (rather than the original Cmaj). The bass is large and unwieldy, its range is limited and the fingering limits how and what can be played, so it’s a different exercise and an obvious challenge. I didn’t envy Rohan chasing up and down the fingerboard, but it was a valid technical exercise and I enjoyed it although I found it harder to follow than it would have been on cello. The Bottesini was his Concerto no.2 for double bass in Amin and it was much more fitting to the instrument. Bottesini was a bass virtuoso and his works for the bass are key to the repertoire and apparently this is his key standard work for the bass. I seen several Bottesini clips on YouTube but never heard a live performance. This was much more apt for the instrument. Lyrical, effective use of the full range of the instrument, lots of harmonics and playing to the extremes of the fingerboard, rich tones down low and rising arpeggios and a nice interplay with the accompanying piano. The last piece was anything but out of place for Rohan’s recital. Tom Johnson’s Failing: a very difficult piece for solo string bass has the performer speaking while playing and talking about this very activity: easy at first, then getting harder; will he fail, or choose to fail and then essentially succeed; don’t all performances involve some failure. The accompanying music moved from lyrical to devilishly chromatic and the speaking moved from reading to improvised. Only Rohan will know where or how he failed (he certainly didn’t fall in a heap) but it suited his zany virtuosity. Great fun and much enjoyed. I have no idea how this performance would go over with examiners. The works were challenging. I noticed some technical slips and his face was variously mobile with pleasure and pain, but this was intriguing and engaging and entertaining and even humourous and for a solo double bass concert, I can only imagine that is exceptional. Well done, Rohan. Rohan Dasika (double bass) presented his third year recital. He was accompanied by Kylie Loveland (piano) for the Bottesini.

While in the building, I also caught the week-long lunchtime performance called Elevator #1. It’s percussion on a 36” concert bass drum in the lift at the Music School. I only heard the first few minutes and beats, written as crochet-rest-repeat, played with one mallet, then adding a second. The lift went up and down; the doors opened; visitors entered and left; it was loud. I was hearing the drum later, down a corridor, presumably when the lift door opened. I expect it’s a valid comment on the changes at the school (sounding all the world like a funeral procession at the start). I would like to hear the development over an hour, even over the week, but my ears wouldn’t be up to it. This is a small space and the big skin and beater is a loud combination. But it’s worthy and I’m glad I’ve seen it, if only for a few minutes and only in the earliest moments of musical development for that day. Austin Bucket composed and conceived the piece and William Jackson (percussion) performed it.

Limb

Limb was the title of the new music concert. And it was an authentic musical event, not just an informal gig. This had two intervals to allow the stage to be reset, dramatic lighting and shadows, even costumes, and music from free improvisation and percussion streams including the premiere performance of a percussion piece.

The gig started with the Pollen Trio. Three players, piano, trumpet, drums; a looper and some percussion and a ring modulator; some water for bubbly trumpet effects. This is not scored music, but I expect there was a structure. Starting discretely, with a drum kits played with hands, bubbling noises from the trumpet and effects and plucked strings in the body of a Steinway. Swelling with percussion in place of trumpet and a move to mallets and sticks. A trumpet without mouthpiece sounding of hunters’ horn. A rising intensity of repeating piano lines and harmonising, looped trumpet and piano chords looped and growing in power and volume and rock drum grooves. And finally a decay to bubbling trumpet and an end. This is sprawling music to close eyes to and drown in. Minimal change but often a busy hustle. Austin, Miro and Evan have been doing this for sometime and are about to tour the Pollen improvised experience. Pollen Trio are Austin Buckett (piano), Miroslav Bukovsky (trumpet, percussion) and Evan Dorrian (drums).

The rest of the gig was percussion, classically trained, notated, often pitched, complex and dynamic but also with some touches of great beauty. Yvonne Lam started the set with …And now for the news by Graeme Leak. This was a solo percussion piece against Yvonne’s spoken voice (in Chinese?) at start and finish and a news report (in Vietnamese?) over the PA through the middle. The drums were Chinese toms, congas and bongos and some wooden percussion. The drumming followed and reacted to the rhythms and inflections of the Asian tonal languages.

Next was four performers presenting four of six movements of The Heavenly muzak machine by Mark Clement Pollard. This is an exploration of the vibraphone as a machine and as a musical instrument. The movements we heard featured harmonised vocals with vibraphone, then a four part performance with 8 mallets, then a quiet and delicate movement with tapped keys, then a final four part movement with 8 mallets. It was all beautiful and ringing, but especially the tender harmonised vocals and the delicious tapped third movement. The four performers were Bartholomew Haddock, Anna Ng, Yvonne Lam and Veronica Walshaw.

Then William Jackson performed Exposiciones by Andrian Pertout. This was a solo notated marimba piece against another vocal track, as I remember, a news broadcast in English. I was impressed by the detail and skills, but also by the performance of 15 minutes of detailed percussion by rote, but then the accompanying track must have assisted. I was also thrilled by some devastatingly fast stick work. The classical world may not improvise but it sure has chops.

Another interval, another stage change, another set. The final set was a single work composed by Austin Buckett, called Reset: for multi percussion due and field recording and performed by William Jackson and Yvonne Lam. This was a complex setup of quadraphonic recordings and effected percussion, performed in the round with contrasty, white lighting and white costumes and headphones for the performers, scraping snare skins and striking bottles and bass and kick drums and gongs. There was repetition, I think it was in two similar parts, big volume from bass drum hits accompanied by long decays from the gong, prying, interrupted scraping from fingers on snare skins and moving accents from sharply-struck empty glass bottles.

I’m still musing on it a day or so later as I write this. My preference was the tuned percussion. It’s at the unchallenging end of the performance spectrum on the night, but it was ringing and quite beautiful. But when I closed my eyes, I took in the freedom of Pollen and the formed and rhythmic-tonal-(or with open eyes)-visual presence of the pure percussion. All intriguing and musically involving stuff. What a lot of work; what a wonderful presentation; what developed skills and gratifying sounds.

Cyberhalides Jazz Photos by Brian Stewart