Simply by reading the program for Friday’s Percussion Ensemble Recital, it was difficult to know what to expect. Three of Longwood University’s ensembles performed, including Lancer Steel, the Concert Percussion Ensemble and the Lancer Stampede Drumline.
The three ensembles performed incredibly dissimilar, though not conflicting, musical styles. If expecting an entirely uniform event with one style of music, it would be easy to be lost, but by the end of the night, each audience member was able to find something to enjoy among the performances.
Lancer Steel’s performance included upbeat beachy songs with steel drums, such as Alphonsus Cassell’s “Hot, Hot, Hot,” and “One Love” by Bob Marley. The familiar songs were energetic, while the performers were equally so, swaying from side to side and even interacting with one another. Two performers pointed and smiled jokingly at each other with each dynamic accented note. Lancer Steel performed additional songs, including, “Jump in the Line” by Deleon, Bell, Oller, and Samuel, “Spirits in the Material World” by Sting from The Police, “The Hammer” by David Rudder” and “I Want You Back” by the Jackson Five.
During the Jackson Five rendition, the audience participated by clapping along. The performance was lively and easy-going with the recognizable song choices. With only a few songs, the performance began the night on a light and “hot” tone and left the audience eager for more.
The Concert Percussion Ensemble performed two songs, the jazzy and enthusiastic “Memphis Stomp” by Dave Grusin and the ethnic “Darabukka Concerto” by Anthony DiSanza. The syncopation within the rendition of “Memphis Stomp” involved accented notes on xylophones. The soft wooden chimes of the xylophones were soothing and allowed a brief moment of calm before the following more spontaneous performance of the night.
The performance of “Darabukka Concerto” included various middle-eastern instruments, such as the darabukka, a small, goblet-shaped, single-headed drum.
The song began with a recitative-like battle cry. Drums were beaten fiercely and spontaneously, while cymbals and rattles were struck and flailed. The multi-meter song was dynamic and unpredictable with crescendos and decrescendos embellishing the song emphatically. Sometimes chaotic and sometimes synchronized, the song kept the audience on their feet as the musicians themselves had to be as well, constantly changing from instrument to instrument.
Before the Lancer Stampede Drumline performed, earplugs were provided to the audience to protect from hearing damage. Even with the earplugs on, the loudness and the vibrations of the beaten drums resonated in one’s chest.
The Stampede created an exciting, riling up “rah rah” experience to end the night. The formalized performance that is typically used before sports games added an exciting and spirited flavor to the event.Performers chanted, “Let’s go, Wood!” while they marched and swung their bodies back and forth to the rhythm of the songs. The cymbalists waved their cymbals up and down like jazz hands and interacted with their fellow performers by moving around the stage for the drummers to strike the cymbals.
To close the night, the cymbalists performed a gladiator-like battle, swinging their instruments like deadly weapons. With each simulated blow, the cymbals collided, creating an epic clash. When one of the cymbalists collapsed to the ground in theatrical defeat, the bystander musicians motioned their thumbs to the ground, and the winning cymbalist struck the cymbal against the other’s cymbal to signal the final blow.
Director of the recital Adjunct Professor J. Chris Thomas described the effort put into the Lancer Stampede Drumline. The process to putting together the Drumline took a year as well as Thomas’ own donations to the effort. Many of the drums were bought used either from Mills E. Godwin High School in Henrico County or from eBay.
The biggest challenge in putting together the Drumline was the search for talented musicians who could commit to the rehearsal and basketball schedule.
Thomas stated that there are currently recruitment efforts in new members of the Lancer Stampede Drumline. Micheal Norwood, sophomore Music Major, played the electric bass in Lancer Steel and third bass drum in the Lancer Stampede Drumline. He said that his goal for how he wants to influence the audience is through energy.
“That’s part of our job. The more into it we are, the more into it the audience will get,” Norwood said. As a member of the recital, he described his favorite experience of the night was “just the groove you get into.” To future audience members, he added, “People should come to all of the concerts because they’re all free, and they’re all worth the time.”
Longwood students Haley Moore and Kate Gerbus attended the event to support their friend, Music Major Tiarrah “T.” Crouch, who played the bass in the Lancer Stampede Drumline.
Carrying decorated signs that said, “That’s My Friend” and “Bang Those Boom Booms,” both Moore and Gerbus agreed that they would suggest students to come to future musical performances on campus.
Gerbus said, “They’re very fun. It’s entertaining. It’s not like sitting through a lecture.” Moore described the recital as “spirited,” further stating, “It’s kind of a stress release.” In the end, despite the lack of predictability from one side of the world to the other, from Reggae to Jazz to the Middle East and even to the football field, it was more than an exciting experience.
