Featured Photo by Cadee Havard
Story by Cadee Havard
Last Thursday, the Middle Tennessee Percussion Ensemble presented a unique, multi-faceted program in Hinton Hall. Guest composer and conductor Michael Holland led Professor Brian Mueller’s ensemble students in a multi-dimensional performance with silent film accompaniment, featuring illustrated song slides from the MARNAN collections in Minneapolis. Professor Lalo Davila enriched the music of his group’s performance with choreographed compositions. With Voice Professor H. Stephen Smith, and Pianist Gyuhee Kim, a graduate student at MTSU, joined the Percussion Studio, the program was easily one the most diverse in entertainment brought on this semester.
Opening up with an assorted percussion ensemble, the group performed “Spatial Tendencies” by Daniel Montoya Jr. The same performers picked up tambourines and moved into a piece by ensemble director himself, Davila, entitled “Jambourinos.” The tambourine ensemble composition incorporated both sound and movement by using choreography to create certain sounds. The performances in this section were further heightened by the use of backing tracks, a unique concept in traditional classical performances.
The next performers entered the stage, masked by the darkness of the auditorium. At the first beat of the music, light returned to the room with the strike of several glow-in-the-dark drumsticks. With all of the performers situated in a line, the use of choreography continued with the prominent visual usage of the drum sticks. This also creates a unique pressure for the performer’s accuracy, as the audience’s attention is nailed to their technique.
After the openers, featured pianist Gyuhee Kim performed an interlude that led into the main event of the night: a percussion pit ensemble accompanying silent films, with help from Smith. This part of the program included both live action silent film and cartoons, as well as elements of audience participation. The auditorium was directed to sing along with Smith in his two appearances.
In addition to stellar visuals and musical performances, the production was humorous from start to finish. The first instance of audience laughter sprouted from confusion, as the hall scanned the room for the wailing of a baby. Instead of a baby, the audience discovered a slide reading “Somebody’s baby is crying/Is it yours?” The seamless connection between the musical and film aspects of the performance left me wondering if the audience reaction was sourced from the use of unusual percussion instruments, or the actions portrayed from the films.
In finale, the group performed to “Barney Oldfield’s Race for a Life,” which depicts the timeless tale of a damsel needing rescue. The damsel in this short film was tied to railroad tracks, helpless as a train was minutes away from causing her demise. The accompanying percussion built undeniable tension as the train approached, producing a roar that shook the whole auditorium as the damsel was rescued seconds before the passing of the train. Michael Holland, the conductor and composer of the films portion of the concert, has been involved with live cinema performance since 1996. Holland has participated in domestic and international programs as a performer, producer and composer. Some of his participation includes Cirque du Soleil, the VORTEX training program at Vanderbilt University, several notable symphony orchestras and a premier of George Antheil’s “Ballet mécanique,” for which he partnered with the French Government and Yamaha USA to produce and restore the original 1924 orchestration, accompanied Fernand Léger’s film. A grant from the Distinguished Lecture Fund allowed MTSU to have Holland partake in this performance. More information on the faculty, performers and repertoire can be found in the recital program, courtesy of brianmuellermusic.com.
