Commentary

By DONGGYUN HAN
Reporter

(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) — The World Percussion Group performed March 9 in the Hendricks Hall, featuring various kinds of percussion instruments, such as marimbas, drums, chimes, triangles and cymbals, and many other percussion instruments.

PHOTO BY BRANDON BOWMAN / PHOTO EDITOR
The World Percussion Group begins their performance at 7:30 p.m. March 9 in Hendricks Hall.

The audience was moved with pieces like “Slavonic Dance No. 8” by Antonin Dvorak, “Over the Rainbow” by Harold Arlen, “Caprice No. 24” by Paganini, and “Balkan Red” by Gavin Marwick.

The World Percussion Group is a project group directed by Maraca 2. Tim Palmer and Jason Huxtable, members of Maraca 2, met while studying at the Birmingham Conservatoire in England, and they organized the percussion duo. They have performed at festivals, concerts and more than 40 universities around the world. They have planned The World Percussion Group project for inspiring young percussionists to follow careers within the percussion area.

The members of the World Percussion Group were selected by worldwide auditions and included a soloist and eight ensemble players, from several countries such as Denmark, Ukraine, Luxembourg, Italy, France, Canada and the U.S.

“The mission of the World Percussion Group is not just to inspire audiences and students, but to give an international platform to the best percussionists of the next generation, providing an opportunity for cultural sharing,” Palmer said.

The first piece took the audience on a journey through the rich percussive sounds. The group performed “Slavonic Dance No. 8.” Even though this piece is famous for orchestra, they gave the impression of mystique. Compared to the conventional orchestra, which has a more solemn sound, the percussive version has delicate, mysterious and entirely new sounds. It took the audiences to the fanciful land of the Slavs.

The performance continued with Tomer Yariv’s “Gyro,” a solo recital by Konstantyn Napolov of Ukraine. He played a snare drum for eight minutes. The percussionist showed the great variation of the beat. He controlled the beat delicately and produced the huge, long ringing and tiny, smooth echo alternately. The audience could feel the texture of the beat. This piece played quite a long time, but he demonstrated beatbox with his mouth to add variety and prevent flatness.

At the very end of the recital, Palmer introduced all of the members of the group. After the introduction, the last piece continued with every member participating in the performance of “Balkan Red.” The concert ended with the energetic marimba, drum sounds and light metal percussion sounds, enough to bring the audience into a standing ovation.

The World Percussion Group is touring 15 other universities across the U.S. through the end of April.