Program Notes
Visional Train
Kazuhiro Mamada
“Visional Train” means the old steam train that the
composer never took before. Mr. Mamada wrote the music
describing that the train steamed up, went through the
tunnel and crossing, also the scence changed. Finally,
the train ran toward the unknown place, and disappeared.....
【Ragtime Music】Spanish Waltz & Xylophonia
G. H. Green/ arr. Bob Becker
Ragtime flourished for about twenty
years--from 1896 to 1917. Unlike the spiritual and
the blues, the mood of ragtime is unfailingly cheerful,
which may help to explain its sudden popularity toward
the end of the long depression of the 1890s. Ragtime
represents a deeper and more complete blending of West
African and European musical elements. It is no accident
that ragtime originated in the Midwest instead of in
New Orleans, and that there were first-class white as
well as Negro composers and performers. In its simplest
form, the rhythm of ragtime consists of a steady beat
in the bass part and a syncopated beat in the melody
part.
In today‘s performance, Spanish Waltz and Xylophonia
were written by the Green brothers. Especially during
the 1920s, Mr. George H. Green was a well-known xylophone
virtuoso. Mr. Green wrote a certain amount of ragtime
works for the xylophone solo accompanied by the piano.
In 70s, Mr. Bob Becker of Nexus, one of the most internationally
acclaimed percussion ensembles in the world, arranged
Mr. Green‘s ragtime works for the xylophone solo still,
but accompanied by other percussion instruments.
The
Romping Golden Pheasants (Gong-Drum Music from
Tu Jia Tribe)
Arr.
by Tian LongXin / Li Zhengui
This piece is divided into
five sections: "The Spring in the Mountain,"
"Joyful Way Home," "Playing along the
Stream," "Encounter with Adversary,"
and "The Triumph." The Composer vividly depicts
Golden Pheasants playing around on their way home from
the mountain. The arrangers use the touba cymbal, erba
cymbal, and other Chinese percussion instruments to
present the complicated rhythm and diverse timbres.
Persona
Toshimitu Tanaka
Written
in1984 by one of Japan's great composers，
this piece for marimba solo and Japanese Ohtaiko, Persona,
was composed in the style of the Gosin Gyotaiko a musical
tradition from Nigata County in the Noto Peninsula,
in which a number of performer play the taiko
simultaneously.
This
work creates a dramatic effect through the competition
of one group of roto tom-toms (marimba plays a leading
role) tuned to 12 different pitches with another group
of masked taiko drummers playing and shouting
spontaneously.
Composing Persona marked the culmination of
six years of field research on Japanese folklore by
Mr. Toshimitu Tanaka.
Dancing Rhythm
Hong-Chi Ho
Any object can be a form of percussion instrument as
long as sounds are created through beating and hitting.
For example, “Human body” is actually an excellent percussion
instrument. We can use mouths, hands, feet and other
parts of bodies to create various sounds easily. Music
shows emotions of the sounds, while dancing speaks for
the body expressions. In this piece, the performers
use striking, clapping, stepping, and padding to create
wonderful rhythms and tempos, showing how music flows
from human bodies.
Shiny Day Mashiko
Saeki
“In a fine and comfortable afternoon , everyone brings along
all kinds of musical instruments and prepares for a
lively celebration . At this time, only Mr. Sun is looking
in the sky, smiling. It is a peaceful afternoon like
that .”
The percussion musician Mashiko Saeki , who studied
percussion in Japan National Music University , has
written down an explanation about this song . The composer
tries to express warm atmosphere . Using the deep voice
of African drum as the foundation , the composer adds
with folk music instruments and modern percussion instruments
, such as talking drums , steel drums , balafon ( African
Marimba ) . Flourishing with brisk atmosphere , the
music also applied with the most instant methods of
percussion such as hands , feet , and flutes .
