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Marimbas, Steel Drums Highlight Percussion Concert

A broad range of music highlighting drums, marimbas, xylophones and a variety of other less-traditional instruments will highlight the annual fall performance of the Alma College Percussion Ensemble.

The concert featuring the Classical Chamber Ensemble and Jazz Percussion and Steel Drum Ensemble takes place at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 25 in the Remick Heritage Center.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors 62 and up, and free for Alma College staff, students and youth 18 and under. Seating is reserved. Call (989) 463-7304 for ticket information.

 

A scene from the Percussion Ensemble's homecoming concert.

Music Instructor David Zerbe directs the approximately 28-member student ensemble. The award-winning group most recently performed at the Detroit Jazz Festival over Labor Day weekend.

The first half of the Nov. 25 program will feature all drums in “Bonham” by Christopher Rouse, 16 marimbas and two double bass players in the Allegro Vivace from Felix Mendelssohn’s String Symphony No. 9 in C Major, and a marimba quartet, xylophone soloist and traps in the 1930s ragtime “Nola” by Felix Arndt.

The second half will include a performance of “Bag’s Groove,” originally composed by Milt Jackson for the Modern Jazz Quartet and arranged for big band by John Clayton.

“Nicholas Terpstra, one of our students, took the Clayton arrangement for trumpets, saxophones and trumpets and transcribed it for steel drums and jazz percussion,” says Zerbe. Terpstra is a junior from Caledonia.

The concert also will include “Yes or No” by Wayne Shorter and arranged by Allen Park senior Joe Moscheck, “Speedball” by Lee Morgan, and “a couple of surprises,” according to Zerbe.

Zerbe and his percussion students are planning to celebrate the group’s 20th anniversary at its spring concert next April 8 and 9.

-mjs-



 

 

Alma College graduates have extraordinary placement rates into medical and law schools. Alma’s 84 percent placement rate into medical school compares to a 46.3 percent national average. Alma’s placement rate for law school is 86.9 percent, compared to a 66.8 percent national average.

 

Faculty Profile

Dr. Raymond Riley

Dr. Raymond Riley
Departments: Music

Dr. Raymond Riley, professor of music at Alma College since 1988, has enjoyed a long and multi-faceted musical career.

Appearing in numerous venues as a recitalist, lecturer, clinician and soloist throughout the Midwest, he believes his piano performance background has been invaluable in supporting his efforts to combine art and science and to foster creativity with technology.