Rehearsing the Concert Percussion Ensemble, Strategies From the Pros
Clinic Synopsis:
Participants will bring the audience into their virtual rehearsal of the modern concert percussion ensemble. Panel members will discuss topics such as: Rehearsal Philosophy, Rehearsal Preparation, Warm-up, Accuracy, Tone Production, Balance, Articulation, Touch, Expression, Interpretation/Composer’s Intent, Professional Development, and Essential Repertoire Everyone Should Know.
James Campbell
- Biographical Information
James Campbell has received worldwide recognition as a performer, pedagogue and author, and is a respected figure in the development of the contemporary percussion ensemble. He has toured extensively throughout The Americas, Europe, and Asia. Currently Provost’s Distinguished Service Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, he also holds the positions of Principal Percussionist with the Lexington Philharmonic and drummer with the Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra.
James also serves as Past-President of the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) and received their PAS Lifetime Achievement in Education Award in 2019. He was inducted into the PAS Hall of Fame in 2021, an honor that recognizes the contributions of the most highly regarded professional leaders in percussion performance, education, research, scholarship, administration, composition and the industry.
David Skidmore - Biographical Information
David Skidmore is a GRAMMY® Award-winning percussionist, GRAMMY-nominated composer, and musical entrepreneur. His work as both a composer and performer is characterized by an appreciation and affinity for music across a tremendous range of genres, including classical, pop, hip hop, film scores, rock, ambient, experimental, and the avant-garde.
In 2005, David co-founded Third Coast Percussion, an ensemble that has performed hundreds of concerts across the country and around the world, presents an annual concert season at home in Chicago, teaches musicians of all ages and experience levels, and has commissioned dozens of new works by composers including Philip Glass, Missy Mazzoli, Devonté Hynes, Jlin, Danny Elfman, Clarice and Sérgio Assad, Missy Mazzoli, David T. Little, Timo Andres, Donnacha Dennehy, Chris Cerrone, Marcos Balter, Ted Hearne, Glenn Kotche and Augusta Read Thomas. Called “vibrant” and “superb” by Alex Ross of The New Yorker, Third Coast Percussion is Ensemble-in-Residence at Denison University. The ensemble won a Grammy award for Best Chamber Music / Small Ensemble Performance in 2017. David has also appeared on recordings for dozens of other classical artists, including Dmitri Tymoczko, Donnacha Dennehy, Ensemble Signal, and more.
Eric Willie - Biographical Information
Described as a "true musical talent and professional," Eric Willie has a varied career as a percussion soloist, orchestral player, and teacher.
Having performed on three continents, Eric has presented solo performances throughout the United States, Russia, Brasil, and Colombia. In the United States, Eric has appeared at twelve Percussive Arts Society’s International Conventions (PASIC), the Midwest Clinic, as well as several days of percussion and music educator conventions. As an orchestral percussionist, he holds a section percussion position with the Winston-Salem Symphony, and has performed with the Charlotte Symphony, the Nashville Symphony, the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, among others.
A Fulbright Scholar, Eric has studied the Maracatu Nações in Recife, Pernambuco Brasil. During his time as a Fulbright Scholar, Eric studied with Mestre Tarcísio Resende, performed with Estrehla Brilante do Igarassu and Quebra Baque, and taught at the Universidade Federal do Pernambuco with Professor Antonio Barreto.
Active within the Percussive Arts Society (PAS), Eric currently serves on the PAS Board of Advisors, and previously as Chair of the PAS International Percussion Ensemble Committee. His percussion ensembles have been named winners of the 2015 and 2020 (2021) PAS International Percussion Ensemble Competition..
Currently, Eric serves as Associate Professor of Percussion Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He and his wife, Rebecca (assistant concertmaster with ProMusica Chamber Orchestra), reside in Greensboro with their children Aiden and Elina.
Douglas Perkins - Biographical Information
Douglas Perkins specializes in new works for percussion as a chamber musician and soloist and has been declared a “percussion virtuoso” by the New York Times. He has appeared at venues of all types including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Millennium Park, the Alaskan Tundra, Central Park Lake, and countless others.
He has commissioned and premiered a large body of works by such composers as David Lang, Steve Reich, Paul Lansky, John Luther Adams, Nathan Davis, Roshanne Etezady, Larry Polansky, Christian Wolff, Glenn Kotche, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Tristan Perich. He founded the percussion quartet So Percussion and also performs regularly with the Meehan/ Perkins Duo and Ensemble Signal.
Perkins’ recordings as a soloist, conductor, producer, and member of the Meehan/ Perkins Duo and So Percussion can be heard on the Bridge, Cantaloupe, Harmonia Mundi, New Focus, New World, and Nonesuch labels. His most recent recording of Tristan Perich’s Drift Multiply on Nonesuch were named to 2020 Years Best lists by NPR, the New York Times, PopMatters, and more.
Michael Burritt - Biographical Information
Having performed on four continents and more than forty states, Michael Burritt is one of his generation’s leading percussionists. He is in frequent demand, performing concert tours and master classes throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and Canada. Mr. Burritt has been soloist with the United States Air Force Band, Dallas Wind Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Nexus, Third Coast Percussion, Ju Percussion Group (Taiwan), Percussion Art Quartet (Germany) and the Amores Percussion Group (Spain). Mr. Burritt has three solo as well as numerous chamber recordings. In 2018 he recorded his Home Trilogy with the world-renowned percussion group Nexus, and is soon to release a new recording of solo and chamber works by Alejandro Viñao with the Grammy Award-winning Third Coast Percussion. In 2006 he recorded the Joseph Schwantner Percussion Concerto with the Calgary Wind Ensemble on the Albany label.
He has been a featured artist at nine Percussive Arts Society International Conventions. In 1992 he presented his New York solo debut in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall and in 1998 performed his London debut in the Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall. Mr. Burritt has extensive chamber and orchestral experience and has performed with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, The Chicago Symphony, Nexus, Third Coast Percussion and the The Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra.
She-e Wu - Biographical Information
She-e Wu has appeared as a solo artist at the 25th, 27th, and 30th Percussive Arts Society International Convention; Journées de la Percussion, NancyPhony Festival, perKumania festival, and PercuPassion Festival in France; Bach Symposium/Bach Variation Festival in Lincoln Center; Taiwan Connection concert at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center; International Percussion Festival and InterAmerican Music and Arts Festival Orchestra in Puerto Rico; Festival Internacional de Percusion "Ritmo Vital 2001" and National Percussion Convention in Spain; Fukui Marimba Seminar in Japan; Giornate della Percussione in Italy; Percussion Festival in Greece; Taipei International Percussion Convention, and many other festivals. She has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and Symphony Center, Chicago Chamber Musicians, and the Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Music Series in Pearlman Hall at the Kimmel Center. Ms. Wu has performed as guest recitalist and clinician at universities, colleges, and conservatories in France, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, England, Scotland, Germany, Spain, Greece, Japan, and Korea, as well as American music institutions and numerous PAS Days of Percussion throughout the United States.
Brian A. West - Biographical Information
Dr. Brian A. West is a Professor of Music and the Coordinator of Percussion at Texas Christian University. Under his direction, the percussion program at TCU has received international recognition. The TCU Percussion Orchestra won the 2015, 2011, 2008 and 2005 Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competitions, and the TCU Drumline won the 2012 and 2006 PAS Marching Percussion Festivals. Dr. West has conducted/performed in Hawaii, Italy, Spain, England, France, Australia, and Taiwan. Within the Percussive Arts Society he currently serves on the Board of Advisors and is the Chair of the Percussion Ensemble Committee. Dr. West is an active performer, clinician, composer/arranger, and adjudicator for a variety of percussive events. Dr. West is the Executive Producer of four CDs, is published by drop6 media, and works as a clinician/endorser for Innovative Percussion, Yamaha, Remo, Marimba One, and Sabian.
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