Maryland

Music Educators
In-Service Conference
Baltimore Convention Center Room 310
February 22, 2013
9:00 a.m.

Towson University Percussion Ensemble
Dr. Patrick Roulet, Director

To Be Satisfied in Tragedy (2006)



Chelsea Davis









(b. 1984)

Percussion Music (1953)




Michael Colgrass

I.







(b. 1932)

III.

IV

Blue Star (2010)






Patrick Roulet










(b. 1967)

Fruition (2012)






Callie Ferrell










(b. 1992)

Rhythm Exchanges (2007)




Patrick Roulet










(b. 1967)

Front. Ensemble. (2013)



Andrew Prentiss Baker










(b. 1988)

Three Brothers (1951)





Michael Colgrass










(b. 1932)
Towson University Percussion Ensemble
Jack Barry
Drew Bilbrey
Kaushal Desai
Matt Dupree
Mike Feathers
Kyle Flens
Aaron Guillen
Frances Jedrzejewski
Kellen McKay
Jack Naden
Michael Ryan
Kim Smith
Christina Thompson

About the Music

To Be Satisfied in Tragedy by Chelsea Davis
The opening of the piece is a peaceful and simple progression - the calm before the storm;
or in our case, the battle. At the end of the Han Dynasty (169 A.D. - 280 A.D.) battle was a
common occurrence, and from reading the book that this piece was based on, The Romance
of the Three Kingdoms, battle seemed to be the most satisfying yet tragic event as territories
were being settled. The beginning of battle is represented by the tam tams that represent
the clanging of armor as an army suits up. The drums come in gradually as footsteps in
preparation for war. When the tempo of this piece takes a sudden drop and instruments
are being dipped into water, the battle is on. The focus and horror of a warrior sparks
adrenaline and his surroundings become slow. Chelsea Davis

Chelsea Davis is a multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Los Angeles. She fronts a
project called Annabelle vs. the Villain, a multimedia project involving rock band, book and
artwork. She studied marimba at Southern Utah University with Patrick Roulet where she
received her BA degree in Percussion Performance.

Percussion Music by Michael Colgrass
Percussion Music was written while Michael Colgrass was a sophomore at the University of
Illinois. After using up all of his jazz drum solo ideas in his first composition, Three Brothers,
he decided to look to the music of J.S. Bach for inspiration. As a music student walking the
halls, he frequently heard the music Bach coming from practice rooms.

I wanted to stretch myself and enter new areas of music. This piece is Baroque in
character and was inspired by J. S. Bach in that it has contrapuntal voices but
without specific pitches. I asked myself: "How would Bach-like counterpoint sound
on drums?" So I set up a "keyboard" of sixteen sounds, from low bass drum
ascending to temple blocks, and divided this "keyboard" into four players. Since
Bach's music is non-percussive, a gentle form of drumming was the result. This
piece also served the psychological comfort of giving me-a jazz musician entering
the domain of classical music, and a percussionist feeling inferior to string, wind and
brass players who were referred to at that time as "real musicians"-the feeling of
musical equality and respectability.

Blue Star by Patrick Roulet
Blue Star depicts the vastness and coldness of outer space through an emphasis on ringing
metallic keyboard percussion sounds over a repeated rhythmic pattern in the marimbas.
The work uses repetition and emphasizes space and shifting colors more than harmonic or
melodic movement. The piece is centered on the single note D and four notes that are
stacked a perfect fifth above: A, E, B and F#. Blue star was written for the Spring 2010
Percussion Methods Class at Towson University.

Fruition by Callie Ferrell
Callie Ferrell is a Junior Music Composition Major and LGBT Studies Minor at Towson
University. Apart from composing, Callie has studied percussion and plays the piano, sings
and plays snare drum in the drum line of Towson's Marching Band. As an emerging young
composer, Fruition is only the second of her pieces to be performed publicly since her
arrival at Towson. The piece is dedicated to her grandmother, Lori White, in honor of her
birthday this past May. For information contact Callie by email: kcferrell@live.com

Rhythm Exchanges by Patrick Roulet

Rhythm Exchanges for dance and percussion with original choreography by Shauna
Mendini was premiered at Southern Utah University in 2007. The highly rhythmic work
explores sound colors and textures, static harmonies, and slowly enfolding melodies. The
marimbas and vibraphone serve both rhythmic and melodic functions equally. The formal
structure is based on the verse-chorus form commonly used popular music.

Front. Ensemble. by Andrew Prentiss Baker
Andrew Prentiss Baker graduated with a Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Composition
from Towson University in the fall of 2012. His main writing focus has been on creating fun
and instructional pieces for the front ensemble of a marching band; "Front. Ensemble." is a
hybrid of a few of these pieces. Baker has also been employed as an arranger and technician
for front ensembles of many Maryland high school marching bands and indoor percussion
ensembles including Century High School, which took 1st Place at KIDA Finals in 2012. For
information contact Baker by email: abaker178@gmail.com

Three Brothers by Michael Colgrass
Michael Colgrass very first composition, Three Brothers (1951,) is essentially a four-minute
jazz drum solo based on ideas and drum licks he had been developing for several years as
a Jazz drummer and soloist. The fact that the work is still performed regularly in leading
schools and universities over 60 years later is a true testament to the genius and raw talent
of Michael Colgrass as a young drummer. The work is centered on the three soloists, - the
"three brothers," bongos, snare drum and timpani who provide rhythmic momentum, trade
two and four-bar solos and pass motives back and forth throughout the work. The Jazz
influence can be heard clearly in the cymbal part that plays a traditional ride cymbal swing
pattern to accompany the 8-bar tom-tom solo.
About the Ensemble

The Towson University Percussion Ensemble performs a wide range of music from
historically significant works for percussion to the latest in contemporary percussion
literature and traditional non-Western music.

Each program that the ensemble presents is centered on a unifying theme. Past themes have
included: the Fibonacci Sequence (1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21), Out of Africa, Things that go Bump in the
Night, Sounds of the New Millennium, Boom Boom Pow, Women Composers of Percussion
Music, and The Wood that Sings.

Patrick Roulet, the ensemble's director since 2008, encourages percussionists to write and
arrange music for the ensemble and frequently programs works by Towson University
students and faculty. The ensemble has also collaborated with composers including Rich
O'Meara, D.J. Sparr, and Michael Colgrass. The ensemble is featured on the recent recording
of the early percussion works of Michael Colgrass released on Equilibrium Records: Michael
Colgrass: Percussion Music, 1951-1957, EQ 107.

The ensemble has performed at the MENC All-Eastern Convention and the Percussive Arts
Society Maryland/Delaware and Pennsylvania Chapters' Days of Percussion. The ensemble
regularly travels to schools throughout Maryland to perform and present educational
workshops. Contact Patrick Roulet for information about the ensemble:
proulet@towson.edu.

Towson University Department of Music

presents

MD/DE Percussive Arts Society

Day of Percussion

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Towson University Center for the Arts
9:00am-6:00 pm

Admission is $15 General, $10 for PAS members ($5 off if your register before 9:30am).
If you become a new PAS member or renew your membership, then your registration is
free. Registration Opens at 8:30 am

Door Prizes
Percussion Ensembles
Performances & Workshops

Guest Artists
Daniel Glass Drummer, Royal Crown Review; The Century Project
Jauvon Gilliam, Principal Timpanist National Symphony Orchestra
Eric Shin Principal Percussion National Symphony Orchestra
Harvey Price Univ. of Delaware Marimba Ensemble Ragtime Xylophone
Frank Russo Drumset artist applying Brazilian Rhythms to Drumset
Matt Lusky Marching Fundamentals with the Towson University Drumline
Rogerio Boccato Brazilian percussionist from New York
Ian Sikora Percussion health and wellness
Scott Tiemann Drumset Fundamentals
Patrick Roulet Mallet Percussion Fundamentals

University of Maryland Percussion Ensemble - Lee Hinkle, director
Towson University Percussion and World Music Ensembles, Patrick Roulet & N. Scott
Robinson, directors
Dunloggin Middle School Percussion Ensemble, Diana Uttenreither, director

http://community.pas.org/MarylandDelaware/DaysofPercussion

Contact Patrick Roulet for more information: proulet@towson.edu