Spring Break
Percussion group uses everything from cactus needles to drums
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By DOUG GILLETT Staff Writer
Everyone's heard the drums played before - snare drums, bass drums, kettle drums. But have they ever heard someone play a brake drum?
Both traditional percussion methods and those much less so will be demonstrated tonight at the Performing Arts center, where Percussion Group Cincinnati will present a concert at 8.
Each of the group's three members - Allen Otte, Jim Culley and Russell Burge - is well-trained in a variety of instruments.
"We all play everything," said Otte, one of the men who founded the group in 1979. "Every piece is different, and every piece requires us to play different instruments."
Otte said the trio no longer composes most of its own pieces.
"We do, however, mostly play music that's written specifically for us," he said. "If we hear a piece that we really like, we ask them to write a piece just for us."
Selections for tonight's concert will include "Lift Off" by Russell Peck, "Drama" by Guo Wen-jing and a few numbers by legendary experimental composer John Cage.
Some of the numbers will include music played on unconventional instruments such as brake drums, garbage cans and cactus needles.
"I guess as percussionists working in this way, we become sensitized to anything that makes a sound," Otte said. "To extend the list to plucking on a cactus needle or breaking a glass bottle - I think we do, in fact, discover a lot of these things ourselves."
The wide range of instruments translates into a wide variety of musical moods and styles.
Though some numbers will be marked by loud, high-powered rhythmic energy, "we also do a lot of quiet, beautiful, melodic sorts of things," Otte said. "In our case, you could have a piece written for tiny little plucked instruments in South America that's quiet and pretty. The next piece may be a big thrum piece, and the next piece may be some sort of fun piece that's just fun to watch."
The trio also will host a workshop at 1:30 p.m. today at the School of Music. Its concert will be preceded by a lecture by Thomas McCutchen, percussion coordinator at the music school, beginning at 7:15.
