Percussion Concert Report

I observed the wind ensemble percussion section and was blown away by how organized they were in everything that they did. It was clear that they had the same type of training, because their strokes were so similar it was impressive. The percussion equipment was set up strategically, and every member of the ensemble knew exactly where to be at every moment during the music. The mallets were organized on stands, and it was interesting to notice the subtle change in tone when they switched mallets. Everything was intentional and I appreciated that. It was nice to see the techniques we learned in class used in a live performance. When the person playing the timpani was playing constant quarter notes, her stroke was almost identical for every note. It was hard to see the rolls happening on the snare drum, but I noticed that the technique is similar for bass drum. When rolling a decrescendo, he moved from the center of the drum out and the rolls became slower as he got closer to the rim. I also thought it was interesting that he used traditional grip when rolling on the bass drum. It made sense because of how the drum was turned, so it was definitely more practical than match grip. When watching the mallet player I noticed that she moved with the keys, and when she was playing the upper octaves she moved her feet so …show more content…
The members moved with a purpose and knew exactly where they needed to be and when. When two members were playing the same music on different mallet percussion instruments, they moved perfectly in sync, and they made eye contact every once in a while to make sure they were both still on the same page. There was also quite a bit of communication between the members of the percussion section and Dr. Silvey. There’s always some sort of confirmation between pieces to communicate they are ready for the next piece, and during the piece there is also eye contact with the conductor for certain