Students perform using variety of mallets in show

Concert review

The countless days playing xylophones and triangles in elementary school are over. Music majors convened in the Music Building Monday night to prove that the xylophone can grow up, too, at the annual "March Mallet Madness" performance.

"March Mallet Madness" was "initiated by the JMU Percussion Studio in 1987 as a forum for performance on and discussion of keyboard percussion instruments," professor of music Bill Rice said.

This year's performance featurecd musicians who play instruments that require mallets, including the marimba and xylophone. The xylophone is a box-shaped instrument fitted with a row of wooden bars on top that produce sounds when struck by mallets. The marimba, which resembles a xylophone, features sound-enhancing lengthwise cylinders (usually made of aluminum) underneath the wooden bars, and responds differently to a variety of mallets.

Students performed a total of eight pieces. Some of the musical selections were solos, while others incorporated the skills of two to four musicians. Most pieces were "plain modern pieces," Rice said, with the exception of the "very contemporary, almost avant-garde" piece "Mediation and Dance," and the ragtime piece, "Powder Puff."

Junior Christine Slawson was pleased with the performers who used two mallets in each hand to play their marimbas.

"It was very interesting," she said. "I did not know you could play with four mallets at the same time. [The performers] were really skilled and performed well solo and with a group."

All the pieces were very different — some were upbeat and fast-paced, such as Eyichi Asabuki's "Sparks" performed by freshman Tim Sanders, while others were slow and soothing, such as Eric Sammut's "Rotation 4," which was performed by sophomore Andrew P. Richardson.

Magno performed "Meditation and Dance" by David Steinquest. He liked "how it has two contrasting ideas — tranquil meditation and fiery dance." His piece consisted of two parts. The first part represented the mediation aspect of the song using two mallets and a slower rhythm. The second part of the piece, which represented its dance aspect, was more powerful and fast-paced.

Although Magno admits experiencing "a little bit of nerves," he said, "I think I got the message of the piece across."

Senior Adam M. Garcia chose his solo piece, "Wood That Sings" by Gordon Stout, for a more personal reason. "I used to study with the composer … it was the newest thing he had written, and different from what he usually writes," Garcia said.

Although each piece was interesting in its own right, the final piece, "Stubernic" by Mark Ford, evoked a long, thunderous applause that followed it. This piece was performed by three musicians — Richardson, Magno and freshman Daniel Karras.

All three musicians gathered around a single marimba and struck it at different angles with their mallets The trio used both ends of their mallets, and often changed their respective position around the instrument.

Garcia felt that the eighth piece was the best and most exciting one of the entire performance "because of the flashy aspect of it." The position changes of the musicians kept the audience's attention and evoked loud, enthusiastic applause after the piece ended.

Although some of the solo performances seemed repetitive and drawn out, the majority of the selections were exciting to hear and watch.

"It was a little larger than I had expected," said sophomore Ernest Stokes, who performed "Rain Dance," by Alice Gomez. "Overall, I thought it was superb performing."