Program for 2004 U.S.A. Tour
Josie Robertson Plaza, LINCOLN CENTER OUT-OF-DOORS
Tuesday, August 10, 2004 at 10:30am
Kazuhiro Mamada Visional Train (4’30”)
G. H. Green/ arr. Bob Becker 【Ragtime Music】Spanish Waltz (4’)
Xylophonia (4’)
Gong-Drum Music from Tu Jia tribe The Romping Golden Pheasants (4’)
arr. by Tian Longxin/ Li Zhenqui
Toshimitu Tanaka Persona (7’)
Hong-Chi Ho Dancing Rhythm (5’)
Masahiko Saeki Shiny Days (6’)
Program Notes
Visional Train
Kazuhiro Mamada
“Visional Train” means the old steam train that the composer never took before. Mr. Mamada wrote the music describing that the train steamed up, went through the tunnel and crossing, also the scence changed. Finally, the train ran toward the unknown place, and disappeared.....
【Ragtime Music】Spanish Waltz & Xylophonia
G. H. Green/ arr. Bob Becker
Ragtime flourished for about twenty years--from 1896 to 1917. Unlike the spiritual and the blues, the mood of ragtime is unfailingly cheerful, which may help to explain its sudden popularity toward the end of the long depression of the 1890s. Ragtime represents a deeper and more complete blending of West African and European musical elements. It is no accident that ragtime originated in the Midwest instead of in New Orleans, and that there were first-class white as well as Negro composers and performers. In its simplest form, the rhythm of ragtime consists of a steady beat in the bass part and a syncopated beat in the melody part.
In today‘s performance, Spanish Waltz and Xylophonia were written by the Green brothers. Especially during the 1920s, Mr. George H. Green was a well-known xylophone virtuoso. Mr. Green wrote a certain amount of ragtime works for the xylophone solo accompanied by the piano. In 70s, Mr. Bob Becker of Nexus, one of the most internationally acclaimed percussion ensembles in the world, arranged Mr. Green‘s ragtime works for the xylophone solo still, but accompanied by other percussion instruments.
The Romping Golden Pheasants (Gong-Drum Music from Tu Jia Tribe)
Arr. by Tian LongXin / Li Zhengui
This piece is divided into five sections: "The Spring in the Mountain," "Joyful Way Home," "Playing along the Stream," "Encounter with Adversary," and "The Triumph." The Composer vividly depicts Golden Pheasants playing around on their way home from the mountain. The arrangers use the touba cymbal, erba cymbal, and other Chinese percussion instruments to present the complicated rhythm and diverse timbres.
Persona
Toshimitu Tanaka
Written in1984 by one of Japan's great composers， this piece for marimba solo and Japanese Ohtaiko, Persona, was composed in the style of the Gosin Gyotaiko a musical tradition from Nigata County in the Noto Peninsula, in which a number of performer play the taiko simultaneously.
This work creates a dramatic effect through the competition of one group of roto tom-toms (marimba plays a leading role) tuned to 12 different pitches with another group of masked taiko drummers playing and shouting spontaneously.
Composing Persona marked the culmination of six years of field research on Japanese folklore by Mr. Toshimitu Tanaka.
Dancing Rhythm
Hong-Chi Ho
Any object can be a form of percussion instrument as long as sounds are created through beating and hitting. For example, “Human body” is actually an excellent percussion instrument. We can use mouths, hands, feet and other parts of bodies to create various sounds easily. Music shows emotions of the sounds, while dancing speaks for the body expressions. In this piece, the performers use striking, clapping, stepping, and padding to create wonderful rhythms and tempos, showing how music flows from human bodies.
Shiny Day Mashiko Saeki
“In a fine and comfortable afternoon , everyone brings along all kinds of musical instruments and prepares for a lively celebration . At this time, only Mr. Sun is looking in the sky, smiling. It is a peaceful afternoon like that .”
The percussion musician Mashiko Saeki , who studied percussion in Japan National Music University , has written down an explanation about this song . The composer tries to express warm atmosphere . Using the deep voice of African drum as the foundation , the composer adds with folk music instruments and modern percussion instruments , such as talking drums , steel drums , balafon ( African Marimba ) . Flourishing with brisk atmosphere , the music also applied with the most instant methods of percussion such as hands , feet , and flutes .
