SFA’s Meyer to present faculty percussion recital

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Dr. Brad Meyer, director of percussion studies at Stephen F. Austin State University, will perform works by Russell Wharton, Clark Hubbard, Thomas Kotcheff and other percussion composers in a recital at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Meyer will perform Wharton’s unique “Dues Ex Metronome,” which was inspired by the BOSS DB-90 Dr. Beat metronome and incorporates an audio accompaniment created solely from samples recorded and manipulated from the DB-90. Musical influences for the piece were derived from pianist and composer Tigran Hamasyan, jazz drummer Mark Guiliana and rapper Kendrick Lamar.

Kotcheff’s Obbligato Snare Drum Music No. 1, or “The Power of Love,” is about “the sensation of loving something so much that you can end up smothering it with your love,” the composer writes. “The title plays on the two contradictory definitions of the word ‘obbligato’ that are used in Western Classical music,” according to Kotcheff. “At times, obbligato describes a musical line that is indispensable to the performance, and at other times obbligato means something that is decorative rather than essential, and that the piece can be performed without the added part.”

Thematically, Hubbard’s “Mountain” is about being in nature and in the mountains. The piece is about the sense of “wonder” one experiences when out in nature and the connection of being in mountains/nature to being at home or church, the composer explains. He states “Mountain” is a “technically challenging” work for marimba that blends contemporary percussion music with pop, electronic and dance music.

Also on the program are “The Offering” by Michael Burritt; “The Endings of Things from a Distance” by Matt Curlee; and “buttonwood” by Evan Chapman.

Concert tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. To purchase tickets, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit finearts.sfasu.edu. For additional information, contact the SFA School of Music at (936) 468-4602.