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UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

Date: 26-May-2010

I, Thomas J. Kernan , hereby submit this original work as part of the requirements for the degree of: Master of Music in Music History It is entitled: The Percussion Group Cincinnati: A History of Collaboration between

Ensemble and Composer

Student Signature: Thomas J. Kernan

This work and its defense approved by: Committee Chair: bruce mcclung, PhD bruce mcclung, PhD

6/6/2010 796 The Percussion Group Cincinnati: A History of Collaboration between Ensemble and Composer

A thesis submitted to the

Graduate School

of the University of Cincinnati

in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

Master of Music in Music History

in the Division of Composition, Musicology, and Theory

of the College-Conservatory of Music

Thomas J. Kernan

B.M. University of Missouri-Kansas City

May 2005

Committee Chair: bruce d. mcclung, Ph.D.

Abstract

The Percussion Group Cincinnati, an ensemble-in-residence at the University of

Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2009. In its first three decades, this trio collaborated with at least fifty composers, several of whom have contributed multiple compositions. The more than seventy works composed expressly for the ensemble comprise the core of its performance repertoire. While the members have amassed a sizable body of chamber percussion compositions, their primary goal has remained the process of collaborating. Whereas comparator ensembles measure success by their number of recordings, performances at specific events, or notoriety among various communities, the Percussion Group

Cincinnati can be best understood through a careful consideration of its interactions with composers.

Through an analysis of the Percussion Group Cincinnati’s correspondence, concert programs, promotional materials, recordings, and performance reviews, as well as extensive interviews with past and current members, this thesis offers an examination of the ensemble’s partnering composers/collaborations, compositions, and reception. While sharing portions of the ensemble’s history, through the lens of composer-performer interaction, this thesis argues that the absence of the Percussion Group Cincinnati from histories of twentieth-century percussion music evinces a flaw in the existing literature: the prevalence of evolutionary narratives that venture to connect the “great composers” of twentieth-century percussion music with the likes of

Haydn, Beethoven, and Berlioz. Instead of exploring the various ways that composers and performers in this genre have functioned, authors have too often set out to legitimize percussion chamber music by placing it in a teleological narrative whose connections are weak and overstatements are many. This thesis demonstrates that, while the members of the Percussion

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Group Cincinnati are known mainly as performers, they are also active participants in the composition of many of the works in their repertoire; thereby blurring the lines, in some cases significantly, between the artistic efforts of the three percussionists and the partnering composers. And due to the trio’s preference for close collaboration, the members tend to seek out composers from circles of people who are geographically close to them: faculty colleagues, friends, and students. With few of these composers achieving canonical status for their efforts in this or other more studied genres, the trio’s repertoire remains unlikely to enter the evolutionary narratives.

The Percussion Group Cincinnati provides a vivid example of one approach to contemporary music composition whereby clear delineations between the roles of composers and performers are replaced with a creative process predicated on cooperation toward a shared goal.

While this thesis demonstrates the considerable degree to which one ensemble engages in these types of compositional projects, the broader existence of hybrid composer-performer relations is significant, especially in the realm of percussion music, where instruments and techniques frequently extend beyond the boundaries of orchestration textbooks and traditions. To this end, this thesis can serve as a model for further research on twentieth-century percussion history and, particularly, the role performers play in conceiving and crafting the repertoire.

Acknowledgements

This thesis was only possible with the unlimited access provided by the past and current members of the Percussion Group Cincinnati: Jack Brennan, Russell Burge, James Culley, Allen

Otte, Benjamin Toth, and William Youhass. During numerous phone calls, e-mails, and in- person interviews, the members provided me with as many details as they could recall about performances, compositions, and relationships, which in some instances extended beyond the ensemble’s thirty-year history. Al, in particular, spent countless hours before the official interviews answering questions about the trio, and its formation and goals, as I attempted to assess if enough material existed for a study of this length. Rusty, Al, and Ben aided in collecting surviving concert programs. Jim helped fill in the holes in my data with lists of performances from the ensemble’s tax records. Of all of the exchanges with the members, one comment more than all others struck me as both a significant turning point for one member and a theme on which the trio functions. Al described an undergraduate lesson with his studio teacher, Richard

Weiner, the principal percussionist of the Cleveland Orchestra—a man who Al still refers to with deepest respect as Mr. Weiner. During that lesson, Al played Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Zyklus

No. 9, an avant-garde solo percussion composition, which, as he described, likely held little attraction for his teacher. Weiner, however, was not in any way dismissive; rather, he offered specific criticism and corrections about the types of beaters he thought Al should use, the sounds he was making, and the techniques he employed. In Weiner, Al found someone who took him

“very seriously,” enough so as to provide comments of the most exacting degree on music from a portion of the repertoire that most percussionists were ignoring. Decades later, Al and his colleagues still devote their careers to offering rigorous presentations of contemporary

vi percussion compositions—they merge the finest orchestral technique with some of the most non- traditional repertoire.

This thesis attempts to conduct a study of an ensemble I take “very seriously.” Any praise or criticism herein was reached with as thorough of consideration as I could provide, and with a hope that this first extended study of the Percussion Group Cincinnati provides ample data, interview transcripts, and commentary for future scholars to pick up where I have left off. To the current members of the Group, from whom the most time and consideration has been granted to this author, I extend my deepest appreciation for your assistance and kindness.

Many other musicians, composers, scholars, writers, and organization administrators provided invaluable help in gathering information about compositions and performances. In particular I wish to thank Marilyn Bower of the Dearborn Highlands Arts Council, Casey Brown of Middfest International, Arun Chandra, Ray Cooklis of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Scott Deal,

Chris Phelps of WGUC, Cameron Gordon Peck of Pecktackular Music, Mark Saya, and Otice

Sircy of the Percussive Arts Society.

My fellow graduate students in Matthew Peattie’s fall 2008 seminar on “Music and

Change” shared feedback and comments on several portions of my research, which were extraordinarily helpful in completing this thesis. In particular, Amy Lewkowicz drew my attention to similarities between the goals laid out in Otte’s essays and those common to intentional communities.

Wenhui Xie, without hesitation, offered her time and abilities in translating portions of

Qu Xiao-Song’s book Yi lu liang qiang. I would have been aimlessly browsing Xiao-Song’s beautiful illustrations and calligraphy with little hope of identifying any material about the trio, were it not for her assistance.

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As a writer, I benefited tremendously from the clarity bruce mcclung encouraged in each page of this thesis. He advised with poignant questions that challenge my arguments and fostered new areas of consideration. The best attributes of this thesis resulted from his patience, encouragement, and candor. I am further grateful to my readers, Jeongwon Joe and Robert

Zierolf, who supported this project since its inception and eagerly waded through these chapters.

This thesis received institutional support in two very significant ways. First, the project was jump-started by a generous Summer Research Grant from the University of Cincinnati’s

University Research Council, for which I am most grateful. Second, the staff of The Ohio State

University Music Library, especially Gretchen Atkinson, was extremely kind in navigating the various systems and networks necessary to allow me to complete this thesis from Columbus.

Gretchen was as caring and helpful in her dealing with my various OhioLink multi-campus requests as are the staff members of my own libraries at the University of Cincinnati. This project is a testament to the success of the sharing and cooperation that takes place between

Ohio’s academic libraries.

If a master’s degree introduces a young scholar to a field, then I have two mentors who are responsible for granting me those initial musicological handshakes. My undergraduate music history classes with William Everett drew me toward topics I had only barely considered. In the classrooms of the University of Missouri-Kansas City he was an extraordinarily engaging teacher. His personal encouragement and thought-provoking comments on papers were the primary reason I even considered pursuing a master’s in music history. bruce mcclung picked up where Bill left off, and provided me with a behind-the-scenes view of the type of meticulous preparation that the very finest and most caring teachers put into creating successful lectures, assignments, and exams. For the rest of my career, I will strive to have classes as well conceived,

viii prepared, and presented as those of Bill and bruce. Thank you, to both of you, for your mentorship and guidance.

My final thanks go to the people I fail to recognize enough: my family. In particular,

Patrick Kernan has provided welcomed breaks over the past few years with phone calls that cover wide-ranging topics—sometimes humorous, other times serious, but always enjoyable. My in-laws, Paul and Vicki Peters, share with me more love and support than I could ever imagine and which is deeply appreciated. James and Ruth Kernan, my parents, provided me the most precious of gifts—life—and have since sacrificed greatly to ensure that it has been all that I could make of it. Mom and Dad, you will always have my heartfelt thanks and love. My wife,

Sarah, learned all the details of this thesis through our dinner conversations, weekends spent sharing our study, and regular trips to the library. Sarah, no decision has ever been more important to me than asking you to join me in building our life together. None of my successes since have come without your touch, this thesis included.

Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1. Goals 9

Chapter 2. Composers 23

Chapter 3. Collaborations 43

Chapter 4. Compositions 61

Chapter 5. Reception 77

Conclusion: A Retrospective 92

Appendix A. Percussion Group Cincinnati Membership Chart 101

Appendix B. Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan 102

Appendix C. Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge 122

Appendix D. Transcript of Interviews with James Culley 161

Appendix E. Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte 236

Appendix F. Transcript of Interview with Benjamin Toth 398

Appendix G. Percussion Group Cincinnati Repertoire 462

Appendix H. Percussion Group Cincinnati Discography 470

Appendix I. Percussion Group Cincinnati Program Data 477

Bibliography 667

Introduction

The Detroit Institute of Arts invited the Percussion Group Cincinnati (hereafter the

Group) to perform a September 1987 concert entitled “Twentieth-Century Retrospective: The

Relationship between Composer and Performer.”1 On fliers and posters the museum provided the following promotional verbiage for the event,

The 20th-Century Retrospective series will be off to an entertaining aural and visual start when THE PERCUSSION GROUP/cincinnati performs works written since 1941 by John Cage, Toru Takemitsu, and others, including host William Albright. Commissioned by THE PERCUSSION GROUP/cincinnati, Albright’s “Take That” is one of several works on the program which illustrates the continuing importance of the collaborative relationship between composer and performer.2

The Group consists of three professional percussionists, who are currently members of the

University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (hereafter CCM) faculty. The Group has held the title of CCM percussion trio-in-residence since September 1979. The members tour internationally and focus on performing new works often composed for them. Collaborations between composers and the Group, such as the one featured by the Detroit Institute, remained as important during its thirtieth-anniversary season in 2009, as it did for its eighth season in 1987.

This interaction pervades the Group’s history.

Of course, any performers who spend decades as chamber musicians and pedagogues are bound to have contact with composers—likely many composers. The Group’s members, however, exceed mere contact, opting to purposefully partner with a diverse collection of

1 Throughout this thesis, I use the name “the Group” when discussing the Percussion Group Cincinnati. However, this ensemble has been identified publically under a variety of names. Programs, reviews, and correspondence reveal name combinations including The Percussion Group Cincinnati, Percussion Group- Cincinnati, Percussion Group: Cincinnati, THE PERCUSSION GROUP/cincinnati, the Cincinnati Percussion Group, The Percussion Group, Percussion Group of Cincinnati, Percussion Group from Cincinnati, and Allen Otte & The Percussion Group. For problems associated with the branding and marketing of the Group, see Chapter 5.

2 Allen Otte commissioned William Albright’s Take That, but it was intended for Otte’s previous ensemble, the Blackearth Percussion Group.

1 composers on projects large and small. Instead of offering commissions, the members maintain active friendships with composers, some of whom have contributed multiple works to their repertoire. This thesis offers a history of the Group through a careful consideration of the relationships built and nurtured between the composers and performers, and the collaborative processes of composing and performing new works.

The ensuing account stands in contrast to most existing scholarly studies of twentieth- century percussion music, since to date, histories in this young field typically examine the lives of composers, analyze compositions, and discuss pedagogical methods. Ronald Keezer, Paul

Price, Michael Rosen, and Peter Yates provided the groundwork in four articles published between 1960 and 1970.3 This approach to percussion histories was then reified in Lawrence

Vanlandingham’s 1977 dissertation, “The Percussion Ensemble, 1930–45,” which has become the most frequently cited source on this topic.4 Vanlandingham invoked explicitly a Darwinian perspective to connect major composers and works in the percussion literature, a practice that has since been used in almost all of the scholarship from the past three decades, including the work of Don Baker, Gregory Byrne, James Cameron, Cornelius Genemans, Ingrid Gordon, Scott

Harris, Richard LeVan, Martha Reeder, Bruce Roberts, Jack Smith, and Barry Williams.5 All of

3 Ronald Keezer, “A Study of Selected Percussion Ensemble Music of the Twentieth Century,” The Percussionist 8 (October/December 1970): 11–23, 38–44; Paul Price, “New Trends in Percussion Ensemble Music,” National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors Bulletin 12 (March 1964): 5–7; Michael Rosen, “A Survey of Compositions Written for Percussion Ensemble,” The Percussionist 4 (January 1967): 2; and Peter Yates, “Lou Harrison,” American Composers Alliance Bulletin 9 (1960): 2–7.

4 Lawrence Vanlandingham, “The Percussion Ensemble, 1930–45” (PhD diss., Florida State University, 1977).

5 Vanlandingham frequently employs Darwinian evolutionary language, metaphors, and models. The best examples are his following claims, “The most significant development in the area of percussion has been the evolution of the percussion ensemble as a separate entity [from the orchestra],” and “three stages of development” in which standard orchestral instruments in the music of Amadeo Roldán gave way to non-traditional instruments and found objects in the music of John Cage, while “the almost exclusive use of standard instruments” returned in the music of Alan Hovhaness. These claims imply a process of instrumental natural selection leading to evolutionary improvements in subsequent generations. Vanlandingham, iii and 87. Don Baker, “The Percussion Ensemble Music of Lou Harrison, 1939–42” (DMA thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1985); Gregory Byrne, 2 these authors establish a history of twentieth-century percussion music by identifying and analyzing seminal works and by providing biographic studies of the prominent composers. They then craft pathways between prominent compositions and composers as a means of unifying the narrative. The application of Darwinian thought has been a limiting factor in much of this scholarship, since the authors often focus too heavily on demonstrating the proposed evolution of percussion chamber music, whereby one compositional technique leads to another and composers follow each other in a teleological progression. The role of performers in developing techniques or collaborating with composers during the compositional process remains largely unexplored.

Ensembles that perform percussion music in North America often serve as collaborators, who worked alongside the composers in experimenting with sounds, techniques, and styles and in creating and realizing the newest works in the genre. While excluding this portion of the history of the performers, the Darwinian approach instead leads to large overstatements of coincidental occurrences and in some instances even misrepresentations in order to make a history of percussion music that appear to be a seamless narrative from Haydn to Berlioz to

“Musical and Cultural Influences That Contribute to the Evolution of the Percussion Ensemble in Western Art Music” (DMA thesis, University of Alabama, 1999); James Cameron, “Trends and Developments in Percussion Ensemble Literature, 1976–92: An Examination of Selected Works Premiered at the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 1996); Cornelius Genemans, “The Historical Development of the Percussion Ensemble: An Overview” (MM thesis, Bowling Green State University, 1982); Ingrid Gordon, “Drums Along the Pacific: The Influence of Asian Music on the Early Percussion Ensemble Music of Henry Cowell, John Cage, and Lou Harrison” (DMA thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2000); Scott Harris, “Identification and Analyses of Selected Large Percussion Ensemble Works Composed between 1970– 2000” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 2003); Richard LeVan, “African Musical Influences in Selected Art Music Works for Percussion Ensemble: 1930–84” (PhD diss., University of Pittsburgh, 1991); Martha Reeder, “Non-traditional Instruments in a Traditional Role: Three Works for Percussion Ensemble since 1960” (MM thesis, University of Arizona, 1980); Bruce Roberts, “The Emergence and Development of Mallet Ensemble Literature in the United States: 1894–2001, with Analysis of Selected Works” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 2003); Jack Smith, “The Development of the Percussion Ensemble as Influenced by the Symphonic Repertory” (MA thesis, San Jose State University, 1980); and Barry Williams, “The Early Percussion Music of John Cage, 1935–43” (PhD diss., Michigan State University, 1990).

Varèse to Cage and beyond.6 The most egregious case of overstatements comes in the thesis of

Gregory Byrne, where the author traces “the evolution of the percussion ensemble in Western art music” from when “percussion first appeared in the orchestras” through the publication of prominent works in the twentieth century. In a concluding comment, the author even looks for connections between Lully and Varèse by writing, “Varèse’s treatment of percussion in 1931 differs markedly from Lully’s in 1675, yet a clear thread of development connects the two composers.” In reality, the path is not nearly as clear, beyond the fact that both composers wrote parts for percussion instruments. Continuing in the Darwinian tradition of Vanlandingham,

Byrne, and others, Scott Harris, in his recent analysis of large ensemble works (1979–2000), points out the similar approach taken in all of the previous scholarship, before proceeding to make his contribution in the same manner.7 The dominance of Darwinian thought has led to the construction of percussion ensemble histories that exclude performers.

The secondary focus of these histories is often the pedagogical role of percussion chamber music ensembles. Examples of this approach may be found in the books, tutors, and articles of Gary Cook, Thomas Davis, James Latimer, Betty Masoner, Jack McKenzie, Al

Payson, Gordon Peters, and Paul Price.8 These authors discuss the history of percussion ensemble music in the context of high schools and undergraduate college programs. They

6 Byrne, 1–65.

7 Harris, 9–16. The Darwinian tradition remains vibrant with the publication of Jonathan Hepfer’s article “Jan Williams: The Evolution of New Music,” Percussive Notes 45 (February 2007): 8–15.

8 Gary Cook, Teaching Percussion (New York: Schirmer Books, 1988); Thomas L. Davis, “Let’s Have Percussion Ensembles,” The Instrumentalist 12 (February 1958): 52–55; James Latimer, Developing Percussion Ensembles, prod. and dir. Richard W. Wolf, 52 min., University of Wisconsin-Madison, videocassette; Betty Masoner, “Percussion Comes into Its Own,” Music Journal 17 (September 1959): 34, 76–77; Jack McKenzie, “The Percussion Ensemble,” The Instrumentalist 11 (December 1956): 58–60; Al Payson and Jack McKenzie, Percussion in the School Music Program (Park Ridge, IL: Payson Percussion Products, 1976); Gordon Peters, “Why Percussion Ensembles?,” The Instrumentalist 16 (April 1962): 55–57; and Paul Price, “Percussion Ensemble Class Gives Training in ‘New Style’ of Music,” The Instrumentalist 7 (March–April 1953): 42–43.

4 describe contemporary works for percussion as pieces that can, first, help to train young percussionists into being more well-rounded musicians; second, teach ensemble skills useful for playing with the school band and orchestra; and third, help build students’ confidence. This scholarship fails to discuss histories of percussion music as they relate to professional musicians.

These authors also do not broach the topic of performers collaborating with composers; instead, they lead readers to regard the percussion ensemble as secondary to other more mainstream performing forces.

The number of percussion ensemble histories that consider the relationship between performers and composers is limited. Only four authors have written theses or dissertations containing substantial discussions of individual ensembles.9 David Eyler, for example, focuses solely on marimba ensembles comprised of performers who are also the composers and arrangers of their own repertoire. Eyler devotes chapters to the ensembles led by Clair Omar Musser and

Gordon Peters, who were the primary composers and arrangers of their performance repertoire.

In these instances both compositions and performances are addressed, but since the people involved are one in the same, any discussion of collaboration between separate parties is irrelevant. Daniel Moore offers his historical study of Dick Schory’s Percussion Pops Orchestra as only one part of a larger biography addressing Schory’s varied contributions to the percussion field. Moore includes details about the ensemble’s repertoire and how it obtained this music.

Thus, his thesis includes valuable data from which I will offer comparisons with the Group.

However, Moore presents Schory’s collaborations with composers secondarily to the voluminous

9 Lance Drege, “The University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Series and Percussion Press, 1978–99: An Examination of Its History” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 2000); David Eyler, “The History and Development of the Marimba Ensemble in the United States and Its Current Status in College and University Percussion Programs” (DMA thesis, Louisiana State University, 1985); Daniel Moore, “The Impact of Richard L. ‘Dick’ Schory on the Development of the Contemporary Percussion Ensemble” (DMA thesis, University of Kentucky, 2000); and Karl Reiss, “The History of the Blackearth Percussion Group and Their Influence on Percussion Ensemble Literature, Performance, and Pedagogy” (EdD thesis, University of Houston, 1987).

5 biographical material consistent with the author’s interest in other aspects of Schory’s percussion career.

Of the four ensemble-oriented studies, those by Lance Drege and Karl Reiss provide the most consistent focus on singular ensembles. Drege’s research concerns the University of

Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble’s process of commissioning new music. The Oklahoma commissioning series dates from 1978 and has led to the composition of collegiate-level works for ensembles of eight to twelve players.10 While the ensemble of Drege’s thesis differs from the

Group in size and function, his data provides a second point of comparison for this thesis. Reiss initially conceived his thesis as a study of the Group. He contacted the Group’s founder, Allen

Otte, in 1985 and proposed a study of the ensemble’s history and influence on other percussionists.11 However, by 1986, Reiss shifted focus to Otte’s previous group, the Blackearth

Percussion Group (hereafter Blackearth). Reiss’s efforts differ from this thesis in the amount of attention he pays to personnel changes and the dynamics among the Blackearth members. He discusses repertoire, but provides no particular consideration of relationships with composers. In the intervening two decades since Reiss completed his research, neither he nor any other scholars have returned to conduct a parallel study of the Group. The predominance of composition-based studies, biographies of composers, and pedagogical advocacy literature explains the lack of scholarly investigation into the Group, its repertoire, and most importantly, its members’ relationships with composers.

This thesis argues that the roles of composers and performers must receive joint consideration in twentieth-century percussion history. Furthermore, the Group’s relationships

10 Of the works considered in Drege’s study, five are for eight players, eight are for ten players, one is for eleven players, and two are for twelve players. J. Westley Slater’s quartet, Suite for Keyboard Percussion (1979), is the lone exception to the eight-to-twelve player distribution. Drege, 30.

11 Karl Reiss, letter to Allen Otte, 5 November 1985.

6 with composers are unique and explain many of the differences in its creative process, repertory, and ultimately, reception. To provide a baseline from which to judge this, I regularly refer to the ensembles Drege and Moore considered in their respective theses.12 As mentioned above, neither study duplicates mine, nor are these three ensembles precise comparators, but Drege and

Moore’s research provides perspective on the field’s standard practices on topics such as commissioning, rehearsing, contacting composers, altering compositions, and developing repertories. Most importantly, the comparison of the Group to these two different types of percussion ensembles will highlight its significance in the creation and subsistence of compositions and artistic projects previously considered tangential to the history of percussion music.

I introduce the various composers who have collaborated with the Group as they enter the narrative. However, I discuss the performers collectively as the Group, unless I am addressing an incident or opinion of an individual member, in which instance I use their surname. Of the primary performers herein, two have been with the Group for all thirty years: Allen Otte, the

Group’s founder, and James Culley. Three individuals (William Youhass, Jack Brennan, and

Benjamin Toth) occupied the third seat prior to Otte and Culley’s selection of Russell Burge in

June 1992.13

The completion of this thesis required review of all available Group documentation, including correspondence, concert programs, recordings, tax information, and reviews. I conducted interviews with Jack Brennan, Russell Burge, James Culley, Allen Otte, and Benjamin

12 Though Drege’s thesis documents the history of the percussion ensemble program at the University of Oklahoma and not a professional ensemble, it presents substantial evidence of the traditional commissioning process for percussion music. Drege also includes some discussion of the performance history of the works produced through the Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Series.

13 William Youhass performed in the Group from September 1979–May 1985, Jack Brennan from September 1985–January 1987, and Benjamin Toth from January 1987–June 1992.

Toth. Contact with William Youhass was limited to e-mail correspondence. I prepared transcripts of all interviews and shared them with the interviewees for the purposes of revising and expanding their initial comments. The resulting edited transcripts appear in Appendices B–F. I furthermore collated the dates, venues, and titles of performances along with the names of composers and compositions in Appendix I. I sought all publicly available recordings on which the Group appears on one or more tracks. That recording information provided the contents of the discography in Appendix H.

The lack of a scholarly study of the Group’s thirty-year history and its repertoire of over

230 compositions merits the length and depth of this thesis. Furthermore, I venture to provide a model for percussion histories whereby the role of performers, and the degree to which they collaborate with composers, can be thoroughly investigated. In retrospect, the rarity of studies on performer and composer collaboration in twentieth-century percussion music allows events, such as the Detroit Institute of Arts concert, to appear out of the ordinary; whereas, for the Group’s members and the composers with whom they collaborate, they are common.

Chapter 1

Goals

I have real opinions and dedications, and though I consider myself “open minded” and flexible … I have a very good idea of what I have to contribute, how I can contribute that best, and I am willing and able to articulate what it is I’m after and why.

—Allen Otte

Inferring intentions from the comments and writings of composers and performers can prove difficult because of the various personal and professional interests involved; however, the discourse of the past and current members of the Group resembles the more reliable composer writings, which Catherine Cameron has scrutinized.1 In exploring the experimental tradition in twentieth-century American music, Cameron advances the notion that composers used a discourse that was so thorough, voluminous, and internally consistent that some of the skepticism with which scholars often approach such commentary should be relaxed in order to best glean how the composers’ statements are, in fact, often accurate and “hard to ignore.”2 What the experimentalists of Cameron’s study wrote and discussed related to what they were thinking and ultimately doing; thus, their words and deeds formed a unified statement of their goals.

Cameron’s case studies are largely confined to American composers from 1900 to 1975.3 By expanding Cameron’s consideration of experimentalist discourse to the Group, we can see first, that her model effectively extends beyond composers to performers; second, that her model

1 Catherine Cameron, Dialectics in the Arts: The Rise of Experimentalism in American Music (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996).

2 Ibid., 61–62.

3 Ibid., 1. Cameron moves from composers born in the 1900s and 1910s (Babbitt, Cage, Carter, and Copland) to the subsequent generation, composers born in the 1930s (Glass, Oliveros, and Reich). The Group represents the generation that grew up in the 1950s and 1960s.

9 successfully exceeds the first two generations of twentieth-century composers and into its third generation; and third, that differences between the Group and other ensembles are not purely musical. Far beyond the ways the members of the Group perform compositions, approach rehearsals, or mark their scores, they differ from their contemporaries on significant philosophical matters, such as the preferred interaction between composers and performers. The members candidly present these differences in their conversations, correspondence, and interviews, and they include, but are not limited to, how the Group identifies composers for future partnerships, approaches composers about writing new works, prepares new works for first performances, and considers repertoire development. All of these matters make the Group appear to diverge from traditional approaches of comparator ensembles, as evidenced in its reception, the number of new compositions it premieres, and the small number of works it has recorded. These differences are first apparent in the discourse surrounding the formation of the new ensemble.

In September 1977 Blackearth joined CCM as a percussion trio-in-residence. At the time, the ensemble’s three members chose to combine their performance work with teaching lessons, and leading master classes and workshops.4 One year later, two of the three members, Stacey

Bowers and Garry Kvistad, left CCM and dissolved Blackearth at the conclusion of the academic year.5 During Blackearth’s final season, the remaining member, Allen Otte, committed to staying at the university, and after consulting with friends and colleagues, decided to found a new

4 Created as a percussion quartet in 1972, Blackearth regularly fluctuated between three and four members in its seven-year history. Karl Reiss, “The History of the Blackearth Percussion Group and Their Influence on Percussion Ensemble Literature, Performance, and Pedagogy” (EdD thesis, University of Houston, 1987); and “On the Move,” Percussive Notes 16 (Fall 1977): 24.

5 Reiss, 77–78; and Allen Otte, letter to Michael Rosen, 16 October 1978.

10 ensemble.6 By fall 1979, Otte selected William Youhass and James Culley to join him in forming a new trio, and the Group soon after began performing. With three personnel changes since its formation, the Group remains an active trio of performers and educators.7

Over the past thirty years, the Group has amassed a repertoire of compositions developed in close coordination with its partnering composers. At least fifty composers have contributed a new work to the Group’s repertoire, with fifteen of those composers returning to collaborate on multiple projects and new compositions. The process by which the Group created this repertoire sets it apart from similar ensembles. Instead of commissioning new works through a standardized process of drawing up a contract and exchanging a fee for the composer’s music, the Group prefers working as collaborators with composers interested in a non-traditional relationship. Otte describes this approach as “a conspiracy between [the] composer and me.”8 The members’ discussions surrounding the founding of the Group, as well as in more recent interviews, reveal that the crafting of these conspiracies has remained the most consistent feature of the ensemble.

Indeed, the Group’s consistency in this matter makes collaboration between performers and composers a primary goal of the Group.

6 Otte entirely opposed the dissolution of Blackearth and particularly the manner by which his two colleagues decided on their course of action. His correspondence from this period highlights his frustration with the dissolution of Blackearth, his belief that he still had musical goals to accomplish that were similar to the ones started by Blackearth, and his consideration of starting a new ensemble. Allen Otte, letter to Eric Forrester, 4 November 1978; Allen Otte, letter to Michael Rosen, 16 October 1978; Allen Otte, letter to Theodore May, 21 November 1978; and Allen Otte, letter to William Youhass, 22 April 1979.

7 Reiss documents the almost annual changes in Blackearth membership. The relatively few membership changes in the Group are one significant difference in the histories of the two ensembles. See Appendix A, Percussion Group Cincinnati Membership Chart.

8 Otte attributes to Herbert Brün some of the language of “conspiring” with composers, but he describes the term for himself in “Preferences in Percussion - 1973,” Percussionist 11 (March 1974): 89–90; Allen Otte, letter to William Youhass, 22 April 1979; Allen Otte, “NewMusicBox Asks: How Much Detail Do You Expect, Want, and Ultimately Get from Composers in Percussion Scores That You Perform?” NewMusicBox: The Web Magazine from the American Music Center, http://www.newmusicbox.org/page.nmbx?id=60hf08 (accessed 14 December 2006); and Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 285.

Prior to the ensemble’s founding, Otte outlined the goal of collaboration, its advantages and disadvantages, and the means by which it could function. He wrote what Cameron would call “manifesto-like” essays and letters to friends, composers, and fellow percussionists.9 The ideas addressed in these initial writings have been echoed many times by Otte, and by some of the other past and present members of the Group.10 Before considering Otte’s terms and measures, the context in which he wrote and possible methods of interpretation will be addressed.

In 1978 with the conclusion of Blackearth imminent, Otte began soliciting interest in a new chamber percussion trio. In creating this new ensemble, he seized the opportunity to continue, and perhaps with even greater success, fulfill the goals he had established as a founding member of Blackearth.11 His goals, for which fellow founding members Culley and

Youhass signed-on, consisted of radical changes in how to approach, compose, and perform twentieth-century American percussion music. The desire and preparation for these changes are

9 Cameron, 61.

10 Otte’s contributions on this topic include “Preferences,” 89–97; his portion of an interview included in Eugenie Burkett, “The Glory and the Grandeur: Conversations with Russell Peck and the Philidor Percussion Group on Peck’s Concerto for Percussion Ensemble,” Percussive Notes 35 (December 1997): 50–54; “NewMusicBox Asks”; and his letters. Otte is the member with a thorough written record of his thoughts and opinions. This is due in part to his role as the founder of the Group, but also because of his interest in talking and writing about new music. Benjamin Toth has participated in interviews about new works he has performed since leaving the Group, with occasional mention of how these works or compositional approaches relate to the process he learned while in the Group, but he has not written essays in the same way as Otte. Toth’s writings are also focused entirely on musical issues and do not delve into the assorted other topics of Otte’s “Preferences.” The other past and current members of the Group have not contributed such essays about their work with the Group, opinions on contemporary music, or views of the Group’s repertoire. The other members’ comments complimentary to Otte’s essays came in interviews. See, Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, 151–56; and Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 168–76.

11 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 236–39; and Otte, letter to Rosen, 16 October 1978. In this letter, Otte writes of the conclusion of Blackearth, “The whole history of the thing, miserable as so much of it has been, is no evidence whatsoever that the idea and the dream are wrong; none what-so-ever!!” He later continues, “It means only this: my goals can and will only be accomplished on my terms.”

12 traceable back to Otte’s undergraduate experiences at Oberlin Conservatory (1968–72).12

Richard Weiner, Oberlin Conservatory’s percussion instructor, was on campus only once a week, and so Otte spent most of his time with composers and members of the theory faculty. During this period Otte became intensely interested in chamber music and desired the same types of opportunities string players enjoyed. He wanted to work closely with other percussionists and rehearse regularly like the quartets. All of this came to a head during his senior year, when he,

Chris Braun, Garry Kvistad, and Richard Kvistad former Blackearth. Eventually, Otte outlined these views about chamber music in the essay “Preferences in Percussion - 1973.”13 His changes can be broken down into three overlapping categories, all of which were the foundation for both

Blackearth and the Group.

The first change dealt with the convergence of music production and Otte’s socio- political views. He believed that performers and composers should not separate themselves from the larger world in which they live. Thus, their political, social, and economic beliefs had to carry over directly to the approach they took to their musical lives.14 Otte wrote, “It is at least as important to speak of music (in general, or a specific composition) in relationship to society, as it is to speak about some given music relationship to the world of music. I insist that my profession be relevant to the world in which I function; and I believe it is as simple as that.”15 Otte believed that most contemporary American art music had become all too frequently modeled on corporations, with orchestras forming hierarchies and chamber music groups considering

12 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 240.

13 See n. 8.

14 Otte, “Preferences,” 89.

15 Ibid. 13 marketing more than art. The solution to these problems, according to Otte, was a series of steps to ensure collective ownership, creation, and decision-making through consensus.

Otte believed that the issues requiring change were not solely ideological. He also maintained that new American music had been so significantly pushed aside that performances of the best new works were often being done in the worst of circumstance, with ensembles little prepared to execute the material. Otte’s perceived lack of high-quality performances provided the fertile ground for the second aspect of change: the need for intense focus on the performance of percussion chamber music. His solution was to have the performers of percussion chamber music achieve the same high level of training as the best orchestral players or the finest string quartets.16 While Otte’s desire to unify musical function with his life in the modern world motivates the first category of change, and views about performance practice compel the second, the third is the most process-oriented: getting composers and performers to collaborate without limitations.

Otte assumed that many composers might not know as much about the nuance of percussion instruments and their capabilities as would he and his colleagues. The results of a composer remaining unable to communicate the sound he desired, or remaining unfamiliar with all of the instrumental possibilities available, were, according to Otte, dramatic limitations in the quality and scope of the repertoire. Similarly, if performers could not understand all that a

16 Otte and his colleagues frequently hold up renowned string quartets as their model. Otte first addressed this topic in his letter to Eric Forrester, 4 November 1978: “Let me turn to the second so-called important point, which is the analogy to the string quartet. This analogy was mine from the start, and, as I approach the ripe old age of 29, I realize more and more its significance to me, and its peripheral import to those who do not share that particular dream.” He repeated this idea in his letter to Youhass, where he wrote, “Let me turn to the second important point—the analogy to the string quartet. This analogy has been mine from the start, and, as I approach the ripe old age of 30, I realize more and more its significance to me, and its peripheral import to those past members who have not shared that particular dream.” Almost thirty years later, Otte still talks about this model. See Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 237, 239, and 244. Other members similarly addressed this topic. See Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, 123, 129, and 157; and Appendix F, Transcript of Interview with Benjamin Toth, 451 and 457.

14 composer was asking for, Otte believed they were limited in what they could produce. With percussion chamber music then a relatively new field, it was unreasonable, maintained Otte, to expect composers to know how to write as well for brake drum as they did for violin. His solution was for composers and performers to form collaborative relationships, which would develop over a long period of time. Instead of a composer completing a piece and mailing it to the performers, Otte yearned for frequent and detailed discussions about finding the correct instruments, choosing the means of notation, and achieving a superior performance. He wanted to learn what composers wanted from him, and he sought to teach them about percussionists’ capabilities. He ventured to obliterate any real or imagined barriers between the composer and performer, and instead forge an ongoing relationship where the two would teach each other.17

Otte likes to “want what the composer wants.”18

Another aspect of this collaboration dealt with practical matters of administering the ensemble. Otte believed individual performers within an ensemble could have independent roles and take on positions of leadership for the various administrative tasks, even while all members remained equally part of the artistic endeavor. This reflects one difference between the function of Blackearth and that of the Group. Culley and Youhass, as well as subsequent members of the

Group, knew that they were each sharing in a third of the responsibility for the ensemble; however, that did not mean that everyone was involved in making every decision by consensus.

Otte, for example, remains the primary contact with composers, since the world of new music is

17 Otte writes, “As an alternative to ‘doing your own thing,’ or an alternative way of doing it, percussionists must become collectively aware of their position, both in the system and in the world of music. I further suggest that this ‘conspiracy’ must be expanded to include composers.” He continues, “If and when performers accept the invitation of composers who share this same awareness of their situation in society, there exists the opportunity for mutual support and a consequent strength in the statement because of its collectivity.” Otte, “Preferences,” 90.

18 Otte, “NewMusicBox Asks.” Otte regularly describes similar sentiments. Thirty years earlier he wrote, “If the performer will clearly determine what his criteria are, he will be able to recognize when both he and a composer want the same thing ….” Otte, “Preferences,” 90.

15 his area of greatest interest, and Culley handles all matters of the Group’s taxes and financial records. In discussions with past and current members, they all viewed this model as allowing the right person to handle the right task, at the right time.19

The goals of the Group, even when divided into the three categories above, contain countless sub-points and distinctions, which come through most clearly in the members’ discourse. With it being so voluminous and covering a variety of formats, including correspondence, essays, and interviews, I have paired the positions of the Group with those of the experimentalist composers in Cameron’s study. For each area, Cameron’s results are compared to the Group’s discourse, and the latter’s comments are put in context of the Group’s history and function. As the hold-over member from Blackearth and the founder of the Group,

Otte is the most common source of this discourse.20 He was the person with “the dream” for this ensemble, and he had a lot he wanted to present.21 He also had needed to put these thoughts in writing, so he could solicit possible new members.

19 Appendix F, Transcript of Interview with Benjamin Toth, 407 and 460. Otte prescribed this model: “At any given moment or circumstance, someone is functioning in the role of leader, which necessarily implies a following posture by the others. These roles can and are continually shifting through various times and circumstances, but one can certainly observe a ‘trend’ over longer periods of time, which, if nothing else, is directly related to personalities.” Otte, letter to Forrester, 4 November 1978.

20 Those who joined the Group did not inherently agree with every one of Otte’s beliefs, since their decisions may have been influenced by a whole variety of factors including the desire for a job, the desire to perform quality chamber music, or their desire to teach; however, their accepting a position after Otte provided all of the commentary and information that he did, makes it reasonable to assume that they were at least willing to go along with the premise of the ensemble. And, in fact, during interviews most of the members demonstrated that they were accepting of, in agreement with, and pleased to be a part of the type of ensemble Otte was leading. One of the few examples to the contrary would be Benjamin Toth’s advocacy of the Group accepting at least some level of corporate sponsorship. Aside from this instance, it remains difficult to find an instance when a member of the Group opposed Otte’s broad philosophical, ideological, or aesthetic issues. The other members had views that were in consort with Otte’s discourse, as is the case with Culley; or were most interested in the musical goals, but participated willingly in the model set out in the discourse, as was the case with Youhass and Toth. Still others navigate the land between these points, which is the case with Brennan and Burge.

21 Otte, letter to Rosen, 16 October 1978.

All the composers Cameron sampled believed that change was needed (for one reason or another) in American music production.22 They expressed this desire for change in “dramatic assertions,” “calls for action,” and in the forms of “manifesto-like” essays and commentary.23

Though the risk for simplification is high, Cameron claims that in seeking change, many of the composers were acknowledging that they had some type of distaste of the existing “tradition” in their field.24 Otte’s discourse on this topic is robust. His “Preferences in Percussion - 1973” first introduces the idea of a manifesto. He presents the following systematic problems: “We currently exist in a social-political system where its own maintenance seems to come before that of its elements. It maintains problems which perpetuate it (capitalistic exploitation, war, inflation …) and solves the problems which assail it (factions—its word, not ours—such as unrestful students).”25 Otte then situates specific issues for percussionists within this socio-political context: “These concepts (manufacturer, capitalist, etc.) are the problem, which our system maintains thereby exploiting percussionists (and composers), who are forced to accept poor quality instruments at exorbitant prices.”26 The rest of the percussion community ignored or avoided these issues. In fact, one of the central figures of the two comparative models in this thesis, Dick Schory, was involved in forming elementary and high school percussion ensembles, and then working with the Ludwig Company to develop student-quality instruments to sell to schools through large contracts.27

22 Cameron, 61.

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid., 62.

25 Otte, “Preferences,” 89.

26 Ibid., 90.

27 Moore, 14–27.

What Schory and countless others involved themselves in was the exact “tradition” (to use Cameron’s word) that the Group opposed, but this was not the only part of the tradition that

Otte viewed as problematic:

[Let’s] consider the percussion world around us. I could then say that its “just fine” that Lou Harrison has his American Gamelan with the pseudo-Indonesian music and instruments; just fine that some people feel an entire career could now be made by combining “music-of-slow-changes” (Reich/Riley, et al.) with the microtonal instruments of Harry Partch—or some such hybrid of intonations and eight notes; that four Los Angeles jobbers [The Repercussion Unit] have what they call a “professional” percussion quartet; that various traditions of hand drumming, Indian, African, others, might be combined with the rhythmic structure of Northern and Southern Indian musics in a cross- cultural percussion ensemble; that Nexus has made a very marketable “product” out of collecting the most beautiful instruments from around the world and simply improvising on them, and that their tremendous emphasis on xylophone rags serves to further their seeming intent of promoting the “enjoyable” with “the beautiful” entertainment; all these and many more we could think of only then serve to define all the more clearly what is needed from me and the group that I continue to strive for: to bring to contemporary percussion the skill and refinement found in the percussion section of many symphony orchestras, and to bring the skill and refinement of chamber music performance as found in many string quartets into a synthesis of these two levels—individual and group—of technical achievement ….28

Otte carried these ideas over into much of his early correspondence about the Group. In an initial exchange with Youhass, Otte bypassed a short letter of invitation and opted instead for a four- page detailed review of ideological and aesthetic issues, which concluded with a challenge for

Youhass to respond with a similarly detailed response to his points. In the letter, he described in great specificity what he had in mind for the Group, how it would approach music, how they would work together:

Given that the concept of collective productivity is (depending upon the context) at least, or, at most, a by-product of ensemble music, the “collective” must first be defined as those points where the members agree (after however much thinking, discussion, and rethinking) they can support one another; this in significant contradiction to each person “doing his own thing” with the help of others; i.e., I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine.29

28 Otte, letter to Youhass, 22 April 1979.

29 Ibid.

Otte continued:

The only definition within which I can work is rather this: that within the total sphere of interests we each would have, we ascertain that segment—which would have to be a notable percentage—where we sufficiently coincide, and it is within that sphere of interests that the productivity of the collaboration is realized …. This then is the delimitation/definition of what the particular ensemble of collaborators (or here we could say co-conspirators) will accomplish ….30

Beyond defining the issues, Otte also follows another characteristic that Cameron identified; he places specific focus on a “struggle against formidable odds.”31 In the excerpts above, he placed himself and his proposed ensemble against what he perceived as all of the other trends in percussion music and contemporary music. He also placed his model ensemble against what he considered to be the vast system of percussion-oriented businesses and corporations. The

Percussive Arts Society (hereafter PAS) embodied the problem as Otte perceived it: an organization dominated by business people, educators, and performers focused on making profits, more than advocating for improved percussion music. As early as 1978, Otte placed himself at odds with this society. Otte wrote:

At the end of the month I’ll be at the PAS thing in Tempe, where of course the rumor that Blackearth is folding will be more rampant than ever. (We hear it every year without fail, but this year it’ll have an extra glee to it I’m supposing.) So what do I do … how honest and out front can I be with all these drum teachers about my present situation and my future plans and goals? And besides, who of them can really help me?32

30 Ibid. Youhass does not recall responding in a similar fashion, instead noting: “I didn’t approach music that way. I just played music. Why does ‘contemporary Western music’ have to have a role?” Youhass also stated, “I never had any interest in the socio/political aspects of music … Al did, not me.” Youhass, e-mail to author, 28 July 2008.

31 Cameron, 70.

32 Otte, letter to Rosen, 16 October 1978.

In keeping with what Cameron shares as a characteristic response, the Group places themselves as holding a “hard-line position” against what it believes are oppressive forces, in this case the

PAS.33

If the Group’s financial support was not to come from drum companies or the PAS, then there had to be an alternative fiscal model. So, like many of Cameron’s respondents, the Group required a non-restrictive academic patron. The University of Cincinnati has supported the entirety of the Group’s output. During hours of interviews, all of the past and current members regularly brought up the role CCM plays in the life of the Group. They openly discussed their opposition to spending hours writing grants and tracking down patrons. Also, the Group refuses to have any form of corporate sponsorship, whether that is program advertisements or endorsements of particular pieces of equipment. Current member Russell Burge contrasted the

Group’s relationship to CCM to drum corporations and the PAS:

There are times when we feel not as accepted as maybe we should be [in the percussion community] and so that is disappointing, but … the corporate nature of the PAS plays a big part in the organization and that has separated us. But then there are also good parts of the organization and good people, and playing last year [2006] was great—we had a really good audience and we were well received …. I don’t have any regrets of any of this … we have been lucky enough to have this job [at CCM] and our rehearsal studio, and so in a way it has all worked out. We’ve been supported by the University and the whole idea of a percussion trio-in-residence is not something that just happens. It may never happen again.34

The Group’s other goals would have remained unobtainable without the members’ teaching positions at CCM, and so understandably this is why Otte insisted on maintaining the trio-in- residence status after Blackearth disbanded.

33 Otte also alludes to his opposition to what he sees as the goals of the PAS: “What is needed now is an advancement in the art of composing for percussion, rather than the sustenance of the percussive arts.” Otte, “Preferences,” 91.

34 Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, 159.

Cameron concludes her fourth chapter by pointing out that her respondents “saw words as a tool for action.” 35 She explains: “The radical discourse is not just simple talk. It tends to be highly organized and internally consistent, and it alternately explains positions or exhorts people to action.”36 This is very much the nature of the Group’s discourse. It may seem like much of the

Group’s history can be explained in musical terms, but the discourse reveals the shortcomings of using a purely musical model to interpret this history. Personalities were important. Politics were important.37 Beliefs, willingness to be a part of a system, and the consistency of a dream were

(and remain) all important. Coincidentally, Cameron began her ethnographic study at the

University of Illinois, the other academic institution where the Group holds deep connections.

Two of the Group’s most ardent supporters, percussionist Tom Siwe and composer Herbert

Brün, taught at the University of Illinois. Siwe remains a rarity in that he advocates for the Group while also holding offices in the PAS.38 Moreover, Otte claims Brün as a musical father figure.39

The Group sat in his classes, requested his feedback, and benefited from his connections in the contemporary music world. Until Brün’s passing, the Group often traveled to Illinois for

35 Cameron, 81.

36 Ibid.

37 Otte wrote to Rosen about the possibility of having to find two new colleagues with whom to form the Group: “Personnel: who comes to mind when I define the criteria of musicianship, experience, politics, enthusiasm and hard work, connections and credentials, aesthetics/composition, instrument collection, complementary qualities- experiences to mine?” Otte, letter to Rosen, 16 October 1978; also in Otte, letter to Theodore May, 21 November 1978, he writes of the fate of Blackearth and the prospects of forming a new ensemble, “Well what does Marx have to say about all of this: ‘mankind (and percussion groups) always takes up only such problems as it can solve, since, looking at the matter more closely, we will always find that the problem itself arrives only when the material conditions necessary for its solution already exist, or are at least in the process of formation.’” He continues, “Politically, of course, the solo percussionist (performer) doesn’t hold a candle to the concept and potential/actualities of a percussion ensemble.”

38 Siwe served as PAS president from 1984–86. His relationship with Otte goes back to the Blackearth era, when he secured funding for Blackearth to serve as a University of Illinois ensemble-in-residence prior to their move to Northern Illinois University.

39 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 257–58 and 270.

21 performances, residencies, and recording.40 Thus, the birthplace of the discourse Cameron observed, serves, in many ways, as a surrogate home for the Group. Additionally, of the thirty- four experimentalist composers included in Cameron’s study, the Group’s repertoire contains pieces by seven of them.41 Of those seven, four have composed new works specifically for the

Group.42

In founding the Group, Otte had “real opinions and dedications.”43 These opinions and dedications undergird all aspects of the ensemble’s history. The members’ actions, projects, compositions, and relationships correspond, often directly, to Otte’s discourse. Their goal during the past thirty years has been to radically change the ways and means of crafting new percussion music in America. To do so, they crafted new approaches to their musical and professional lives, which integrated both their musical and aesthetic ideas and Otte’s views about how an ensemble should function.

40 Benjamin Toth even credits his graduate student status at the University of Illinois, and his friendships with the Illinois percussion and composition faculty as primary reasons he was offered a position in the Group. Appendix F, Transcript of Interview with Benjamin Toth, 401.

41 Cameron, 64. The seven composers are John Cage, Elliott Carter, Barney Childs, Steve Reich, Frederick Rzewski, Christian Wolff, and Charles Wuorinen.

42 John Cage, Barney Childs, Frederick Rzewski, and Charles Wuorinen each composed a new work for the Group.

43 Otte, letter to Forrester, 4 November 1978. See Chapter 1 epigraph.

Chapter 2

Composers

The members of the Group use the string-quartet analogy, initially introduced by Allen

Otte, to describe significant aspects of how they approach rehearsal and performance issues.1 In these matters, the members employ language similar to, in their words, that of the “world’s finest quartets.” For example, most professional chamber musicians would share the sentiments of

Russell Burge in discussing the importance of reading from a score and listening, when performing without a conductor, or James Culley’s comment about thoroughly knowing each other’s tendencies.2 However, comparisons between the Group and the likes of the Emerson or

Guarneri Quartets diverge when considering the commissioning of new works. These prominent string quartets commission pieces from the most notable composers of the twentieth century:

William Bolcom, Lukas Foss, Andre Prévin, Ned Rorem, Joan Tower, et al.3 The notoriety of the

1 See Chapter 1, n. 16.

2 Burge commented: “Of course, percussion music can be successfully performed with a conductor, but when you take away the conductor, then everyone obviously needs to rely more on what they are hearing and they need to react more to each other. We have been seeing this type of interaction with string quartets, well, forever. I think that idea of listening and reacting applies to string quartets, but in a sense it is even more important for percussion chamber music, because when there are lots of instruments or big setups involved, then being able to read from a score requires a set of skills, or even a whole methodology, for marking your parts …. Playing this type of music affects our teaching a lot. We try to get students to listen, to open up their ears.” Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, 124. Culley, in speaking about bringing additional players into the ensemble for quartet or quintet performances, said, “We’ve occasionally done something where a graduate student does a piece with us. I think, however, we would do that more often if we weren’t already so tight. And I don’t mean tight personality wise, but in the sense of we know each other’s playing really well. This sort of synergistic thing we have with the three people is only really disturbed by the addition of any outside player.” Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 184.

3 The Emerson Quartet’s commissions include Mario Davidovsky’s String Quartet No. 4 (1979), Gunther Schuller’s String Quartet No. 3 (1986), Edgar Meyer’s Quintet for String Quartet and Double Bass (1995), Ned Rorem’s String Quartet No. 4 (1995), Ellen Taaffe Zwillich’s String Quartet No. 2 (1998), Andre Prévin’s String Quartet with Soprano (2003), Joan Tower’s Incandescent (2003), Kaija Saariaho’s Terra Memoria (2007), and Bright Sheng’s String Quartet No. 5, “The Miraculous” (2007). The Guarneri Quartet’s commissions include Richard Danielpour’s Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra (2000) and String Quartet No. 5, “In Search of La Vita Nuova” (2003); Lukas Foss’s String Quartet No. 5 (2001); and William Bolcom’s Octet: Double Quartet (2008).

23 quartets, and the resources they control, allow for well-financed commissioning projects involving composers with the most established reputations.4 Typically absent from such lists are students earning degrees, friends from college composing in their spare time, and self-publishing academic composers—the people the Group turns to for new works.5

Otte remains the principal source for repertoire recommendations. His passions and abilities in the realm of new music lead him to assist members of the CCM composition faculty in teaching some composition students. Unlike Culley and Burge, who keep offices near the

Group’s studio and the percussion practice rooms, Otte maintains an office in CCM’s electronic music wing. He candidly discusses his desire to guide the Group’s repertoire, and the members acknowledge the role he plays.6 However, as with most matters of the Group’s administration, no governing document exists on this topic. The members do not expressly tell each other that any one person may or may not present repertoire ideas; rather, the members instinctively recognize that this is one of Otte’s strengths and his area of greatest interest.7 Furthermore, Otte maintains personal friendships with many of the Group’s composers.

4 Arnold Steinharbt, the Guarneri Quartet’s first violinist, revealed details of the ensemble’s finances in his biography of the quartet. Steinharbt describes his initial realization of earning significant personal income and the ability of the quartet to gather steadily increasing funds for new projects. Arnold Steinhardt, Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1998), 238–41. The Emerson Quartet affords most of its commissioning projects through funds provided by chamber music societies and festivals, such as the Carnegie Hall Foundation’s support of Prévin’s quartet or South Mountain Concerts and Bard College’s support of Tower’s Incandescent, as well as through competitive awards, such as their receipt of the 2004 Avery Fisher Prize, which included $10,000 for a new project.

5 William Bolcom taught at the University of Michigan from 1973–2008, but since Hal Leonard and Theodore Presser published the vast majority of his compositions, his œuvre achieved broader distribution and performance than generally the case for a self-publishing academic composer. Otte commented: “We were more interested in asking our friends to write for us, than in needing to track down whoever was the next biggest name ….” Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 238.

6 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 374–79; and Appendix F, Transcript of Interview with Benjamin Toth, 408–9.

7 Occasionally, other members present pieces for the Group’s programs and those receive consideration, and in some cases become central to the repertoire. This was the case with Minoru Miki’s Marimba Spiritual (1984), 24

While the Group’s repertoire is filled with works by composers of different generations, styles, and careers, the common denominator between most of them is a physical proximity to

Otte. The Group’s list of collaborating composers includes Otte’s students, colleagues, friends, and occasionally professional acquaintances.8 The Group prefers to work in cooperation with composers, and it is difficult to have a collaborative relationship in the way Otte defines it, if the composers and performers rarely see each other. Moreover, Otte admits to his yearning for involvement in this part of the creation. He enjoys being a part of the compositional process and would feel uncomfortable if that was removed, either by a composer excluding opportunities for input or his colleagues proposing the majority of the repertoire decisions.9

Beyond Otte’s concerns over creative input, the Group’s relationships with composers differ from those of the notable string quartets, because of the trio’s limited financial resources.

The Group remains appreciative for its residency status at CCM, and while faculty appointments provide salaries, practice and performance facilities, and basic support, they do not include funding for commissioning new works. Furthermore, the Group opposes the traditional fiscal plans of most professional ensembles. Otte openly claims to be “unwilling and incapable” of living as the type of performer who goes around asking for money to support the Group.10 In situations when the Group has benefited from financial awards, they resulted from the grant-

which Benjamin Toth recommended, and an arrangement of George Gershwin’s “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess (1935) crafted by Russell Burge.

8 See Appendix G, for the Group’s complete repertoire.

9 In response to the author’s question, “Am I correct in saying that the other members can bring in new musical material if they want? No one has been barred from doing so, but this remains traditionally your role. If one of the other guys brought in a piece, it would have been looked at, discussed together, and treated the same way as anything else the three of you have dealt with?” Otte responded, “It would have been, yes, but it would have made me very uncomfortable, and that’s just a personal admission.” Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 376.

10 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 270 and 361.

25 writing efforts of collaborating composers or conductors. In the even rarer cases when the Group has received direct contributions, they came from close friends, not philanthropic organizations or corporate sponsorship.11 The Group acknowledges the need of composers to earn a living, but eschews raising funds for the commissioning of new works. The composers it commissions receive no financial compensation unless they have applied for their own grants or are gainfully employed through CCM or other academic institutions. Thus, there are other reasons and incentives for such collaborations, and understanding those requires further exploration of the composers involved.

Friends from Otte’s undergraduate years have contributed many of the earliest works in the Group’s repertoire. These friendships began when college classmates performed contemporary music on each others’ recitals. Otte eventually requested the others to compose new works for Blackearth and, later, the Group. Otte met Michael Kowalski, for instance, while at Oberlin Conservatory. A decade later, Kowalski contributed two works to the Group’s repertoire: Rebus (1980) and Gringo Blaster (1988–89). The Group has performed these works at least forty times in concert, and countless additional performances of Rebus occurred as part of an outreach program the Group takes to elementary schools called “Music from Scratch.” While

Kowalski’s music has seen many performances from the Group, his are not compositions associated with other professional chamber ensembles. He has spent the majority of his career employed in the worlds of finance and computer technology, having already held positions with several computer graphics firms by the time he contributed his first work to the Group. This part- time composer with a dual life was an ideal fit for the Group, since Otte and Kowalski knew

11 Such contributions never resulted from organized fundraising efforts.

26 each other well enough that they indeed could “want the same thing”—one of Otte’s primary goals—and comfortably communicate about the compositional process.12

While renowned chamber ensembles appear to seek composers with significant credentials, including long lists of prior compositions and successful projects; these are not the

Group’s criteria. The lack of such criteria does not mean that its composers lack qualifications.

To the contrary, the Group maintains high standards for its repertoire. The members scrutinize every composition that crosses their music stands. They are not bashful about rejecting part or all of a new composition if they feel it is poorly conceived or constructed.13 They take a frank approach when offering feedback to composers. That Otte is comfortable with a composer, because of their shared background, does not imply musical nepotism; rather, it means that the two of them can more quickly obtain Otte’s goal of knowing and achieving each others’ musical desires, as was the case with Kowalski.

Some of Otte’s other college-era friends became educators, such as William DeFotis,

Charles Lipp, and Theodore May. The latter described the three of them and Otte as a coterie— friends brought together in the early 1970s with common interests, most significantly as

“disciples” of Herbert Brün, who served on the University of Illinois faculty from 1962 to

1987.14 Otte moved to Urbana in 1972 with Blackearth.15 Friendships developed between the

12 “If the performer will clearly determine what his criteria are, he will be able to recognize when both he and a composer want the same thing ….” Allen Otte, “Preferences in Percussion - 1973,” Percussionist 11 (March 1974): 90.

13 See Chapter 3 for examples of rejected and significantly amended compositions.

14 Theodore May, “Connie,” Simian Simmerings: The Weblog of Theo May, entry posted August 2005, http://www.theomay.net/connie.html (accessed 1 April 2009).

15 Tom Siwe arranged for Blackearth to maintain a modest residency position at the University of Illinois, which amounted to all of the Blackearth members sharing the salary from a single faculty position. Karl Reiss, “The History of the Blackearth Percussion Group and Their Influence on Percussion Ensemble Literature, Performance, and Pedagogy” (EdD thesis, University of Houston, 1987), 41–42.

27 coterie in the short time they spent attending Brün’s seminars and hanging out in his office and home.16 Indeed, the situation provided time for Otte to get to know these composers and for them to share ideas on musical and non-musical issues. When Otte formed the Group, his friendships with DeFotis, Lipp, and May provided fertile soil for collaborations. DeFotis composed

Continuous Showing for Blackearth in 1978, but with the ensemble’s dissolution a few months later, this became one of the first works that the Group rehearsed, performed, and recorded.17

Lipp also contributed a work to the Group’s repertoire: Composition for Marimba, Six Hands

(1992). However, the most fruitful relationship was with May, whose para-DIDDLE (1979) became the most regularly performed work during the Group’s second season.18

Despite Otte’s strong opinions about the history of Blackearth, and especially its dissolution, he brought both compositions dedicated to his former ensemble and works composed by his former colleagues into the Group’s repertoire. Brün’s “at loose ends: [sic]

(1974) and More Dust with Percussion (1977) and William Albright’s Take That (1972) exemplify the former; while Stacey Bowers’s Listen to the Rolling Thunder (1982) and Michael

Udow’s Four Movements for Percussion Trio (1975, rev. 1979) are examples of the latter.

However, the tension between Otte and Bowers over the dissolution of Blackearth compromised any ability to quickly regain a close collaboration. Bowers’s composition entered the performance repertory only in 1989, seven years after its completion, and it saw only three

16 The coterie was only together for one academic year, 1972–73. May left in 1973.

17 Continuous Showing appeared on programs from 1980–89, and the Group included it on the 1981 LP, The Percussion Group Cincinnati: Music of Herbert Brün, Theodore May, Stephen Mosko, Takayoshi Yoshioka, William DeFotis, Jonathan Kramer, Russell Peck, Christian Wolff, and Michael Udow. See Appendix H, Percussion Group Cincinnati Discography.

18 During the 1980–81 season, May’s para-DIDDLE saw eighteen performances and four more the following year.

28 performances.19 And since Bowers did not compose Rolling Thunder specifically for the Group, it is unlike many of the compositions contributed to its repertoire. Conversely, Udow revised

Four Movements specifically for the Group, and they performed the new version immediately.

Over a span of eight seasons (1980–88), Four Movements saw forty-nine performances. Since

Udow was an early member of Blackearth and one who had left the ensemble prior to the messy conclusion, it was easier for him and Otte to maintain contact.20

Russell Peck is another composer Otte met early in his career, prior to the founding of the

Group. After its short stint at the University of Illinois, Blackearth moved to Northern Illinois

University, where soon thereafter Peck joined the composition faculty. When Peck stopped by a

Blackearth rehearsal to introduce himself, Otte recognized his name from the dedication of

Albright’s Take That.21 Otte mentioned the piece to Peck, who was unaware of it. Peck grew furious when he saw the score, since he believed that Albright had ripped him off and included a sarcastic dedication to boot.22 Peck insisted that Otte look at his comparable composition, which predated Albright’s by six years. Blackearth began performing Peck’s Lift-Off! (1966), but the work has now become closely associated with the Group. It is the trio’s most frequently performed composition, with at least 125 concert appearances and many more for children’s concerts and demonstrations. The time spent together at Northern Illinois University and the

19 The Group performed Listen to the Rolling Thunder on 17 January 1989, 25 February 1989, and 15 March 1989.

20 Udow’s name even surfaced as a possible member for the Group. Allen Otte, letter to Michael Rosen, 16 October 1978.

21 On the published score, Albright included the epigraph “to Russell Peck,” but also wrote a dedication to Blackearth.

22 Peck’s Lift-Off! and Albright’s Take That display some similarities: both consist of eight to ten minutes of chamber drumming with momentum-building unison passages and accents exchanged between the performers. Peck scored Lift-Off! for three players each with three drums. Albright scored Take That for four players each with four drums. Beyond these similarities, Peck read Albright’s epigraph and title as an affront: “to Russell Peck, Take That.”

29 subsequent knowledge of the Group’s fondness for Lift-Off! led Peck to approached Otte in 1987 with an idea for another project. Peck had received a commission from the Greensboro

Symphony Orchestra for a new work, and his proposal to Otte was to write a concerto for percussion trio and orchestra.23 The resulting composition, The Glory and the Grandeur: A

Concerto for Percussion Trio and Orchestra (1988), became another of the Group’s most repeated offerings, including over fifty concert performances with thirty-six orchestras in both

North America and Asia.

Peck bridged two categories of collaborators: he was both a person from Otte’s early career (the period stretching from his college days through the Blackearth era, 1968–78), as well as one of Otte’s first faculty colleagues.24 These two types of relationships complemented each other. Occupying a common location, spending time together, and ultimately sharing mutual interests were crucial to the relationships from Otte’s time at Oberlin, the University of Illinois, and Northern Illinois University. The relationships formed since the Group’s founding at CCM also include these features. At CCM the Group has played works composed by fellow or former faculty members Frederick Bianchi, Michael Fiday, Darrell Handel, Mara Helmuth, Joel

Hoffman, Jonathan Kramer, Gerhard Samuel, and Allen Sapp. These relationships demonstrate many of Otte’s ideas about forming a community of composers and performers who work together:

Given the vast amount of music available today, no one should go unaware of his opportunity to conspire with another musician (the composer) in achieving a desired and desirable end, to their mutual benefit. The following connections help clarify my conclusion …. There is the music of composers who are related to any given performer in

23 See Chapter 3 for specific details about the collaborative compositional process of this concerto.

24 Even though Otte resided at the University of Illinois while Brün was teaching there, he became far more of a musical father figure for Otte. That relationship differed from the collegial one establish with Peck and the various relationships Otte nurtured at CCM.

the immediate senses of age and location. To further understanding, communication, and mutual support, a performer might choose to play the music of his colleagues.25

The physical nearness provides a benefit to both parties in the form of immediate access to each others’ ideas and feedback. Composers may inquire about aspects of instrumentation and notation. The Group easily responds to the composers throughout the rehearsal process. Not all of these relationships have required the depth of friendships previously discussed, but some have. Collaborations with Bianchi, Fiday, Handel, Hoffman, and Sapp resulted in infrequent performances of only one or two works; whereas, those with Helmuth, Kramer, and Samuel provided many performances of compositions central to the Group’s repertoire.26

The Group also looked beyond CCM’s composition faculty for new works. Composition students have contributed some of the most regularly performed works in its repertoire, and several have maintained close friendships with the members. Mark Saya was a student who Otte met in 1979 when they collaborated on The Murphy Sonata for solo vibraphone, which Saya composed and Otte premiered.27 This relationship extended past one of a teacher mentoring a student to become a friendship, where they regularly recommended books to each other, attended performances together, and discussed their opinions on new compositions, music in general, and assorted personal topics.28 Both love Frédéric Chopin’s piano music and are as interested in the

25 Otte, “Preferences,” 90–91.

26 For matters of compositional process, especially regarding the Group’s collaboration with Kramer, see Chapter 3.

27 Otte performed this solo work on several of the Group’s performances: 11 April 1981, 12 January 1982, 2 October 1984, 9 October 1984, 3 November 1984, 6 November 1984, 27 November 1984, and 7 May 1988.

28 Otte describes the relationship as a very close friendship: “Mark Saya, who is someone I adore as a person and as a thinker ….” Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 288.

31 music of Johann Sebastian Bach as they are in the compositions of John Cage.29 Neither needed to enter into contractual obligations in order to collaborate on new music. So despite composing three large collections for the Group, Saya and Otte never drew up commissioning documents.30

Saya’s friendship with Otte was complemented by a friendship between the student composer and Culley, who rehearsed and conducted Snowtime (1982), Saya’s piece for four percussionists and string quartet. In many ways, Saya’s initial status as a student composer eager to gain feedback and receive quality performances of his works meant that he was ideally suited for collaborating with the Group. Saya has gained neither monetary benefit nor commercial recordings from the Group. The benefit to both parties came in the form of a lesson Otte passes on to anyone who inquires about such collaborations. Jack Brennan recalled:

I remember this was a really excellent example of something Al always said about the benefit of working with living composers: your contact with them not only influences how you play that person’s music, but it can even influence how you play Beethoven [or any deceased composer]. Things as basic as metronome markings … take on a whole new light after working with a living composer. Mark would write specific metronome markings and then he would hear us play the piece at the tempo he provided and would realize that the way he was hearing it in his head was a little different from how it sounded when we played at the tempo on the page. And in those cases, we could make adjustments, and it would be fine ….31

The friendship that developed between the Group and Saya was so strong, and the members’ enthusiasm for Imaginary Beings so positive, that while the entire work required too much

29 Saya and Otte’s mutual love of Chopin’s piano music provided encouragement for Saya to adapt his solo piano composition Five Preludes Revisited, a collection based on Chopin’s Préludes, Op. 28, into his percussion trio Seven Preludes Revisited.

30 Saya composed three collections, Preludes Revisited (1985–91), Bachanons (1996), and From the Book of Imaginary Beings (1985–94), each comprised of short movements performable individually or collectively. All three collections were composed, amended, and revised over multiple years.

31 Appendix B, Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan, 106.

32 equipment to take on the road, they still regularly programmed at least one movement on touring concerts from March 1988 through May 1991.32

Saya was one of the first students to compose for the Group, but he has not been the only one. The type of relationship he developed with the Group has become a model in the ensemble’s history. The relationships with Michael Barnhart, Jahn Beukes, Moiya Callahan, Bob

Clendenen, Eugene Novotney, Alan Sentman, Charles Sepos, Jennifer Stasack, and Martin

Sweidel all share the same trajectory: students turned collaborators. The student composers received significant feedback and had regular access to the knowledge and experience of the

Group’s members. They also heard performances of their works, which came after thoughtful and thorough preparation.33 Moreover, they were treated as equals in a collaborative process.

Comparing the number of performances of student compositions with the number of performances of compositions by full-time, professional composers evinces their importance to the Group. It has performed works by Saya on at least seventy concerts and those by Beukes on at least thirty occasions. This number of performances rivals the Group’s performances of pieces by John Cage and Lou Harrison. Conversely, the one performance of Sentman’s Book between

Bookends (1999) is comparable to the lone performance of Charles Wourinen’s Percussion

32 Otte commented about the appearances of single movements from the collection: “The one that we did take, I think it was in part a gesture of wanting to keep Mark included on the programs, just because of the positive personal relationship, and it was good for him ….” Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 391. The two movements used for these single-movement performances were “The Fauna of Mirrors” and “The Lamed Wufniks.” In October 1995 single performances of one of the later movements, “Tigre Capiangos,” began appearing on programs. The Group performed single Imaginary Being movements on every spring and fall tour from 3 March 1988 until 21 June 1991. The thirty-two single-movement performances account for over half of the total number of concert presentations of From the Book of Imaginary Beings.

33 Barnhart received at least twenty performances of Breathing Drum (1991, rev. 2003), which in 2010 is still an active composition in the Group’s repertory, and two performances of Singing Bridge (2000, rev. 2007); Beukes received at least thirty-two performances of Umculo Wa Bathatho (1992), which is currently an active composition in the repertory; Callahan received one performance of here it is (2005); Novotney received fifteen performances of Intentions (1983); Sentman received one performance of Book between Bookends (1999); Stasack received three performances of This Unsought Dominion (1988); and Sweidel received eleven performances of Bucky’s View (1983) and one performance of IX (1991).

Quartet (1994). One cannot read the parity in performance statistics as direct commentary on the quality or lack thereof found in certain works, since some compositions received limited performances due to their connection to a special occasion or their equipment requirements.

However, the similarities in performance data demonstrate the ability of physical nearness and interest in collaboration to trump a composer’s age, status, or reputation.

During a composition student’s time at CCM, they have an opportunity to get to know the members of the Group. When students with interesting compositions also happen to share their thoughts about music, politics, literature, and current events with Otte, they come closer to developing the friendships and collaborations responsible for many of the Group’s most successful works. In some instances, the topics of discussion between Otte and a student become as important as their purely musical contribution. Sweidel’s Bucky’s View (1983) exemplifies this situation. Otte remains mild in his praise for Sweidel’s oeuvre, but he particularly enjoys this piece since it is based on texts by Buckminster Fuller—one of his favorite authors.34 After spending time talking about new music with Otte, working with Culley on a piece for the CCM student percussion ensemble, or hanging out in the percussion studio, student composers may appreciate how the ensemble functions and how they work most effectively. This explains why a large number of compositions from a wide range of students (undergraduates and graduates, percussionists and composers) form a significant portion of the Group’s repertoire.

The Group’s desire for input in the creative process does not always require the type of proximity provided by collaborations with students and faculty. The members have met and spent short periods of time with several notable composers and seen collaborations result from their initial introductions. Some of these encounters happen while on tour, which was the case

34 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 389–90.

34 with John Cage, who the Group spent five days with at the April 1982 “Wittener Tage für neue

Kammermusik.” During this festival, the Group rehearsed and performed some of Cage’s recent compositions, such as Branches (1976), as well as several of his percussion works from the

1930s and 1940s.35 Otte, who generally opposes approaching famous composers for new works, said that these types of extended meetings changed his view of Cage:

Being there at a festival with [Cage] for five days and really talking and hanging out with the guy helped me to be able to change my aversion to him as one of the famous, expensive guys, and that got us started on this whole relationship with [him]—a relationship that led to personal letters, phone calls, and seeing him in many contexts. We did his new pieces and old pieces, and did a lot of stuff.36

Not all such tour meetings require breaking down prior assumptions. Some are merely opportunities to get better acquainted with a composer for whom Otte may already have interest.

Such was the case with John Luther Adams, whose music Otte followed for several years. The

Group played his songbirdsongs (1974–79) on a concert in 1983, previous to meeting the composer. When the Group traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska, in April 1993 for a performance of

Peck’s The Glory and the Grandeur with the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra and a short residency at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Otte arranged to meet Adams. The two spent a day at Adams’s composition studio, where Otte heard his new compositions and they talked about music. From that initial meeting a friendship quickly developed as did several projects.37

In this instance, phone calls bridged the geographical gulf between Fairbanks and Cincinnati.

Otte admits that he has exchanged more calls with Adams than with any other composer.38 This

35 The older works included Quartet (1935), Credo in US (1942), and Amores (1943).

36 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 251.

37 For further discussion of communication between Adams and Otte regarding Three Drum Quartets from Earth and the Great Weather and Strange and Sacred Noise, see Chapter 3.

38 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 395–96.

35 friendship became significant enough for Adams to include the following comments in the preface of his book Winter Music: Composing the North: “Allen Otte has been my partner in wide-ranging musical inquiries. I can always rely on Al for unexpected insights, and to challenge me with essential musical truths.”39

Some composers cross paths with the Group in the oddest of circumstances. Enter Qu

Xiao-Song, a Chinese composer living in New York City in the early 1990s, when Otte’s freshman-year college roommate met him and heard his music. The wholly non-musical roommate told Otte that he needed to travel to New York to speak with this composer. Otte reluctantly agreed.40 When he arrived in New York and began listening to cassettes that his former roommate accumulated, he was in awe. Otte recalled, “My jaw dropped.”41 He thought he was listening to “a Chinese George Crumb.” Otte and Xiao-Song were introduced, and they spoke about the Group, each other’s current projects, and music in general. From this meeting came six new works as well as revisions and adaptations of existing compositions. The collaboration between Xiao-Song and the Group led to several short residencies at CCM, various

United States performances, and four Asian tours.42 All of these successes might seem normal for a collaborating composer and ensemble; however, this relationship is deep and personal. To this day, Otte still affectionately greets Xiao-Song’s phone calls with “wo shi ni di di” [Hi, it’s

39 John Luther Adams, Winter Music: Composing the North (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2004), xxii.

40 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 344.

41 Ibid.

42 The four Asian tours consisted of two visits to Hong Kong (March 1992 and February 2002) and two visits to Shanghai (May 2001 and December 2005).

36 your younger brother].43 And Xiao-Song, in his autobiography, describes Otte as one of his dearest friends.44

While Otte usually initiates relationships between composers and the Group, it is also customary for the composers to spend time with all of the ensemble’s members during final rehearsals, premieres, and occasionally performances on the road. Of course, all of the members also offer comments on new works. Otte, Culley, and Burge share their opinions with each other, and they all mark up draft parts so composers can see their specific comments. If a composer is spending any extended period of time at CCM, then they most likely engage individual members with questions.45 In the case of an out-of-town composer, such as John Luther Adams, Otte handles the feedback via phone calls, letters, and e-mails.

The Group’s goals differed so significantly from those of the percussion ensembles active at the time of its formation, that, when compared, lists of the composers involved diverge almost immediately. Both of this study’s comparator ensembles, Dick Schory’s Percussion Pops

Orchestra and the University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble, have worked with smaller numbers of composers, whose compositions encompass fewer musical styles. As a pops orchestra, Schory’s ensemble performed mostly Broadway numbers, jazz standards, arrangements of compositions from the Western art music canon, and a few pieces identified by

Schory’s biographer as “experimental.”46 As with the other active marimba bands and percussion

43 Xiao-Song is actually the younger of the two, but Otte has always taken this position of respect toward him.

44 Qu Xiao-Song and Wu Lan, Yi lu liang qiang (Shanghai: Wenhui Publisher, 2004), 46–47.

45 Jack Brennan recalls similar situations with Mark Saya, who would stop him as they passed each other in the percussion studio to ask about an instrument or a notational concern. Appendix B, Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan, 104–5.

46 Daniel Preston Moore, “The Impact of Richard L. ‘Dick’ Schory on the Development of the Contemporary Percussion Ensemble” (DMA thesis, University of Kentucky, 2000), 148.

37 orchestras of the time, Schory’s ensemble focused intensely on popular appeal. Thus, identifying and promoting new, young composers did not enter its equation for successful performances and recordings. Potent arrangements proved more important than distinctive interaction with composers. And thereby, Schory’s show tunes, standards, and adaptations were largely the work of seven arrangers: Willis Charkovsky, Bobby Christian, Les Hooper, Irwin Kostal, Sid Ramin,

Mike Simpson, and Ron Steele.47 Charkovsky, Christian, and Simpson also performed with the ensemble. Schory oversaw their work, and offered suggestions and editorial remarks, but not strict requirements. Unlike the centrality of the composers and compositions in the Group’s history, Schory’s situation is best summarized as percussionists arranging primarily popular works for a percussion ensemble.

In this realm of popular percussion music, Schory had no need to seek out composers or arrangers to contribute new works to his repertoire. Aside from the composers of the show tunes and jazz standards, deceased canonic figures from the Western art music tradition, such as

Johann Sebastian Bach, comprised the remainder of the represented composers. Schory, along with arrangers Hooper and Steele, offered only a few experimental compositions.48 These works continued in the tradition of show tunes and jazz standards, but they were embellished by the use of electronic instruments. In keeping with a focus on novel performances and recordings, Schory focused on the spectacle of the new instruments, and not the compositions themselves nor the compositional process. He appeared fascinated by the newness of sounds, not by his ensemble’s ability to improve upon existing works, nor their possible use in repertoire development. While

Schory attended to the performance quality and popular reputation of his ensemble, his record

47 Ibid., 109.

48 Ibid., 148.

38 company took the initiative to track down more skilled arrangers for some of his last recording projects. For example, Kostal and Ramin, known for their orchestration of West Side Story, came to Schory’s ensemble by way of a strong recommendation from RCA. Given that the final

Schory Percussion Pops Orchestra recording came out in 1976, just three years prior to the

Group’s founding, the difference in the composers involved suggest the divergence of these two worlds of percussion music. Schory did not demonstrate any care about who was preparing his arrangements. Nor did he show much concern in developing lasting relationships with these individuals. Conversely, from its inception, the Group pursued a contemporary chamber music aesthetic that required the seeking of new composers, especially those with whom it shared geographical proximity and existing friendships. Schory leveled no protests when his management hired or fired arrangers on his behalf; whereas, the Group built a model in which they carefully selected and maintained composer relationships.

The University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble runs a commissioning series, so it is far more focused on identifying composers who can contribute new works for its repertoire.

Hereto, this ensemble sought a more composer and composition-centered existence than was known by the prior pops percussionist. However, like Schory’s repertoire, a portion of the

Oklahoma ensemble’s commissions are the products of percussionists or percussionists turned composers. The Group’s repertoire also contains works by percussionists, but they are a small minority. The Oklahoma ensemble has commissioned one new work every year since 1977, and of the two decades of compositions surveyed by Lance Drege, over a third came from composers in this category.49 Prominent, well-established figures, such as David Maslanka and Eric

Ewazen, comprise the remainder of Oklahoma’s commissioned composers from 1977–97. The

49 Specifically, John Beck, Christopher Deane, Thomas Gauger, Raymond Helble, and Blake Wilkins, who contributed two works.

39 inclusion of such notable composers is in keeping with the ensemble’s need to win competitive grants to remain operational.50 With its desire to promote the novelty and necessity of each project to its granting bodies, the Oklahoma ensemble has returned to only two composers for second works. Traditionally, a composer offers a single work to the commissioning series.

As might be expected, the composers of the Oklahoma ensemble’s repertoire are far closer to Group’s than were Schory’s. Both the Group and the Oklahoma ensemble ventured to perform percussion music far from the pops realm and more in keeping with later twentieth- century concert music. Yet there remains a distinction in the approach each ensemble takes to identifying composers. Otte never infers that he feels limited by the number of composers available to him. Drege, however, largely restating the views of the founder of Oklahoma’s commissioning series, Richard Gipson, makes a point of drawing attention to a shortage of composers: “A critical aspect in establishing and continuing a successful commissioning series obviously involved the selection of the commissioned composers. This choice becomes even more critical in a genre such as the percussion ensemble, where the field of prospective composers is somewhat limited.”51 Even though Drege goes on to describe how some of the

Oklahoma ensemble’s composers had only limited experience with percussion prior to their commission, he implies that there is a small and finite number of composers available from which they could commission new works. Whereas, Otte’s past practices suggest that when in need of new repertoire he turns to the students, faculty, and friends nearest to him, Gipson commissioned works from only three members of the University of Oklahoma composition

50 Lance Drege, “The University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Series and Percussion Press, 1978–99: An Examination of Its History” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 2000), 96–97.

51 Ibid., 28.

40 faculty and one from an Oklahoma student.52 Whereas, Otte tends to return to the Group’s composers for multiple works, the Oklahoma ensemble seeks composers with whom they have not previously collaborated. And, whereas, financial exchanges never exist when the Group approaches a composer for a new work, the Oklahoma ensemble drafts them in the contractual details of its commissions.

The Group benefits from its model of communal collaboration by returning to work with composers the members already know. Long-term relationships provide avenues for candid communication about any aspects of proposed new works. In return, the Group’s composers benefit from the ensemble’s thorough attention to every detail of a composition. Knowing that the performers are often no more than a phone call away, and more commonly, just at a staircase’s distance, means that the composers can hear the realizations of their works and make alterations with ease and fluidity. The Group exchanges the financial agreements of the

Oklahoma ensemble and the in-house arranging of Schory’s orchestra for a robust process of collaboration.

The Group’s members have grown comfortable with the string-quartet analogy, but it only addresses certain aspects of how they function. A more appropriate analogy, one specific to their relationships with composers, is that of theatrical collaborators. Members of successful

Broadway partnerships rarely hesitate to work on new projects together. As each participant becomes more familiar with the other, they can share criticism with greater easy, they can offer input where they recognize short comings, and they can anticipate which items require clarity on the page and which are best discussed during rehearsals. The members of the Group might function as a string quartet on matters of internal coordination, sense of ensemble tempo, and

52 The commissioned Oklahoma faculty members were Carolyn Bremer, Michael Hennagin, and Jerry Neil Smith. The composition student represented in the repertoire is J. Westley Slater.

41 commitment to rehearsing and performing as a unified body, but their selection of composers speaks to a very different aspect of their creative process: their desire for collaboration.

Chapter 3

Collaborations

The Group’s collaborations or “conspiracies” with composers define the scope and diversity of its repertoire as well as the pace, methods, and origins of its development.1 The composers introduced in the previous chapter, and the countless others mentioned only in transcripts, footnotes, or represented in the program data, each possess an individual relationship with the Group. So unique are these associations that the Group has never concerned itself with official commissioning documents, much less bills, receipts, deadlines, or the contractual obligations any of these formalities would require. In the absence of prescribed, written plans for the who, what, where, and when of a commission, many in-person discussions, phone calls, letters, and e-mails fill the void. Since collaborating with composers is generally a matter of growing the Group’s repertoire, these communications flow primarily through Otte, though some composers maintain regular contact with all of the members. Exploring a few such instances of what Russell Burge calls the “give and take” between composers and the trio provides a window into one aspect of the Group’s daily function, elaborates more of the differences between it and the comparator ensembles, and brings one nearer to understanding the issues of reception and reputation addressed in subsequent chapters.2

Mark Saya’s collaboration with the Group grew from his partnership with the members on unrelated student projects.3 Later, friends and both bibliophiles, Saya and Otte visited libraries and Duttenhofer’s Books, a used bookshop one block south of CCM. They traded reading

1 For a discussion of Otte’s use of the word “conspiracy,” see Chapter 1, n. 8.

2 Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, 134. For further discussion of reception, see Chapter 5.

3 For discussion of Saya’s initial contact with members of the Group, see Chapter 2, 32.

43 recommendations and discussed new compositions after sitting together at concerts. Saya continued to see Culley around CCM, and got to know the Group’s newest member, Jack

Brennan.4 Saya and Brennan were close in age and at similar points in their careers—young professionals establishing themselves in the music world.5 This rich background allowed for the initial collaboration between Saya and the Group. First, it began with a literary inspiration: Otte recalls Saya sharing his discovery of a translation of Jorge Luis Borges’s Book of Imaginary

Beings.6 Second, it required a highly collaborative creative process: Saya came in and out of the

Group’s studio to test instruments and question the members about sounds and techniques. Third, it included musical portrayals of each member—a demonstration of the composer’s familiarity with his performers. Saya’s relationship with the Group was the perfect fit for this type of close, long-term collaboration.

Saya envisioned From the Book of Imaginary Beings as a collection of short character pieces based on Borges’s mythical creatures.7 He shared the idea with Otte, who was immediately supportive.8 To create the variety of sounds necessary to align musical movements with Borges’s peculiar creatures, Saya needed to fully explore the Group’s collection of percussive instruments and their sounds. In a demonstration of the trust, respect, and genuine collaboration, the members of the Group agreed to give Saya a key to their studio so he could

4 Brennan replaced William Youhass in September 1985.

5 Appendix B, Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan, 105; and Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 211–12.

6 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 316–17. Originally published as Manual de zoología fantástica (1957), it was later expanded and reprinted as El libro de los seres imaginarios (1957, rev. 1967–69). In April 1985 Saya purchased a translated edition: Jorge Luis Borges, The Book of Imaginary Beings, trans. Thomas di Giovanni (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1978). Mark Saya, e-mail to author, 18 January 2010.

7 Saya began composing From the Book of Imaginary Beings in 1985, just a few months after purchasing his copy of the book, and has added more character pieces to the collection since then. The Group premiered the first pieces from this collection at a new music festival hosted by Bowling Green State University on 8 November 1985.

8 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 317.

44 come and go freely, testing ideas and experimenting with setups.9 As he passed members coming in or out of the studio, he shared his most recent discoveries and gained immediate feedback.10

While, the compositional ideas were Saya’s entirely, his compositional process was open and inclusive.11 In a very positive way, he took advantage of the Group’s experiences with timbres, instruments, and techniques. This model of a close collaboration between a composer and performers, who wanted the same results, fulfilled what Otte outlined in his writings.12

In the process of talking candidly with his performers, and gaining and incorporating their recommendations, Saya also began identifying each of the character pieces with one of his collaborators.13 Brennan, who demonstrated for Saya various ways to strike, tap, and touch gongs received “A Bao A Qu,” a movement for tuned gongs and crotales. Saya composed

“Bahamut,” which contains chimes, cymbals, and some piano, for Otte, the Group’s pianist.

Culley’s movement, “The Fauna of Mirrors” calls for furious drumming on tom-toms and

Chinese cymbals. A fourth piece, “The Lamed Wufniks,” serves as a virtuosic movement for the entire ensemble. It employs wood, metal, and skin sounds similar to the Cage compositions,

9 Brennan and Otte recall elaborate instrument setups, which Saya would construct for evening experimentation sessions and later tear down. Appendix B, Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan, 105; and Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 317.

10 Appendix B, Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan, 105.

11 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 317–18.

12 Otte wrote: “To decide if any given composition is the vehicle for a conspiracy between its composer and me, I’m looking for that information which enables me to know if I can want what the composer wants …. I know my instruments, my technique, my sensibilities about timing and projection, very well; if I’m convinced that some composer, beyond his/her articulation of idea, structure, ‘what if this were thought to be music’ has some clarity about my role as well, I’m quite happy to follow any level of specificity. Or lack of it; I’m happy for the invitation/opportunity to contribute my expertise on any of these levels, and in truth, I suppose it’s quite important to feel that that knowledge is not only recognized, but also welcomed.” Otte, “NewMusicBox Asks: How Much Detail Do You Expect ….”

13 Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 212.

45 which the Group frequently performs.14 One additional movement, “Tigre Capiangos,” came later, and it too showcases the ensemble.15 The Group performs this movement for stomping tubes in a darkened hall, so the audience sees shadows and some motion, but is mostly bathed in the unseen sounds. The use of darkness and changes in the stage lighting is something that Saya saw the members use in their performances of Toru Takemitsu’s Rain Tree (1981) and Karlheinz

Stockhausen’s Tierkreis (1975), both of which the Group programmed on CCM concerts during

Saya’s student years.16

Saya’s access to the Group in working on From the Book of Imaginary Beings demonstrates the benefit of composers and performers working in a common locale. The Group had previously maintained this proximity with CCM faculty member Jonathan Kramer, but the resultant collaboration was more of an exploration of musical theoretical questions than instrumental ones, as would be the case with Saya. Kramer served on the theory and composition faculty from 1978 to 1990, but Otte knew him from the early 1970s at Oberlin Conservatory, where Kramer held his first teaching appointment. Kramer was one of the theory faculty members with whom Otte discussed new music and approaches to composition. The two remained in contact after Kramer left Oberlin for Yale University, and Otte graduated and formed Blackearth.17 The friends were reunited at the same institution when Kramer joined the

CCM faculty a year after Otte’s arrival in 1977. In this setting they discussed Otte’s plans for

14 Cage commonly sorted percussion parts into general categories of sounds, such as woods, metals, and skins, instead of specifying exact instruments for each staff of a percussion score.

15 “Tigre Capiangos” existed in an early version, which the Group performed on 11 April 1986. Saya revised the piece, and the Group revived it in 1995.

16 Saya matriculated into CCM’s graduate composition program in 1977 and completed his MM and DMA degrees in 1980 and 1986, respectively. During this time the Group performed Takemitsu’s Rain Tree on 12 October 1983 and Stockhausen’s Tierkreis on 21 January 1986.

17 During the period when Kramer was at Yale, he composed a work, The Canons of Blackearth (1972–73), for Otte’s first group.

46 forming a new chamber group and Kramer’s fascination with topics such as musical time and, later, the intersection of postmodernism and music.18 For the Group, Kramer composed two works: Five Studies on Six Notes (1980) and Notta Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion

(1993).19 Kramer didn’t need the access to the studio, which proved crucial in Saya’s work on

From the Book of Imaginary Beings; rather, he need partners willing to explore compositional questions raised by his scholarship. In Five Studies Kramer posed the question: Could five movements remain highly individual and, to a degree, unrelated, while unified by finite pitch material and elaborate rhythmic passages and temporal spans? The answer came initially in the form of a harpsichord trio, but in trying to revive this work and these questions at CCM, Kramer struggled to find harpsichordists who could engage the composition and spend enough time and energy rehearsing it to meaningfully draw audience attention to his musical paradox.20 Otte was eager to have Kramer contribute a work to the Group’s repertoire, and so when the composer described the idea and the problems he encountered with his performers, both agreed that this was a project that few other ensembles could devote the same amount of rehearsal and focus to, as could the Group. After its preparation of the work, Kramer wrote an article addressing the

18 Kramer explored the former topic in The Time of Music: New Meanings, New Temporalities, New Listening Strategies (New York, Schirmer, 1988); and most importantly for this study, “The Impact of Technology on Musical Time,” Percussive Notes Research Edition 22 (March 1984): 16–25. Kramer turned to the latter topic of postmodernism in his final decade. He wrote about it in “Beyond Unity: Toward an Understanding of Postmodernism in Music and Music Theory,” in Concert Music, Rock and Jazz since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies, ed. Elizabeth West Marvin and Richard Hermann (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 1995), 11–33; “Postmodern Concepts of Musical Time,” Indiana Theory Review 17 (Fall 1996), 21–61; and at the time of his death, Kramer was completing a still unpublished book manuscript on the topic.

19 Jonathan D. Kramer, Five Studies on Six Notes existed in prior versions for harpsichord (1976–77) and guitar (1978), but both, like the percussion version, remain unpublished. Jonathan D. Kramer, Notta Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (St. Louis, MO: MMB Music, 1993).

20 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 385.

47 challenges to musical time posed by the composition and how he and the ensemble reconciled them.21

A decade later, Kramer ventured to ask far-reaching questions of musical portrayals of postmodernism. In Notta Sonata, a work that contemporary music critic and composer Kyle

Gann labeled “Jonathan’s masterpiece: a very important (and thoroughly entertaining) work whose historic position and theoretical achievement will inevitably be recognized someday,”

Kramer sought to devise mergers, juxtapositions, and interruptions of passages with obvious musical identities, such as Baroque dances, but all the while avoiding the appearance of mere pastiche.22 The work is a whirlwind journey through many times, places, and styles. It requires the players to identify the musical areas and perform them convincingly, lest it dissolve into parody alone. Though surely “entertaining,” to borrow from Gann, and, at moments, downright funny, it is a nearly thirty-minute tour de force for versatile and thoughtful performers. Why partner with the Group on this composition? Kramer had since left CCM for a position as

Professor of Composition and Theory at Columbia University. Surely New York City was filled with capable percussionists and pianists. Kramer, however, opted to collaborate with an ensemble that already knew the types of musical questions he wanted to ask. The Group could set aside the significant amount of rehearsal time required to tackle a work that would otherwise cost a small fortune if the composer were to hire musicians willing to devote weeks of their lives to the methodical preparation of this score. Furthermore, Kramer heard the Group perform Béla

21 Kramer, “The Impact of Technology on Musical Time,” 22–25.

22 Kyle Gann, “The Art of the Nonsequitur,” Post Classic: Kyle Gann on Music After the Fact … an ArtsJoural Weblog, entry posted 1 February 2008, http://www.artsjournal.com/postclassic/2008/02/the_art_of_the_nonsequitur.html (accessed 16 June 2009).

Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion while he was in Cincinnati, and it was this work that served as a framework for his postmodern composition.23

In contrast to the physical nearness the Group experienced with CCM students and faculty, such as Saya and Kramer, its collaboration with John Luther Adams demonstrates the flexibility provided by its nontraditional approach to commissioning works. The Group wanted to perform Adams’s music, but before they ever had a piece of his specifically composed for them, they adapted works from a body of percussion quartets he previously composed for other assorted projects.24 This collaborative relationship offers a perspective into another of the

Group’s commonly employed practices: converting works for larger forces into trios. In this instance, the advantages of starting the relationship with the adaptation process was that Otte continued to get to know Adams through their phone calls, the Group became familiar with his compositional style through the reworking of one of his existing works, and Adams learned how thoroughly this trio would prepare his music.

The most likely compositions for the Group’s process of adaptation were two series of percussion quartets that Adams had excerpted from his large theatrical works Giving Birth to

Thunder, Sleeping with His Daughter: Coyote Builds North America (1986–90), and Earth and the Great Weather: A Sonic Geography of the Arctic (1990–93). Since listening to examples of

Three Drum Quartets from Earth and the Great Weather in Adams’s cabin in Alaska, Otte was taken by this new work. Adams was not interested in rewriting it from a quartet to a trio, but did not object to the Group experimenting with it on its own. Within seven months of that trip to

23 During Kramer’s time in Cincinnati the Group performed Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion at CCM on 18 April 1984, 11 March 1986, and 22 April 1986.

24 The Group’s lone 1983 performance of Adams’s songbirdsongs was separated by a decade from the focused attention the members pays to his later drum quartets.

Fairbanks, the Group had adapted the quartets and offered a first hearing.25 Adams traveled to

Cincinnati as part of CCM’s Visiting Composer Series and attended one of the Group’s final rehearsals before this performance. In a taped discussion with Otte, Adams describes how he was floored to see the Group perform the quartets with three players and, especially, without a conductor.26 The Group had successfully convinced Adams that it took his music seriously and could offer not only legitimate, but nuanced, performances of his compositions with only three performers. The Group had been pleased with the music and appreciated the latitude Adams provided them in working on the quartets. The stage was set for a collaboration on a new composition specifically written for the Group.

Strange and Sacred Noise (1998), Adams’s response to the Group’s request for a new work, arrived one movement at a time. This composition and rehearsal process was different from those commonly experienced by the Group when working with local composers. Saya, for example, provided the Group with a page or two of new music at a time. The Group immediately looked at the new material and provided feedback. The process with composers, such as Saya or

Kramer, had been fluid with the Group rarely rejecting full movements outright, as they had the opportunity to offer changes along the way. Conversely, Adams would mail completed movements to the Group, the members would rehearse them briefly, make a rehearsal recording, and offer their comments. Instead of suggesting incremental changes along the way; here, they were commenting on the complete quality, placement, and effectiveness of movements. Some movements saw few changes, others received slight revisions, and in one instance the Group

25 The Group premiered the trio version on 2 November 1993.

26 John Luther Adams and Allen Otte, “A Brief History of Noise: A Video-Recorded Conversation,” in Strange and Sacred Noise, Mode Records 153, DVD, 2005.

50 rejected an entire movement.27 Adams remained open to even the harshest feedback he received in phone calls from Otte, but his comfort in receiving and acting upon the Group’s feedback did not cross the line into acquiescence—a distinction evinced by Adams writing for more than three players even in this work composed specifically for the Group.28 The give and take of the Adams collaboration further refines the definition of Otte’s “conspiracy.” If the Group respects a composer and if the composer enters willingly into the collaborative process, then both parties offer their best ideas and their most thorough preparations, which result in a mutually beneficial process and an agreeably preferred composition.

Through individual conspiracies the Group has gained a repertoire of works specifically composed for it and with its members’ guidance. Beyond building a repertoire of compositions, these close collaborations have also aided in the expansion of the trio into other areas of concert life. Russell Peck’s The Glory and the Grandeur: A Concerto for Percussion Trio and Orchestra

(1988), launched the already well-traveled ensemble into an entirely new realm of performance as concert soloists with orchestras. However, the path from Peck’s initial proposal to the eventual performances allowed for a joint exploration by both composer and performers. Otte received

Peck’s unexpected call while sitting at his kitchen table, but he required little time to contemplate

27 Adams replaced the proposed timpani movement with one composed entirely for sirens.

28 Adams provides the following transcript to a telephone call from Otte, after the Group received and rehearsed the initially proposed timpani movement:

AL: “John…”

JOHN: “Al…”

AL: “It’s a piece of shit!”

Adams continues, “Instinctively I knew Al was right.”

John Luther Adams, Winter Music: Composing the North (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2004), 161.

51 this project.29 He responded with immediate interest, but he also shared that if the Group collaborated on this concerto then he would like to be involved in the compositional process.30

Otte made numerous contributions to the composition. At first he told Peck that he wanted the concerto to open like Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with the soloist, or in this case the percussion trio, leading the orchestra. He also shared with Peck his interest in having some section of the work where the three soloists would come shoulder to shoulder on one marimba and play together, as they had grown accustomed to doing for a series of Chilean songs often performed on their touring program. And, to help provide Peck with other ideas for instruments,

Otte insisted on walking around the Group’s studio and recording various sounds Peck might wish to include. In this way the performer was recommending whole swaths of the composer’s sound palette. Peck was fascinated with what he heard and included sections for instruments such as the Group’s collection of Chinese gliss gongs.

Otte’s contributions to the work only began with his pre-compositional recommendations. After Peck’s initial score arrived, the Group began rehearsing it and realized that the opening lacked the type of virtuosic display that would clarify for audiences the significance of the percussion parts. Otte suggested that Peck cut and paste vigorous drumming material from Lift-Off! into the opening measures. Peck said the Group could try the idea, which was all the permission Otte needed to literally take his own copy of Lift-Off!, cut the chosen segments, and paste them into the concerto score.31 The Group rehearsed Otte’s solution to the opening, and pleased with the result, mailed the amended score back to the composer. Peck liked

29 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 294.

30 Ibid.

31 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 296.

52 the change and retained it for both the first performance and the published version of the score.32

Changes continued when the Group joined with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra to rehearse for the premiere. Stuart Chafitz, the orchestra’s timpanist, was one of the Group’s former students, so they asked Peck to add a few lines of solo timpani material to allow him to play a more prominent role.33 Again, Peck accommodated the request. Much like Adams, Peck appreciated Otte’s recommendations and the feedback received in rehearsals with the Group, but never sacrificed his own compositional voice. The Glory and the Grandeur, even with the significant influence of the Group, still sounds more similar to the rest of Peck’s output than it does to any of Otte’s compositions.

Of the composers with whom the Group collaborated, John Cage is the most firmly situated in the canon of twentieth-century music. In both scholarly studies and the popular press, authors discussed his style, influence, and legacy decades before the Group began regularly performing his early and late compositions. Because of his accomplishments, Culley and Otte have described how few discussions the Group had with Cage over his early works, even when the members were involved in creating realizations that were significantly different from his compositions’ performance histories.34 Their limited conversations with Cage about works such as Amores (1943) or Third Construction (1941) stand in contrast to their prominent role in the creation of Music for Three (1984). In the case of the latter, the very existence of the work was the result of a collaborative process.

32 Russell Peck, The Glory and the Grandeur: A Concerto for Trio Percussion and Orchestra (Greensboro, NC: Pecktackular Music, 1988).

33 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 315.

34 Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 179; and Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 253–55. Significant differences in the Group’s realizations of Cage’s works include the substantially slower tempo they employ for Third Construction and the three-player adaptations of Quartet and Imaginary Landscape No. 2.

The PAS invited the Group to perform a concerto with the University of Michigan Wind

Ensemble for its 1984 international convention in Ann Arbor. The first composer the Group asked to write this concerto backed out of the project, leaving the trio with only a few months to make alternate arrangements. Near simultaneously with this programming dilemma, Otte was thinking about a new work Cage shared with him when the two were together in Turin, Italy, in

May of the same year.35 During a discussion in Cage’s hotel room, he described to Otte how the parts for his new Music for Six were produced by a computer program he created. After Cage conceived the idea for this work and created the program, the actual effort and time involved in having the computer produce additional parts was minimal. Music for Six already included one percussion part, so to deal with the Group’s current dilemma over the approaching PAS performance, Otte proposed the possibility of using Cage’s computer program to compose two further percussion parts and then having all three serve as a trio for the Group. Cage agreed and thought that this would provide an effective work—Music for Three.

For the accompaniment material, Otte drew on his knowledge of a piece Cage composed in 1976. The United States’ bicentennial provided reason for arts organizations to commission new musical works from some of the nation’s notable composers. Cage, on a commission from the Boston Symphony Orchestra and National Endowment for the Arts, had contributed two individual works that could stand alone or together: Apartment House 1776 and Renga. The former work combined four vocal soloists speaking, singing, and chanting to represent vocal traditions of Protestants, Native Americans, African Americans, and Sephardi Jews, along with a simple chamber orchestra accompaniment of adapted music from the Federal period. Cage also provided an optional richer accompaniment in the composition Renga, a collection of seventy-

35 Otte and Cage were together for the Group’s performances at the May 1984 festival “John Cage a Torino e Ivrea.”

54 eight individual parts to be performed by instruments or voices. Knowing how these two compositions fit together, Otte proposed employing Renga as an accompaniment to Music for

Three, much the same as it was used in performances of Apartment House 1776. In this way, the new work could either function as a stand-alone trio or as a concerto for three people with an orchestra, wind ensemble, or chorus providing the accompaniment. Cage agreed to the proposal, and the Group went on to perform Music for Three in both its chamber and concerto formats.36

Seeing the implication of Otte’s proposal, Cage returned to his computer program and produced additional parts for various instruments, thus giving rise to the composition’s ultimate title

MUSIC FOR: Parts for voice and instruments without score (no fixed relation), title to be completed by adding to ‘Music for’- the number of players performing.37

The composition of Music for Three demonstrates the merger of two independent, but related, ideas. Cage’s computer program, his means of composition, was entirely his own idea.

Otte’s plan to create further percussion parts and perform these with Renga as John Cage’s quasi-concerto for percussion provided his unique contribution to this collaborative effort. In partnering, Cage saw the possibilities for a previously singular work, and the Group added a new composition to its repertoire.38

The lack of formality, the reliance on friendships, and the absence of payments from the

Group to composers unifies all of the collaborations in this chapter. In the case of Peck, his

36 The Group performed Music for Three by itself in performances on 7 February 1985, 7 October 1986, 17 October 1986; as part of musicircuses on 4 April 1995 and 27 November 1999; and as a concerto with Renga on 1 November 1984.

37 Though Music for Six and Music for Three are now published as the same composition, MUSIC FOR: Parts for voice and instruments without score (no fixed relation), title to be completed by adding to ‘Music for’- the number of players performing, I retain the three different titles for reasons of chronological clarity.

38 Cage dedicated the work to the Group as well as the other ensemble that originally commissioned Music for Six and the ensembles that later premiered some of the supplemental parts for other instruments. The entire dedication reads, “For the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Cincinnati Percussion Group, and Zeitgeist.”

55 payment for The Glory and the Grandeur came about through his own efforts in originally securing the grant for a new orchestral work. Saya was a student during the early part of his relationship with the Group, so his compositions were also played on his recitals and formed part of his portfolio. Otte admits later regretting that the Group could not afford to pay composers, such as Saya, for the compositions they have provided, but Culley points out that the composers also come into these relationships willing and interested in hearing high-quality performances of their compositions.39 And some composers, such as Cage, even made exceptions on this account.

By 1984 he was a renowned composers, and while he earned commissions for many ensembles, he never required financial support or reimbursement from the Group.

Aside from accumulating a large repertoire at no cost, the Group enjoys other benefits from its method of conspiring with composers, and these are what draw them nearer to the model of theatrical collaborators proposed in Chapter 2. The members have opportunities to provide composers with candid feedback. Composers can share with the Group their unrefined ideas and uninhibited requests. The creative and intellectual material that forms the final work builds on contributions from all parties involved. While respect exists for each person’s areas of expertise, there is also an ability to recommend improvements to any aspect of the work. The possibility remains for alteration of the musical material throughout the creation and early performances of a composition. Changes flow back and forth during the compositional process, but also at final rehearsals, as was the case with Peck’s The Glory and the Grandeur, and between performances, such as with Saya’s revisions and additions to From the Book of Imaginary Beings. Composers who collaborate once, often come back to contribute second and third works to the Group’s repertoire. In this way, the ensemble continues to learn how to achieve the best performances of

39 Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 227–28; and Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 288–89.

56 a given composer’s music, and the composer learns how best to write for this trio. The relationships become as reciprocal as Otte claimed they could in “Preferences in Percussion -

1973.”40

For all of its strengths, this system also presents challenges, problems, and weaknesses.

Without contracts and deadlines, some projects never materialize, fall through at inopportune times, or drag on from months to years. Without financing in place, some projects never make it to the stage or studio. These areas provide the most obvious differences with the comparator ensembles. The University of Oklahoma ensemble, for example, employs a regimented procedure for its commissioning series.41 They request one new work each year. The details of these requests are outlined in guiding documents and contracts, not casually handled through phone conversations. The contracts state the amount to be paid for the works and the general expectations of the ensemble, such as the number of performers involved, the types of instruments used, and even some aesthetic direction—the ensemble requires that the works remain largely, if not entirely tonal, that the composers use approximately eight performers, and that the focus remains on keyboard percussion instruments and not drums or accessory instruments.42 The contracts also include the necessary clauses for the University of Oklahoma

Press to eventually publish the compositions. After the paperwork has been completed, the ensemble waits for the new composition to arrive. Although some contact between the composer and the ensemble may occur, it is not an essential part of the compositional process. The ensemble prepares and rehearses the completed work, and the composer visits a day or two

40 Allen Otte, “Preferences in Percussion - 1973,” 94.

41 Lance Drege, “The University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Series and Percussion Press, 1978–99: An Examination of Its History” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 2000), 29–30, 62, 71–72, 74, and 79.

42 Ibid.

57 before the premiere to hear final rehearsals and offer, perhaps, a few comments. After the premiere, the press publishes the work, and the cycle begins again.

Deeper differences divide the compositional process of the Group from those employed by the pops percussion ensembles. A business model proposed by record labels drove the Schory ensemble’s repertoire creation. By contractual obligation Schory needed to create a new album on a regular basis (often annually), so that the material from the album could launch a tour.43

Facing the limitations of the recording medium, Schory and his group of percussionist/arrangers identified compositions for the season’s repertory only after agreeing on a general concept for the album. Existing works were adapted and new works composed to fit the time constraints and predetermined album layout. This process provided Schory with a rich body of recordings, but little room for experimentation. His interest in the emerging world of electronic percussion instruments, for example, never found a place on the albums being produced to meet record company demands. The recording qualifications dictated Schory’s repertory more than the ideas he may have shared with collaborating arrangers. Otte and the founding members of the Group railed against the requirement of percussion music to fit such requirements.

The differences found between the repertoire development of the Group and the processes of the Oklahoma or Schory ensembles are typical of the results found in any number of comparisons between the Group and other percussion performers active around the time of its founding. The Group’s collaborations have led to far more compositions, but unlike Oklahoma’s process, which considers publication as an essential completion to the collaboration with a composer, most of the works in the Group’s repertoire remain unpublished. We need look no further than Kramer’s Five Studies on Six Notes for an example. The same is true for recordings,

43 Daniel Preston Moore, “The Impact of Richard L. ‘Dick’ Schory on the Development of the Contemporary Percussion Ensemble” (DMA thesis, University of Kentucky, 2000), 108–14.

58 which abound for Schory’s ensemble, while the Group has only a small portion of its repertoire recorded. To date, more of the Group’s recordings remain unreleased or as individual tracks on other composers’ and performers’ recordings than on its own albums.44 The Group’s 1981 double album included its most frequently performed compositions from the first two seasons.45

But, nearly two decades passed before the Group captured highlights of its repertoire from its founding through 1999, for its second full-length recording.46 Schory and the Oklahoma ensemble sacrificed the types of projects that encourage wide-ranging experimentation on the part of both the performers and composers. When recording length determines composition size or the contract dictates instrumentation, ensembles lose the ability to approach composers with a blank slate and propose a collaboration, in the broadest sense of the word.

The collaborations presented here only scratch the surface of the ways the Group has interacted with composers. The unique nature of each relationship and project provides more of an explanation for why the Group remains largely overlooked in percussion histories. If judged by the number of dedicated works to see publication, then obviously the Group has only a fraction of its total output to exhibit. If recordings provide the criterion for evaluating percussion chamber ensembles, then here again the Group seems far less potent than its comparators. Such considerations cause ripple effects in the world of musical performance. Unpublished compositions cannot receive performances by other ensembles. Without performances, new music remains unknown to audiences and scholars. If ensembles are heard only in live

44 For a complete list of albums for which the Group recorded tracks, see Appendix H, Percussion Group Cincinnati Discography.

45 Percussion Group Cincinnati, Music of Herbert Brün, Theodore May, Stephen Mosko, Takayoshi Yoshioka, William DeFotis, Jonathan Kramer, Russell Peck, Christian Wolff, and Michael Udow, Opus One 80 and 81, LPs, 1981.

46 Percussion Group Cincinnati, Percussion Group Cincinnati, Ars Moderno 01, CD, 1999.

59 performances, then their impact on other performers and listeners lessens. The Group’s constant, its primary goal since its inception, remains collaboration. The Group’s interests lie more in the process than the promotion of a published or recorded product. The consequences of this approach affect all aspects of its repertoire, reception, and reputation.

Chapter 4

Compositions

For thirty years, the Group’s primary goal has remained the process of collaborating.

Discussions, trials, errors, and revisions often transpire in the privacy of the trio’s rehearsal studio, while the public performances of the resulting compositions occur in the halls and concert spaces of CCM and various tour locations. Dividing a study of these compositions between their preparation and performance, or between the efforts of the composers and those of the performers, or between the public and private phases of the process, may seem at first logical, but for the Group, such boundaries prove wholly artificial, and worse, misleading. Its

“conspiracies” between performers and composers encompass a range of activities: from the composition’s conception, through its construction, preparation, and performance, to its revision.

Thus, the possibility of a mutually beneficial relationship between a composer and the three performers provides the only necessary framework for forming a collaboration and acquiring a new composition. Musical works in any style, format, harmonic language, and rhythmic structure result from this process.1 Put another way, so long as the Group is comfortable with the broad aims of a project, then the members do not try to force their “co-conspirators” into molds, beyond the general confine of producing compositions performable with three players, and even this request is relaxed in some cases.2

1 Members of the Group speak proudly of the repertoire diversity gained through their collaborations. Appendix B, Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan, 118; and Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, 127.

2 For a discussion of Otte’s desire for shared compositional goals, see Chapter 1, n. 18. The Group relaxed its preference for composers to write specifically for three people in the cases of John Luther Adams’s Strange and Sacred Noise, William DeFotis’s Percussion and String Octet, Jonathan Kramer’s Notta Sonata, Allen Sapp’s Taylor’s Nine, Jennifer Stasack’s This Unsought Dominion, Martin Sweidel’s Bucky’s View, and a range of compositions by Qu Xiao-Song, who commonly included vocal parts, as in Fang Yan Kou, Ji No. 6, Mirage, and Mist 2. The Group brought in additional instrumentalists and/or vocalists for the performances of these works.

61 The Group accepts works for any number or variety of percussion instruments or none at all;3 small setups are as appropriate as large setups; indeterminate notation may sit beside traditional notation on the music stand and any form of experimental notation is equally welcomed; tonal, atonal, polytonal, and microtonal compositions all have a place; compositions with speaking, singing, chanting, grunting, and rapping have seen performances; short works, long works; single movements, multiple movements; everything but the kitchen sink, except the

Group does not even restrict inclusion of sinks, basins, or cans, when necessary.4 The repertoire resulting from this degree of flexibility exudes musical diversity. Sorting these compositions by any criteria further demonstrates their variety: some works by famous composers, others by students; some newly composed, others arranged from pre-existing material; some published and well circulated, others surviving only in the original pencil manuscripts. A thorough accounting and discussion of the vast number of compositions in the Group’s repertoire would require multiple volumes. Here, I aim only to display the breadth of the Group’s repertoire as well as some of the lenses through which one may view its program data.

More than 105 composers contributed the 230 plus compositions from the Group’s first thirty seasons (see Appendix G). This thesis focuses primarily on those works composed specifically for the Group, but compositions from the canon of percussion chamber literature have also comprised a segment of its repertoire. Previously mentioned compositions in this category include William Albright’s Take That, Béla Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and

Percussion, Russell Peck’s Lift-Off!, Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Tierkreis, Toru Takemitsu’s Rain

Tree, and the percussion works of John Cage, specifically Amores, Branches, Credo in US,

3 For example, I Read in the News Today, Oh Boy! requires the three performers to use only newspapers; not the drums, cymbals, and mallet keyboard instruments of a traditionally orchestrated percussion composition.

4 Compositions including John Cage’s Living Room Music and Rupert Kettle’s Dining Room Music call for the performers to use household objects, furnishings, and possessions.

62 Imaginary Landscape No. 2, Living Room Music, Quartet, Third Construction, and Trio. In addition to those pieces, the Group’s repertoire contains the following canonic compositions:

George Antheil Ballet mécanique Michael Colgrass Déjà vu Lou Harrison Canticle No. 5 Lou Harrison Suite for Percussion Lou Harrison Tributes to Charon Maki Ishii Marimbastück Mauricio Kagel Dressur Minoru Miki Marimba Spiritual Steve Reich Drumming, Part I William Russell Made in America Frederic Rzewski Les Moutons de Panurge Stuart Saunders Smith Return and Recall Christian Wolff For 1, 2, or 3 People

Some of these composers, most notably Harrison, Rzewski, and Smith, were friends of at least

Otte, if not all of the Group’s members, at the times their works were added to the repertoire.

Two of them also composed works specifically for the Group: Harrison’s Canticle and Round for

Gerhard Samuel’s Birthday and Smith’s Links No. 5: Sitting on the Edge of Nothing.5 The compositions from this list of canonic works have seen many appearances on the Group’s programs. Ishii’s Marimbastück received seventeen performances, Kagel’s Dressur twenty-three,

Miki’s Marimba Spiritual fifty-two, Reich’s Drumming thirty-three, Rzewski’s Les Moutons de

Panurge forty-nine, Smith’s Return and Recall eleven, and Wolff’s For 1, 2, or 3 People sixteen.

Beyond the number of performances, compositions from this category also helped establish the

Group’s reputation. The trio’s work on Reich’s Drumming, for example, gained media attention in Cincinnati for the members’ abilities to perform the complicated and interwoven Part I quartet with only three performers:

5 Although Rzewski has not composed a work for the Group, he and Otte have worked together closely on solo projects, and he was also the impetus for I Read in the News Today, Oh Boy!, which is discussed below.

63 News flash: Composer Steve Reich’s landmark percussion work Drumming will be heard in Cincinnati Tuesday night. What’s so unusual about that? Simply that Reich and his group won’t be playing it. That honor goes to Cincinnati’s Percussion Group …. Since 1971, when the minimalist pioneer composed his African-influenced Drumming, the composer’s touring ensemble has been virtually the only group to perform this long, intricate work. Some thought it was the only group able to perform it.6

Later, when the Group toured Michigan in April 1989, the performance of this work invited further comparison to Steve Reich’s ensemble, The Musicians, since both groups performed

Drumming on back-to-back nights:

There’s something of an unofficial percussion festival going on in Ann Arbor this weekend, due to an astonishing coincidence. Steve Reich and his ensemble will be at the Michigan Theater Saturday night, playing an all-Reich concert, including Drumming, Part I. The Percussion Group/Cincinnati will also play this exhilarating work the night before …. Until now, Reich has been the only one to do Drumming in concert, but the Percussion Group has mastered this austere and hypnotic music, and has begun to include it on their programs.7

Though not a percussion chamber composition, publisher Sylvia Smith’s Noble Snare project, and the members’ participation therein, provided a further example of their engagement with canonic percussion repertoire. In 1987 Smith invited composers to contribute new works for solo snare drum to a collection her husband, Stuart Saunders Smith, would edit and she would publish the following year.8 A concert of the new snare drum music on 3 October 1988 at the

Marymount Manhattan Theater launched the publication. At the concert, the composers themselves or the works’ dedicatees premiered the compositions. For the Group’s part, James

Culley performed Herbert Brün’s Just Seven for Drum and Dan Senn’s Peeping Tom; Otte

6 Ray Cooklis, “CCM Percussion Group to Drum Out Reich Piece,” Cincinnati Enquirer, 15 January 1989.

7 Gerald Brennan, “Drumming, Part I: Percussion Group/Cincinnati Kicks Off Unusual Weekend,” Ann Arbor News, 4 April 1989.

8 Jason Baker, “The History and Significance of The Noble Snare,” Percussive Notes 44 (June 2006): 72– 77; and Stuart Saunders Smith, ed., The Noble Snare: Compositions for Unaccompanied Snare Drum, vols. 1–2 (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1988). Sylvia Smith eventually published two further volumes: Stuart Saunders Smith, ed., The Noble Snare: Compositions for Unaccompanied Snare Drum, vols. 3–4 (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1990).

64 performed his own contribution, What the Snare Drum Tells Me; and Benjamin Toth performed

Barney Childs’s Blazer.

Vernacular musics from North and South America account for another sizable portion of the Group’s repertoire. Since the 1980–81 season more than 160 of the Group’s approximately

500 performances have included at least one “Chilean Song.”9 The trio listened to songs recorded by Chilean bands that drew on traditional folk tunes and adapted these for three people on one marimba.10 The most commonly performed songs are “La Fiesta de la Tirana” [Festival of Tirana], “Managua que reedifica” [Rebuilding Managua], “El Pueblo Unido” [The People

United], “Vamos Mujer” [Come Along, Wife], and “El Vuelo de la Parina” [Flight of the

Flamingo].11 The longevity of these compositions in the repertoire can be attributed to their adaptability. The Group programs individual songs or sorts them into various multi-movement suites. Small changes have also occurred as new members learned the parts by rote and then offered their own adjustments.12

From the United States, ragtime, jazz, popular, and crossover arrangements dot the

Group’s repertoire, including George Gershwin’s “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess, George

Hamilton Green’s “Jovial Jaspers” and “Log Cabin Blues,” Charles Johnson’s “Dill Pickles,”

Paul Simon’s “Late in the Evening,” and Frank Zappa’s Envelopes. Russell Burge has been responsible for most of the arrangements added in the past decade, but works from this category,

9 The total number of “Chilean Song” performances is likely greater than 160 since the Group also played them at children’s concerts and other performances for which it did not print programs.

10 The technique of multiple performers sharing one marimba, though not native to Chile or most of South America, until recent decades, is common in Central America, particularly Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico. Vida Chenoweth, The Marimbas of Guatemala (Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 1964); and Laurence D. Kaptain, The Wood That Sings: The Marimba in Chiapas, Mexico (Everett, PA: HoneyRock, 1992).

11 In programs, the Group has presented these compositions under both their Spanish and English titles and, in some instances, only as “Chilean Songs.”

12 Appendix B, Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan, 119.

65 as with the “Chilean Songs,” originated almost concurrently with the Group’s founding, during the second season, 1980–81. These arrangements differ from their South American counterparts in that they experience far fewer performances, but even in their rarity they enhance the program diversity.13

Adaptations and arrangements of Western art music compositions also hold a place in the repertoire. Otte contributed most of these arrangements, such as “Contrapunctus XIII” from

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge, “La buse variable” from Olivier Messiaen’s

Catalogue d’Oiseaux, and excerpts from both Maurice Ravel’s Ma mère l’oye and Igor

Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps. Other collaborating composers have provided further adaptations to the repertoire, including William DeFotis’s version of “Prelude and Fugue in C- sharp minor” from Bach’s Das Wohltemperierte Klavier II and his sister Constance DeFotis’s version of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana for two pianists, percussion, vocal soloists, and chorus.

While some adaptations demonstrate the Group’s interest in a specific composer or composition, as is the case with Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux, others are used for particular performances with collaborating ensembles, for example, Constance DeFotis’s Carmina Burana allowed the

Group to perform with the choruses she conducts at the University of Connecticut, when it toured the state in 2007.14 And the Ravel and Stravinsky adaptations serve as compositions for two pianos and percussion, which can be included on programs the Group shares with the

Pridonoff Duo.15

13 See n. 1.

14 The Group performed with the University of Connecticut’s combined choral ensembles in Von Der Mehden Recital Hall, University of Connecticut, 7 December 2007.

15 The Group shares the stage with the Pridonoff Duo whenever they perform Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion.

66 Collaborating with other performers does not always require adaptations. Several composers, ensembles, and conductors have approached the Group when they wished to compose or perform works requiring multiple percussionists. With the Vocal Arts Ensemble of

Cincinnati, the Group performed Dominick Argento’s I Hate and I Love: A Cycle for Mixed

Chorus and Percussion; the “Sanctus” movements from Leonard Bernstein’s Mass: A Theater

Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers and his Missa Brevis; and Stravinsky’s Les Noces.16 At

CCM, a performance with the Chamber Choir provided an opportunity to perform “Paragraph 2” from Cornelius Cardew’s The Great Learning; when Karel Husa visited CCM for a celebration of his eighty-fifth birthday, the Group joined the college’s Wind Symphony for a performance of his Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble and the world premiere of Enrico Chapela’s concerto for the Group, Encrypted Poetry for Percussion and Orchestra, required accompaniment from the CCM Philharmonia.17 Gerhard Samuel’s tenure as music director of the

CCM Philharmonia also provided several opportunities for collaboration.18 Composer Larry

Austin first worked with the Group, then later Samuel and other CCM ensembles, to mount a realization of Charles Ives’s Universe Symphony. This legendary work, left unfinished at the time of composer’s death, opens with a percussion-only section labeled “The Life Pulse

Prelude.”19 The Group’s collaboration with Austin and Samuel resulted in two highly acclaimed recordings.20 In a positive review, Richard Taruskin wrote of the effort:

16 The Stravinsky performance occurred in the University of Cincinnati’s Corbett Auditorium, 15 February 1987; and the Argento and Bernstein performances occurred in the Plum Street Temple (Cincinnati, Ohio), 4 May 2002.

17 These performances occurred in the University of Cincinnati’s Corbett Auditorium on 13 January 1987, 18 October 2006, and 26 April 2007, respectively.

18 Samuel served on the CCM conducting faculty from 1976–96.

19 Ives began the Universe Symphony in 1911, and it was one of the few compositions he continued to work on later in life—last touched in 1951. After his death in 1954, the composition remained unfinished until three

67 They said it couldn’t be done, but Larry Austin … has managed over a period of twenty years to produce a performing version of Charles Ives’s legendary Universe Symphony. It has been recorded for all to hear by the assembled forces of the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati—the Cincinnati Philharmonia and the CCM Percussion Ensemble, subdivided into eight orchestras—under the direction of Gerhard Samuel and four assisting conductors. By now the Ives fans are out the door, racing to the record store. The rest of you, the ones still reading, stop. Go out and join them. Nothing I can write will give you an idea of the experience you are in for. All I can do is urge it upon you.21

Furthermore, Taruskin called the recording of the Universe Symphony a “wonderful performance, surely the best on record.”22 Samuel also worked with the Group on some of his own compositions for percussion and assorted ensembles, including As Imperceptibly as Grief … for Small Orchestra and Percussion Soloists, Emperor and the Nightingale, and What of My

Music!23 The members of the Group prefer working as a trio, so often these compositions requiring additional performers see few and infrequent performances. Peck’s The Glory and the

Grandeur remains the obvious exception, but the close collaboration that produced the work and its extraordinary popularity are two reasons it exists outside the norm.

The previous categories of compositions constitute a large swath of the Group’s repertoire, but the core remains the works composed specifically for the trio’s members and possible realizations were offered in the 1990s; those by David Porter (1993), Larry Austin (1994), and Johnny Reinhard (1996).

20 Charles Ives, “Life Pulse Prelude,” Percussion Group Cincinnati with assisting percussionists Ron Fink and Robert Schietroma, Centaur Records 2133, 1992; and Charles Ives, Universe Symphony, CCM Philharmonia Orchestra, CCM Percussion Ensemble with Russell Burge, James Culley, and Allen Otte, and musical director Gerhard Samuel, Centaur Records CRC 2205, 1994.

21 Richard Taruskin, “Away with the Ives Myth: The ‘Universe’ is Here at Last,” New York Times, 23 October 1994.

22 Ibid.

23 The Group performed What of My Music! with soprano Nelga Lynn, double bass soloists Barry Green and Jon Deak, and the Indiana University and University of Cincinnati Bass Ensembles in the University of Cincinnati’s Corbett Auditorium, 9 March 1980 and in Indiana University’s Recital Hall, 10 March 1980; they performed Emperor and the Nightingale with soprano Angela Brown, baritone Randolph Messing, and double bassist Barry Green in the University of Cincinnati’s Corbett Auditorium, 5 April 1981; and they performed As Imperceptibly as Grief … for Small Orchestra and Percussion Soloists with the CCM Philharmonia in the University of Cincinnati’s Corbett Auditorium, 20 February 1988.

68 works composed by friends and colleagues with whom they enjoy long-standing relationships.

Ensembles other than the Group rarely perform many of these compositions. In several cases the

Group possesses the only extant manuscripts for the compositions, making it impossible for others to perform these works. This final category represents nearly half of the 230 plus compositions in the repertoire. These works remain the most difficult to categorize by traditional musical classifications; that is, aspects of style, tonal language, genre, and instrumentation remain too either divergent or similar for useful, distinct categories. However, it is possible to consider a few common features of these compositions.

The core compositions constitute the most collaborative types of relationships, such as

Cage’s Music For Three and I Read in the News Today, Oh Boy!, a work attributed to

“collective” in the Group’s programs.24 This “collective” authorship resulted from Frederic

Rzewski offering a composition assignment to a seminar during a 1986 visiting professorship at

CCM.25 The assignment, intended to teach that not every act of music creation needs to result in a masterpiece, required students to somehow use newspapers in their compositions. Students discussed their responses during the seminar, and Rzewski offered input. The Group’s members ultimately adapted and combined some of the students’ ideas with those of other invited composers, as well as their own, and formed a composition ideal for tour performances. The

Group gathers newspapers that are both current and local to the concert venue for each performance of the composition. The reading, moving, shaking, tapping, and flopping of the

24 In concert programs, the Group typically provides titles, dates of composition, and names of composers. In some instances, it replaces the names of the composers with “arranged by PGC,” “arranged by the Group,” or “arranged by” and the name of a specific member; however, the Group often lists the composer of I Read in the News Today, Oh Boy! as “collective.”

25 Allen Otte, I Read in the News Today, Oh Boy!, program note, 13 January 1987.

69 papers forms an engaging work, which despite its lack of singular authorship, has become one of the Group’s most frequent and successful offerings.26

Cultural identity, whether presented through instrumentation, source material, or geographical influences, weighs heavily in the core repertoire. Guo Wenjing’s Drama achieves this through its exploration of the various sound possibilities and performance techniques of

Chinese cymbals. Similarly, Alonzo Alexander and Jahn Beukes represent central and southern

African music through their contributions for mbira trio: Mbira Music: Book One and Umculo

Wa Bathatho, respectively.27 Qu Xiao-Song, on the other hand, embedded cultural markers through the use of Chinese poetry and folktales in his Fang Yan Kou, Four Poems from Shijing,

Ji No. 6, and Mirage.28 And, Otte’s composition PERMUREAU (PERcussion MUsic thoREAU) draws on the texts and musical ideas of two prominent Americans to form its cultural identity.29

Otte was inspired by Cage’s MUREAU (MUsic thoREAU), a spoken-word composition employing a chance operation method whereby the composer selected and organized words and phrases from his source, the discussions of music and sounds found in Henry David Thoreau’s

Journals.30 Otte’s subsequent composition provides “small percussion sounds as accompaniment

26 I Read in the News Today, Oh Boy! received at least sixty concert performances in the first thirty seasons. During an interview, Culley labeled this composition, “probably our best piece of all time.” Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 235.

27 Whereas Beukes grew up in South Africa and returned there after studying at CCM, Alexander’s relation to African mbira music was a matter of personal interest, as he was born and raised in the United States.

28 Qu Xiao-Song provided the spoken, sung, and intoned parts for the Group’s performances of Fang Yan Kou and Mirage. Soprano Audrey Luna joined the Group for performances of Four Poems from Shijing and Ji No. 6.

29 This was Otte’s second work, in as many years, based on a Cage composition. During the previous season (1984–85), he contributed to the repertoire Sonata as Interlude: Rolling with John.

30 This process eventually led to the poetic construction that Cage and Norman O. Brown labeled “the mesostic.” For further information on the construction of these poetic devices, see James Pritchett, The Music of John Cage (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 177.

70 and complement to the fragmented sounds and rhythms of [Cage’s] speech pieces.”31 Still another approach came from John Luther Adams, who ventured to present the identity of a location—Alaska—with all of its life, sounds, images, and spaces.32 Five Percussion Quartets from Coyote Builds North America, Strange and Sacred Noise, and Three Drum Quartets from

Earth and the Great Weather provided musical expanses unlike anything found in the music of

Qu Xiao-Song, Otte, or Cage. Adams’s sustained drumming and pulsing sirens presents power, mass, and an inherent contrast between robust life and barrenness—a soundscape unlike those conveyed by the sparse chimes and cymbal scrapes of Qu Xiao-Song or the Cagean reading of a mesostic.

Beyond the musical representations of cultural identities, the Group’s core repertoire frequently combines and juxtaposes musical styles and idioms. Peter Garland created these relationships by melding Western musical traditions with ceremonies of Navajo, Hopi, Apache, and Nez Perce tribes in Three Songs of Mad Coyote.33 This composition, much like Kramer’s

Notta Sonata, requires performers who are sensitive enough to invoke the musical distinctions of the sources while also maintaining the work’s cohesion. Michael Kowalski’s four-movement

Gringo Blaster went further by meshing dances from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, and

Argentina with two North American idioms: 1980s electro-funk and rap. As previously, the

Group needed to recognize the entering and exiting styles, and merge seamlessly from one to the next. Not only were the “gringos” of the title asked to perform mambos, meringues, rhumbas, sambas, and tangos, but Culley epitomized the juxtaposition of idioms by interpolating an

31 Allen Otte, PERMUREAU, program note, 7 October 1986.

32 Adams promotes this view of his music in his book title, Winter Music: Composing the North (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2004).

33 Some programs identify this composition as one that Garland composed for the Group; whereas, he actually composed it in 1973 for Blackearth, which offered the premiere on 7 February 1974 in DeKalb, Illinois.

71 effective four-minute rap solo during the second movement. A similar aspect of style merging occurred in Stephen Mosko’s Cosmology of Easy Listening, described in program notes as “an outline of the Group’s resources, including items from traditional orchestral and jazz idioms; ethnic instruments from the Middle East, the Orient, Latin America and Europe; and home-made and found object types, including tuned 2 x 4’s and aluminum pipes, gold mining pans, and a garbage can.”34 The level of comfort with the various musical styles and the diversity of instruments required provided further reason why the Group welcomed these types of compositions, which other percussion ensembles rarely performed, at the time they were written.

The Group’s repertoire differences grow more apparent when its musical works are compared to those in the repertoires of other ensembles.

In a series of fifteen albums, Dick Schory recorded the seasonal repertory he developed with his ensembles.35 Commercial appeal remained his primary focus.36 Columbia Artist

Management, and later RCA, represented Schory, and because of this, he developed a knack for working with his producers on popular and successful material. Schory commented, “I had to sell

34 Stephen Mosko, Cosmology of Easy Listening, program note, 9 April 1980.

35 Schory’s ensembles were The Percussive Art Ensemble, Dick Schory’s New Percussion Ensemble, Dick Schory’s Percussion and Brass Ensemble, and Dick Schory’s Percussion Pops Orchestra. His fifteen recordings are Re-Percussion, The Percussive Art Ensemble, Concert-Disc CS-21, 1957; Music for Bang, Baaroom and Harp, Dick Schory’s New Percussion Ensemble, RCA Victor LPM-1866, 1958; Music to Break Any Mood, Dick Schory’s New Percussion Ensemble, RCA Victor LPM-2125, 1960; Wild Percussion and Horns A’ Plenty, Dick Schory’s New Percussion Ensemble, RCA Victor LPM-2289, 1960; Runnin’ Wild, Dick Schory’s Percussion and Brass Ensemble, RCA Victor LSA-2306, 1961; Stereo Action Goes Broadway, Dick Schory’s Percussion and Brass Ensemble, RCA Victor LSA-2382, 1961; Holiday for Percussion, Dick Schory’s Percussion Pops Orchestra, RCA Victor LSA-2485, 1962; Supercussion, Dick Schory’s Percussion Pops Orchestra, RCA Victor LPM-2613, 1963; Politely Percussive, Dick Schory’s Percussion Pops Orchestra, RCA Victor LPM-2738, 1963; Dick Schory on Tour, Dick Schory’s Percussive Pops Orchestra, RCA Victor LPM-2806, 1964; The Happy Hits, Dick Schory’s Percussion Pops Orchestra, RCA Victor LPM-2926, 1964; The Roar of the Greasepaint-The Smell of the Crowd, Dick Schory’s Percussion Pops Orchestra, RCA Victor LPM-3394, 1965; Dick Schory: Movin’ On, Dick Schory’s Percussion Pops Orchestra, Ovation OV/14-03, 1969; Dick Schory: Carnegie Hall, Dick Schory’s Percussion Pops Orchestra with Gary Burton, Paul Horn, and Joe Morello, Ovation OV/14-10-2, 1970; and Resurrection: Dick Schory Live at Carnegie Hall, Dick Schory’s Percussion Pops Orchestra with Gary Burton, Paul Horn, and Joe Morello, Ovation OV-1715, 1976.

36 Daniel Preston Moore, “The Impact of Richard L. ‘Dick’ Schory on the Development of the Contemporary Percussion Ensemble” (DMA thesis, University of Kentucky, 2000), 106–8.

72 records, and I had to compete with guys like Elvis Presley and the Beatles in enough numbers to keep a slot on the artist roster.”37 Schory’s repertory choices held consequences in terms of record sales, tour promotion, and contract retention—pressures less likely to affect the Group, because of its ensemble-in-residence status and the willingness of its composers to experiment on projects that may not make it to performance or that often saw significant revision during an extended process of composition. In an interview with Daniel Moore, Schory offered his most direct opposition to a model the Group embraces: “Our concept wasn’t the ivory tower approach, where you write your string quartet and it’s maybe performed once by the faculty quartet and then put on the shelf, never to be heard again.”38 No financial risk accompanies testing, adding, or removing compositions from the Group’s repertoire. So, while the Group retains many compositions for multiple seasons, it does not hesitate to shelve a composition, if after a few performances, one or more of the members feel it fails to reach the ensemble goals.

Whereas the Group’s repertoire appears full of variety, Schory intended his ensemble’s repertoire to mirror popular interests. Thus, it is more easily sorted into two categories: adaptations of successful, mainstream compositions and jocular themed works. Schory’s version of the Beatles’ “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” and much of his Happy Hits album represents the former category, while the latter includes “Come Bach with Me: Bach’s Fugue in d” and “Riots of Spring.” Within three years of Schory featuring these purposefully light-hearted compositions at a Carnegie Hall concert, Otte called for a serious reevaluation of what constituted percussion music in America.39 The creation of Schory’s repertoire, thought well suited for the pops ensemble he led, fell short of what Otte later recommended for relationships and collaborations

37 Ibid.

38 Moore, 35.

39 Allen Otte, “Preferences in Percussion - 1973,” Percussionist 11 (March 1974): 89–97.

73 with composers, the collaborations that resulted in the Group’s robust body of contemporary chamber works. Conversely, the Group will likely never have an opportunity to record fifteen full-length albums of its repertoire, the likes of which have provided Schory with an audible legacy.40

The University of Oklahoma ensemble never faces the commercial requirements or the recording success of Schory’s ensembles. Unlike the professionals driving Schory’s recording agenda, students comprise the Oklahoma ensemble. The student members’ participation is in partial fulfillment of requirements for academic degrees, and thus, they face no financial penalty for preparing or performing compositions with less commercial success than others. However, the nature of the Oklahoma commissioning series’ grant-funded existence and the commitment of the affiliated faculty members to Richard Gipson’s goal of fostering tonal works for large, keyboard-dominated percussion ensembles, limits the student’s ability to engage in the types of open-ended projects common for the Group.41 With a goal of publishing and selling percussion compositions, the Oklahoma ensemble must ensure that the musical works entering its repertoire are accessible to a large consumer base. This means that compositions, such as the Group’s three frequently performed works by Herbert Brün—“at loose ends: [sic], More Dust with Percussion, and Infraudibles with Percussion—each with its own challenges and special requirements, such as the use of a quarter-tone marimba, the possession of a rare pre-recorded electronic tape, or the accompaniment of a virtuoso pianist, limit a publisher’s audience. The Oklahoma ensemble also remains at a disadvantage in maintaining long-term relationships between the composers and

40 An important distinction between the Group’s current body of recordings and those of Schory’s ensembles is that the Group has often contributed a single work or a small collection of works to a larger recording project; whereas, Schory’s recordings are entirely of his ensemble. See Appendix H, Percussion Group Cincinnati Discography.

41 See Chapter 3, n. 40.

74 performers, since the performers (the college students) complete degree programs and graduate and new students take their place.

The Oklahoma ensemble and its commissioning series has realized consistent success by building a body of percussion literature that high school, college, and some professional ensembles frequently perform. Drege points to one preferred benchmark for many in the field of percussion: performances at PAS conventions.42 Specifically, Raymond Helble’s Diabolic

Variations received five PAS performances, Thomas Gauger’s Portico for Percussion Orchestra four, Michael Hennagin’s Duo Chopinesque three, Dan Welcher’s Chameleon Music and David

Maslanka’s Crown of Thorns both two, and William Steinohrt’s Two Movements for Mallets II,

Christopher Deane’s The Manes Scroll, and J. Westley Slater’s Canzona have each at least one.

A search for these titles in the PAS’s database of percussion concert programs from universities and concert halls reveals that an assortment of ensembles have performed all of the above compositions multiple times; whereas “at loose ends: [sic] is the only of the Group’s three Brün compositions to receive even a single performance by an ensemble other than the Group.43

All primary comparisons between the compositions in the repertoires of the Group,

Schory’s ensemble, and the Oklahoma ensemble reveal vast differences. The Group has no standard orchestration and willingly performs compositions that are extraordinarily cumbersome; for example, Cage’s Music for Three requires 150 instruments, fifty per player. The Oklahoma compositions favor the other extreme, tending to use twenty-five or fewer instruments, and with

42 Lance Drege, “The University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Series and Percussion Press, 1978–99: An Examination of Its History” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 2000), 6 and 32–47.

43 Percussive Arts Society Program Archive, http://www.pas.org/Members/PRD/programs/SearchPrograms.cfm (accessed 2 April 2009). This archive originated in 1963 and organizes programs submitted by performers, scholars, and concert venues. It is impossible to say whether the record is complete for these various works, but it is at least representative of the disparity in the number of performances of works from these repertories. The lone “at loose ends: [sic] performance not credited to the Group was a 3 December 2003 concert by the University of Illinois Percussion Ensemble, where Brün taught for most of his career.

75 the primary parts composed for traditional percussive keyboards: xylophones, marimbas, and bells. Comparisons of the tonal languages of these repertoires also provide disparate responses, with the Oklahoma ensemble’s compositions existing of almost entirely tonal works, Schory’s including only a few experimental or atonal compositions, and the Group’s repertoire containing compositions in a large variety of styles. When founded, the Group entered a world of percussion music comprised largely of pops ensembles and pedagogically oriented school ensembles. While

Blackearth served as a potent precursor, other contemporary percussion literature enjoyed few performances by dedicated, but often untrained, artists. The differences in the repertoire the

Group developed, of which I have outlined but a few, do not result in any ranking or superiority among these ensembles. However, these differences are one of the most useful tools in understanding the results of the divergent goals and aesthetic of each of these ensembles. That the compositions written for the Group see few performances by other trios, publications, or recordings appears entirely in keeping with the members’ goal of emphasizing the process of collaboration regardless of marketability, but it also raises many issues about the reception of this repertoire and the Group.

76 Chapter 5

Reception

Addressing the reception history of any ensemble requires an understanding of what it performed, where it performed, who heard it, who wrote about it, what it recorded, and what were the critical responses. Further criteria, such as the ensemble’s training of students or the publication of its commissioned works, not to mention the more difficult topic of its influence on subsequent artists, enter discussions of its success, poignancy, and consequence. And, with each standard employed in the consideration of an ensemble’s reception, there exists numerous contributing factors, for example: What role did management play? Did financial concerns determine tour locations? Were critics even aware of performances? Was an academic patron or corporate sponsor involved? Sorting the issues at play in the Group’s reception requires addressing all of these questions, but begins by considering the name upon which its reputation was built.

It is difficult to identify a musical ensemble entering its thirty-first consecutive season with so many constants—a single residence, only three personnel changes, and a repertoire built steadily over the years—and yet, one pesky irregularity: its name. What of the Emerson String

Quartet if at various points in its history it were known as the Quartet of Emerson, Quartet from

Emerson, QUARTET/emerson, and Quartet: Emerson? Add to the challenge that the name being tossed around is not that of an ensemble with traditional performing forces—an orchestra or piano trio—but that of a percussion trio. Audiences’ exposure to orchestras, string quartets, and piano trios provides these labels with associated expectations of instrumentation, genre possibilities, and repertoire; whereas, the professional percussion group is still a new format for many chamber music aficionados. The term “percussion group” in a chamber music series

77 brochure likely conjures more questions in the minds of the subscribers than expectations based on prior experiences.

Considering the small number of professional percussion groups active at the time Otte,

Culley, and Youhass formed their trio in 1979, any intrigue surrounding the name may have proved initially helpful.1 However, building a reputation over time requires an identity with which audiences, critics, composers, and other performers associate what they already know with expectations of what is to come. Maintaining a recognizable ensemble name helps bring in audiences, partners for projects, and contracts for recordings, publications, and tours. The Group rarely concerns itself with these business matters. Prior to founding the Group, Otte implied, in a letter to a friend, that as long as the ensemble’s music was well-rehearsed and performed, then any name would do.2 This proved an accurate prediction of how the Group would function in the coming thirty seasons. While the members focus intensely on their collaborations, rehearsals, and performances, they pay less attention to ensuring the consistency of a single name. During its first thirty seasons the Group was identified in programs, reviews, and flyers in all of the following ways:

The Percussion Group The Percussion Group of Cincinnati The Percussion Group / Cincinnati or THE PERCUSSION GROUP/cincinnati The Percussion Group: Cincinnati or PERCUSSION GROUP: cincinnati The Percussion Group from the College-Conservatory of Music Percussion Group Cincinnati

1 Three other North American percussion ensembles existed in 1979: The Batterie (Philadelphia), Nexus (Toronto), and The Repercussion Unit (Los Angeles). A fourth ensemble, the San Francisco Percussion Group formed simultaneously with the Group. Four ensembles flourished in Europe: Kroumata (Stockholm, Sweden), Les Percussions de Strasbourg (Strasbourg, France), Poznan Percussion Ensemble (Poznan, Poland), and the Safri Duo (Copenhagen, Denmark). Australian-based Synergy Percussion Ensemble was a final ensemble performing at the time. Since the ensembles outside of North America remained little-known in the United States, the Group held limited company in 1979. By contrast, in 2009, at least forty-five ensembles from three continents promote themselves as professional percussion chamber groups.

2 Allen Otte, letter to Michael Rosen, 16 October 1978. Otte wrote, “Assuming I have the excellent ensemble I know I could have, its reputation, under any name, would establish itself before too long.”

Cincinnati Percussion Group Allen Otte & The Percussion Group3

And while some of these various formulations resulted from the mistakes of reviewers and concert series promoters—for example, the Group never referred to itself as “The Percussion

Group from the College-Conservatory of Music” or “Allen Otte & The Percussion Group”—that people outside of the Group would create these descriptions (and repeat them) in the absence of using a definitive name provides de facto evidence of the weakness of the actual branding. In recent seasons the Group’s name has grown more consistent, with most post-1997 programs, promotional materials, and reviews using “Percussion Group Cincinnati,” which the Group’s current management recommended.4

When the Group prints its own programs, Otte is exacting in the presentation of composition titles, composers’ names, and program notes, but when other venues, local reporters, or regional concert series write about the Group, errors in names and composition descriptions easily occur. Unlike preparing a program or review for a string quartet, the names and titles in a percussion program remain unfamiliar even to many trained musicians. And whereas managers, promoters, and sponsors often advocate for the accurate descriptions of their ensembles, the Group’s decision to work largely without such business and administrative support during its early years meant that often the members were responsible for every aspect of

3 These names are listed in the order of their first appearance. Each formulation appeared at least twice in programs, flyers, or reviews, with the first appearance of each occurring on these respective dates: 9 October 1979, 12 April 1980, 5 September 1980, 1 October 1985, 21 September 1986, 18 September 1987, 30 July 1988, 22 April 1989, 28 April 1989, 23 September 1990, and 12 July 1991.

4 In 1997 the Group hired Stanton Management, a firm from Astoria, New York. Stanton recommended the consistent use of the name “Percussion Group Cincinnati.”

79 outreach, bookings, travel, program printing, and media contact, as well as all of the creative issues, such as seasonal repertory selection, preparation, and performance.5

Previous chapters already addressed what the Group performs, but knowing where it performs tells us more about the likely makeup of its audiences and the atmosphere of the concerts. The Group’s venues are as varied as its repertoire, but college and conservatory recital halls are its most common bookings. Specific venue data exists for 466 of the approximately 500 performances in this study.6 Fifty-four percent of those performances were held on university campuses. Approximately one third of these university performances were in halls and auditoriums at CCM, the Group’s home. Regional theaters, community or civic centers, churches, and museums account for thirty percent of the total performances. These types of venues are familiar tour stops for the Group, with many hosting subscription chamber music series or serving as residences for some of the regional orchestras with whom the Group performed Russell Peck’s The Glory and the Grandeur. Eleven percent of the performances occurred at elementary or high schools, often in conjunction with the Group’s programs for children. Large and prominent concert halls, such as Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall in

New York’s Lincoln Center; Washington, DC’s Kennedy Center; and the Pavilion at Ohio’s

Blossom Music Center, comprise only four percent of the Group’s venues. Concerts in these spaces occurred during collaborations with the ensembles in residence at each or when participating in affiliated performances. Occasional concerts at zoos, arboretums, and town

5 The Group first took on management in 1987 in the form of Great Lakes Performing Artist Associates, a nonprofit organization providing “management for exceptional regional performers.” Great Lakes defines itself as a service that recommends “high caliber artists at affordable fees to regional performing arts presenters.” Great Lakes Performing Artist Associates, “About PAA,” http://www.greatlakespaa.org/about/about.html (accessed 3 June 2009). The Group’s current management, Stanton Management, provides more traditional management services to a variety of ensembles, soloists, and conductors.

6 For a complete list of the Group’s performances and program data, see Appendix I.

80 squares did not occur with enough frequency to obtain a statistical percentage, but a final category—convention centers—earned one percentage point.

A low number of convention center performances would appear normative were this a study of a professional string quartet. However, in the context of percussion chamber music, this statistic speaks volumes about the Group’s relation to the percussion community. While the ensemble uses the qualifier “percussion group” in its name, it has never relied heavily on the percussion community for its audience development, as demonstrated by the few performances at conventions, most significantly the PAS’s annual international convention, but also PAS state and regional gatherings, and conferences of state and national music educator associations. The growing body of secondary literature based in part or in total on the appearances of compositions, performers, or trends at percussion conventions demonstrates the importance of these types of performances to percussion reception, audience development, and name recognition.7 The Group rarely receives recognition in this literature, since it is largely absent from these venues.8 Instead, its concerts are held as parts of new music events, chamber music series, and experimental performances at universities, meetings of composer collectives, and in museum galleries.

7 Gregory Patrick Byrne, “Musical and Cultural Influences That Contribute to the Evolution of the Percussion Ensemble in Western Art Music” (DMA thesis, University of Alabama, 1999); James Scott Cameron, “PASIC Percussion Ensembles: A Historical Overview,” Percussive Notes 44 (April 2006): 58–64; James Scott Cameron, “Trends and Developments in Percussion Ensemble Literature, 1976–92: An Examination of Selected Works Premiered at the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 1996); Lance Drege, “The University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Series and Percussion Press, 1978–99: An Examination of Its History” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 2000); and Scott Holden Harris, “Identification and Analyses of Selected Large Percussion Ensemble Works Composed between 1970–2000” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 2003).

8 The Group’s nine PAS convention appearances include 14 November 1981 in Indianapolis, IN; 1 November 1984 in Ann Arbor, MI; 3 November 1986 in Washington, DC; 28 October 1987 in St. Louis, MO; 7 November 1990 in Philadelphia, PA; 11 November 1993 in Columbus, OH; 27 November 1999 in Columbus, OH; 14 November 2001 in Nashville, TN; and 1 November 2006 in Austin, TX. However, only the 1984 and 2006 performances were featured evening concerts and only the latter was solely a Group concert.

The Group’s avoidance of corporate sponsorship has resulted in its limited performance history at PAS events. This decision allows the members freedom to serve as the primary executors of their artistic and managerial decisions, but it also costs them opportunities for certain performances and limits their access to funding, travel, and instruments. Most percussion chamber ensembles seek out PAS convention performances because of the diverse audience: students, educators, and industry professionals who will buy recordings and published music.

Those who attend can invite ensembles to perform at their campuses and sponsor residencies.

But, to gain a coveted feature performance slot at a PAS convention usually requires a corporate underwriter. On some occasions Sylvia Smith lent Smith Publication’s name to the Group’s cause; while, at other times, the Group received recommendations and accommodations from a few advocates within the PAS ranks, most significantly Tom Siwe as well as Eugene Novotney, one of the Group’s former students, who even contributed works to its repertoire.9 So while its

PAS performances were never the target of negative criticism, the infrequency of these events meant that the educators making yearly pilgrimages in search of new ideas, repertoire, and performers, likely came and went to the conventions without ever hearing a Group performance.

The Group’s position on grant-writing serves as another double-edged sword in its reception. In not applying for grants as a source of funding, the Group avoids the need to commission prominent composers in hopes of impressing grant reviewers. Rather, it performs the compositions of friends, colleagues, and students, regardless of their familiarity to broader audiences—an action consistent with Otte’s proposal from over thirty-five years earlier.10 The members’ time is spent selecting works, rehearsing, and performing—not writing proposals.

9 For a discussion of the Group’s relationship with Siwe, see Chapter 1, n. 38. Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 339.

10 Allen Otte, “Preferences in Percussion - 1973,” Percussionist 11 (March 1974): 90.

Without responsibilities to granting agencies, the Group is free to assume the risk of projects and collaborations that might see delays, vast changes, or cancellation. However, the results of the

Group’s shunning a life of corporate sponsorship and grant-writing are its limited financial resources.

Similar to the American experimentalist composers from Catherine Cameron’s study, the

Group maintains a single “ivory tower” patron: CCM.11 The conservatory offers an environment with students, faculty, and visiting guests, and provides enough financing as to allow the three performers to devote a portion of every day to the Group. Furthermore, university funding sustains the studio space, performance space, and the coverage of indirect costs, which for the

Group means not only heating and electrical bills, but also salaries for recording technicians.

CCM support stops short of providing for the equipment and instruments the Group would likely receive with corporate endorsements or the commission payments it could offer composers, if large grants were earned.

Without the corporate sponsors, PAS conventions, and grant support necessary for elaborate touring, one might assume that recording has become a necessary alternate mode for reaching audiences. To the contrary, the Group has completed only three full-length recordings: the two previously mentioned albums and an entire CD devoted to John Luther Adams’s Strange and Sacred Noise.12 These recordings were all well received. For example, Michael Rosen in his review of the 1999 self-title album Percussion Group Cincinnati gave a full-throated approval of all aspects of the repertoire, the performers, and their artistry:

11 Catherine Cameron, Dialectics in the Arts: The Rise of Experimentalism in American Music (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996), 120–21.

12 For discussion of the first two albums, see Chapter 3, 59. John Luther Adams, Strange and Sacred Noise, performed by the Percussion Group Cincinnati, Mode 153, DVD, 2005. See Appendix H, The Percussion Group Cincinnati Discography, for the Group’s contributions of single tracks and portions of albums.

This CD illustrates the sober, cultivated sound of a well-balanced group that chooses instruments wisely, has virtuosity and a bony elegance that I find attractive. How they have managed to maintain their integrity in the creeping insidiousness of popular low culture in America is remarkable. There are no compromises here, just good music, played well.13

Success or failure in such projects does not appear the reason for limited recordings. Rather, the members seem little concerned with whether or not they record.14 They are primarily interested in working closely with composers, learning a new repertoire, and performing in front of audiences. To describe this approach, the members switch from the string quartet metaphor to a different one, that of a road band.15 They place the most weight on their performance of new works for new audiences. At the conclusion of each touring season, some works may remain in their active repertory, but they are equally eager, if not more so, to begin working on new material. Since the act of recording shifts focus from creation and performance to the chronicling some portion of an ensemble’s repertoire, the road-band mentality appears in conflict with the practice of entering a studio and laying down tracks, even after seeing the success of those works on the road. Further complicating its recording schedule, the members constantly alternate between performing and teaching.16 Thus, ensembles with shorter histories than the Group have produced far more recordings. Considered another way, the Group maintains remarkable consistency: Otte wrote passionately about the Group’s goals during the years preceding its founding and despite the variety of topics covered in his essays and letters, Otte overlooks discussions about recording new music.

13 Michael Rosen, review of Percussion Group Cincinnati, by Percussion Group Cincinnati, Percussive Notes 40 (December 2002): 81.

14 Russell Burge is the only member who, during interviews, spoke eagerly about wanting to record more. See Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, 150–54.

15 Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 226.

16 Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, 150.

Without a body of recordings, the Group’s live performances remain the primary means of learning about its repertoire, level of artistry, and members. A survey of forty concert reviews spanning the Group’s first thirty seasons reveals the topics most commonly addressed in print.17

For example, critics frequently praise the members’ individual and collective musicality. They laud the Group in large and urban papers, trade journals, and local publications, alike. Fifty-six percent of reviews over the first thirty seasons include praise of what John Rockwell called the members’ “exemplary control and vivacity,” Nancy Raabe described as their “finely gauged precision,” and Wilma Salisbury heralded as “brilliant technique, polished artistry, and warm rapport.”18 Salisbury’s comments in the Cleveland Plain Dealer were echoed a decade later by another of that paper’s columnists, Donald Rosenberg, who emphasized the trio’s “stupendous control of their musical forces.”19 Some authors appear wholly seduced by the Group’s musicianship. Arthur Smith, for example, frustrated that his editor trimmed his original eight- hundred-word rave review, wrote the trio and included the full text, so the members could read his complete argument of why theirs was the “most beautiful and most unusual chamber music of the season.”20 Smith continued, “What a joy it is to hear music played by vibrant, sensitive and brilliant musicians of extraordinary talent for whom accuracy is only the beginning.”

While commentary of the Group’s musicianship remains fairly constant, critics most often discuss instrumentation. Headlines alone demonstrate the attention drawn by the Group’s instrumentarium:

17 See the review section of the Bibliography for a complete list of performance and recording reviews.

18 John Rockwell, “Concert: Pridonoff Duo and Percussion Group,” New York Times, 6 April 1986; Nancy Raabe, “Percussionists Give Riveting Performance,” Milwaukee Sentinel, 29 April 1989; and Wilma Salisbury, “Beats to Vibrate the Pews,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1 May 1991.

19 Donald Rosenberg, “Everyday Items Turned Melodic,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, 6 December 2000.

20 Arthur Smith, letter to the Percussion Group Cincinnati, 28 October 1988; and Arthur Smith, “Percussion Group’s Power Punch,” Washington Post, 23 October 1988.

“Pots and Pans Trio to Perform at CNC” “Musical Group Uses Odd Items to Produce Percussion Sounds” “Using Gourds, Beads, this Cincinnati Group Creates Fun Percussion” “New Music Horizons Percussion Group Plays Cans and Cactus” “Everyday Items Turned Melodic”21

The amount of column space devoted to listing the various instruments the Group employs, further demonstrates the exotic mystique percussion groups carry for traditional chamber music audiences. Sixty-nine percent of the surveyed reviews provided laundry lists of instruments.

Mary Ellyn Hutton addressed the instrumentarium as follows, “They can make a cactus sing.

They can coax music from tables and chairs.”22 She then listed the visual and aural stimuli:

“drums, bells and castanets … also flower pots, brake drums, sewer pipes and wooden shoes.”

Andy Gray went even further when he returned to the topic of instrumentation four different times in his short, twelve-paragraph review.23 To begin, he wrote, “Percussion Group Cincinnati doesn’t need expensive drums or instruments to make music; paint cans, flower pots, bottle caps and used brake drums work just fine.” Three sentences later, he returned to this idea: “[The

Group] used a variety of instruments and household items ….” He then described the Group

“playing everything from marimbas and glockenspiels to rattles made from dried bean pods and a hand piano made from a squash and fence wiring.” And once more he went back to this theme to mention that “the percussion [instruments] and handmade instruments are used to play music from Africa, Chile, Mexico and American ragtime/Dixieland tunes.” With this amount of space devoted to instruments, what topics did Gray exclude? For starters, he did not include the names

21 David Nicholson, “Pots and Pans Trio to Perform at CNC,” [Newport News, VA] Daily Press, 15 May 1987; Andy Gray, “Musical Group Uses Odd Items to Produce Percussion Sounds,” [Warren, OH] Tribune Chronicle, 3 February 1988; Beth Bellor, “Using Gourds, Beads, this Cincinnati Group Creates Fun Percussion,” Midland [TX] Daily News, ca. February 1991; John Ardoin, “New Music Horizons Percussion Group Plays Cans and Cactus,” Dallas Morning News, 26 August 1992; and Donald Rosenberg, “Everyday Items Turned Melodic,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, 6 December 2000.

22 Mary Ellyn Hutton, “Group Shake, Rattle, Roll in 10th Year,” Cincinnati Post, 14 October 1989.

23 Gray, “Musical Group Uses Odd Items to Produce Percussion Sounds.”

86 of any composers or compositions. On that season’s touring program, the Group performed I

Read in the News Today, Oh Boy!, the work that grew out of Frederic Rzewski’s assignment to the CCM composition seminar, and Mark Saya’s From the Book of Imaginary Beings. Gray drew no comparisons between the varied compositions. He also avoided any commentary about the quality—technical, aesthetic, or otherwise—of the performers or compositions. Gray’s focus on the unusual, as well as the evasion of substantive content, exemplifies a large portion of the

Group’s critical reception.

Not only are the instruments both new and odd, in the opinions of many reviewers, but so, too, is the repertoire. To describe it, some critics apply terms such as exotic, eclectic, and ethnic.24 Still others attempt to relate the Group’s repertoire to more familiar music: namely,

European classical orchestral music. Gerald Brennan attempted to make such a connection in explaining how Cage’s Imaginary Landscape No. 2 served as an “excellent overture.”25 Brennan continued, “Like most overtures, it was noisy in a pleasing way, but full of variety and unexpected subtle gestures.” Do critics and audiences describe most concert overtures as “noisy in a pleasing way?” Neither the composer nor the performers presented Imaginary Landscape

No. 2 as an overture, beyond its placement—the first work on the program. Audiences lose much of the value in critics’ use of familiar terminology, when, more often than not, the reviewers of

24 These specific terms appear in “Concert Series Features Folk, Percussion and Chamber Music,” Dearborn County Register, 18 September 1986; Nicholson, “Pots and Pans Trio to Perform at CNC;” Gray, “Musical Group Uses Odd Items to Produce Percussion Sounds;” Arthur Smith, “Percussion Group’s Power Punch;” Gerald Brennan, “Drumming, Part I: Percussion Group/Cincinnati Kicks Off Unusual Weekend,” Ann Arbor News, 4 April 1989; C.J. Giankaris, “Percussion Group Doesn’t Miss a Beat,” Kalamazoo Gazette, 3 November 1990; John Ardoin, “New Music Horizons Percussion Group Plays Cans and Cactus,” Dallas Morning News, 26 August 1992; Mary Ellyn Hutton, “East Meets West at New Corbett’s Debut,” Cincinnati Post, 1 April 1996; and Donald Rosenberg, “Everyday Items Turned Melodic,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, 6 December 2000.

25 Gerald Brennan, “The Percussion Group/Cincinnati Masters at Masterpieces,” Ann Arbor News, 9 April 1989.

87 the Group’s performances attempt to force the compositions into existing critical discourse and ignore any considerations of their unique qualities.

While avoidance of critical discussion and intense focus on instruments and exoticism remained constant in the first thirty years of the Group’s reception, other topics and associated descriptive language have changed dramatically over time. Some topics addressed in early reviews, such as the relation to Blackearth, simply disappeared after the first few seasons. Other concepts remained fashionable for slightly longer. One case, the use of the “avant-garde” description, held prominence in the 1980s, but grew rare in the 1990s. Only one post-1990 reviewer qualified the ensemble as “avant-garde.”26 And, by 2006 a Denver Post author went so far as to identify the trio as “mainstream” in comparison to Sō Percussion, an ensemble that, in the writer’s opinion, was “breaking new ground.”27 By the 1990s the physical aspects of the

Group’s performances gained more attention. Betty Dietz Krebs, writing in the Dayton Daily

News, described the Group as “an incredibly athletic threesome.”28 Jerry Klein of the Peoria

Journal Star explained how the members “flung themselves about the stage” with “virtuosity and athleticism that is unquestioned.”29 In more recent criticism, the performers’ physical displays yielded to listeners’ intellectual engagement. These reviewers often still address the unusual aspects of the instruments, repertoire, and performance, while simultaneously acknowledging that the Group’s concerts provide something beyond mere spectacle. In the most extreme instance, Liz Janes-Brown’s experience bordered on the transcendent: “A program such as this

26 Rosenberg, “Everyday Items Turned Melodic.”

27 Sabine Kortals, “Hammering Out a Different Chamber Quartet,” Denver Post, 27 October 2006. The comparison between the Group and Sō Percussion holds a deeper relationship than Kortals may have realized, since one of the Group’s former students founded that ensemble.

28 Betty Dietz Krebs, “Chmura Debuts with Cincinnati Symphony; CSO’s Firebird Excites,” Dayton Daily News, 10 June 1991.

29 Jerry Klein, “Concert Unusual, Entertaining,” Peoria Journal Star, 4 April 1990.

88 leaves the listener energized, as if new parts of the brain have been opened up. It’s like music from a different angle, a way of obliterating preconceptions and getting back to that childlike openness that’s so easily obliterated by habit and the comfort of the familiar.”30

Aside from performance reviews, the Group’s students also play a role in its reception.

Maintaining three studios allows the trio to share some of its repertoire, and more importantly, its approach to chamber music, with a sizable body of talented students, many of whom go on to careers as professional educators with their own studios and students; for example, Scott Deal serves as Professor of Percussion at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis,

Christopher Deane as Associate Professor of Percussion at the University of North Texas, Stuart

Gerber as Associate Professor of Percussion at Georgia State University, Matthew McClung as

Assistant Professor of Percussion at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Eugene Novotney as Professor of Percussion at Humboldt State University, and Doug Perkins as Percussion

Instructor and Director of Contemporary Music at Dartmouth College.31 In this way, the void left by percussionists not hearing this music at PAS conventions is at least slightly filled by a group of future performers who learn of these often unknown works. These students observe a model for music making that requires collaborating with composers, reworking compositions to best fit the performing forces, and rehearsing tirelessly to obtain an extraordinarily high level of ensemble consistency. So, while the Group does not attempt to specifically train successor trios, and in some cases even refuses to pass along specific works from its repertoire, the students in

30 Liz Janes-Brown, “Percussionists Thrill with Adventures in Sound,” Maui News, 20 Mach 2001.

31 The Group typically maintains fifteen to thirty students in undergraduate and graduate percussion degree programs during every academic year.

89 the CCM percussion studios graduate with a very clear idea of the music their teachers engage and the means by which they can pursue comparable projects.32

More than any name could convey—“Percussion Group Cincinnati” included—the frequently evoked metaphors of string quartets and road bands, when melded with its notion of composer-performer collaboration, supply the Group’s most accurate identity. While shared instruments draw a resemblance to the large number of active percussion ensembles, the Group’s compositional processes and concert venues demonstrate a greater union with the world of non- percussive contemporary chamber music. Yet, from the critics’ perspectives, the differences between what an audience sees and hears during one of the Group’s performances and that of a touring piano trio, will rarely allow for comparable treatment in print. So, although the members consider themselves a chamber ensemble, which just happens to have three percussionists, their critical reception places them in a more precarious position—falling between the cracks of genres, audiences, and venues.33 Writers do not usually address this type of ensemble, audiences rarely have opportunities to hear this music, and percussion historians all too often ignore the gaps in the existing scholarship, which is precisely where the Group is most at home.

Alternatively, measuring the ensemble against the goals it set out shows its extraordinary artistic success.34 In wanting to change the way percussionists approached chamber music and created new repertoire, Otte, in his “Preferences” essay provided examples of the types of composers,

32 Particularly for the unpublished compositions, the Group assumes a strong sense of ownership. For example, when a student inquired with Culley about performing some of the Group’s “Chilean Songs,” he responded, “Well, you have to find them first. You would have to either steal our stuff or transcribe them for yourself, because we’re not just going to show our material to you. But, if you want to do some arranging of similar music, or get a composer to work with you and do something that has some ethnic origin to it, by all means, go ahead.” Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 226.

33 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 264; and Appendix F, Transcript of Interview with Benjamin Toth, 456.

34 The goals, in this instance, are the same ideas explored throughout this thesis—the topics covered in Otte’s early essays and letters.

90 compositions, and relationships performers could consider.35 Subsequently, the Group has provided three decades of students, not to mention faculty colleagues and long-term friends, a living illustration of how musicians can put these ideas into practice. The members have encouraged others to find value in focusing intensely on a collaborative form of music creation— a topic difficult to appreciate while listening to a concert or recording, since those events capture only a temporal moment in a larger, dynamic process.

35 Otte, “Preferences,” 91–96.

Conclusion: A Retrospective

In its first thirty seasons, the Group embraced and ignored retrospections with equal success. The trio took part in several noteworthy retrospective concerts. There was the “20th-

Century Retrospective” performance at the Detroit Institute of Arts—the event with William

Albright, which explored the relationship between twentieth-century composers and performers, and served as the point of departure for this study.1 The following year the Group performed for the Cincinnati Composers’ Guild ten-year retrospective.2 Then, when John Cage passed away in

August 1992, the Group was invited to perform at the Cage Memorial Retrospective in New

York City’s Symphony Space.3 And in 1999 the PAS also honored Cage’s percussion music with a day-long retrospective at its annual convention.4 Former Group member Benjamin Toth agreed to organize and lead the event, with the commitment that the Group would play a significant role.5 The trio ultimately performed fifteen Cage compositions throughout the course of the day.6

Recordings have provided further means for the Group to offer retrospectives. They contributed seminal recordings of Herbert Brün’s Infraudibles with Percussion and More Dust with Percussion to the Electronic Music Foundation’s collection of the composer’s complete

1 Detroit Institute of Arts, “20th-Century Retrospective: The Relationship between Composer and Performer,” 18 September 1987.

2 A 7 May 1988 performance at the Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, Ohio).

3 The Group performed on 1 November 1992, three months after Cage’s death. A recording of portions of the Group’s performance at the memorial were recently included in Henning Lohner, The Revenge of the Dead Indians: In Memoriam John Cage, Mode Records 197, DVD, 2008.

4 The PAS events took place on 27 November 1999.

5 Appendix F, Transcript of Interview with Benjamin Toth, 458.

6 The Group performed Cage’s Amores (1943), Branches (1976), Cartridge Music (1960), Credo in US (1942), A Flower (1950), Imaginary Landscape No. 5 (1952), Inlets (1977), Living Room Music (1940), Music for Marcel Duchamp (1947), Music for Three (1984), Song Books (1970), Suite for Toy Piano (1948), Third Construction (1941), Variations II (1961), and Water Music (1952).

92 works.7 More recently, the Group has a longstanding commitment to record the complete percussion works of Cage for Mode Records’ Complete John Cage Edition.8

While the Group played pivotal roles in retrospectives of other composers and organizations, it remains less interested in self-reflection. Some discussion surrounded the production of a multi-volume retrospective recording for its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2004 and the idea resurfaced during its thirtieth anniversary season in 2009.9 Though the trio has successfully recorded many previously unreleased tracks suitable for such albums, to date neither the twenty-five, nor thirty-year album have seen production, editing, and release.10 Anniversary concerts during the 1989–90 season and the 2004–05 season filled some of the void, but even these occasions arrived with only limited press attention and fanfare. Each anniversary came and went with performances approvingly reviewed, but no significant promotion. Mildly stated, the

Group detests much of the culture of celebrity. Otte, in particular, often sites his own unwillingness and inability to function in the role of self-promoter.11 Most performance organizations use anniversaries as opportunities to offer special recordings, publish books about their histories, or launch major tours. Nexus, a Toronto-based percussion group, released a “best of” album in advance of its twentieth anniversary and a live recording in honor of its twenty-fifth anniversary.12 The New York Philharmonic commissioned a book about its history for its

7 Herbert Brün, Wayfaring Sounds: Compositions for Instruments with Tape, Electronic Music Foundation 624, CD, 1998; and Sawdust Computer Music Project, Electronic Music Foundation 644, CD, 1998.

8 Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, 149; Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 216; and Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 336.

9 Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, 151; and Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 333.

10 The Group remains committed to the production of at least one significant retrospective album.

11 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 270 and 361.

12 Nexus, The Best of Nexus, Nexus Records 10251, CD, 1989; and Toccata: A Live Recording Celebrating Nexus’s 25th Anniversary, Nexus Records 10410, CD, 1996. 93 seventy-fifth anniversary.13 Chicago’s Lyric Opera mounted three complete cycles of Wagner’s

Der Ring des Nibelungen in a monumental anniversary feat to mark its fiftieth anniversary. The

Guarneri Quartet celebrated its fortieth anniversary with a concert tour of North America, South

America, Europe, and Asia, which spanned three full seasons, 2003–05. Surely, these organizations’ festivities were well deserved, but each represents a means of self-reflection and celebration in which the Group rarely partakes.

Any retrospective recording the Group completes in the coming seasons awaits as warm and welcoming of a reception as its previous albums have received.14 Any such album would likely provide first recordings of works for which only this trio can offer performances.15

However, these recordings alone would little alter the history of the ensemble presented in the previous pages. This thesis asks what the Group’s relationships with composers tell us about its repertoire, processes, performances, and reception. Waiting to judge the Group based on any recording project presents a fundamental misunderstanding of the reasons Otte, Culley, and

Youhass founded the ensemble in 1979. In 2006, Otte repeated many of the same comments on the how and why of composer and performer collaboration, as he first asserted in his

“Preferences” essay.16 During interviews, when directly questioned about changes in the Group’s goals, he responded, “It seems like over thirty years I would have changed or refined my idea,

13 James Huneker, The Philharmonic Society of New York and its Seventy-fifth Anniversary: A Retrospect (New York: The Philharmonic Society, 1917).

14 For a information on the Group’s previous albums, see Chapter 3, 59; Chapter 4, 64–65; Chapter 5, 83; and Appendix I, Percussion Group Cincinnati Discography.

15 A large portion of the Group’s repertory remains unpublished and performable only from the original composer’s manuscripts, which the members retain.

16 Allen Otte, “NewMusicBox Asks: How Much Detail Do You Expect, Want, and Ultimately Get from Composers in Percussion Scores That You Perform?” NewMusicBox: The Web Magazine from the American Music Center, http://www.newmusicbox.org/page.nmbx?id=60hf08 (accessed 14 December 2006). Otte is also preparing a 2010 revision to his essay “Preferences in Percussion - 1973.” The revised version was prompted by Justin DeHart’s forthcoming study of percussionist in the twentieth century.

94 but I guess, a little to my embarrassment, it seems not. It seems that the idea was good enough and challenging enough.”17 So, after thirty years, what lessons has the Group learned?

While this thesis primarily addresses the members of the Group as performers and artistic collaborators, their efforts as educators provide further insight into their success in achieving the initial and persistent goals. Shifting our focus to the Group’s work as pedagogues also presents an avenue for this author to offer a retrospective. Although, Karl Reiss originally set out to study the Group in his 1984 thesis, he later focused his study on Otte’s previous ensemble, Blackearth.

In his concluding chapter, he acknowledged the formation of the Group and drew attention to its similarities and differences with its predecessor.18 Reiss placed tremendous importance on Otte’s role in repertoire development for the new ensemble.19 He strongly implied that the two ensembles’ differences can be summarized by their organization: Blackearth functioned collaboratively, with each member sharing equally in decision making, whereas, Otte leads the other members of the Group. This point deserves brief exploration, because it muddles distinctions in function and obscures the commonality of the ensembles’ goals. Blackearth employed a process of deciding on seasonal repertory through lengthy discussions and consensus-building. Otte has remained the guiding force in the Group’s repertory selection.

However, by solely using repertory selection as the criterion to judge differences between these ensembles, Reiss missed other important factors, such as the roles played by the various members in rehearsing music, handling operational tasks, and planning for performances.

Furthermore, he largely ignored the position their teaching occupies.

17 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 252.

18 Karl Reiss, “The History of the Blackearth Percussion Group and Their Influence on Percussion Ensemble Literature, Performance, and Pedagogy” (EdD thesis, University of Houston, 1987), 77–78.

19 Ibid.

The role of teaching became a primary cause for the dissolution of Blackearth.

Responsibilities, such as maintaining studios, recruiting students, rehearsing ensembles, and planning curricula burdened its model of rehearsing and performing with limited distractions.

These same responsibilities quickly became central to the Group’s existence. While the other members of Blackearth were not interested in this type of position, Otte found himself attracted to it. Positions as educators at a respected conservatory provided him and his eventual colleagues with the means to accomplish the real goals of the “Preferences” essay. In it Otte proposed a new model for which other percussionists could follow, one in which they no longer fell upon their profession, instruments, or repertoire by accident; rather, he believed that they should consider their preferences and choose their sounds, composers, and musical futures. Otte recommended that those who shared ideas and opinions should work together, “conspire” together, and

“breathe together.” The Group took up this charge, as had Blackearth before it. It granted contemporary percussion compositions the same intense study as professional string quartets apply to their repertoire. Perhaps in 1984, the differences between Blackearth and the Group appeared limited to repertoire selection, but in 2010, the evidence of the Group’s twofold response to Otte’s prompt evinces its more significant divergence from its predecessor. The

Group’s members have devoted their professional careers to collaborating, rehearsing, and performing within the proposed framework, but along the way, they have also provided an example for their students, friends, and colleagues. Blackearth and the Group share similarities in the areas of total repertoire (even if chosen by different means), level of artistry, intense rehearsal regiments, and belief in collaboration; but the latter ensemble embraces a situation where they provide a vivid model of the process of music-making that they advocate, a point

Reiss missed. A retrospective of the Group in the form of a recording, a series of performances,

96 or a collection of new commissions would fall short of capturing its fundamental accomplishment: its existence as an ensemble devoted to intense collaboration between its members and composers.

The lessons of the Group’s first thirty seasons grew out of the various approaches the members willingly adapted in an effort to function as a chamber ensemble comprised of percussionists. Like the professional string quartets of their metaphor, they maintain an extraordinarily close professional relationship: they rehearse daily, discuss their strengths and weakness, and recognize each others’ idiosyncrasies as players and people. Similar to a road band, the Group primarily aims to bring new compositions to its audiences. And as with great theatrical partnerships, it welcomes opportunities to work with previous collaborators, since in so doing the participants grow ever more familiar with the methods, ideas, and areas in which they can offer improvements. Not only are they actors who can predict the moves of fellow cast members on stage, they are musical directors who recognize when the choreographer needs a few more measures; they are composers who can understand their lyricist’s thought process and prepare each phrase with the necessary punctuation. In a musical culture where some chamber ensembles strive with each new project to partner with composers of increasing stature, the

Group prefers to join friends with whom they can set aside the awkwardness of a first rehearsal, dismiss any initial formalities, and dive directly into sharing a common goal.

In the members’ daily function they have crafted a chamber music ensemble with parallels to intentional communities. As some post-war Americans contemplated the merits of communal life, Wendell Barlow Kramer investigated the features of successful intentional communities in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century America.20 He discovered that while

20 Wendell Barlow Kramer, “Criteria for the Intentional Community: A Study of Factors Affecting Success and Failure in the Planned, Purposeful, Cooperative Community” (PhD diss., New York University, 1955).

97 many Utopian Movement communes fell short of their goals, those that came closest shared several features. First, the communities avoided the most active areas of society—growing cities.21 Second, they maintained traditional lifestyles, but were willing to experiment with modern adaptations, and adopt them, if helpful.22 Third, they set out a statement of purpose just slightly beyond obtainability, so that the members always had something for which to strive.23

Fourth, they were frugal, but economically sound.24 And fifth, they found a functional level of democracy: “This democracy tends to enhance each individual, rather than try totally to lose them in the social unit, as does full communalism.”25 Point for point, the Group achieves

Kramer’s ideal. Otte stated his preference for living and working in a small, Midwestern city, such as Cincinnati, as opposed to a heavily populated coastal area, such as New York or Los

Angeles.26 The members wanted to practice and perform on their own instruments, without limits of what they could carry on a subway or lug in a taxi. The members also wanted to test out ideas for percussion and computer music, synthesizers, and audio tape, while all the while maintaining traditional orchestral technique. Otte’s unchanged goal of the past thirty years proved more of a structural aid than an embarrassment. The Group’s artistic subsistence at CCM provides the time they need to rehearse and perform without writing grant applications. And, unlike Blackearth, the

Group succeeded in identifying a workable level of democracy; one where each member has a

21 Ibid., 99.

22 Ibid., 100.

23 Ibid., 104.

24 Ibid., 106.

25 Ibid., 111–12.

26 “Another issue was that I didn’t want to be in downtown New York, where I would need to rent instruments from Carroll [Music Instrument Rental] and jump in and out of taxis to get between gigs. I didn’t want to have to play on whatever instruments were available to me at different venues.” Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 242.

98 say, but also independent responsibilities. As Otte requested, the members of the Group studied the options present in their professional lives, considered their preferences, and made their decisions.

If the Group’s repertoire stands as the most tangible legacy of the members’ efforts, then it is important to remember that they did not set out to build it only for the sake of having music to play; rather, they desired a process in which to be co-conspirators. In contrast to the leaders of the comparator ensembles, who believed that the percussion repertoire was “woefully small,” the

Group, conversely, believes that rich volumes of music await performances.27 In 1974 Otte wrote:

There is a vast amount of music being written by composers all over the world. Most of this music is available for performance. There is more music published and sold in retail stores than any performer could hope to know about. Given this tremendous amount of available music compositions, a performer must exercise a selectivity with well defined intentions.28

While not all percussion groups strive for the same degree of collaboration with composers in crafting their repertoire, they still may play pivotal roles in shaping the compositions they perform. The Group’s absence from the percussion histories can be explained by the approaches applied in previous studies. Composer-dominated narratives guided by a goal of connecting twentieth-century percussion composers to the most notable figures of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century music may never include the majority of composers in the Group’s repertoire. However, percussion historians interested in exploring approaches to composition, rehearsal, and performance might be well served to leave the great-man narratives and

27 Lance Drege, “The University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Series and Percussion Press, 1978–99: An Examination of Its History” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 2000), 5. Drege wrote, “In 1978, in an effort to enhance the repertory for percussion ensemble, Professor Richard Gipson established the University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Series.”

28 Allen Otte, “Preferences in Percussion - 1973,” Percussionist 11 (March 1974): 90–91.

99 teleological progressions behind, and instead to consider whether other ensembles engaged in even a small portion of the collaboration that this ensemble championed.

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Appendix A

Percussion Group Cincinnati Membership Chart

Members listed in order of joining.

1. Allen Otte (b. 1950) September 1979–present

2. James Culley (b. 1955) September 1979–present

3a. William Youhass (b. 1943) September 1979–May 1985 3b. Jack Brennan (b. 1957) September 1985–January 1987 3c. Benjamin Toth (b. 1962) January 1987–June 1992 3d. Russell Burge (b. 1964) June 1992–present

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Appendix B

Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan

14 August 2008 Telephone Interview

AUTHOR: Jack, thank you for your willingness to discuss your time in the Group.1 In my e- mail, I believe I mentioned that I am focusing on the relationships between the members of the

Group and the composers they have worked with during the past thirty years.2 I am considering how these relationships have influenced the Group’s repertoire, reception, and so forth. There are several specific composers I want to ask you about, but I’d like to begin by talking about your joining the Group. In my thesis, I will used Al [Otte’s] “Preferences in Percussion - 1973” essay as a starting point from which to demonstrate that the desire to work closely with composers is something that existed even prior to his Blackearth days and that was foundational for the

Group.3 When you came into the Group, was this something that you discussed? Did you talk about how the Group worked closely with composers?

BRENNAN: Are you aware that at the time I entered the Group, I had already been one of their students at CCM?

AUTHOR: Yes.

BRENNAN: So, I was at Ithaca [College] studying with [William] Youhass, and I then transferred with him, when he went to CCM [in fall 1979]. I spent my senior year at CCM,

1 Brennan was a member of the Group from September 1985–January 1987.

2 Author, e-mail message to Jack Brennan, 14 July 2008.

3 Allen Otte, “Preferences in Percussion - 1973,” Percussionist 11 (March 1974): 89–97.

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completed my undergraduate work, and then did my master’s there. I was at Ithaca [College] with Youhass for three years and then studied the rest of my time with Al. I also studied privately, for one semester, with Culley, when he was a student at Oberlin [Conservatory of

Music]. So, I knew all of them. As a student [at CCM], I witnessed the day-to-day reality of the

Group. I knew what they did. I heard Al’s views about things. I knew how he felt about the

Group and how he felt about working closely with composers. So, when I joined the Group, we really didn’t need to talk a lot about those sorts of things.

Also, Al drove to Buffalo and spent several days with me, after calling to see if I was interested in the position. He filled me in on what they had been doing. This really wasn’t an interview as much as a foregone conclusion: if I was interested in the position, then I would get it. Al was contacting me in July or August [1985] and at that point he already had concerts lined up for the following season. So, it was a very fast turnaround from speaking to him, to his visit, to me starting with the Group. We probably spoke about some of the projects coming up, but not about the day-to-day life of the Group.

Then, when I officially took the position, I was working furiously to learn all of the music. Part of my experience in joining the Group was learning a lot of the existing repertory very quickly. Later, when we were working on new material, such as the project with Mark Saya, things were rather different.4 With the new projects, I really liked being a part of the creative process. This was even true with [Karlheinz] Stockhausen’s Tierkreis (1975), which even though

4 The project with Saya, From the Book of Imaginary Beings, was a collection of character pieces based on Jorge Luis Borges, Book of Imaginary Beings, trans. Thomas di Giovanni (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1978).

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it wasn’t a brand new piece, it was still new for us, and we were all learning it and putting it together for the first time.5 So, those were two different parts of my experience.

AUTHOR: Can we go back, for a moment, to your hiring? Did Al ask you to write any type of essay? He had previously asked Culley and Youhass to compose an essay explaining their aesthetic views, as well as their ideas about where percussion music was headed. He did not request this of Toth or Burge. Did you receive this request?

BRENNAN: No, I didn’t have to write any essay or anything. Al and I already had a close relationship. He knew me well as a student of several years, and we had already collaborated closely on recitals and other performances. When he came to Buffalo, he said we both probably wished that this situation would have come a few years later, which was true, because I was with the Buffalo Philharmonic at the time and was in a relationship with my then girlfriend, now wife, so it wasn’t ideal timing. However, we didn’t need to talk about the philosophy of the Group or goals or those types of things, because that was already clear to me.

AUTHOR: Okay. Let’s discuss a few of the composers you worked with, since that is the focus of my work. Let’s begin with Mark Saya, because during your time in the Group you premiered and performed several of the pieces from his collection From the Book of Imaginary Beings.6

BRENNAN: Mark was always around. He was in the studio a lot, but he was very respectful, since we would rehearse in the studio and sometimes teach or practice in there.7 He would say, “I

5 Karlheinz Stockhausen, Tierkreis (Kuerten, Germany: Stockhausen-Verlag, 1975). The Group’s first performed Tierkreis on 21 January 1986 in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium.

6 Mark Saya, From the Book of Imaginary Beings (Cincinnati, OH: M. Saya, 1986).

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was going to do some work now, is that okay?” And as long as we weren’t using the space, he would setup a lot of things and test out different sounds. In your e-mail you mentioned John

Cage.8 Working with Mark was very different from working with Cage, because I only briefly met Cage and had limited interaction with him; whereas, with Mark, he was talking to us about ideas, asking questions, and getting feedback. He already knew the other guys, and since I was the new guy, he would often ask me different things to try to get to know me better.

AUTHOR: Did he just bring you material in the hallway, or did the three of you have formal meetings with him? I know it was almost twenty years ago, but anything that you can provide me about the specifics of how the collaboration worked, would be great.

BRENNAN: It wasn’t just meeting up in the hallway. He was always around, so there wasn’t a need for that. He would mostly see us in the studio and ask questions. We were regularly in contact. We talked about popular music, food, and all sorts of things. We didn’t socialize a lot beyond that, but there was plenty of setting up different instruments and playing different sounds. For example, I remember demonstrating a lot of material on tam-tam. I don’t think it made it into a piece, but I showed him all different types of sticks and beaters you could use on tam-tam, as well as different ways to play with the beaters.

AUTHOR: Would he provide you with a few ideas and ask for feedback, or did he give you compositions a page at a time?

7 “The studio” is the Group’s rehearsal space in the basement of CCM’s Corbett Center. Along with holding their daily rehearsals in this location, it houses their extensive collection of instruments.

8 Author, e-mail message to Jack Brennan, 14 July 2008.

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BRENNAN: I remember getting, probably, a movement at a time. He would speak to us about a lot of ideas, but then he would prepare movements for us, give us the scores, and we would rehearse them.

AUTHOR: Since he was around for so many performances, did he still look for feedback after concerts? Did the works continue to change and develop even at that point?

BRENNAN: I wonder if the other guys remember more. I don’t remember any great alterations at that point. He would come along during the rehearsal process, listen to material, and give us feedback; and we could provide him with our thoughts. I remember this was a really excellent example of something Al always said about the benefit of working with living composers: your contact with them not only influences how you play that person’s music, but it can even influence how you play Beethoven [or any deceased composer]. Things as basic as metronome markings, particularly in Beethoven, take on a whole new light after working with a living composer. Mark would write specific metronome markings, but then he would hear us play the piece at the tempo he provided and would realize that the way he was hearing it in his head was a little different from how it sounded when we played at the tempo on the page. And in those cases, we could make adjustments, and it would be fine, but it really got me thinking about the difference between what a composer may hear in their head and what a piece sounds like when it is live.

AUTHOR: Another project that I mentioned in my e-mail was Al’s PERMUREAU (1986), which was inspired by, or said more accurately, was composed after the music of John Cage.9 In

9 Cage composed the spoken-word piece titled MUREAU (1970), upon which Otte based his PERMUREAU. For a full description of the composition, see Chapter 4, 70–71.

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working on this, a piece by Al, but one that is based on Cage, did you try to pull from other experiences with the Cage material you had prepared? How did the preparation of this type of piece work?

BRENNAN: This was one of Al’s composition projects, so we didn’t really need to hearken back to Cage. It was fairly clear what Al’s ideas were, and of course, he was there to explain anything that needed explaining. We didn’t really try to say, “This comes from Cage, and so we should make a deep connection.” It was straightforward, and Al knew what he wanted.

AUTHOR: When you played other material for Cage, what type of response did you get from him?

BRENNAN: Sorry to disappoint you, but there is not too much I can remember from my time with Cage. First off, I didn’t spend too much time with him. He and Al already had a relationship, but my time with him was limited. Also, I didn’t want to faun over him. I’m just not that way, and I figured there were already plenty of people always bugging him. Now, I look back and think, “Wow, I was sitting next to him or having a meal with him,” and I am somewhat in awe, but I didn’t really make a huge deal out of it at the time. Some of our time with him was a kind of traditional collegiate setting. I can remember being at a restaurant or bar after a performance, where we were all around a big table with a group of composition students. Cage was answering questions. Sadly, I don’t ever remember a time for just him and the Group to sit down and talk a lot. We stayed in the same house during a festival, and one morning I remember the three of us eating breakfast when he walked in the room and started talking.10 He had gone

10 This festival was the October 1986 “New Music Festival VII” hosted by Bowling Green State University.

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out with someone who was helping him track down some whole grain rice, and he was pleased that he had found it. When he came back to the house, we were sitting there, eating breakfast, and he stood there and spoke to us a little. What I remember more from that festival was talking with a critic who was there from Pittsburgh.

I can also remember one other story from that festival, which has always stuck out to me.

There was a performance of a very populist piece, something we really wouldn’t have cared for, but Cage heard it and afterwards said something like, “Isn’t it nice that we live in a pluralistic world.” Even then, he kept up his reputation of just always being very kind to everyone. As for our performances, I always remember him just wanting to be amazed, and he would even say that of his music: “I just want to be amazed.” I’m sorry I cannot give you more about him.

AUTHOR: That is fine. The reason Cage is of interest is because in many ways he is an oddity on the list of composers the Group has worked with. The Group has always made a point of playing lesser-known composers, yet when you had contact with Cage he was already known and well established.

BRENNAN: Yes, very much so.

AUTHOR: Also, he is of interest because there are many people—even people within the percussion community—who know very little about the Group, but what little they know is often about the Group’s performances of Cage’s music. Reception is another issue that I am considering, and when you compare what people know of the Group with other ensembles, such

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as Nexus, there is a difference.11 Can you comment on why so little is known about the Group, outside of the Cage material?

BRENNAN: This is another topic that I would be interested to know other peoples’ responses to, because I was in the Group about twenty years ago, and I was only in for a short period, so my view is based on a small window of exposure. However, I think one issue is that back when the

Group started, there were far fewer ensembles. Now, there has been a whole explosion of percussion chamber music groups in recent decades, and so that has made a difference. I also really got a sense from Jim, Al, and Bill, when I was a student and then especially when I joined, that as Al would say, “They never felt the need to play only the music of composers who received the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.” They always approached new material by thinking that there could be good composers who write good music, but who have not been big self-promoters, or who were young, or who were students, or who were people that didn’t need to constantly promote themselves because they were good composition faculty at a university, which helped pay their bills. Part of the Group’s approach has also always been about mentoring students and creating a situation where everyone can learn a lot. The benefit of all of this is that they get pieces that are very personalized for them. The sad byproduct is that they just aren’t better known. When the Group was formed it was probably better known just because percussion chamber ensembles were rare: there was the Group, Nexus, and probably [the] Repercussion

[Unit].12 Also, they haven’t been interested in popular music, while other groups have done those types of things that bring in different audiences.

11 Nexus is a Toronto-based five-member percussion chamber music ensemble founded in 1971.

12 The Repercussion Unit functions as a collective for California-based percussionists. Performer and pedagogue John Bergamo has spearheaded the collective since the early 1970s, and the resultant ensemble began regularly meeting in 1976.

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Now, the Cage component is something that I think they were interested in because it was part of our percussion heritage. Even though Cage was an established composer who was already known, I think Jim and Al saw him as closely tied to who we are as percussionists. I don’t know why the Group didn’t do more with some of the other composers of that generation, such as Lou

Harrison.13 There has been some work, but with Cage there was just a real connection. I don’t know how they first got interested and met.14

AUTHOR: Some early contact came about during a few festivals, which were similar to your experience, the Group was playing, and Cage was also there. As for people who know the Group because of its Cage performances, some may admire the things that the members do really differently. One example I’ve discussed in other interviews is the tempo of the Group’s performances of Third Construction (1941). Did you ever hear about these sorts of interests?

BRENNAN: I think people admired and still admire the Group because of good performances, but I never had someone compliment me specifically because of a tempo. People came up and said that they thought our performances were well done, but they never really got into that type of specific thing.

The one other comment I was going to make earlier was that, to a certain degree, the

Group is a contemporary music group, which happens to be made up of percussionists. It isn’t so surprising that the percussion community doesn’t know as much about them, since it has always

13 The Group played several works by Harrison during its early years, specifically five performances of Suite (1942) during January, February, and March 1983. In the season preceding Brennan’s arrival, it also performed Harrison’s Tributes to Charon and Concerto for Violin and Percussion. After Brennan’s time in the Group, Harrison’s music returned to the Group’s repertory with Round for Gary (1993), which was composed for them.

14 The Group originally got to know Cage through a series of music festivals in which the composer was present, including April 1982 performances in Witten, Germany; November and December 1983 in Frankfurt, Germany; May 1984 in Turin, Italy; November 1984 in Ann Arbor, Michigan; 1986 in Bowling Green, Ohio; and 1990 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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had its focus on new music, more than anything else. One example of this, even in teaching, is the collaboration on a commencement with the [University of Cincinnati] School of Design,

Architecture, Art, and Planning. Do you know about this performance?

AUTHOR: No, I don’t think so.

BRENNAN: A faculty member in that program became aware of us or got to know Al or somehow made contact. Their idea was to have this commencement project for the students, where they had to design and build models, which they called orangeries, based on these French buildings. The students had to design and build these models in coordination with the Group.

They were told that it had to be something that could be played on and upon, so it was both stage and instrument. The three of us went over to the school to meet the students and see the kinds of things they were doing. We were all really impressed with the stuff we saw. Then, some of the students came over to CCM, and we demonstrated a few things for them. Afterwards, either Jim or Al said that these were really the [students] we should be teaching, because they were so interested in pushing boundaries, and figuring out new ideas and new approaches. It is a similar thing with being a new music group; what ties the Group to the larger music world is not percussion, but contemporary music.

AUTHOR: Cage and Saya were two composers whose music you played often during your time in the Group. Are there other projects that stick out in your mind, either because of the composers involved or because very good pieces came from them?

BRENNAN: That’s a good question. It has been twenty years, so I can’t remember all of the pieces. I’d need to look at programs. Do you have programs?

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AUTHOR: I do. I have a database with thirty years of the Group’s programs.

BRENNAN: Tell me, what’s there?

AUTHOR: You played some music by Herbert Brün, who, as you know, was someone with a very close relationship to the Group. What do you remember of Brün?

BRENNAN: Even while I was an undergraduate at Ithaca [College], Bill [Youhass] brought up

Brün a lot. And even though I hadn’t played his pieces, there were other people at Ithaca who I had heard perform some of them, such as Plot (1967) and Stalks and Trees and Drops and

Clouds (1967).15 When I joined the Group, we would play these concerts up in Urbana-

Champaign and then there would be a debriefing, as Jim would call it, afterwards.16 At first, I was a little intimidated, because Herbert was a pretty heady guy and an important composer who had been around. I remember specifically one time we had played [Mauricio Kagel’s] Dressur

(1977), which is a very theatrical piece.17 Some of the students began asking us questions about it, and I pulled from my undergraduate experience some theater knowledge and brought up some thoughts about [Bertolt] Brecht, and how this piece was similar to the notion of reporting what is happening, more than just performing. So, I made all these points and then learned later that

Brün actually knew Brecht and had worked with him. Then I was embarrassed and wondered if I

15 Herbert Brün, Plot (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1967); and Stalks and Trees and Drops and Clouds (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1967).

16 Brün taught composition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1962–87. The Group regularly performed there for Brün and his students.

17 Mauricio Kagel, Dressur (Frankfurt, Germany: Litolff, 1983).

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had stuck my foot in my mouth. But, in general, we had nice conversations. I didn’t have any special, personal relationship with him beyond that. Who else is on your list?

AUTHOR: Randolph Coleman contributed one work, Sweet William (1977).18

BRENNAN: Wow, yes. It had a popular element of air drumming, which people really liked. It was a memorable piece for the audience. It was one of the pieces that I had to learn very quickly.

I remember Jim and Al doing this very difficult phasing part. I believe I just faded out for that section and let them do it. I watched at that point. I remember rehearsing some other passages over and over, because it was so very difficult. I met Coleman, and it was all a very positive experience.

AUTHOR: What about Ted May? He composed para-DIDDLE (1979), one of the Group’s earlier works.19 You performed it once.20

BRENNAN: I can’t remember, did I perform that?

AUTHOR: It appears on a program from September 1985, but there is always the possibility that the program could have changed for the performance. My database was created largely from information in printed concert programs, so if something was changed after the program was printed, then I may not know it.

18 Randolph Coleman, Sweet William (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, n.d.).

19 May’s para-DIDDLE remains unpublished.

20 The Group performed para-DIDDLE once during Brennan’s tenure. The performance took place at a 17 September 1985 Contemporary Music Festival hosted by Indiana State University.

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BRENNAN: I don’t remember that one, but I do remember [Charles Boone’s] Weft (1982).21

That was a very interesting piece. Do you know it?

AUTHOR: Yes.

BRENNAN: Getting those breath marks, the hiccups, correct took some practice, but it was a very interesting piece. I remember later hearing Boone say that it was all wrong to do it with three players. I wondered if it was like a conservative talking about a movie they have never seen and commenting about it being bad without ever watching it. I wonder if he would have liked it if he had heard us play it.

AUTHOR: What about Earle Brown?

BRENNAN: Yes. That was one of the best moments I had in the Group, because I had done 4

Systems (1954) by myself on a recital, and so I knew it really well.22 Earle Brown was visiting

CCM, and so even though I hadn’t directly worked with him on the piece, performing for him was just a really good memory of my time in the Group. I just think that is a great piece—his problem solving by using graphic notation is great. You might have twelve things happening at once, but it is all worked out through his notation.

21 Charles Boone, Weft (n.p.: Salabert, 1982).

22 Earle Brown, 4 Systems (New York: Associated Music Publishers, 1961).

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AUTHOR: Your performance of 4 Systems also incorporated Rupert Kettle’s Dining Room

Music (1983) and John Cage’s Living Room Music (1940).23

BRENNAN: Yes, as a set—it was very theatrical. That was really fun. I never met Kettle, but I remember all of that. Unfortunately, I don’t have much to add about anything related to working with the composers, which would be of interest to you.

AUTHOR: There was Peter Garland’s Apple Blossom (1972).24

BRENNAN: That was fine, but I don’t have any specific memories of the composer or relationship issues associated with it.

AUTHOR: There was another work that Al [Otte] wrote called Sonata as Interlude: Rolling with

John (1985).25

BRENNAN: There was a lot of rolling in that piece. To keep up all of the rolling made it a very physically demanding piece, but again it was Al composing based on the music of John Cage.

With Al present, it was clear what he wanted. What other pieces are on your list?

AUTHOR: Also on the list is Michael Udow’s Four Movements for Percussion Trio (1975, rev.

1979), which is a work that got played a lot in the Group’s early years.26

23 This performance occurred on 8 October 1985 in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium. Rupert Kettle, Dining Room Music for Four Percussionists and Tableware (Sherman Oaks, CA: Studio 4 Productions, 1984); and John Cage, Living Room Music for Percussion and Speech Quartet (New York: Henmar Press, 1976).

24 Peter Garland, Apple Blossom (Lebanon, NH: Frog Peak Music, 1972).

25 Otte’s Sonata as Interlude: Rolling with John remains unpublished.

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BRENNAN: I liked that one, but going back to the Cage for a moment, we also did Branches

(1976).27 We played it a lot.28 I got a chance to see Bill [Youhass] play this with them before I joined the Group. It was a different kind of piece, but one that audiences responded to. I remember once being at this hotel in Pennsylvania, and the place was filled mostly with hunters.29 I really wasn’t sure if our audience would get this piece, but we played it, and they loved it. I think it was just enough outside their general definition of music that the audience sensed that it was some type of visual and sonic experience, but since it was so different from anything else that they knew, they didn’t need to try to force it into their pre-existing idea of music. They just accepted it for what is was and therefore, really seemed to enjoy it.

AUTHOR: You had two performances of Cage’s Music for Three (1984).30

BRENNAN: I don’t know about that one.

AUTHOR: It is the work that Cage actually wrote for the Group. Cage had shown Al [Otte] how one of his computer programs had generated parts for an earlier work, and Al asked if he could use this program to write percussion parts.

26 Michael Udow, Four Movements for Percussion Quartet (New York: American Composers Alliance, 1975).

27 John Cage, Branches (New York: Henmar Press, 1976).

28 During Brennan’s tenure, the Group performed Branches eight times: 20 September 1985, 1 October 1985, 15 November 1985, 11 April 1986, 12 April 1986, 22 April 1986, 21 September 1986, and 2 December 1986.

29 Brennan’s final performance of Branches occurred on 2 December 1986. The concert took place in the auditorium of the Ridgway Area High School (Ridgway, PA).

30 These performances occurred on 7 October 1986 in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium and 17 October 1986 at Bowling Green State University. John Cage, MUSIC FOR: Parts for voice and instruments without score (New York: Edition Peters, 1984).

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BRENNAN: Was that the concerto they did at a PAS Convention?

AUTHOR: Yes, at the PAS convention they performed Music for Three with Renga.31

BRENNAN: Renga, that’s the title I remember. Are they the same piece?

AUTHOR: Renga was a pre-existing work, and it served as the wind ensemble’s accompaniment material, while Music for Three was the solo material played by Al, Jim, and Bill.

BRENNAN: Okay, I can remember some of that now, but again, I cannot tie it to any specific conversations or interaction with Cage. Now, I remember performing “the newspaper piece.” It was very visual, and I remember Al flapping his arms at one point.32

AUTHOR: Were you involved in any of the sessions with [Frederic] Rzewski? The sessions where his students composed the newspaper piece as a response to one of his assignments?

BRENNAN: No, I wasn’t, but I remember preparing the piece, because we premiered it when I was in the Group.33

AUTHOR: I don’t usually bring one interviewee’s comments into another interview, because it has been many years since some of these pieces were created, and so if one person is not

31 At the 1 November 1984 PAS performance in the University of Michigan’s Hill Auditorium, the University of Michigan Symphony Band played Renga for the accompaniment, while Otte, Culley, and Youhass played Music for Three as the trio solo.

32 “The newspaper piece” is a work based on collective input from a variety of composers and performers, which goes by the title I Read in the News Today, Oh Boy! (1988). It grew from an assignment that Frederic Rzewski gave to a class of student composers.

33 The first performance occurred during a 13 January 1987 concert in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium.

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remembering a piece clearly, I don’t want those ideas to incorrectly influence someone else’s memories. However, since the Group still regularly performs I Read in the News Today, Oh

Boy!, and since this is more of a comment than a memory, I would be interested to hear you respond to something Culley recently told me. In one of our interviews he said that this work was one of the most effective works in the Group’s repertoire.34 Do you remember it being very well received?

BRENNAN: I remember being unsure of how an audience would react to it. In many ways it is similar to Branches. What is occurring is so far outside what most people think of music, they don’t need to try to hear this piece and force it into a comparison with other works. They can sort of accept it as a sonic and visual experience without comparing it to assumptions of good music.

In a way, it is more unlike the music that people know than are works of Stockhausen, but it is actually easier for many people to take in and enjoy something like “the newspaper piece.”

This also reminds me that I often told people that if they heard a performance of the

Group and didn’t like it, then they should go back and listen to another one. There are so many different types of works in their repertoire that you don’t want the audience to leave with just one impression. It is similar to an orchestra concert, in that way. You can only put so many types of pieces on one concert, and some of them will be comfortable to half your audience and boring to others, and some will be too far out-of-the box for half the audience and wonderful for the others. You can’t please everyone with every piece. The Group just has a lot of different types of pieces. So, I don’t remember all of the performances of “the newspaper piece,” but I am not surprised that some audiences really like it. What else is there?

34 Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 235.

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AUTHOR: There are the marimba arrangements of the “Chilean Songs.” These are yet another type of project, because Al crafted initial arrangements of these works and they have grown and developed into important works in the ensemble’s repertoire. Every member who has joined the

Group has picked up a part and made it their own. Did you do anything in learning those pieces to leave your mark on them?

BRENNAN: This was another thing that I needed to learn quickly when I entered. Al taught me the parts almost by rote. He would play through them, demonstrate some important sections, and then wrote out this cryptic distillation of them on a 3x5 card, so I could remember what I should do. I remember this clearly, because I tried to provide Ben Toth with much clearer instructions when he had to learn them quickly. As for changing things, I didn’t change much. I was playing the bass parts to begin with, and I was never much of an improviser on these things, so unlike

Jim or Al, who may have played around with them a little more, I really didn’t.

AUTHOR: Also during your time, the Group performed [Toro] Takemitsu’s Rain Tree (1981) many times.35 With that piece, you didn’t have direct discussions with the composer, nor was it written specifically for you.

BRENNAN: The most significant thing we did with that piece was figuring out how to control the lights by ourselves using foot controls. That came about because a friend of Jim [Culley’s] was with the New York Philharmonic, and they had this series of “Horizons Concerts” and they had known about us and asked us to play the piece, but we thought it would be impossible to

35 During Brennan’s tenure, the Group performed Rain Tree on 30 May 1986, 21 September 1986, 30 November 1986, 2 December 1986, 12 December 1986, 13 December 1986, 4 January 1987, 13 January 1987, and 24 January 1987. Toru Takemitsu, Rain Tree for Three Percussion Players (New York: Schott, 1981).

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perfectly sync the changes in our playing with the changes in the lighting.36 The lighting makes such a big difference to that piece, so it took us a while to figure it all out, but by us being able to control our music and the lighting it made an important difference in our performance of that piece. Are there any other [pieces on your list]?

AUTHOR: One last, Cornelius Cardew’s The Great Learning, Paragraph 2 (1969).37

BRENNAN: Oh, the piece with chorus?

AUTHOR: Yes. You only played it once.38

BRENNAN: Yes. We didn’t work with the composer of that one. Also, the choir was probably less interested in the piece than we were. The choir was on stage, and we were spread out around the auditorium. We were in the audience. The piece was precisely composed, so there weren’t many major interpretive decisions that we needed to work out, but it was an interesting piece, and it was fun. It was probably more interesting for the audience than for the choir.

AUTHOR: Alright. Thank you very much for your time today. Before we finish, I just wanted to verify your birth year as 1957.

BRENNAN: Yes, that is correct.

36 The Group performed for the New York Philharmonic’s “Horizon ’86: Music as Theater” series on 30 May 1986 in Avery Fisher Hall.

37 Cornelius Cardew, The Great Learning: The First Chapter of the Confucian Classic, with Music in 7 Paragraphs (London: Cornelius Cardew Committee, 1984).

38 The only performance was a 13 January 1987 concert in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium.

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AUTHOR: Again, thank you for your willingness to talk about your time in the Group. I will provide you with a transcript of this interview for your review and then a complete version after the thesis is submitted.

BRENNAN: Thank you and good luck.

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Appendix C

Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge

Interview No. 1 18 October 2007 Corbett Center, University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio

AUTHOR: Thank you for your time. Could we begin by talking about aspects of the Group’s life at CCM? I am interested in knowing how being a member of the Group influences and/or informs your teaching.

BURGE: I had the luxury of coming to CCM as a graduate student, so I watched the Group a lot before I eventually became a member. I think that was actually really helpful, and I think that some of the principles that I could see in their teaching soon became part of my own

[pedagogical] arsenal. Whether I had gotten a job at another university or in an orchestra, I think

I would have taken those lessons with me to any of those places. So, when I actually got into the

Group, many of the things about the music, how they played, how they rehearsed, and so forth really didn’t even have to be said, but of course there were some things that did.

I think how it has affected my teaching is in pointing out to my students the importance of a strong chamber music environment, and some of the nuts and bolts of how to go about creating that. One thing that has always been strong in the Group—from when I used to watch them, until the time I joined, and through even to this day—is a sense of taking a new piece of music and understanding where it starts and where it goes. What I mean by that is I want my students to consider how almost every facet of a piece should be thought through. This is the same type of organization that they would need to use for an orchestral audition, where they would prepare excerpts, listen to recordings of the music very carefully, look at scores, and know

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what is going on with all of the other instruments involved. When you relate this approach to a piece of chamber music, you must first and foremost ensure that all of the players are playing from a score, so that everyone knows what everyone else is doing, and so that as you learn the piece you are not only learning your part, but everyone else’s. You might have to go home and work on your passages by yourself, so that you can execute them correctly, but then as you are rehearsing, you also need to know that as you are playing your passage, here is what the other two guys are doing in conjunction with you. Whether it is playing in unison, playing a canonic figure, or playing accentuations, all of those things are built into the piece, and I think score reading is the way to understand all of this. Score reading is a large part of the difference between a traditional percussion ensemble, which is much more like an orchestra with a conductor and everyone reading from a single part, and the chamber music that we teach. Of course, percussion music can be successfully performed with a conductor, but when you take away the conductor, then everyone obviously needs to rely more on what they are hearing and they need to react more to each other. We have been seeing this type of interaction with string quartets, well, forever. I think that idea of listening and reacting applies to string quartets, but in a sense it is even more important for percussion chamber music, because when there are lots of instruments or big setups involved, then being able to read from a score requires a set of skills, or even a whole methodology, for marking your parts. Jim [Culley], Al [Otte], and I all design our parts slightly differently, but the idea is that I am clear about what I need to do, and I also always know what Jim and Al are doing. Similarly, they always know what I’m doing, and this is not just so we can pick on each other during rehearsals, but so that we can do the best job possible of trying to play cohesively. The concert we just did last week had several pieces where that

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became very important.1 The John [Luther] Adams piece we played, “Deep and Distant

Thunder,” has all of these things going on at once, many metric modulations, and thick rhythmic passages.2 A lot of times, my part was just shots in the middle of all of that, and so to make those shots happen in the right place required knowing exactly where Jim was, since he was kind of the soprano voice—he was playing these high drums with all of these sixteenth notes, triplets, and quintuplets. To fit my part in meant not only listening, but also seeing what was going on.

Playing this type of music affects our teaching a lot. We try to get students to listen, to open up their ears. Sometimes, even really good players come here, and they are already set in their ways of hearing a beat pattern and then just cranking out their part. Well, they may be really talented and very good, but if that is how they play then they’re not going to be a part of the music that is occurring around them. That, obviously, transfers over to all varieties of ensemble playing, because that type of player can be really engaged with the conductor, but if they are not listening to the rest of the ensemble then there are problems. I play extra [as a percussionist] with the [Cincinnati] Symphony [Orchestra] a good bit, and if they have a bad conductor, then the orchestra just doesn’t watch. They focus on playing together—and this is especially true if they are playing a piece that they know well—and they will look up only for the beginning and the ending, and maybe some important moments here and there. I can even remember one of the first times I played with them, there was a not-so-good conductor and the timpanist at that time was the great Eugene Espino, and Eugene came over to me and said, “Just put your stand up a little so he can’t see you and just play with us.” It worked! I just played with the ensemble, and you

1 Burge refers to a 12 October 2007 performance in CCM’s Patricia Corbett Theater.

2 “Deep and Distant Thunder” is one of the three movements from John Luther Adams’s Three Drum Quartets from Earth and the Great Weather (1993). These drum quartets were excerpted by Adams from his theater piece Earth and the Great Weather: A Sonic Geography of the Arctic (1990–93).

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could tell that for the concert everyone kept their ears open. Listening and always playing with the mindset of good chamber musicians is really what we campaign for with our students.

AUTHOR: Let’s talk about the repertoire your students play and the repertoire of the CCM

Percussion Ensemble.3 In looking through the Group’s concert programs, it is clear that there are works you’ve played many times and others that get one or two performances and then never show up again. Also, there are composers you work with on many different pieces and others with whom you collaborated on only a single composition. Some of the pieces that the Group has premiered have gone on to be played by many other ensembles—The Glory and the Grandeur [A

Concerto for Percussion Trio and Orchestra (1988) by Russell Peck] is probably the best example of this—while other pieces, such as the various works you’ve played by Herbert Brün, appear to get performed by few other ensembles. Often it is students who have come out of CCM who are the people most likely to be performing Brün’s percussion music. Do you consciously try to pass along the pieces in the Group’s repertoire? Is there an effort to say, “These are composers we respect and even though you may not hear their music being played elsewhere, this is why we play it?”

BURGE: I don’t think it is a conscious thing. I think there are certain composers that the Group worked with a lot, such as Herbert Brün, who were either under some peoples’ radar or who didn’t reach a certain realm of fame, but were none the less known in certain circles and respected. Brün did a lot of things and wrote a lot of great music, but was never known in the same way as someone like John Adams. I think some of the repertoire we respect gets passed on to our students in two ways: one way is through the [CCM] Percussion Ensemble and the other is

3 Undergraduate and graduate percussion performance majors comprise the CCM Percussion Ensemble.

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through preparing recitals. Jim always makes sure that some of the more standard pieces, such as the works of [John] Cage, [Lou] Harrison, and [Edgard] Varèse, get [programmed] on the

Percussion Ensemble concerts. Then, privately, some of these things find their way to our students, since for recitals they all do chamber pieces. So, a lot of these things stem from what they see and hear during their time here. Somebody might see Al play a graphic design piece by

Brün, and if they are really interested in that, then they may work with him on one for their recital. I’ve had a bunch of people do the Cage improvised piece for snare drum.4 I think that playing this type of music is just what we have been doing for a long time, and so that comes across to our students.

Now, one thing that I really like is that Jim, Al, and I are all a little bit different, but our students are all really different. We get some students who come here and don’t really like contemporary music at all, but are good players, so I don’t force them to play the strangest material. I try to let them be who they are. I challenge them a little bit, in the sense that even if it is not music they are going to do on their recital, I at least have them try to play it—they should try to live with the pieces and experience them. That is one of my themes with everything.

It is funny, having played two concerts here in the past two weeks: the first one was more of our road show, while the one on Friday was mostly new stuff.5 The road show is more oriented for families and so it included [Russell Peck’s] Lift-Off! (1966), the “Chilean Songs,”

“the newspaper piece,” and a little of the Guo [Wenjing] cymbal piece—nothing too strange, just

4 John Cage, cȻomposed [sic] Improvisation for Snare Drum Alone (New York: Henmar Press, 1990), also known as cComposed [sic] Improvisation No. 2.

5 The Jean Eggers Memorial Concert, also known as the “road show” concert, occurred on 6 October 2007 in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium, and the Group’s concert of “mostly new stuff” was the 12 October 2007 performance cited above.

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a little taste of this and that.6 The Friday concert had a bunch of new stuff and a little old stuff, but some of it was more avant-garde. It was really interesting seeing the students’ reactions, because some of them really gravitated to the stranger stuff, and others were more skeptical of the newer material; they said: “Wow, I saw you play last week, and you were playing all of this tuneful stuff. Now you’re playing all of this weird stuff. What’s going on?” It was as if there was some identity crisis in their minds about what it is that we do, and I think that’s good. I told one student who was fairly skeptical that you have to listen to everything so that it is easier to formulate opinions of what you like and what you don’t. It is okay if you hate it, but the fact that you heard it provides you with more of a basis for forming opinions. There are too many people talking about what they like and don’t like without really witnessing whole portions of the repertoire. In a way, it is good for students to play something really strange so they can hear it and their minds are challenged. I think we always present, even in the strangest programs, a balance of things, and even in the strangest moments, we try to demonstrate that our craft is as put together as possible. We want our students to know that we thought hard about the pieces on our programs, and that we thought a lot about how best to perform every aspect of them. If they realize that, then we’ve succeeded in teaching an important lesson. So hopefully, if they are ever in some group that is playing something that they think is strange, they will at least realize that they should take it just as seriously, and they shouldn’t blow it off.

AUTHOR: But passing on your repertoire or the music of composers you respect is not done in a candid, verbal manner by you saying to your students, “Here is this repertoire, it is great music, and it is up to you to keep performing it.” Is that correct?

6 Burge refers to Russell Peck, Lift-Off! (Chicago: M. M. Cole, 1977); the Group’s arrangements of several Chilean songs; I Read in the News Today, Oh Boy! (1988), the piece for newspapers that came about through collective input from a variety of composers and performers; and Guo Wenjing, Drama (Milan: Ricordi, 1995).

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BURGE: Right. I don’t think we talk about it or feel the need for them to play the exact same pieces we have. Jim and Al are a little older than I am, and especially with Al being in

Blackearth prior to the Group, they’ve heard and played a lot of great music, but I’ve never heard those words come out of their mouths. I’m sure Al would like to have students interested in these pieces, and I know Jim is really passionate about a lot of the percussion ensemble repertoire, and we want people to know some of the standards and maybe some of the stuff that not everybody knows about. So, some of our stuff could perpetuate down the road, but I don’t think anybody is actively campaigning and perhaps that is where some of the looseness comes from [in our area].

We get students who gravitate toward [contemporary chamber music] and want to do it, and others who don’t. A while back, there was a guy who was really interested in the things that we were doing, and he ended up forming his own group. That was Doug Perkins.7 We’ve had several students do that, and they’ve been successful. And I think Doug’s interest in this type of chamber music started when he was at CCM, but there are also other people that just wanted to study here and then get orchestral jobs.8 Even for someone who wants an orchestra job, hopefully being here provides them with some background into the type of thing we do. But again, to answer your question bluntly, I don’t think that anyone is trying to convince students

7 In 1999, Doug Perkins helped found Sō Percussion, a contemporary chamber ensemble. Perkins no longer performs with Sō Percussion; but now is part of the Meehan/Perkins Duo, a contemporary percussion duo formed in 2006.

8 Perkins shares Burge’s sentiment about the import of his time at CCM in forming his views about (and interest in) contemporary percussion chamber music. In an interview with Payton MacDonald, Perkins and his Sō Percussion colleagues were asked if their musical aesthetics and interest in performance were largely shaped by their graduate work at Yale University. Perkins responded, “I feel that our aesthetic groundwork was laid for all of us before our time at Yale. Personally, I studied with the Percussion Group Cincinnati in undergrad and really feel my musical sensibility comes out of that time.” Payton MacDonald, “Sō Percussion,” Percussive Notes 43 (December 2005): 13.

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that they need to do this. Students either come and engage themselves with our music or they come just to get a good percussion degree with no interest in carrying on something like this.

AUTHOR: There was a period in the 1950s and 1960s when prominent percussion pedagogues, such as Jack McKenzie, wrote articles in The Instrumentalist about the value of percussion ensemble music in justifying percussion as an art.9 The argument was that the availability of good ensemble music would make people realize that percussionists were similar to other great chamber musicians. The authors encouraged readers to use existing percussion ensembles or to create new such ensembles as a means of presenting this repertoire to their students. These articles are what got me thinking about the degree to which ensembles may or may not still fulfill this role.

BURGE: Well, you’ve probably heard Al or Jim talk about the Group as being a string quartet, but for percussion. However, for me that idea has always been more about performing at the level of quality chamber musicians, and it’s not about us saying that percussion music or percussionists need to be justified.

AUTHOR: Let’s turn to some of the composers you’ve worked with in the past decade. You brought up John Luther Adams before. That relationship is interesting because as a trio you have

9 Examples of such publications include Thomas L. Davis, “Let’s Have Percussion Ensembles,” The Instrumentalist 12 (February 1958): 52–55; Jack McKenzie, “The Percussion Ensemble,” The Instrumentalist 11 (December 1956): 58–60; and Charles L. Spohn, The Percussion (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1967), 66–67. Davis writes, “The second goal is to produce absolute music, with percussion instruments, thereby gaining for the percussion section the respect and recognition it rightly deserves” (52). McKenzie claims: “A percussion player should be just that, a percussionist, not just a drummer …. Percussion ensembles are securing for themselves a rightful place in the literature, not only as training devices for developing better percussionists, but also as concert- recital music, music which conveys aesthetic qualities” (58 and 60). A review of Jack McKenzie’s composition Introduction and Allegro runs in the column immediately next to the above mentioned Instrumentalist article, and in it the review’s author (identified only as R. W. B.) writes, “This work approaches a chamber music concept in its texture ….”

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ended up working closely with him, but still playing works that were [originally] quartets or even larger. Many of the other composers you work with write trios specifically for the three of you.

With Adams you are usually either bringing in additional players or converting his larger works to the trio format. Can you share with me what that relationship has been like and how you have gone about arranging these larger works for just three people?

BURGE: It is a good question. I think you might get a different answer from all three of us, but I think it is quite interesting. John is a couple of things to me: he is pretty stubborn in that he wants

(or at least wanted) to write quartets—and maybe stubborn is not the right word—but he had existing ideas, and he was very determined to stick to those regardless of us being a trio. Of course, some of his music that we play was written earlier, when he had his own quartet with his friends in Alaska. We then took this material, and since we’re a trio, we decided to adapt it. The one thing I will say is that he has always been very positive about anything we’ve done with his music. He has never said, “You can’t play that—it is quartet or die.” He would say, however, “I don’t want to rewrite it for trio, but if you guys want to rewrite it, then that is fine.” In that sense, he has been flexible about it, and that has worked.

I think one of the things we do best, and maybe sometimes too good, is we will go in and figure out how it is going to work with just three people and then we find solutions that work.

When we first played all three movements of this piece that we played last Friday [John Luther

Adams’s Three Drum Quartets from Earth and the Great Weather], we could cover almost everything in the outer movements.10 Those movements have tape parts, two really active parts, and two bass drum parts, which Al is able to combine for himself. The second movement is not as easy since there are places where all four parts swell with eighth or sixteenth notes, and then

10 See n. 1 and 2.

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the material reverses itself. It is basically a succession of fast, slow, slower, and so forth. Then, you get the faster ployrhythms with quintuplets, sextuplets, and septuplets on the top and then slower durations on the bottom. So, in that movement it is harder to get every crescendo to work because there are clearly four parts. The first time we played it we thought about using a tape, recording a fourth part, and then syncing to it. That didn’t seem like a good idea, because we didn’t want to wear [headphones with] a click track. So what we actually did was build in the thunder using crescendos and decrescendos to fill in the space in each of the parts. There was a lot of thought on our parts to try to make it as big and effective as John wanted.

But of course, I think some of his pieces work better than others when adapted to a trio.

For example, we went to Alaska a few years ago, and performed and recorded this older “coyote piece” that he wrote, and Scott Deal, another percussionist, was up there, and so we just did that as a quartet and it made sense.11 I don’t think that piece could be done as a trio. But The Earth and the Great Weather was different, since it was possible, except for these few sections I mentioned, to divide all four parts up between us. In that middle movement, Al plays part two and some of part three, I play some of part three and part four, and Jim only plays part one, since in John’s writing it is almost always the busiest and the fastest, and it is also usually on the highest drums. I play the high drums in the first and third movements, and the same thing is true.

In those movements I don’t have time to do much else. Sometimes, with the other parts, you can rewrite them so you have the composite rhythm and everything fits together well.

11 Deal studied with the members of the Group and received his MM in percussion performance from CCM in 1982. The “coyote piece” is Five Percussion Quartets from Coyote Builds North America (1990), which is a collection of pieces Adams excerpted from his theatrical work Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with His Daughter: Coyote Builds North America (1986–90). The performance in Fairbanks took place on 23 October 2004 in Charles W. Davis Hall on the campus of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. The Group recorded these quartets during the same trip, but that recording has yet to be released.

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But, yes, John has always been supportive of this even though he would never rewrite all of his percussion pieces just to cater to us. Part of this might be that he is a pretty good salesman who likes having his music performed, and so he is not going to say no to a pretty good ensemble interested in playing his music. Some of this is also probably logistical. Some of this is just John being a smart businessman, but I think there is genuineness in there as well. I think he knows that we take his music seriously and that we will be committed to performing it. Now there is a difference with Strange and Sacred Noise (1997), because that was written by John for us, and then we recorded it.12 Do you know this piece?

AUTHOR: Yes.

BURGE: Everyone that we needed was there. We had three students adding in all of the different parts, and we did exactly what John wanted. John was there making suggestions, and nothing was fudged or manipulated. Everything was just played as is. I think it worked well. It was also probably really good that we had that experience with him—one where we weren’t trying to somehow modify his music—and he seemed pleased that we were just there and doing it as it was.

AUTHOR: But in working through drafts of, or ideas for, Strange and Sacred Noise there were parts that he sent you, and then you guys looked at them and sent them back—parts that did not make the cut. Right?

BURGE: Right.

12 John Luther Adams, Strange and Sacred Noise, Percussion Group Cincinnati, Mode 153-DVD, 2005. Then students Stuart Gerber, Matt McClung, and Brady Harrison performed with the Group on this recording.

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AUTHOR: Did you feel comfortable correcting Adams or sending certain parts back because you had already established a relationship with him? Was this about your comfort level with him and his comfort level with the Group? Or, is this something that you guys usually feel comfortable doing regardless of who the composer is?

BURGE: I think that runs the gamut. I think Al felt pretty comfortable with John, and I think we all did, and so it was easier to say, “This movement isn’t working.” However, it varies from composer to composer. Sometimes there is also a language barrier involved. With Qu Xiao-

Song, there were some changes that he was open to.13 With Guo there wasn’t as much that needed to be changed, but he also spoke very little English and so for us to really get in there and say, “Let’s do this,” or, “Let’s do that,” seemed like it wouldn’t have worked.14 He is a fantastic composer, and his music was really good from the beginning. The Glory and the Grandeur was before my time, but I think there was back and forth with Russell Peck over that work.15 Most of the time, a little back and forth with a composer works just fine. With composers who have written several things for the Group, such as Mark Saya, there has always been feedback provided from us to them and from them to us.16 The composers’ personalities are always taken into account, since there are certain composers with whom you have to be careful when something isn’t working. There was a commission included in a trip we were taking, and it was

13 The Group collaborated with Qu Xiao-Song on a variety of pieces, including Làm Môt (1991), Mist 2 (1991–95), Fang Yan Kou (1996), Mirage (1998), Cursive (2000), Four Poems from Shijing (2000), and The Stone (2002).

14 Guo Wenjing’s Drama is the only one of this composer’s works in the Group’s repertoire.

15 Peck and Otte enjoyed a significant collaboration during the composition of The Glory and the Grandeur. See Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 294–97.

16 For information on Saya’s compositions for the Group, see Chapter 2, n. 30.

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for a piece by Charles Wuorinen. He sent the piece out a few weeks in advance, we rehearsed it, and then we performed it.17 Since Wuorinen is such a huge, established composer and very famous, for us to call and say, “Hey, this isn’t working well,” probably wouldn’t have gotten us too far. That type of call could have benefited that piece, because even though I like a lot of what he writes, the layout of that piece was very different, especially from the things we usually do.

We are usually so concerned about sounds, and Wuorinen’s piece was the type of work where you pick up two medium-hard mallets and you hit fifty thousand instruments. There was no time to change mallets, and so that wasn’t the kind of thing we prefer. The sounds we make are very important to us, and having the right mallet in your hand in order to get the right sound makes a difference. So, it always depends on the composer, but I think ninety percent of them accept feedback, and they, too, might at some point come back and also want to modify a few things.

There is often a fair amount of give and take.

AUTHOR: Let’s go back for a moment to what you were saying about Adams. Your progression started with early works, which were not written for the Group, but were quartets that you adapted into trios. Then there were the projects you were more involved in, such as [recording]

Coyote Builds North America, which again is comprised of quartets and not trios. The high point of your collaboration comes with Strange and Sacred Noise, which was actually composed for the Group, but this is a quartet.18 Can you compare Adams with someone like Qu Xiao-Song, who kept focusing his material more and more on the Group, and who kept crafting works more and more with you in mind? Do you think Adams, even though he didn’t give you a Strange and

17 The New Music Consort, the New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, and the Group commissioned Charles Wuorinen, Percussion Quartet (New York: C. F. Peters, 1994).

18 The Group has performed and recorded Strange and Sacred Noise with six performers—the three members joined by three of their students—but that is only so that no single student is responsible for learning the entire fourth part.

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Sacred Noise trio, was crafting parts more and more specifically for the Group—for your strengths? Or another way of considering this would be: does it make a difference whether or not it is the Group performing Strange and Sacred Noise? Can any ensemble perform this piece and get the same affect? Is there something special about how you perform it—something that

Adams knew only you guys could do?

BURGE: I don’t think so. I think you are exactly right in what you said about Xiao-Song. My perception is that some composers, like Xiao-Song, wrote more for us as they got to know us better. As Al got to know Xiao-Song and Xiao-Song learned about us, he in turn wrote more for our type of trio. His early pieces were things for the Hong Kong Ballet, and so he was just a composer—a good composer—writing music for a commission. But as he got to know Al more and was living in New York City, then a lot of the things that came after that point were more directed toward the Group. With some other composers—and this is the case with John [Luther

Adams]—I always felt like he wrote whatever he was going to write. He respected us and how we were going to treat his music, and he obviously formed a very good friendship with Al, but his music was written more based on what was in his mind and had nothing to do with us individually. That’s my perception.

I don’t know if Al mentioned it to you, but we actually got a piece from John this summer. He just wrote it for us. This one is a trio, but it looks similar to his other pieces. He’s got a design, but so does [Joseph] Schwantner, or so does [John] Corigliano, and those designs work for them. When I hear a Schwantner piece for orchestra, then I hear one for wind ensemble, and then I hear Velocities (1990), I hear a lot of the same harmonies, I hear his stacking of

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fourths and fifths, and that’s all okay.19 This piece from John is very similar in design to his other works, with his whole rhythmic stacking principle. The one thing that is kind of different is that it has all of this soft playing, which is interesting. John has always been writing based on what he is affected by in Alaska, whether that was environmental ideas or a combination of different things. On the other hand, as Xiao-Song got more involved with us, he really started thinking about how to write specifically for us.

John is also a composer who is very focused on getting his music played. We recorded

Strange and Sacred Noise, but then way before the CD came out, we heard that people were playing it all over the place. These performers and performances were even recommended by

John, and though I don’t think that he purposefully didn’t recommend us; it seemed to me like he was more interested in getting his music played, and we are only one of the many ensembles with which he has a relationship. John is not exclusive in any way, and I am not necessarily disturbed by that, because he’s got his music and he’s going to try to get it out there and performed by anybody that will play it. Composers live in a rough world too. They do their thing, and so it is very hard to be exclusive to one ensemble. For a myriad of reasons, I think that was one thing that was easier to do twenty years ago than it is to do today. New music was more prevalent then, there were fewer groups, there were more things happening, and if a composer found a group willing to play his or her music, then that was pretty cool. Now, there might be twenty, twenty-five, or more groups willing to play a new work, and so I think it is a natural thing that happens, with only some composers being more devoted to different groups than are others. Some composers are similar to a jazz bass player I play with. This guy is a fabulous bass

19 Joseph Schwanter, Velocities (Valley Forge, PA: Helicon Music, 1991), a frequently performed moto perpetuo for solo marimba.

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player, and he will take any gig, but if he gets a call for a gig that pays $40 more, then he’s there, and that’s just the way it is. Does that make sense?

AUTHOR: Yes. That also leads to another question. Even just thirty years ago when the Group was founded, there were not nearly as many ensembles performing contemporary percussion chamber music. Now, there are a large number of ensembles who can play such a piece, and the availability of performers appears to be one of the causes behind the rather standardized process most percussion chamber music goes through. A composer writes a work, they find an ensemble to perform it at a PAS convention, then it nearly immediately begins cycling through universities and even some high school percussion ensemble programs. Over time its popularity and the number of performances diminish, then the composer writes a new piece, and the process starts over. Since the same types of ensembles are playing these pieces, and they are going through a fairly standardized process, one could argue that many of these works end up having remarkable similarities. Even if they don’t repeat melodies, they often use a similar number of and distribution of performers or they might play with similar structural ideas. The Group has never really been a part of that cycle. Do you believe this has contributed to the diversity of styles, techniques, and composers represented in your repertoire?

BURGE: Yes, and I think, for me, that is one of the most exciting things. I just watched the DVD of our concert on Friday [12 October 2007], and I am always intrigued by the variety.

AUTHOR: We were also going to talk about Mark Saya today, but since we only have a little time left, let’s move Saya to our next interview and finish by talking about instances where the

Group has worked with other performers—particularly with performers who aren’t

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percussionists. So, I am thinking about performances similar to those with Eugene and Elizabeth

Pridonoff, or any situation where you add other people to a performance.20 Concertos can fit in, to some degree, but I am especially interested in how collaborations work with other chamber musicians or ensembles.

BURGE: I think it varies, but most of the time it is fairly natural. We have had a couple of situations where a piece is written for us to play when we are invited to play at a given school or festival. For those pieces we usually only work with the composer when we arrive. We are invited to do a concert, but in order to do that there is also a requirement to play the piece of a composer from that school. We typically get those pieces two weeks before, and they may not be great pieces, but we get there, work with the composer, and we are always cordial and nice.

We’ve had a couple of those types of situations that ended up being less than ideal, but with people like the Pridonoffs, well they go back a long way with Jim and Al. The four of them have been playing the Bartók for years.21 Then, when I came along, we actually did the orchestral version of the Bartók with them. We played it with three percussionists and added a bunch of parts. Collaboration with them is always easy and fun. They are very fun people to work with. I think, for the most part, the collaborations we’ve done are almost always with people who we know well, and so they have always been fairly easy. Audrey Luna came in and sang a bunch of Xiao-Song’s music with us, and we know her pretty well, so that worked very naturally.22 However, it is still always an adjustment, when we bring someone in, since the three of us are so used to working with each other. We know each other so well that there is a certain

20 CCM faculty members Eugene and Elizabeth Pridonoff have regularly performed as the Pridonoff Duo since 1982.

21 Béla Bartók, Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (New York: Boosey & Hawkes, 1942).

22 With the Group, Luna sang Qu Xiao-Song’s Ji No. 6, Mist 2, and Four Poems from Shijing.

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dynamic, so, for example, I often know what we are going to argue about before we argue about it. Or I often know the [musical] things that are going to be a problem, and the things that are just going to happen, without a problem. There is just a certain sense of slowing down whenever another person comes in, and we need to fit it altogether.

One thing that I think is interesting, and this is a good example [of us needing to adjust], is when we did the “coyote pieces” [by John Luther Adams], three or four years ago, we decided that, since they were all quartets, we would bring in a different graduate student to play on each of them.23 That was really interesting and it was really fun, but we had, I think, three different people play. Those pieces are all very rhythmic and there is some stacking of rhythms like we talked about before, but also a lot of grooving, interlocking sixteenth-note stuff. So, it was interesting to see how different everybody felt time. Even though each of the three of us have our own [sense of time], and to each other we might feel a little more on top or behind, but we’re so used to working with each other that we compensate for that. We usually have the idea that we are all moving in the same direction as one. So then to have really good players, our graduate students, come in and play with us, it made me realize how much I’ve learned over the years in developing my ear. What happened was that things could be going at one tempo, and then sometimes these people, who are good musicians, would enter and were not quite in the pocket.

Now, we have the luxury of rehearsing everyday and so we know that stuff [about each other].

By the time the concert came everything was just fine. And of course, I remember that the first time I came in as a graduate student to play with the Group I was hyper-aware of everything, I

23 Though program information for this specific performance of Five Percussion Quartets from Coyote Builds North America (1990) remains unidentified; Allen Otte recalls the concert taking place prior to the Group’s October 2004 trip to Alaska. This date is in keeping with Burge’s timeline.

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was nervous, and I was trying to play in the right spot and was probably then trying too hard.24 I probably also played ahead or behind, and so I think those things are natural, but I thought it was really interesting just to see in one piece, with rather short movements, how different everything felt when we began working with a new person for each of the different movements. By adding or subtracting even one person the dynamic completely changes. That may be a fairly obvious thing to say, but to stand in the middle of it and say, “Okay, this person has this tendency,” and,

“Now, this person comes in with their tendencies,” well, those are things that I don’t really need to think about with Jim and Al—I just kind of know what they are going to do. And they probably know that about me, too.

AUTHOR: Let’s discuss the mechanics of one of the Group’s collaborations. When working with a composer you often provide candid feedback throughout a long process of composition.

When you are working with other performers, is the feedback, or the discussion of any problems, something that happens as freely and as immediately? If you are working with the Pridonoffs, for example, and something really isn’t feeling right, do you address it as candidly as you would when commenting on a piece by John Luther Adams?

BURGE: Yes. The dynamic changes, of course, but we are still candid. When I was a graduate student, I think Al was a little more to the point then he might be nowadays, in other words, I think he is a little kinder nowadays. If something didn’t go right back then he might be more apt to be persnickety about it, but not all the time. Also the personality [of] and relationship with the other person involved makes a difference—if it’s one of our students, then probably without

24 Burge played with the Group during his time as a graduate student on several occasions, including a performance of Stravinsky’s Les Noces on 15 February 1987 and performances of Brün’s “at loose ends: [sic] on 28 October 1987, 12 January 1988, 5 May 1988, and 15 July 1988.

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even trying the conversation becomes one between a teacher and a student. I know I felt that way when I was a student playing with the Group. I knew I was a student, and so I took any comments from the guys in that manner. I respected their opinions and just tried to do the best I could, and I think everybody that we’ve had play has done that. But yes, it changes from performer to performer. We know the Pridonoffs really well, and so if something doesn’t go right we can all chuckle and then move on, but in our rehearsals no one has to tiptoe, they can say, “I think you rushed,” or “I think you might have been dragging,” and those things are fairly easy to fix.

We’ve played [John Cage’s] Third Construction (1941) a bunch of times with Stuart

Gerber, who now teaches in Atlanta, and he’s kind of a veteran new music player.25 He’s done so much, particularly the music of [Karlheinz] Stockhausen that when we play with him now, we can all sit down as more of equals, and it is less like he is a student. He has been out there being a professional, and when we perform, it is just all of us out there playing.

In rehearsing nobody ever says, “I’m always right, and you’re always wrong.” We have a pretty open feeling to our rehearsals, and we assume everybody is always trying to do the best job they can to make the music the best it can be. Sure, everybody has a bad day now or then, and someone may get persnickety about something, but for the most part our rehearsal process works pretty well.

AUTHOR: Alright. Next time we will begin by talking about Mark Saya. Thank you.

25 John Cage, Third Construction (New York: Henmar Press, 1970). Stuart Gerber, Associate Professor of Percussion at Georgia State University, completed his MM and DMA in percussion performance at CCM, while studying with Burge, Culley, and Otte. At least one such Third Construction performance occurred on 7 January 2000.

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Interview No. 2 22 October 2007 Corbett Center, University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, OH

AUTHOR: Could we pick up our conversation by discussing Mark Saya?

BURGE: As far as Mark Saya goes, I probably have the least experience, since I think they played a lot more of his music before I was in the Group. Well, maybe that’s not so true. We’ve done “Tigre [Capiangos],” the stomping piece, quite a few times. It is part of the book of bigger pieces.

AUTHOR: From the Book of Imaginary Beings.26

BURGE: Yes. We’ve never played the drum movement since I’ve been in the group, which is kind of strange since I’ve seen lots of students play it, and I saw them play it before I was in the

Group. There is also a very short one, which is not coming to my mind, but we’ve played that a couple of times.27 However, the biggest project we’ve done with Saya, since I’ve been in the

Group, was his Bachanons (1996), which was a lot of fun, and his treatment of those things [the individual canons] were really interesting.28 He is a very individualistic composer. He is a very smart guy, who does a lot of reading. I often think that he is in his own world, and he comes up with things which are very original and very interesting. But the Bachanons seemed like a particularly daunting task. I’m not a composer per se, but it seemed pretty daunting to treat some

26 Mark Saya, From the Book of Imaginary Beings: An Open-Ended Catalog of Pieces for Three Percussionists (Cincinnati, OH: M. Saya, 1986); Mark Saya, From the Book of Imaginary Beings: Tigre Capiangos and the Sect of the Brujeria (n.p.: Media Press, 2004); and Mark Saya, From the Book of Imaginary Beings: Three Morlocks (n.p.: Media Press, 1991). See also Appendix B, Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan, n. 4.

27 Burge refers here to Saya’s “The Lamed Wufniks” (1986).

28 Mark Saya, Bachanons: Fourteen Canons for Three Percussionists (n.p.: Media Press, 2000).

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Bach canons and really get into them and their structure. I don’t know if it went over incredibly well, but it was fun to prepare.

The stomping piece [“Tigre Capiangos”] was also fun to prepare. It was really challenging, too, mostly because of our level of involvement. This is a good example of the

Group getting a piece, rehearsing it, having it develop with us, and then thinking about how we might change the music or offer suggestions. Mark Saya spent a lot of time in the room while he was here, so some of the instruments he was writing for are things that I’m sure he found in there or that Al showed him or all of the above.29 Some of the instruments we have in there are not just things that come up out of the blue. If he saw an instrument in there and liked the sound, then he would write for it. [“Tigre Capiangos”] has a little melodic thing that Al plays later in that piece, but what makes it really challenging is that it is a counting festival. There are lots of repeated bars, which are all in odd meters, so you will have a bar of 15/4 or 15/8 repeated three times, and then you will have another one, and then you get shorter durations. It is just this kind of continuous material moving through odd meters, and it is all going on with stomping tubes and you have four surfaces in front of you: two hard and two soft. You need to move the tubes back and forth to meet those surfaces, which when going quickly is hard, but of course what we did to make it even harder was turn the lights off. Then we play it with stand lights and the music is on a conductor’s podium. I stand in the back and Jim is to my left and Al is to my right and the music is way up in front, and so we stand in the dark with the music far away under a stand light, and we are doing all of these pretty complicated odd meter things. My eyesight isn’t bad, but it is a challenge just to play the piece, then to have it be difficult to see makes it even harder. That is the type of thing that I think ends up happening a lot with pieces that need some kind of mood

29 For a definition of the Group’s studio, see Appendix B, Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan, n. 7.

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created. Another example is Stockhausen’s Tierkreis (1975), which we just played.30 We ended up doing it with the lights off, which is not really a problem in that piece, since you are just walking to stations and playing. There are a couple of moments when it is pretty dark, but I am also pretty used to it now. The first few pieces we played in the dark made me pretty uncomfortable, because they required a whole different way of moving around. You can’t see very well, you can’t see the music, sometimes you’ve got quick stick changes, and so forth. We also play the [Toro] Takemitsu [Rain Tree (1981)] in the dark, and with that one there is a lot of manipulation with lights fading in and out.31 I think that piece becomes a lot more difficult in the dark. It is difficult in the light, but I think it [the darkness] also creates a mood.

[With “Tigre Capiangos”] you have the darkness, then the stand light, and all of a sudden you have these big poles, which are creating shadows. In a way, that piece may be challenging to play, but I’m not sure how interesting it would be to watch [if we weren’t in darkness]. I think the darkness enhances that piece. Mark has some nice changes in sound, changes to things that have more interesting timbres. If the lights are on and then all of a sudden something that was going on for a little while just shifts, then the audience can look around at the different things on stage, but when the lights are off, then there is no where to look, and so everyone is kept very

[aurally] engaged.

“The [Lamed] Wufniks” (1986) was the other Saya piece that I couldn’t remember before. We’ve played that too, and it is also a really challenging, but short, piece. It has three parts and so you trade: the first time you play one part, then the next time you play the next, and it kind of has this feeling that you are going slightly off-keel. It is really fun to play.

30 Karlheinz Stockhausen, Tierkreis (Kuerten, Germany: Stockhausen-Verlag, 1975). The Group performed this piece on 12 October 2007 in CCM’s Patricia Corbett Theater.

31 Toru Takemitsu, Rain Tree for Three Percussion Players (New York: Schott, 1981).

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AUTHOR: Saya was no longer around CCM when he wrote Bachanons, correct? So, did he send you the material as he was preparing it, or did he wait until it was entirely worked out?

BURGE: Yes, I think he was out in California when we did that. He tends, or at least Al tells me that he starts projects, gets them half done, and then it will take him another five years to finish it. I think he had been working on those things for a while, so he may have even started them while he was in Cincinnati. I’m not sure exactly when they were started, but they were completed when he was not here anymore. I believe he flew in the day of the concert to hear them.32

AUTHOR: When you guys were working on that material do you remember any issues that came up or any feedback that Al, or all three of you, might have had for Saya?

BURGE: I don’t think there were too many [conversations]. I think that it was pretty straightforward. Al might have thought something sounded better on celesta than on glockenspiel or some small items like that, but I got the feeling that he knew what he wanted. He’s pretty good, and during the time I was a student he spent enough time with the guys that he knows some of the do’s and don’ts.33 I think his ideas were (and are) pretty strong, so to my knowledge there wasn’t a lot of messing around. In the stick piece [“Tigre Capiangos”], there were a couple of items to be sorted out. For example, he would write “metal” if I was to be banging on a piece of metal, and then I would try seven different pieces of metal to find the right sound. There was

32 Saya attended the 14 April 1998 premiere performance in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium, but the Group also offered an unofficial first performance of the work a few days earlier on 11 April 1998.

33 Burge refers to the “do’s and don’ts,” Saya learned about the Group’s notational, textural, and instrumentation preferences while he composed From the Book of Imaginary Beings.

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messing around in that way—to find what surface would sound better. Sometimes he wanted to get almost a native sound with jingles added to the sticks. There was lots of messing around with that, but I don’t remember us looking at his music and saying, “Now, that sound doesn’t work.”

It seems to me, of all of the composers that we’ve worked with, changes to his music seem to happen much less often. Maybe it is just because we all really respected his construction of the pieces, and he had thought very carefully about what goes where, but I don’t think in Bachanons too much was changed. We did some switching of parts, which is something we often do, but that’s just more of an internal change, where I’ll play the first part in this movement, but then someone else will play it later on. Those types of changes occur just to give it a trio feeling.

Often pieces come and the first part will be the hardest or the busiest, and so we keep mixing up the parts just to retain that idea of trio—to keep a sense of three people and not solo works with accompaniment. Though that [solo playing] can always happen in certain places, we aim for everyone to share in the hard parts.

AUTHOR: One example that you brought up made me think of something else. A large portion of the Group’s repertoire was either written for you or at least written by a composer you knew well. There are few works in your repertoire that aren’t connected to the Group in one way or another. Takemitsu’s Rain Tree is one of the exceptions. In performing this type of piece—one where you didn’t have direct contact with the composer—are there any noticeable differences in the approach to your preparations and rehearsals?

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BURGE: There are two differences: first, because it is an already established piece, which Jim and Al had seen a lot, they had strong ideas about it.34 In preparing it, they included things that they had figured out over time. I think most of it is right there [on the page], but then there are some of the lighting things and the stick changes that are different when the Group is performing the piece.35 We really make sure that there are more timbral stick changes to meet what is happening with the sonorities. I was saying something similar to this a minute ago, that there is a certain sense within the Group that makes us really picky about timbral sounds. I’ve seen Rain

Tree performed a lot with people playing the notes correctly, but there is not a sense that every mallet is chosen for the appropriate area. I have seen some really good performances of it, but people might even decide that the lights are too much of a pain to deal with, and so they won’t do the fading. I think including all of those things really enhance the mood of the piece.

Now, the second difference is that Rain Tree was already established repertoire in the

Group when I joined, and so it was part of a large amount of music I was learning quickly.

Learning pieces that were part of the established repertory was very different than learning new material, because there was already a way that it had been done before. In that setting, you get your part and you plug it in, and though you wouldn’t be excluded from having your say about this or that, there is already a pretty established groove of how the piece is going to be performed. So for Rain Tree and something like the big piece by Xiao-Song, Làm Môt (1991), those were already played a lot before I ever arrived, and part of coming into the Group was just

34 Otte and Culley do not recall seeing or hearing Rain Tree prior to Jacob Druckman contacting the Group and requesting that they perform the work during the “Horizons” concert series, which he was organizing for the New York Philharmonic. At the time, Druckman served as the New York Philharmonic’s composer-in-residence. In response to this request, the Group learned the composition and Otte developed a system of foot-controlled lighting that allowed for the performers to also manage the light cues excluded by many ensembles.

35 In the score, Takemitsu instructs the performers on dimming and adjusting lights. Burge’s discussion here is about the level to which performers successfully and artfully execute this aspect of the piece.

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trying to hop on the bus. I didn’t have much say in things—maybe some mallet choices here or there—but strong opinions already existed about what should go where and how we should approach certain sections and certain tempos. It was already decided when someone was going to turn to bring their lights down or up, and I don’t think that was a bad thing. I learned a ton from that, but it was a more stringent environment. I prefer when we are all learning a piece together, because then I feel like I have more artistic contributions throughout the process. I enjoy playing a lot of the older pieces now, and I think that I enjoyed them when I first joined. The only difference being, and I don’t mean this in a bad way, but Jim and Al were more stringent back then, since they had been doing this for years, and I was the new guy. They were helping and teaching me, whether I liked it or not. Even when we just did the Stockhausen, a piece that certainly isn’t new, I think it was much more of a Group process, since we’ve now been together for a while.36

To answer your question, there is still a lot that goes on with pieces that we weren’t actually involved in composing. Obviously, there is less actual messing with the piece itself, since we treat it more like an established entity, but we still spend a lot of time making sure we put forward the best performance possible. It is more about how are we going to try to play the piece and make it as good as it can be, whether that means making a timbral adjustment or improving an ensemble aspect of the work. Some of the same issues arise with pieces such as

[Cage’s] Third Construction, where we need to bring in someone to play that fourth part. I mentioned Stuart Gerber has played that a lot with us. We are going to play that with Ben [Toth]

36 Burge refers to the previously mentioned 12 October 2007 performance of Stockhausen’s Tierkreis.

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when we go up to [the] Hartt [School] in a month.37 We played that at a convention with him, and that’s always great.38 Also, one of my first concerts with the Group was right before Ben left and we played that piece, and it was really fun.39

AUTHOR: Which of the more recent projects stick out to you as significant? And you can determine the definition of “significance” however you want: a great piece, a great relationship with a composer, an important work, etc.

BURGE: Well, I think as for composers, John [Luther] Adams sticks out. I think his pieces are good works, and I value the interaction with him during our time in Alaska.40 I thought Strange and Sacred Noise was a good project. And all of his various things are pretty interesting.

I think working with Xiao-Song was really great as well, because it is always interesting to try to understand where his music is coming from. It is just so completely different than a lot of what we had done before, and so hanging out with him, having some dinners together, and talking about other things, such as philosophy and politics, really gave me more insight into what he is thinking about. I’ve always been curious about how he comes up with his material, what interests him, and his composition, which is a very specific style. Xiao-Song composed percussion music for us, but it came from a very different place and a different culture entirely.

37 The Hartt School is the University of Hartford’s academic unit for music, dance, and theater. Toth is Professor of Percussion at the Hartt School. This performance occurred, after the above interview, on 9 December 2007.

38 The Group performed with Toth during the “John Cage Retrospective” musicircus at the PAS convention on 27 November 1999.

39 Burge joined Toth, Culley, and Otte for a 14 April 1992 performance in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium.

40 The Group traveled to Alaska in October 2004.

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So, those two composers are very important. We have also done a lot with Michael Barnhart. He is fun to work with, and he writes interesting pieces.

Now, you know the Group has been together for a lot of years, and there is some sense of summing things up. I don’t think we’re done yet, but the Cage project would be the most important current work, because it does provide a document of a lot of important music.41 One of the things that the Group has not necessarily been good at is documentation. There are ensembles out there that record constantly, and they are very good about it and they take care of business.

They get a new piece, they perform it, and they record it. The Group’s process of documentation has always been a little haphazard, and it is disappointing, in some ways. We had to push pretty hard, or at least I did, to get that album recorded about ten years ago.42 The process of recording was just fine, but it was the process of getting there. I think Al is sometimes hesitant to record things, maybe he is less so now. I think part of it is the fact that we have a university job, and we have the Group. Sometimes we will be very busy with both, and then sometimes we work really hard on one, then we get a concert finished or a quarter completed, and we just go back to catching up on the other part. In other words, if we’ve been doing a lot of work for the Group and we finish up a series of concerts, then we will likely come back and get caught up here at

CCM. I think some ensembles have the advantage of sitting with everything they have just played and deciding what should be recorded, and contemplating the next steps. Whereas, we are lucky because we are members of a full-time ensemble, who also have full-time teaching jobs, but the down side is that our lives always stay busy and so we don’t have much down time for the contemplation. It is both good and bad, because we have little breaks here and there, but

41 Burge’s term “the John Cage project” refers to the series of recordings of Cage’s percussion music, which the Group has been working on for Mode Records’ Complete John Cage Edition.

42 Percussion Group Cincinnati, Percussion Group Cincinnati, Ars Moderno 01, CD, 1999.

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some of the many things can get lost in the shuffle. So, the biggest project has to be this Cage project for which we’ve got a full CD done. It has taken forever to get finished. The recording is all done and now, most of the mixing is done. I tend to be the kind of person that likes to do things in a timely manner and get them done. I think you should record something, go back and do the editing, finish with mixing, and get the project done. And that’s the way I did my own

CD, when I had my sabbatical.43 That is just my way of thinking. So, one of the hardest things for me when I joined the Group, was the slow pace. I think I’ve come to grow used to it—it just is what it is—but it takes a long time for us to get anything done. This doesn’t mean we don’t work hard, but it is just the business aspect that we don’t do well. We aren’t as business savvy or as much of go-getters as other ensembles. Al likes to say that we’re just a live band and that is his view. So, with this Cage project, Mode [Records] is not real fast either and that’s another problem. It took Strange and Sacred Noise many years to come out.44 I don’t understand that pace, especially these days with as fast as things move electronically. I don’t understand the reason for things to sit on shelves for five years. But, if we can get this Cage project done, then we would like to do another CD, and Al is interested in this big retrospective. It would be a recording of things from when other guys, besides myself, were in the Group, which is great—I am all for that. I think we’ve got enough stuff that we’ve toured with that we could do another

CD soon. It could be a recording like the one we did eight or ten years ago.45 We would still also have enough stuff that we’ve played over the years that could be considered greatest hits material, which could be done on the retrospective album. Those projects end up being important

43 Russell Burge, Contrast, Broken Music, CD, 2004. Contrast includes one track with his colleagues from the Group, a recording of the sixth movement of GuoWenjing’s Drama.

44 The Group recorded Strange and Sacred Noise in 1998, but the recording was not released until 2005.

45 For more details on the Group’s recordings, see n. 40 and Appendix H, Percussion Group Cincinnati Discography.

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for me, because I like the fact that our work is documented. It is not that our recordings will ever be big sellers, since this segment of music is what it is. I just like having the feeling of knowing you worked really hard on something, and then knowing it is documented, even if it is only for personal reasons.

Last year, when Al was on sabbatical, Jim and I recorded this piece with [Michael] Fiday

[called] Automotive Passacaglia (1988, rev. 2003), which we recorded with James Tocco, and then Fiday just churned [the recording] out.46

We also just played this piece with [the CCM] Philharmonia, the [Enrico] Chapela

[concerto titled, Encrypted Poetry for Percussion and Orchestra (2006)], and now that’s another mess, because we recorded it, but then the Dean left, and he was the main financial pusher behind that.47 So, it is up in the air as to whether that recording will work out, but once again I think it was an interesting piece and whether or not we ever play it again, or whether or not it becomes a standard work for percussion, I think it had some great moments. We also worked really hard on it, so I see a value in recording it.

AUTHOR: Your response took us in a direction I was eventually planning to go, so let’s stay here for a moment. One of the harshest possible criticisms of the Group is that you have a whole long list of composers, who you have worked with, and pieces, which have been written for you, and yet few recordings exist. Very few of these works have become prominent known percussion works, and few of these works have been picked up by other performers. In other interviews, I have pointed out how a composer can take a reasonable work to a PAS convention, get a

46 Michael Fiday, Same Rivers Different, Innova 716, 2009.

47 The Group premiered Chapela’s Encrypted Poetry for Percussion and Orchestra on 26 April 2007 in a performance with the CCM Philharmonia under the direction of Mark Gibson. Former Dean Douglas Lowry left CCM to assume the deanship of the Eastman School of Music in August 2007.

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reasonably large-name player or ensemble to perform the work, and within weeks begin to see additional performances scheduled by high school and college percussion ensembles throughout the country. If the piece is of lesser quality, it may fade more quickly than other more substantial works, but either way the sheer scale of the added blast of publicity likely accounts for some increased interest. Many of the pieces that have been written for the Group have never experienced that publicity, even if they were great works that you guys performed wonderfully.

Can you speak to why these works don’t get out further, beyond the Group? Is it just the issue of recording?

BURGE: There are a couple levels of things going on here, as I see it. First, is that the Group has always shied away from being endorsed by companies. So, what you just mentioned about taking pieces through a PAS convention, I think that is a very prevalent direction of percussion music today, [but one not usually available to us].48 There is a heavy influence of the PAS and heavy corporate influence over who performs, when they perform, and where they perform. In some ways, this gets things done, and if you have a lot of corporate help, then certain things become easier. You can get corporate help with equipment, record companies, and other things. That segment of the business is what I think the Group has always shied away from. The Group has always had more integrity about wanting to be driven by the music and not by corporate influence. I agree with that position, but I am also somewhere in the middle, since I think both

Jim and Al are very opposed to that whole thing. I understand where they’re coming from, and I agree with them, but I also think that there are ways that you can sometimes make it work. You

48 PAS performances typically require the financial support and endorsement of a large drum company. Since the Group purposefully avoids such endorsements, their performances have traditionally been limited to the first day of the convention, originally termed “New Music/Research Day.” In 2002 PAS re-titled this as “Focus Day,” and since this change in name, the sessions have seen more corporate endorsements.

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can have a situation that would work to the advantage of the Group, but also stay with the thinking of purity or integrity, or whatever you want to call it. The down side is that through these corporate interests many people’s success is driven not only by their music, but by being highlighted at percussion conventions, being sponsored by Yamaha, and getting on the big stage on Friday night at PAS concerts, where lots of people will hear the pieces. You are presented as flashy and cool, and therefore all those people that see you then go back to their lives—their universities, high schools, or wherever—and spread this music. That’s worked for a lot of people from Mike Burritt, to Mark Ford, to you name it. Their success is great, and that’s the way the system works. They play the system. So, the fact that I saw the Group play at a PAS convention in Michigan, when I was a freshman at Eastman, and we have not had a primetime concert since then, until last year, is not surprising.49 In Michigan they had an afternoon concert at the same time Charlie Owen was giving a cymbal clinic, and so there were very few people there.50 I went and saw them because a friend of mine at Eastman had studied at CCM before coming to

Rochester for graduate school. He said, “You need to go see these guys.” I went and thought it was fantastic. This was when Youhass was still playing with the Group. But other than a few appearances during the afternoons on the Wednesday “New Music” days, or when Ben [Toth] got the Group involved in the Cage Retrospective, we have had one primetime concert, and

Nexus and many other groups have had multiple. So last year, even though it was on

49 The Group’s 3 November 1984 PAS convention performance included Kagel’s Dressur (1977), Saya’s Murphy Sonata (1979), and Novotney’s Intentions (1983). The Group’s other PAS convention appearances include a 14 November 1981 performance in Indianapolis, a 1 November 1984 performance in Ann Arbor, a 3 November 1986 performance in Washington, DC, a 7 November 1990 performance in Philadelphia, a 27 November 1999 performance in Columbus, and an 8 November 2006 performance in Austin. The 1981, 1984, and the 2006 performances were the only full-length recitals featuring the Group.

50 Charles Owen was widely known for long service in both the Marine Band and as Principal Percussionist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was also a significant percussion pedagogue, having created the percussion department at Temple University, and taught at the University of Michigan, the Aspen Summer Music Festival, and the Grand Teton Orchestral Seminar, as well as other camps, programs, and festivals around the country.

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Wednesday, it was the first time that we had an evening primetime concert. The Group has been in existence for twenty-seven or twenty-eight years and not one primetime recital. So, right there is a little bit of what you’re saying. The Group has been unwilling to participate in a system where the corporations run things, and since the companies run these things, they get to say who plays on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Independent artist are not going to get the opportunities to play the big concerts. I think what happened last year was that there were some people who realized that the Group had never done this type of performance and that it needed to happen. People like Eugene Novotney and others who were familiar with the Group made this thing happen, and that was good. But this type of thing has always been perhaps a chip on Al’s shoulder. I think that there are these other people, who are great and talented people, but they get where they are by playing the system. That will always be one aspect of why the Group is different. A lot of the percussion careers that become really snappy are driven by PAS performances and PAS fame. And, from there those performers get themselves gigs at other universities, where the percussion instructor saw the convention performance, and wants to bring something new and exciting to his or her campus. That system ultimately gets pieces published, and it drives the corporations to send them all over the world. The Group has never had that and never wanted it, but it is also then a major stumbling block.

Look, we don’t live in Europe, where everything is funded by the government, and so we are basically on our own. Every recording and pretty much everything we’ve done has been funded on our own. There have been a few grants, but we’re also not great grant writers, so if we were better at that, then maybe things would be different. Ensembles, such as eighth blackbird, are masters at getting hip new composers to write pieces for them and then getting grants to fund those projects and recordings. They are also in the New York scene, and so that helps them do

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really well. Of course, part of this is our fault. We are not good at finishing up a new piece, and getting it recorded and getting it done. Part of the criticism that could be leveled against us is true. Part of it is somewhat our battle of always just being a little under the map. Part of it, like getting a new piece the way Evelyn Glennie does and playing it with six orchestras, then recording it the next day, and having the CD on shelves three days later, is a process that Al has always been very against. I think part of our not buying into the system is his rebellion against what everyone else does—they learn a piece and spit out a recording. Al’s response to that process has always been to slow things down. So, with these kinds of things, where you either play the game that has already been prescribed or you don’t, well, you end up getting benefits from both of those options. Luckily, the Group is in residence here at CCM, and so we don’t have to push ourselves, in a business sense, to make a living. We can make a living from the school and then play our concerts through our management. We’re lucky that we can do that.

Other ensembles need to constantly write grants and get new pieces. People like eighth blackbird need to be on the cutting edge at all times in order to survive. They have to have the hippest new composers, and they have to be pushing constantly. We don’t have to do that because we are blessed to have good teaching gigs, and we enjoy that, too. It is a combination of all of these thing—not wanting to play the corporate game, sometimes being a little slow to react, and the fact that we literally don’t need to push ourselves constantly—that I think add up to the type of criticism that you mentioned.

AUTHOR: In looking at the histories that have been written of twentieth-century percussion ensemble music in North America, many tend to focus on a fairly homogenous collection of composers and works, which could be generalized as percussion music by percussionists or at

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least percussion music by veteran percussion composers.51 In this thesis, I am using as a starting point Al’s “Preferences in Percussion - 1973” essay, as well as some of the comments from Al and Jim about the founding of the Group.52 The sorts of things they were thinking, speaking, and writing about in those initial years had to do more with playing the music of young, American composers, especially the music of their friends. It was about championing good music that might not otherwise get played. Those themes don’t come up in the traditional percussion histories. The Group’s willingness and interest to play the music of young composers, and especially young composers who may have never written for percussion before, provides a clear dividing line. It is a line that tends to place the Group outside of the percussion world and into the world of new music or the world of chamber music. Is this a fair characterization of your experience in the Group?

BURGE: I think so, yes. Having come along a little later, my views are different about the whole thing, but in a positive way we tend to shy away from music written by percussionists. The PAS- type material we just discussed is usually a lot of percussion music written by percussionists.53

51 Gregory Patrick Byrne, “Musical and Cultural Influences That Contributed to the Evolution of the Percussion Ensemble in Western Art Music” (DMA thesis, University of Alabama, 1999); F. Michael Combs, Solo and Ensemble Literature for Percussion, 2nd ed. (Terre Haute, IN: Percussive Arts Society, 1978); Lance Drege, “The University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Series and Percussion Press, 1978–99: An Examination of Its History” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 2000); James Dutton, Solo and Ensemble Literature for Mallet Percussion Instruments (Brookfield, IL: Musser, 1963); David Paul Eyler, “The History and Development of the Marimba Ensemble in the United States and Its Current Status in College and University Percussion Programs” (DMA thesis, Louisiana State University, 1985); Cornelis Genemans, “The Historical Development of the Percussion Ensemble: An Overview” (MM thesis, Bowling Green State University, 1982); Scott Holden Harris, “Identification and Analyses of Selected Large Percussion Ensemble Works Composed Between 1970–2000” (DMA document, University of Oklahoma, 2003); Thomas Siwe, Percussion Ensemble Literature (Champaign, Il: Media Press, 1998); Jack W. Smith, “The Development of the Percussion Ensemble as Influenced by the Symphonic Repertory” (MA thesis, San Jose State University, 1980); and Larry Dean Vanlandingham, “The Percussion Ensemble, 1930–45” (PhD diss., Florida State University, 1977).

52 Allen Otte, “Preferences in Percussion - 1973,” Percussionist 11 (March 1974): 89–97.

53 Examples of these compositions include PAS Past-President Mark Ford’s Heads Up!, Head Talk, Polaris, Stubernic, and The Surface of Life; PAS President Steve Houghton’s The Path; and PAS Board of Director Lynn Glassock’s Altered Echoes, Between the Lines, Cross Currents, Different Voices, No Exit, and Reflections.

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That tends to be one flavor of things, and though those pieces can be good, bad, or in between, it is still just one flavor. The Group was conceived with the idea of a string quartet for percussion, which is a different flavor. I would say it is outside of the percussion world in terms of composers as well as everything I just said about not being corporately sponsored and perhaps also not being appreciated enough by some of the PAS-type of people. Being on the outside is not bad, I think that in a way it is pretty cool that the Group has always been its own entity— something unaffected by a lot of the other things that can go on in the different parts of the music world. I can sit here and say, “Well we are too slow to do recordings.” That is my personal feeling, but I think the way that the Group was created, the way that the Group survives, and all of the things about it that I appreciate are very much outside the norm for a percussion group.

That is pretty admirable. I think Jim and Al did a very good job with building all of that. I think because of their efforts, the Group is not so influenced by the other things and is more influenced by whichever composer or whatever music we are working on at the moment. That is not so true of all of the other parts of the industry.

Now, I think we would like to be a part of the percussion world, but the Group and the mission behind it has been the same since I came in: this is what we are going to do, and we are going to do it regardless. If the other stuff comes along, then that’s great, but if it doesn’t, then that too is fine.

AUTHOR: Let’s go a little further with this. During our last interview I brought up some of the

1950s and 1960s articles that spoke about percussion education and the idea of using percussion ensembles as a way to justify and bolster percussion music as a respectable art.54 The message of

54 See n. 9.

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those early articles is still discussed today.55 With many of these articles found only in the

Percussive Notes and other PAS publications, it appears that the PAS is the organization viewed by many as the most likely to improve the aesthetic merits and artistic standing of the art. Yet, it is the Group’s approach of looking to good composers regardless of their experience with percussion music that seems closer to the goals of the early authors. Even though the Group never set out to justify percussion as an art, do you think the goal of the early authors has been met (at least in part) using your approach—by seeking out and working with good composers regardless of their experience with percussion writing?

BURGE: Yes, but I think it is a hard line. I think there are a lot of people in the percussion community who have always really appreciated and supported the group. Many of those people are fully engrossed in PAS and are past-presidents who do a lot of work for that organization— people who are also very loyal to that organization.

AUTHOR: People like Tom Siwe?

BURGE: Exactly. Also Eugene Novotney, and others. I think it goes both ways. I think it is a hard subject because there are times when we feel not as accepted as maybe we should be, and so that is disappointing, but going back to what I said earlier, the corporate nature of the PAS plays a big part in the organization and that has separated us.56 But then there are also good parts of the

55 Fifty years later pedagogues are still publishing articles about developing ensembles as a means of improving percussionists’ musicianship and therefore raising the quality and respectability of the art. See Scott Brown, “Developing a Successful Middle School Percussion Ensemble,” Percussive Notes 44 (October 2006): 38– 41.

56 Burge’s reference to “corporate nature” involves accepting sponsorships and providing endorsements. The Group opposes this system of financing their efforts; whereas, a large portion of the percussion community is structured around the large drum corporations, who maintain lists of prominent artists to market their products to the large body of elementary, high school, and college-age drummers and percussionists.

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organization, and good people and playing [at the convention] last year was great—we had a really good audience, and we were well received. But, I think I agree with what you said and don’t really have anything to add. I don’t have any regrets of any of this. Of course, I would like to see us finish the projects we are working on now. I guess if I have any regret it is that we aren’t a little snappier with these things, but again we have been lucky enough to have this job and our rehearsal studio, and so in a way it has all worked out. We’ve been supported by the

University and the whole idea of a percussion trio in residence is not something that just happens. It may never happen again. Our management has done pretty well in getting us out there and getting us to play here and there.57 In a sense, I don’t feel like any of it is lacking, even though I agreed with you when you said that we are a little separate from the percussion world.

But, for us that has been okay.

AUTHOR: Well, unless you have additional material you would like to add, I think we can end here. I have covered the main topics that I had planned and will be in touch with any further clarification. You will get a copy of the transcripts from these interviews, so that you can make any further additions or corrections. Thank you again for your time.

BURGE: Great. Thank you.

57 New York-based Stanton Management currently manages the Group.

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Appendix D

Transcript of Interviews with James Culley

Interview No. 1 8 June 2007 Corbett Center, University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio

AUTHOR: Since we have been speaking about the CCM Percussion Ensemble and your teaching, let’s begin our formal interview with this topic. What impact has the Group had on your teaching?

CULLEY: The stuff that we do in that room has had a huge impact.1 I think maybe I’ve told you in one of my e-mails that I’ve now started handing out a sheet to prospective students, when they come, that says, “Here are the kinds of things that the [CCM] Percussion Ensemble has done, and these are the types of things that you will do if you come here as a student.” 2 It is basically a list of some of the composers they will encounter and the pieces we’ve played. If they are applying as a graduate student, then some of the names will be familiar, but I think an undergraduate would be relatively lost when looking at it. And all of that music is completely colored by the trio stuff that the Group has done, and just over the years my coming across chamber pieces that are hopefully eight people or less, and can be done without the benefit of someone telling you when to play. So, this idea of playing everything from a score, or at least as much as possible, helps even with a youthful person trying to broaden their understanding of other peoples’ parts sounding in addition to their own. It especially helps with hearing the

1 For a description of the Group’s studio, what Culley calls “that room,” see Appendix B, Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan, n. 7.

2 For a definition of the CCM Percussion Ensemble, see Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, n. 3.

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various parts and then making adjustments within the ensemble. Obviously, when you are working with quartets, the dynamics change based on the personalities within the groups, so sometimes I get some very disparate types in these quartets and quintets, but I think that makes a difference, too. The players just have to make adjustments. Claiming this approach to be very different from other programs may seem hypercritical, but I think that it is something that you don’t get in a lot of places. Maybe my undergraduate time at Oberlin [Conservatory of Music] has something to do with this, too, since there we had endless concerts where we would have our part on our music stand, and we would be conducted through things. Certainly, less than fifty percent of the time we played chamber music without a conductor. Part of this emphasis on chamber playing probably also has to do with the fact that I was not trained as a conductor, and though I can do it, I am reluctant to. Mostly, I think it has to do with the fact that I just believe the experience is more valuable if students learn to work through a piece on their own.

AUTHOR: One of my early disappointments in starting this project was when I contacted the

University of Cincinnati Archives in hopes of tracking down boxes of the Group’s materials, only to find out that you have been here almost thirty years and they don’t have a single shred of paper on you. The Group is listed as an ensemble-in-residence, and there is a note to contact

CCM for further information.

I shared with Al [Otte] that I have an interest in, by the end of this project, providing at least some sizable volume of documentation to the University Archives, so that there is a record of what the Group did during the period of time I am exploring for my thesis. In the information that I gather from interviews, programs, reviews, and so forth, people can then go and see statistical data, such as how many pieces were written for the Group, how many composers have you worked with, how often did you perform, what venues did you perform in—all of those sorts

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of things. In gathering this data I have already, and probably inevitably, captured data about what the CCM Percussion Ensemble has done, and so I am guessing that this is also material in which you may be interested.

CULLEY: So, you are even interested in how many concerts, performances, and all of that stuff that the Group has done?

AUTHOR: Yes, I am gathering everything I possibly can, and I will then sort through what is most crucial for this project. All of the other material will be set aside, so that I can return to it for future research.

CULLEY: And Al has all of this information?

AUTHOR: Well, let me continue to bring you up-to-date on what I have done so far and where I still have big holes to fill. Al has a large suitcase of old programs. Programs are great for me, because I can use them to track who was playing on a concert. Often they will include notes about whether a piece is receiving a premiere performance. They give me the names of composers, titles of pieces, information about the venue, and so forth. From program data I can track the length of time a piece remains in your active repertory—how many times and how frequently it is performed after it is introduced. I can track when a piece falls out of the repertory.

I can see how quickly its frequency of performance diminishes. I can specifically track issues like long-term relationships with composers, which are evident when many programs show many different works from one composer being performed on many different concerts over time. I can identify hallmarks of your repertoire. So, there is a lot I can glean from programs. The problem is that Al does not have every program. The collection I’ve seen stops several years ago, and even

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though it is a big suitcase, I am not certain that it is comprehensive, even up to that point. So, I am going to use those programs as one piece of the puzzle, but I am also going to see what else I can find from the CCM Scheduling Office and from program collections that you and your fellow members may have kept.3 Thus far, I can show you what I have in my database. Most of the Scheduling Office data is for the CCM Percussion Ensemble and not the Group, since Al has handled the printing of programs himself. I’ve already looked at several hundred programs in the

Scheduling Office, and only three of those were programs for the Group.

CULLEY: Does Al have the more recent seasons’ programs, since these look like older pieces?

AUTHOR: Not always, so I am hoping to fill those holes with material from Ben [Toth] and

Rusty [Burge].

CULLEY: I’m not good with the program gathering part, but I do have the information locked in for our taxes, since when I became the tax person.4 I have all the concerts entered in and the various venues. I don’t know whether that would be useful to you, since you are really looking for the programming at the particular locations.

AUTHOR: Having the general number and dates of concerts would help, but really for my purposes I also need to know composers and pieces. Here, on the database, you can see what I am looking for: the date of performance, what the concert was titled, the composer, the composer’s dates, the composition title, and the date of composition. I also capture if it is listed

3 The CCM Scheduling Office, which oversees the printing of most programs for performances in the University’s various concert venues, keeps copies of each season’s programs in bound volumes. However, Otte printed programs for most of the Group’s performances himself and only occasionally provided copies of those programs to the Scheduling Office for archival purposes.

4 Otte handled the Group’s taxes through 1988. Culley took over this responsibility in 1989.

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as a premiere or other points of interest, for example here is a CCM Percussion Ensemble concert I’ve found, but it has all three of you listed as coordinators.

CULLEY: I’m surprised that it is actually the only one, because in the 1990s, I still listed us together.

AUTHOR: At this point the database only goes back through 2001.

CULLEY: Okay, because in the earlier years, if I did something on a concert with the help of

[William] Youhass, then I would write, “Jim Culley and Bill Youhass, coordinators.” Then, there were a few years where I would just put, “Percussion Coordinators,” or just list all three of our names. Eventually, I just separated the names out and said, “I’m doing this.” Yes, this particular

2003 concert was a full-fledged collaboration between the three of us, because I think Al was on sabbatical, but then he ended up doing the [Kazimierz] Serocki with us, and it was for the PAS convention.5

AUTHOR: So, the answer to your earlier question is, yes, any files that you and Rusty have, particularly programs, would be very helpful. I will also speak with Bill Youhass and Ben Toth to see if they have anything from the earlier period. I’ve not contacted Youhass yet, but I contacted Ben. He said he has every program from his time in the Group, and he has a list of the composers he worked with. So, since I will be in Connecticut presenting a paper on a different topic at a conference at Yale in July, I am going to add a day to my trip, and visit with Ben and go through his materials.

5 Culley refers to an 11 January 2003 performance of Serocki’s Continuum (1966) in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium.

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CULLEY: Super. He is a very meticulous guy, and since he was in [the Group] for quite a while he would have a good accumulation of material.6 Youhass probably won’t have a thing. When he left here, he sold me all of his stuff.7 He said he didn’t want any of the stuff, except his marimba.

So, we basically bought him out when he left.

AUTHOR: After gathering that initial material, I will do a survey of media sources and find concert reviews, recording reviews, and those sorts of things. Then, I will record and transcribe these interviews. In doing these interviews I will repeat many questions to all three of you, and to the past members, so that I can create a historical record on which to base the thesis. Since there is no existing secondary literature on the Group, it is vital for me to have a large volume of interview transcripts, charts of concert data, and so forth to turn to when I am making claims about your involvements with composers and your work on various pieces.8 I don’t want this project just to be what one member of the Group says. I really need to hear from everyone.

Otherwise it could be a thesis saying, “Al says this and Al says this and Al says this,” and that type of thesis wouldn’t answer any questions about how the ensemble functions, why the members work together or apart in the ways that you do, why you work with the composers you do, and why you are significantly different from other groups that could also be considered

6 Toth was a member of the Group from January 1987 to June 1992.

7 Youhass, along with Otte and Culley, was an original member of the Group. He performed with them from September 1979 to May 1985.

8 While no full-length scholarly study of the Group exist, the ensemble and the individual members receive occasional mentions in books and articles, such as John Luther Adams, Winter Music: Composing the North (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2004); Eugenie Burkett, “The Glory and the Grandeur: Conversations with Russell Peck and the Philidor Percussion Group on Peck’s Concerto for Percussion Ensemble,” Percussive Notes 35 (December 1997): 50–54; Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner, Women Composers and Music Technology in the United States (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006); and Karl Reiss, “The History of the Blackearth Percussion Group and Their Influence on Percussion Ensemble Literature, Performance, and Pedagogy” (EdD thesis, University of Houston, 1987); and Thomas Siwe, “An Interview with Herbert Brün,” Percussive Notes Research Edition 22 (March 1984): 4–15.

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percussion chamber ensembles.9 I’m hoping that as I work through these interviews I will find composers that come up consistently or ones that each of you are really advocating for, as people you think had or continue to have a strong relationship with the Group. Those few composers will then receive the majority of my focus. Simply because I won’t have time to do in depth work on every composer you worked with, I think it is important that I can identify a few who demonstrate each of the arguments I make in the thesis. I will probably look for six or seven relationships that demonstrate something generally true about the way the Group relates with composers. So, that is all of my big overview. I have, if you feel up to it, a few specific questions, which I wanted to get started on today.

CULLEY: Sure.

AUTHOR: You are a founding member of the Group. You came here in 1979. And let me stop for one moment and say that if there are any parts of this that you really do not wish to discuss, then please just let me know.

CULLEY: Sure.

AUTHOR: When you were hired and came to CCM, did you do it under the assumption that you would also be founding a chamber ensemble? Was that part of the deal?

CULLEY: Yes.

9 Other active ensembles include, but are not limited to, the Amsterdam Percussion Group, Attacca Percussion Group, Ethos Percussion Group, Nexus, Talujon Percussion Quartet, and Third Coast Percussion Quartet.

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AUTHOR: And coming into it, how much discussion was there between you and Al about the type of ensemble and how it would function? Did you arrive and then work out details from there, or did Al present you with his plans in advance of your arrival?

CULLEY: I went through an interview process while I was still in graduate school, in the spring of 1979. I think Al had decided that he would try to have two people in this ensemble: someone youthful and someone less youthful. I’m not sure exactly what the motivation was for that, but I think for the older person he wanted someone who could come in as more of an educator. I think part of the dissatisfaction, from other CCM faculty members, with Blackearth was that they were less committed to the educational aspect of what was happening here. So, Al probably thought that he should bring in an older person, who had been teaching for a long time, and therefore, he created a list of I don’t know how many older people who were out their teaching and then he had a list of younger neophytes. I came in for the audition with him, and I really only knew of two other people in my age group who were also being considered for the job. We went through what seemed like a few days of interviews, some of which involved playing and doing a few duets together. I remember I played a few small, little pieces for him, just so he could reacquaint himself with me. I think I had been lucky over the years in that just by chance Blackearth came to Oberlin on the day I played my senior recital, and they all came to my senior recital. They had also seen us do a recital in New York. Al kind of knew a little bit about me and talked to

[Michael] Rosen about me at some point.10 Quite a bit of what I remember were philosophical discussions about which composers I thought were relevant to the percussion world, or to the new music world, and what kinds of pieces I thought were important for soloists to play and

10 Rosen, Culley’s undergraduate teacher at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Otte’s private teacher during high school, remains a close friend of the Group.

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chamber musicians to play. Then, I had to create some sample programs of what I thought a chamber percussion group, like ours, could do. He also had me send an essay about my philosophy on music and where it should be heading.

AUTHOR: Do you still have a copy of that essay?

CULLEY: I’ve got it all. I have the essay that I sent him, I have the first letter that he sent me soliciting this information, and I’d be happy to hand you the essay. The letter was a little more of a slightly personal nature.

AUTHOR: The essay alone would be very helpful.

CULLEY: Yes, let me see if I can scare that up.11 Then, we played a little and did duets together.

I think it must have been spring break, because it was pretty quiet around here. And that was it.

AUTHOR: The reason the essay would be so interesting is because one of the things I’ve mentioned in my proposal for this thesis is Al’s “Preferences in Percussion - 1973” essay, in which he outlines a strong belief in the need for interaction between performers and composer.12

My initial argument is that central to many aspects of the Group are the philosophical, ideological, and aesthetic positions that Al had laid out years earlier. From this essay, I can already see much of the Group’s ideals, and a founding philosophy that says the ensemble should

11 Neither Culley nor Otte were able to locate this essay.

12 Allen Otte, “Preferences in Percussion - 1973,” Percussionist 11 (March 1974): 89–97. Otte writes: “As an alternative to ‘doing your own thing’, or an alternative way of doing it, percussionists must become collectively aware of their position, both in the system and in the world of music. I further suggest that this ‘conspiracy’ must be expanded to include composers.” He continues, “If and when performers (here, percussionists) accept the invitation of composers who share this same awareness of their situation in society, there exists the opportunity for mutual support and a consequent strength in the statement because of its collectivity.”

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not be about “we pay you for a piece and you hand us a back a product to play,” but rather, the composer and the performer can be “partners in crime.”13 Al’s essay shows that there was pre- meditated consideration of the relationships crafted with composers. In this pre-meditation, he was clear about this being a joint venture, where both performers and composers were assisting each other by putting their best efforts forward for reasons other than financial gain. So, as you may imagine, I’m interested to see your essay and see if there are common themes. Such an essay would provide an even broader basis for an argument that the Group’s founding was enveloped in this philosophy—in the notion of wanting to build stronger relationships between performers and composers.

CULLEY: I think your point is correct. Somehow, just with my background and his, we synced up. I didn’t really know him all that well at the time, but I think we synced up in that process of interviewing for the job. It seemed like we were on the same track. What I was also going to say a while ago, before we started the formal interview, was that it has been a long time since I read the Reiss dissertation, but I remember reading that thing and being surprised about how he addressed the democracy of the Group.14 I was always under the illusion that I was being hired for a democratic process here. I was always going to be 33.333% of every decision that took place here. And the tone of the Reiss dissertation, as I seem to remember it, was that the new group was “Al’s Group” and that the difference between Blackearth and the Group was that now

13 Otte’s often employs the metaphors of “conspirators” and “partners in crime,” which he attributes to Herbert Brün. See Chapter 1, n. 8.

14 Reiss, 77–78.

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we were clearly “Al’s Group.”15 I remember at some point being furious with Al—that he would even let the guy publish this, since this wasn’t my understanding of who we were.

AUTHOR: In the last chapter, where he talks about what happened to Blackearth, how

Blackearth fell apart and how the Group was formed, one of Reiss’s conclusions is that

Blackearth fell apart because it was far too overly democratic. He contrasts this by presenting the

Group as the ensemble that took over as CCM’s percussion trio-in-residence. His opinion is clear, the new ensemble is very much Al’s group and it is no longer overly democratic.16 He paints Blackearth as an experiment in extreme democracy, where voting was almost insufficient, because in voting you still had winners and losers. Reaching consensus on everything became too burdensome, and so all of this leads to frustrations that were only rectified when Blackearth disbanded and Al formed a new ensemble with himself as the clear leader, and the person who makes final decisions on everything.

CULLEY: Yes, and I never felt that it was two people answering to one person. It has always felt like three people with each of us doing what we needed to do to keep the Group performing at a high level.

15 Ibid. Reiss devoted a short section in his conclusion to the founding of the Group. He wrote: “With the support of the University of Cincinnati, Otte formed a new percussion trio named the Percussion Group-Cincinnati. Although it was clearly related to Blackearth, the Percussion Group-Cincinnati should be considered an outgrowth of Blackearth, not a continuation. The formation of the new trio was completely different from the formation of the Blackearth Percussion Group. First, the new members had to meet the performance standards set by Otte as well as the University. This was quite different from the relatively informal and democratic formation of Blackearth. Second, the new group was clearly not a democracy. Otte made most of the decisions regarding music selection and programming.”

16 Reiss, 73 and 78.

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AUTHOR: So, you go through this hiring process, and you have fairly substantial discussions with Al about what you see for the Group and how it would function. Then, in the founding season did you, Al, and Bill [Youhass] talk often about goals for the Group, or was it just assumed that everyone was on the same page?

CULLEY: I think for a while we were pretty much in sync. We came in at a very good time.

Maybe Al’s already told you this, but Blackearth had just conducted their big composition competition, with the piece that won to be published by Presser or somebody, and there was a cash prize awarded with it as well.17 But there was also a clump of at least a half dozen really cool trios that were finalists in this contest, and they were ripe for our picking.

Al was determined to have a recording of the Group. So, we jumped in feet first on some difficult material for the recording.18 Some of the stuff on the recording was stuff that Al had already done before, but that Blackearth had not recorded. In those instances, Al would sometimes assign parts based on the way he thought our personalities would work best with the particular pieces. I think I got some of [Garry] Kvistad’s parts on certain things, and I was playing his part on [Russell Peck’s] Lift-Off! (1966).19 And then, for some of the new pieces, we were just treading together. For the first couple of years there was a nice mix of both old and new. For the old pieces, Al had been doing them for long enough with Blackearth and so he had strong opinions about them, and I think Youhass and I just worked through it with him. For the

17 Stephen Mosko won the 1979 CCM and Blackearth-sponsored “Composition Competition” with The Cosmology of Easy Listening. Mosko received a premiere performance of his piece and a $500 cash prize. John Baldwin, “Drumming Around,” Percussive Notes 16 (Spring/Summer 1978): 16.

18 The Percussion Group Cincinnati, The Percussion Group Cincinnati: Music of Herbert Brün, Theodore May, Stephen Mosko, Takayoshi Yoshioka, William DeFotis, Jonathan Kramer, Russell Peck, Christian Wolff, and Michael Udow, Opus One Records 80 & 81, LP, 1981.

19 Russell Peck, Lift-Off! (Chicago: M. M. Cole, 1977).

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new pieces, we would just sectionalize them, and all go through them together and learn some of the stuff.

I would say that for the first several years we were programming outside concerts just as heavily as we would program CCM concerts. The material we would travel with was often experimental, very equipment heavy, very moderno, not accessible music for audiences, but because we were doing it here and because we were recording it, that is just what we did. We did not try to take an audience into account at all. I think at one point we played a concert at my old high school, because I grew up in Cincinnati, and I think we took horrible stuff out there to play.

I think we took our award winner, and I think we took our Japanese trio for marimba soloist and percussion.20 That doesn’t mean, at the end of each concert, we wouldn’t enliven our audience with a rousing version of Lift-Off!, but before that we battered them with some really difficult material to listen to—and that was for my high school! So, we just weren’t going to lose the vision for the sake of the audience.

Once the recording came out, that was in 1981, we were done with that aspect of things.

The recording is all transitional material. We were working really hard to establish that if there was a legacy with Blackearth, then that legacy is continued with the Group, and it is even more heavy duty than it was before. The recording just about bankrupted us as well.

AUTHOR: From the time the three of you founded the Group until now, have the goals of the ensemble—even on a very broad level—changed? I’m sure personal goals have changed and shorter term goals may shift with things such as personnel changes, but I am interested in the broad goals. And you can define these goals in your own words.

20 Stephen Mosko, Cosmology of Easy Listening (Sylmar, CA: Leisure Planet Music, 1978); and Takayoshi Yoshioka, Paradox III (1978), unpublished manuscript, University of California-Los Angeles Music Library.

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CULLEY: This is hard to answer. I guess I would say that the idea of the audience having something to latch onto, and whether this new music is reaching people or not, has in an interesting way begun to color our concert giving, or at least this has seemed to be the case over the years. You may see this just by looking at our programs as well. I’m trying to think of some analogy—a little while ago you made a reference to pieces that just kind of get into the repertory and they stick. Lift-Off! is one of those pieces. For whatever that piece of music is—and I’m not really keen on it or at least not really keen on the quality of it—I think it was a more revolutionary piece in 1966 than it is in 2007, and by now it is kind of old hat. There are plenty of other pieces that have been done that are like it, but we can’t escape it. There are just certain pieces that, as time goes on, stick with us. Maybe over the past fifteen years or so we’ve arrived at a kind of template for our outreach concerts where this particular piece written for Chinese cymbals keeps coming back, this particular collection of “Chilean Songs,” whether you bring in or move out a few of the songs, sticks and remains in the program.21 I think in the first couple of years we wouldn’t have done anything like that, aside from Lift-Off! showing up everywhere we went. It would have just tended to be whatever we were working on at that particular moment.

Maybe trying to hone what we were doing grew out of the fact that Blackearth used to play a lot more college venues and university concerts; whereas, when time went on, the Group started to do lots and lots of arts series, community festivals, and even really in the early 1980s we made our big foray into children’s concerts.

21 The Group’s “outreach concerts” consist of tour performances at universities and chamber music venues. Culley refers to Guo Wenjing, Drama (Milan: Ricordi, 1996); and the Group’s arrangement of Chilean tunes for three people on one marimba.

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AUTHOR: I don’t mean to insult you and the way you typically think about the Group, but if you had to think about it in corporate terms and craft a very corporate-style mission statement— the type of two or three clauses that define why you guys do what you do, and why you are not

Nexus or not a marimba band or not the traditional college percussion ensemble—what would it be?22 What are those things that define both the aesthetic goals and the long term musical and social aims of the Group?

CULLEY: To start, I would say it is totally the music that drives the Group. It has to be chamber music, and it has to be serious. It generally has to be music that is not written by percussionists, and I suppose when you think about differences with other ensembles this might be a little bit of it. Sometimes early Nexus entered into the realm of theater, and this is always hard for me to define. I would say I am a big fan of theatrical chamber music as long as the drive is coming from the composition and not from the presentation. I think about pieces by [Mauricio] Kagel.

We play these hilarious pieces by Kagel, but the hilarity is not in what we are trying to bring across, the hilarity is not in what he is trying to make us do, but it is composition-driven.23 It is music-driven first. And I think sometimes percussionists take a little too much advantage from the fact that they are visual, and don’t get me wrong, sometimes I think we come very close to that line, but I think the philosophy is to not stray over that line. I find myself objecting if my students do concerts where they are deliberately mugging or taking something that is extra- musical and forcing it into the piece. Even in [John Cage’s] Living Room Music (1940), if they are going to do that, I am happy to have them working with a set and having a couch and doing

22 Nexus, a Toronto-based five-man percussion chamber music ensemble, began in 1971.

23 The Group has performed Mauricio Kagel, Dressur (Frankfurt, Germany: Litolff, 1983); Mauricio Kagel, Rrrrrrr… (Frankfurt, Germany: Litolff, 1985); as well as an arrangement Otte made of Mauricio Kagel, Pas de Cinq: Walking Scene for Five Actors (London: Universal, 1967), which the Group calls Pas de Trois (arr. 1988).

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some things that the audience—younger members of the audience, older members of the audience, and less sophisticated members of the audience—might think are the funniest things they’ve ever seen, but they still need to do the parts right.24 If you don’t play the parts right, then you’ve failed. Even having said this, I still like Nexus a lot.

AUTHOR: I just used them as an example.

CULLEY: I know. I just want to make clear to you that some large percentage of what they do is stuff that I really enjoy. You can’t beat the old days in the 1970s when they were doing their ragtime stuff. But that’s not my thing, to go that extra step into the world of entertainment, even though on the State of Ohio income tax form, where you are required to select the appropriate code for your occupation, musician is right next to clown and entertainer. I think of myself as being completely different than that, and whether that is articulated amongst ourselves, I think that is something that we pretty much all agree on. We don’t like to get too campy.

AUTHOR: Looking specifically at the relationships between the Group and composers, this sensitivity to the music score seems inherently tied to finding composers who share your aesthetic of percussion music being less about visual spectacle and more about compositional content. By that I mean that if you are so interested in the impact of the music, then you must really look to find composers who closely share your view—Al’s notion of “partners in crime.”

With everything you just said, it appears that the first step when you are considering new works is to find a composer who you can work very closely with and someone with whom you can

24 John Cage, Living Room Music for Percussion and Speech Quartet (New York: Henmar Press, 1976).

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develop a relationship over a long period of time. You want to develop with the composer a shared notion of what good percussion music sounds like and looks like. Is that correct?

CULLEY: Yes.

AUTHOR: So, for the past almost thirty years who are some of the composers with whom you have developed this type of significant relationship?

CULLEY: I would say for sure John Cage, Lou Harrison, Mark Saya, John Luther Adams, Qu

Xiao-Song, to some extent Russell Peck, Herbert Brün, and a little bit of his ilk. Also someone like Eugene Novotney and a little with Jonathan Kramer, when he was on the faculty here.

AUTHOR: This question will be the primary focus of all of our future interviews. This is the key, because the entire thesis centers on the relationships between the Group and composers.

Since you do not have a generic commissioning process in the form of a standard commissioning document that you draw up for each project, the relationships formed between the three of you and composers are even more varied than those found in traditional performer/composer relations. I am assuming that how the Group worked with John Cage is not the same as how you worked with Herbert Brün. Do you mind if we talk through some of these relationships and you can identify for me the works or projects of greatest import? And, could we start with Cage?

CULLEY: Sure. Most significantly, he wrote, and I don’t know if “wrote” is even the appropriate verb; let’s say he composed a series of works for chamber musicians in 1985.25 The

25 The Group first performed Music for Three during a 7 February 1985 concert in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium; however Cage composed it in 1984. The program note for the first performance explains: “[Cage] said he had been wanting to write something for the Group which reflected some of his more recent notions about sound 177

series of works were for the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble and others, and so we are in fact, I think, mentioned on some title page somewhere.26 The piece is Music for Three. Cage, perhaps it was his age, but he seemed later in life to have a nice support group in place. Having played that piece, I can’t really tell you what type of process went into it, but I think he had stopped composing those more complicated things many years earlier and if I could be so bold, he sort of took an easy way out with some of these demands for new pieces, from some of these groups.

AUTHOR: If we put Music for Three aside for the moment, you also performed some of his earlier works. I’m thinking of works such as Quartet (1935) and Amores (1943).27 These were works you had played prior to performing Music for Three and, of course, they had already been in circulation and performed by other ensembles for quite a while. I want to start here, because it seems like there would be a different relationship when working with him on brand new works with no performance history versus older works with deep performance histories. For example,

Al once mentioned to me a story about Cage being very insistent about the use of a wooden mallet at one point in Amores. He implied that while Cage was typically pleased with all of the

Group’s performances of his pieces, but in this instance he was rather insistent about the wood mallet. So, in these types of situations, where a piece already had an established performance history, and Cage may have already had established opinions about the pieces, how did you

and percussion, and that he had a new idea which he was anxious to pursue. That idea materialized late this summer as Music for Three …. The piece also exists in a “concerto” version as Renga with Music for Three.” The Group premiered the concerto version on 1 November 1984 at a PAS convention in Ann Arbor, MI. The University of Michigan Symphony Band provided the accompaniment for that performance.

26 The title page of the 1984 Henmar Press edition reads, “MUSIC FOR: Parts for voice and instruments without score (no fixed relation), title to be completed by adding to ‘Music for’- the number of players performing. For the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Cincinnati Percussion Group, and Zeitgeist.”

27 John Cage, Quartet (New York: Henmar Press, 1977); and John Cage, Amores (New York: C. F. Peters, 1960).

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approach the works? How did you converse with Cage? And, was this relationship something that slowly developed, or was it an immediate mutual interest?

CULLEY: It was actually quite slow to develop and the fact is that we just had the luck of appearing in a couple of venues with him where he was a guest, and so he had no choice but to come listen to us play his stuff.28 That Amores episode came about oddly for some reason. I really don’t know why, because he must have listened to so much of his music over the years, and it must have eventually just started puzzling him that so many people were playing his stuff.

I can’t imagine him sitting there listening to people play this stuff, like Third Construction

(1941) where the score has the half-note equaling 108, and then looking back to the 1940s when he, his wife, another woman, and another person would have been playing it, and they couldn’t have possibly played it anywhere close to half-note equals 108.29 What could he have been thinking while this was going on? Yes, but back to our performance, for some strange reason he was, at that particular moment, a little insistent about the one part being played with the back of the stick, and he actually came up and demonstrated. On everything else we played for him, he was just very beneficent. With Quartet, he was just delighted to hear the piece and even though he had never heard it done as a trio before, he thought it was still perfectly valid. But most of the contact with him was just that sort of thing of talking to him after a performance, then we had a meal with him in Ann Arbor, and so that relationship just slowly grew. The only other time that I think he was rather insistent was when we were doing Branches (1976), this three-man version

28 More than mere luck, the Group’s performances with Cage resulted from specific invitations either from a program organizer or the composer himself. Such meetings included performances in April 1982 in Witten, Germany; November and December 1983 in Frankfurt, Germany; May 1984 in Turin, Italy; November 1984 in Ann Arbor, Michigan; 1986 in Bowling Green, Ohio; and 1990 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

29 John Cage, Third Construction (New York: Henmar Press, 1970). At half-note equals 108, the already difficult and dense texture becomes virtuosic. Untrained percussionists could not execute the Third Construction passages at this speed.

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of his Child of Tree (1975).30 It had very confusing directions on what he wanted, complete with his latter-day hand-written instruction pages with cross-outs, and the steps written in with “drop this” and “keep this.” It was similar to the title of cȻomposed improvisation (1990), where he had originally written it with a capital “C” and then wrote a lower-case “c.”31 And now they publish the score that way with the crossed-out capital “C” and all, and I don’t think he would have intended that, but by that point everything he did was considered so sacrosanct that you couldn’t mess with it. In Branches he was very insistent that we had not created enough sustained sound. He seemed displeased after the first time we performed it for him.32 We had not been able to create enough sustained sounds out of the vegetative materials we were using. It was too episodic. Of course, of all the things you would like done with wooden instruments, the one thing you are never able to do is sustain them, but he seemed rather insistent that we try. But those types of insistent episodes were the exceptions.

AUTHOR: In order for the Group to develop strong relationships with composers—relationships where they know you and trust your input—it appears you need to talk to them often, correct? In a typical relationship between a performer and a composer a commission may be agreed upon and then there might be a rehearsal or two, when the composer attends, hears the piece, and provides feedback, but there doesn’t have to be that nurturing of a relationship over a long period of time so that both parties become comfortable enough with each other to say, “This part, here, doesn’t work,” or “Why don’t you try the part with this mallet?” My assumption is that there

30 John Cage, Branches (New York: Henmar Press, 1976); and John Cage, Child of Tree (New York: Henmar Press, 1975).

31 John Cage, cȻomposed [sic] Improvisation for Snare Drum Alone (New York: Henmar Press, 1990).

32 This was likely a rehearsal prior to the 1 December 1983 performance of Branches in Baden-Baden, Germany, for the Südwestfunk.

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might be some type of “getting-to-know-you” period. With Cage that happened slowly. How does this usually happen? Is it usually one member of the Group who meets a composer somewhere and then talks about writing something for the Group, and thus the relationship begins?

CULLEY: The beginning of a relationship between the Group and a composer is usually unique to each composer, but I think the universal is that we usually play something by a composer first.

It doesn’t mean that we have specifically solicited them by sending them our recording of their piece, but like in the case of John Luther Adams, I believe he was here doing a little visiting composer thing, but we took the opportunity to do one of his quartets, and we did surgery upon it and turned it into a trio (upon which he was going to offer muted, but great personal, objection), but then he came and saw us play and then we kind of sweet-talked him into thinking: “Wait a minute! These people are serious.”33 I remember him being kind of flabbergasted by one of his quartets, where we had done one of these weird things and worked it for three people, and since he had always conducted all of his pieces, he probably wondered how were we able to do this and do it without a conductor.34 So, I think John is like other composers who usually realize that if we are going to take what they’re doing so seriously, then they often want to collaborate with us. But other types of relationships exist. Herbert [Brün] had a long relationship with Al through

33 The Group performed Adams’s songbirdsongs (1974–79) on a 30 April 1983 concert in New York’s Merkin Hall. The members and the composers were not in contact at that point. A decade later, in 1993, Otte and Adams spent a day together at the composer’s studio outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. After this meeting, the Group began exploring Adams’s percussion quartets. For further detail on the beginning of this relationship, see John Luther Adams and Allen Otte, “A Brief History of Noise: A Video-Recorded Conversation,” in Strange and Sacred Noise, Mode Records 153, DVD, 2005; and Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 395–96.

34 Adams and Otte, “A Brief History of Noise: A Video-Recorded Conversation.” During Adams’s and Otte’s discussion, Adams recounts hearing the Group rehearse one of his quartets in 1995 when he was visiting Cincinnati. Adams says that when the Group finished playing the piece Otte turned to him and asked, “Any questions?,” to which he could only respond, “How do you do that?” In the conversation Adams elaborates that he was impressed precisely for the reasons Culley assumes above: these were works that had previously required four performs plus a conductor, and Adams was amazed to see a trio perform them without any assistance.

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the Blackearth years, and so he already knew what was happening. I think he also saw quickly with Youhass and I that we too were going to be very careful about putting forth performances of anything he would compose.35 It was a nice little synergy then of having done this project previously, writing More Dust [with Percussion (1977)], and then wanting to try to write something else by putting music to this graphic and calling it Infraudibles [with Percussion

(1968–84)].36

AUTHOR: More Dust [with Percussion] being one of his computer pieces?

CULLEY: Yes. There is More Dust, More Dust II, and Sawdust.37 Now, Mark Saya was a different case. Al had collaborated with him on a vibraphone piece, and I don’t know whether

Mark originally intended that it would be for a student or whatever, but that was one of Al’s first collaborations with a student composer here at CCM.38 Then, Saya came out with a piece for several flutes and three percussion, which I did with the [CCM] Percussion Ensemble, and then he was fortunate to have a couple years where he could wander in and out of the studio, and come up with interesting ideas.39 This is something that we’ve been lucky to be able to do—to

35 Brün had an existing relationship with Youhass prior to the formation of the Group. Brün composed for him Stalks and Trees and Drops and Clouds (1967). For more information about this collaboration, see Thomas Siwe, “An Interview with Herbert Brün,” Percussive Notes Research Edition 22 (March 1984): 13.

36 Brün’s More Dust with Percussion and Infraudibles with Percussion remain unpublished. While the Group refers to these compositions without the “with percussion” suffixes; the complete titles help differentiate these revised versions from the composer’s original compositions More Dust and Infraudibles. For further clarification of this naming system, see Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 281.

37 Brün assigned the name “Sawdust” to the computer program he used to craft a series of graphic compositions, and not actually a singular work. What Culley identifies as More Dust II is what Brün always called More Dust with Percussion.

38 The collaboration resulted in Mark Saya, The Murphy Sonata (Champaign, IL: Media Press, 1994).

39 Saya’s scored Snowtime (1982) for four flutes, percussion, piano, and double bass. The composition remains unpublished.

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foster these relationships with the younger composers, who are here studying. They watch us play, hang out with us, and become a little less intimidated by the process.

AUTHOR: What about Qu Xiao-Song?

CULLEY: It was Al who first met him in a completely random situation, which Al will tell you about. I think he had written a sextet for percussion, which Al worked into one of the [CCM]

Percussion Ensemble shows.40 At the time, Xiao-Song was living in New York. Al’s old college roommate was living there as well, and so Al was going up there and they hung out in New

York. We collaborated with him and then the Hong Kong Contemporary Dance Group had already commissioned him to do this piece, but since he knew Al, he finagled this thing where he wrote the piece for percussion trio and dance troupe and called it Làm Môt (1991). It was substantial. It was an almost entirely through-composed, three-movement work. It is quite long and it is on our greatest hits CD.41

AUTHOR: Let’s stop with the composers for a moment, since we will return to them in detail in later interviews, and let’s turn to a topic that came up earlier. The Group has a history of approaching pieces originally intended for four or more players and then working them into trios.

Al has mentioned to me a portion of [Steve Reich’s] Drumming (1971) that you perform as a

40 The Group performed Qu Xiao-Song’s sextet Xi with three students from the CCM Percussion Ensemble, on 13 October 2000. However, this performance post-dates performances of the Group’s other compositions by Qu Xiao-Song. Any sextet performed by CCM students prior to the Group’s performance of Làm Môt remains unidentified.

41 What Culley describes as the Group’s “greatest hits CD” is the self-titled album Percussion Group Cincinnati, Ars Moderno 01, CD, 1999. This CD served as the Group’s second full-length album and included repertoire from its 1981–98 seasons.

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trio. There is Cage’s Third Construction (1941) that you’ve done as a trio.42 You are in a setting where you each have a studio of talented students, yet you tend to go through the effort of changing pieces to trios, rather than adding an extra performer. There are a lot of prominent works in the percussion repertoire not composed as trios, yet the Group seems to either convert the works to your performing forces or you stick to those pieces written for three. Can you address this?

CULLEY: Yes, we have done collaborations on occasion; for example, we brought Ben Toth back for the PAS convention when he organized the whole Cage festival.43 That was fabulous, since the Third Construction seems to be the one piece that really cannot be presented in its full grandeur by three people, though we’ve tried. We have an erased version of it that we do with other pieces as part of a miniature musicircus.44 But the PAS convention performance just seemed to be a perfect coming together of old and new, since Rusty and Ben knew each other for quite a while. Rusty was a student here when Ben was in the Group, so it was easy to plug him in for one rehearsal, and it was just like old times. We’ve occasionally done something where a graduate student does a piece with us. I think, however, we would do that more often if we weren’t already so tight. And I don’t mean tight personality wise, but in the sense of we know

42 The Group performs Third Construction both as a trio and with a fourth player, as Culley discusses below; however, the trio format is only portions of the work and only as part of musicircuses.

43 Toth organized “A John Cage Retrospective” for the 27 November 1999 PAS convention in Columbus, Ohio.

44 The Group commonly employs the method of “erasing” in converting works for four or more people to trios. They retain portions of the original work, but erase parts that may prove either duplicative or less necessary to the composite rhythm or structure. For example, if a composer has written a quartet with a passage where all four performers are playing in unison, but on different drums, the Group will erase one of the four parts without altering the work in an especially noticeable manner. John Cage used this technique as a compositional method, whereby he could remove individual notes from a melody or words from poetry (as was the case when he reread his mesostics). Otte also explained this method to Mark Saya, who then composed his Seven Preludes Revisited by “erasing” some of Chopin’s pre-existing material.

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each other’s playing really well. This sort of synergistic thing we have with the three people is only really disturbed by the addition of any outside player. We did a John Luther Adams performance a couple of years ago where we decided it was time to present his Coyote Builds

North America, but it is a quartet and John has refused to ever do anything that is not a quartet, so he has put up with us doing his pieces as trios.45 However, he refused to write a trio version of

Coyote for us and that seemed to be a piece we wouldn’t be able to do without other people, so we brought in four graduate students and had them all play a part. I think that sort of thing is great for them, but I think it is disastrous for us, because I think there is no way that they can fall into that mold. More successful is when we do a piece with a string quartet, or if we do something with the Pridonoffs, because then you bring in a different element all together and then you just need to figure out Eugene and Elizabeth [Pridonoff’s] sense of things.46 We’ve had some very good collaborations with “the Tocks”—[Frank] Weinstock and [Michael] Chertock.

We did the [Jonathan] Kramer piece with them a few years ago, and they’re just a solid duet.47

Both [the Pridonoffs, and Weinstock and Chertock] are solid duets on their own.

AUTHOR: We can stop here for today, but there will be follow-up interviews. Also, if I could get that essay, it would be very helpful.

CULLEY: Yes, I’ll look for it. It all became somewhat moot once I came here and interviewed.

I remember with the mock programs, at the time I really didn’t know much about trio literature.

45 For the compositional history of Five Percussion Quartets from Coyote Builds North America, see Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, n. 11.

46 For a description of the Pridonoff Duo, see Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, n. 19.

47 Jonathan Kramer, Notta Sonata for Two Piano and Percussion (Saint Louis, MO: MMB Music, 1994).

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I was at Eastman [School of Music] and all I was doing was putting down composers who had quartets or quintets or had pieces I liked. I said this would be a composer who would be good at this point on a program, but that was it.

Interview No. 2 17 October 2007 Corbett Center, University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio

AUTHOR: The last time we spoke, we started with your background in the Group, and we spoke a little about how the Group has influenced your teaching and the percussion program here at

CCM. Then, we started speaking about composers, and we spent the most time talking about

Cage. Now, I want to go back to the topic of composers and move to a few other people, but with the focus still being on the relationship between these composers and the Group. I want to hear whatever parts of those relationships you think are most important, so to begin, let me throw out a few names and let you share with me your thoughts about these relationships. And if there are people along the way who you think should be included and who are more significant than those who I am mentioning, then please just bring them up.

CULLEY: Okay.

AUTHOR: I wanted to start wither Herbert Brün. He was already connected to Al from the

Blackearth days, and so the connection to the Group seems like a natural one, correct?

CULLEY: Yes, I also think that the University of Illinois connection was important for Al, because he briefly was there, and he had a [professional] relationship with Tom Siwe. For me, the connection to [the University of] Illinois started with Mike Rosen at Oberlin [Conservatory

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of Music], who had gone there for graduate school, and so he was pretty conversant in some of the earlier works of Herbert. I actually encountered some of Herbert’s stuff when I was an undergraduate at Oberlin—in fact, on my recital I played one of his trios for percussion, flute, and double bass, which coincidentally I’m going to try to get one of my students to do this year.48 And while I was working on that piece, there was another guy at Oberlin concurrently doing a Brün work for percussion, trombone, and trumpet.49 Mike [Rosen] had clearly worked with Herbert when he was at the University of Illinois, because he had recorded these pieces himself and played them on recitals and that’s how he turned me on to them was through his recordings and manuscripts. At the time, I think I worked off of Mike’s copy of the piece. It was very intriguing writing. I always felt like Herbert had a real knack for percussion sounds, but in a different way than John Cage, who was a kind of universalist. Herbert seemed to have a thing for different timbres. He had this affinity for timbre, and highs and lows—it was much more sophisticated than that, but he had this ability to elicit the timbral quality of certain instruments that I think he favored. So, for example, I think he became fascinated with the xylophone. It was a very important instrument for him, and he preferred these kinds of crispy, discrete timbral sounds. To my knowledge, he didn’t really care for something as soft and mellow as the marimba. He preferred xylophone, snare drum, and everything that was kind of dry and staccato.

This is not to say that he wouldn’t do sustained sounds every now and then—he was actually one of the few composers I have ever known who seemed interested in the fact that drummers could not sustain without repeating notes, and he was as interested in the repetition of the notes as he was in the sheer sustained sound. With his music there was almost a cultural thing, too—it was

48 Herbert Brün, Trio for Flute, Double Bass, and Percussion (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1984).

49 Herbert Brün, Trio for Trumpet, Trombone, and Percussion (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1977).

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him and the way he spoke, his whole language. His native tongue was German, and so to him language was defined, and clear and straight; and when you said words, you meant them. The consonances are also very important, as opposed to French, where you can put several letters at the end of the word and then not even pronounce them. So, this all appealed to me, as a number- oriented person. His music was about precision. It was very natural to go from my undergraduate trio into the first piece of his I was playing when I came here, More Dust [with Percussion]. Al had also played this piece for me during my interview process as one of the pieces that he said

Blackearth was working on at the time. At the time, it kind of blew my head off. I think it still does today, but the only thing that has happened, maybe over those ensuing thirty years, is that the tape material seems a little more dated to me. So, now it seems a little bit more like a piece I can go visit and, when I listen to it, it blows my head off as long as I can take myself back to the

1970s. And it is a piece that I make my students do.

AUTHOR: Brün’s interest in percussion, was it something that you think he had already developed while being at Illinois and surrounded by a lot of percussionists, or to what degree did some of that interest in percussion music grow during his interactions with the Group? Were there ever specific instances you can remember when you were showing some of the Group’s instruments to him or he heard one of your performances and heard you use something that he may have brought up later in a discussion?

CULLEY: I guess I would say, not so much. Maybe Al would have had experiences with him where that happened, but he definitely was not like some of our later guys, such as Mark Saya or

Qu Xiao-Song, who walked through our rehearsal room to hear different sounds. He was more standard in his instrumentation, and he explored with different meters and different tuning

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systems instead of different instruments. Well, as I think about it, that is not entirely true, because More Dust [with Percussion] has some invented timbrack-type material where he has a set of seven xylophone bars that are slightly out of tune and then a whole set of aluminum tubes, which are tuned in an octave but sometimes the octave will be separated by an octave displacement.50 There is also a set of almglocken to muddy up the harmonic structure. So, in that sense, I guess More Dust [with Percussion] is a little different. However, if any of the sound ideas came from percussionists, then it would have been Al who was in on the early stuff. In a way it also almost sounds Udow-esque.51 But, then the other piece he had written prior to that, and I played it at Oberlin too, was “at loose ends: [sic] (1974), which was for percussion quartet and piano.52 It was written for Blackearth and Al’s wife. Again, fairly standard instrumental fare, but he would start messing with the harmonic qualities of things, so at one point he had a cadenza for marimba and de-tuned marimba, with the de-tuned marimba being a quarter-step away from the tuned marimba. Then, it also had about an octave and a half of almglocken to dirty up the harmonic qualities. So, did I just start that by saying he stuck with standard instrumentation? I guess not.

Now, another piece that we did, after we were established, was his Infraudibles with

Percussion, where he specifically went back to this timbrack idea, and we each had little tables filled with an octave worth of material but that octave could be aluminum tubes, almglocken, woodblocks, mixtures of almost all wooden and metal pitches, but also some little drums off to

50 A timbrack, short for “timbre rack,” refers to a collection of pitched sounds, usually arranged in ascending or descending order, with the pitch material derived from diverse objects. For example, a timbrack of seven pitches may contain a woodblock that sounds C, a woodblock that sounds D, a break drum that sounds E, a coffee can that sounds F, and aluminum pipes for pitches G, A, and B. For further discussion of Brün’s interest in this notion, see Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 281–82.

51 Culley’s term “Udow-esque” refers to percussionist, composer, and instrument maker Michael Udow, a former member of Blackearth, who has composed several pieces requiring a timbrack.

52 Herbert Brün, “at loose ends: [sic] (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1977).

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the side to bring in a little skin. So, I really need to go back on what I said—no, he didn’t use standard instrumentation; rather, sounds he came up with. I feel like he wasn’t as collaborative, in the sense that he wouldn’t come and work with us and let a piece arise; rather, he would give us something complete or near complete, and occasionally we might throw some comments back to him and he might change something, but he had a pretty strong sense of what he wanted.

AUTHOR: One issue that will come up in this thesis is the reception of the Group’s repertoire, particularly the reception of the pieces beyond what the three of you have done with them. I am interested in seeing the Group’s influence on the larger percussion community or the larger new music community. With John Cage, whether people have heard of the Group or not, they are likely familiar with the Cage pieces, because there are many people playing them, but this level of popularity isn’t the case for all of the composers with whom the Group has worked. In one of the comparative dissertations I’m looking at, the author tracked all of the new works that have been premiered at the annual PAS convention performances and their number of appearances on programs from their initial year onward.53 In essence, what is being tracked is the rate of decay for the works. Some pieces get a premiere and then show up every year for a decade before getting more sporadic treatment. Other works receive a premiere and then only show up every few years. Other works get a premiere and never turn up again. Percussion music by Brün doesn’t come up all that often at PAS conventions.54 The popularity of these works is somewhat limited to the various students that the Group has worked with and people from [the University

53 James Scott Cameron, “Trends and Developments in Percussion Ensemble Literature, 1976–92: An Examination of Selected Works Premiered at the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 1996).

54 Cameron found only two appearances of ensemble compositions by Brün at PAS conventions: the Group’s 14 November 1981 performance of More Dust with Percussion and the Group’s 28 October 1987 performance of “at loose ends: [sic].

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of] Illinois. Can you comment on this? Can you share any thoughts you may have about why some of these works may make it to your students and their students, but then never get broad acceptance? Is it just a matter of instrumentation? Is there something else?

CULLEY: I’m sure instrumentation has something to do with it. When we did “at loose ends:

[sic] up at Oberlin [Conservatory of Music], I played the marimba parts and we didn’t use the de- tuned marimba, which I think was a disservice to Herbert, but I think the thought at the time was,

“Gee, it is already hard enough.” The other irony is that the de-tuned marimba that we use when the Group plays it, to my knowledge, has been detuned on the keys themselves, but has not been adjusted on the resonators, so it has a non-resonant quality to it. But yes, at least for “at loose ends: [sic], More Dust [with Percussion], and Infraudibles [with Percussion], it is extremely unlikely that those pieces would get out there much.

AUTHOR: You’ve recorded all of them, correct?

CULLEY: Yes, except perhaps for “at loose ends: [sic]. For Herbert’s compendium they took a recording from somewhere else. Or, did they use us? Sorry, I can’t remember. They may or may not have used us.

AUTHOR: I will go back and check.55

CULLEY: Okay. I remember there was some back and forth on it, because there was some recording of it that we were not delighted with—it was like a live thing. But his trios are with

55 The 1998 Brün complete works included the Group’s recordings of More Dust with Percussion and Infraudibles with Percussion, but Blackearth’s recording of “at loose ends: [sic]. The Group’s recording of “at loose ends: [sic] is only available as part of the CD of musical examples included in Arun Chandra, ed., When Music Resists Meaning: The Major Writings of Herbert Brün (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2004).

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Smith Publications, so they are out there. As to whether they are popular, I don’t know.56 I think they also have a certain [University of] Illinois patina to them. Sometimes we will be out there, and we will run across some alumni from Illinois and they will say, “I love it when you do that

Herbert Brün piece” or “Will you do that piece again, we love that piece.” Just last year, we played More Dust [with Percussion] in San Diego, and sure enough there was a University of

Illinois graduate who was jumping up and down—of course, he may have been the only one.

You are right though, I think some of it only gets trickled down from here. We had a student do a dissertation on Herbert and his music—our first doctorate did a comparison of some of Herbert’s pieces.57 He looked at Infraudibles [with Percussion], and he did one of the solo pieces.

Likewise, the solo pieces are published by Smith [Publications], but those are also pretty daunting works. I doubt that they really get much play since they are the types of things that you need to love in order to get into them, and then you really need to love them to stick it out.

AUTHOR: The opposite end of the spectrum from Brün’s works, which are often considered highly intellectual, could be Russell Peck’s compositions, with works such as The Glory and the

Grandeur: A Concerto for Percussion Trio and Orchestra (1988) and a whole repertoire of pieces intended for children’s and family concerts.58 The Glory and the Grandeur is also the

56 Although Smith Publications makes available Brün’s solo percussion music, the only currently published chamber works including percussion are “at loose ends: [sic], Nonet, Sonoriferous Loops, Trio for Flute, Double Bass, and Percussion, and Trio for Trumpet, Trombone, and Percussion. Still unpublished are More Dust with Percussion and Infraudibles with Percussion. Otte is working with Sylvia Smith to edit and publish these works.

57 Steve Dawson presented a DMA lecture recital on the percussion works of Herbert Brün; however, his DMA thesis was actually on a different topic: “Percussion Etudes in the Context of World Music” (DMA thesis, University of Cincinnati, 1999).

58 While Brün’s percussion music involved complicated computer programs and concerns expanding technological possibilities, Peck focused on audience access with a variety of narrated works such as The Thrill of the Orchestra, Playing with Style, Jack and Jill at Bunker Hill, and Where’s Red Robin, as well as at least ten other works without such narration, which he composed for family and educational concerts.

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other end of the reception spectrum, since you guys premiered it, put it out in circulation, and now it gets played a lot by a lot of different performers.

CULLEY: Correct.

AUTHOR: This is a great example of communication between the Group and a composer, where the result was direct impact on a composition. I am thinking specifically of the beginning of The

Glory and the Grandeur.59 So, how have you seen the relationship with Peck develop from pre- concerto, having played Lift-Off! and having played it a lot, and then doing the concerto with him, and then post-concerto?

CULLEY: We would go to the University of Illinois and hang out with Herbert. We would go to his seminar classes, and we would have the inevitable post-sessions with all of the Brün-ites, who were sprouting at that time. He would have these seminars, and students followed him around. It was sometimes a little over the top for me. Sometimes I got frustrated with this way of looking at all kinds of music with a thin laser beam of light slicing into them and trying to analyze them. This group of people would need to sit back before they spoke, because they needed to think very hard before they would say anything. Herbert would usually jump on them if they used a word that they shouldn’t have used, because with him you had to mean what you say and you had to say what you mean. And it was great to enter into that world, and it was very stimulating for various brain cortexes. Russell Peck was just more, I guess you could say, more down to earth. His relationship with Al is probably a lot thicker than his relationship with me; whereas, with Herbert I felt like, over the years, I really got to know him well. I played a snare

59 After the Group rehearsed the original opening, Otte proposed another solution, employing passages from Peck’s earlier percussion work, Lift-Off!, which remain in the concerto to this day.

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drum piece of his, and so we were heavily involved in that.60 He came in and we worked on that piece quite a bit; whereas, with Russell, at least some of the initial ideas with the concerto were probably all in telephone conversations between Al and him. So, I say all of this with a more objective look at Russell; whereas, Al could provide you with more of the specific details.

Having said all that, Russell is really just more of an on-the-surface type of person.61 I wouldn’t say that he is anti-intellectual in any way, he is actually a fairly sharp person, but much more emotional and his music reflects that. He always talked about Lift-Off! being a piece that was informed by his youth growing up in Detroit—Motown—and that seemed to have an influence. What’s interesting is that when you meet Russell there is absolutely nothing that is remotely Motown about him—he’s not a person of the street. He writes music that is visceral and very emotional, and on-the-surface, but he is not that way as a person, outside of the fact that he is extroverted and he has a big biosphere—he takes up a lot of space in any room he’s in. I’ve seen him get excited not only during the many times we’ve played his music, but even during one of the first performances of the concerto with an ensemble other than the Group, which was in West Virginia. Rusty [Burge] was then playing with the West Virginia Symphony and they played the concerto with a couple of the section members, and I went and saw it. During the rehearsal Russell came out into the audience and the orchestra was just playing through some of the standard parts, and he was almost dancing to it. Last year they premiered the wind ensemble version at the PAS convention in Austin, and I was out in the audience watching the dress rehearsal, and Russell Peck showed up and sure enough, it is now some twenty years later, and he was still enthused, and jumping up and down. This is a great thing when you are playing for

60 Brün composed Just Seven for Drum (1987) for Smith Publications’ collection The Noble Snare. Culley played the premiere at the 3 October 1988 “Noble Snare Concert” in Marymount Manhattan Theater.

61 Subsequent to this interview, Russell Peck died on 1 March 2009.

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him, because he comes up on the stage and there is something still very child-like about him, and he is like, “Now, do that, there!” and “The chimes need to be bigger!” and he jumps up and down, and I think the piece reflects that pop, in-your-face attitude. The addition of Lift-Off! at the beginning of it was a pretty brilliant move and the only thing that is ironic about it is that Lift-

Off! also appears in so many other parts of the piece, but just harmonically. It’s not the most sophisticated piece we’ve played. So, I guess that’s a contrast, if you put Herbert Brün on one side and Russell Peck on the other. You could compare the levels of what they each though/think was/is important in music, with Herbert searching for the very cerebral and intellectual answers and Russell Peck being the opposite.

AUTHOR: Considering the process the Group takes in meeting and working with composers, it seems very natural that you would be close to someone like Herbert, who shared your social and musical views and with whom you had developed a good friendship. Peck, however, seems different. He appears to be the type of composer who would field a commission even if it came from an ensemble he had not heard of or from musicians he had not met yet. Peck, in order to write for an ensemble, does not seem to need the same close, personal relationship that you guys prefer. Yet, do you think there was anything different in the way Peck approached the Group, since you weren’t just a random ensemble commissioning a random piece, but you were people who had played his music for a while and you had carefully worked through a concerto together?

CULLEY: I have to assume so, but I don’t know when I would have met him for the first time.

He had to be aware that Lift-Off!, for good or for ill, was probably our most performed concert piece. If you just add up all of our umpteen children’s concerts with which we always finished with Lift-Off!, I think it has to be our most ubiquitous offering. He had to know something about

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our playing—it seems like, maybe he came to an American Society of University Composers meeting, and at some point we played Lift-Off!, and then who knows how in the world the whole concerto got worked out without formal business transactions.62 Maybe there was some transaction involved in the front end of this thing? Al could clear this up. There may have been a grant for him with the Greensboro Symphony. I am vague on this.63

AUTHOR: I’ll follow up with Al.64

CULLEY: Yes, follow up with Al. Maybe it was a later project that I’m thinking of, because

Peck wanted to do another concerto after the success of the first concerto. He realized the first concerto was going to peak, and we started discussing our second concerto. We had a few conversations about a trio with djembes, or at a certain point we’d all group around some steel drums and play on those, and he had an idea for a popular/ethno piece circulating in his mind.

Maybe that’s when he was going to try to get a grant, so we could play it with a consortium of ten orchestras. Maybe I’m confusing it with the second concerto, which eventually evaporated. I should also say that I don’t think Russell ever dedicated the concerto to us. Now, I might be mistaken, but I don’t think it appears in print anywhere. He would occasionally say it in a program note.65 And then there was a funny period, this was when Ben [Toth] was in the Group,

62 Peck knew Otte from the mid-1970s when both were at Northern Illinois University. Peck served on the composition faculty, while Blackearth was an ensemble-in-residence.

63 The Greensboro Symphony Orchestra commissioned The Glory and the Grandeur: A Concerto for Percussion Trio and Orchestra with the assistance of funding from the North Carolina Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

64 For a detailed discussion of the communication between Peck and Otte, see Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 294–97.

65 Neither the Group nor any of its members appear in the dedication to The Glory and the Grandeur: A Concerto for Percussion Trio and Orchestra. Peck dedicated the concerto to Paul Anthony McRae, the conductor who led the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra in the premiere performance on 18 October 1988. Peck’s program 196

when the recording of the concerto was supposed to happen.66 We were going to go over to

London and record it, and this was all in the works to happen with the original conductor, who was also thick into this whole process: Paul McRae was his name. We would go to London, record it, and release it. We even came to the point where Russell told us how much [airline] tickets would cost, because this was all riding on the back of another thing, and we were going to have to pay for our flights over, but we all thought that was fine. Ben and I actually went and got our passports, and then Russell disappeared and to our shock and surprise some six months later

I got a call from a guy I had gone to school with, and he said that he was preparing to record this piece and knew we had played it. He was calling to find how we setup, when we played it: were we in front of the orchestra or behind the orchestra? He said they were trying to figure out the best way to do it for the recording. The cat was out of the bag. No real answers ever came to us about any of that. It just sort of vanished into thin air and whether Al ever had a conversation with Russell where he said, “You guys are out,” or whether there was just telephone silence, I don’t know. I should say that this has colored our relationship with Russell, because that eventually all felt more like a business relationship and that’s just something we don’t normally do. We are as cheap as they come—we don’t pay anybody for any of these things and so I’m sure if Russell was sitting here, he would point out that he’s got to eat, but we were definitely expecting to be on that first recording and to not be was a shock.

AUTHOR: Can we change gears and move to Qu Xiao-Song, who seems to be yet another type of relationship involving a lot of time with the Group? We briefly spoke about him before, but note for that evening’s performance reads: “The Glory and the Grandeur was written for the premiere performance by the Percussion Group Cincinnati, and commissioned by the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Edward A. Shure, General Manager. Funding assistance was provided by the North Carolina Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). The work is dedicated to Paul Anthony McRae.”

66 Toth’s tenure with the Group ran from January 1987 to June 1992.

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we were running out of time, so I’d be interested in hearing some more of that relationship. How did the relationship start?

CULLEY: Again, this is pretty much Al. It was a random thing. Al’s wife, at a certain point, began working for Delta [Air Lines], and so he would just take these occasional trips to New

York. He has an old college roommate up there, who puts him up for free. So, Al was staying with him, and at the time his college roommate ran into this Chinese actress Bai Ling, and he then met her husband, Qu Xiao-Song.67 Xiao-Song was a composer who came to New York, where the roommate first heard his music. The roommate then told Al that he should introduce the two of them. So, Al went to New York and they met and bonded. Qu Xiao-Song, at the time, was living in Brooklyn or something like that with his wife—they are since divorced, and he is now with another wife—and he was either going to class or doing some other post-graduate work at Columbia, but he was definitely in New York and trying to make his way. That lasted for a year or two and then he couldn’t do it anymore, and ended up back in China. In the mean time, there were a few pieces that already existed—pieces that he had written—which included a lot of percussion, and so Al brought them back to CCM. One of these was a sextet for percussion, and we had the [CCM] Percussion Ensemble do that.68 It was a fairly lengthy piece. Xiao-Song is always writing evolving, long works. They all evolve as you listen to them, and they are also fairly arched works, where they all either start in darkness (or at least musical darkness), then get incredibly active, and then return to darkness. This is the same thing with his percussion sextet, which is nice, but not so rhythmically sophisticated. It focuses on the addition of some more

Asian-type sounds. It features standard instrumentation, but with things like a tom-tom

67 Bai Ling and Qu Xiao-Song dated in the mid-1990s.

68 See n. 40.

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movement where the drummers are interlocking with each other on sixteenth notes. We actually ended up playing that piece a lot. We would yank out the percussion section of it and then play it at various venues. You need other people to play the other parts to build up this larger piece, but we would usually bring in our [local] host and two of his students, and then all the parts would be covered.69

Then, he had another piece, I don’t think it’s for Pierrot Lunaire instrumentation, but it’s something like that for small chamber ensemble, percussion, and singer.70 This piece, too, already existed.71 Before Xiao-Song had to go back to China, or chose to go back, he came to

Cincinnati a couple of times and started working on lengthier things, the first of which was Làm

Môt (1991). It was a very lengthy process piece that moved from space, to activity, to space.

Xiao-Song’s favorite metronomic marking is anything equals forty, but then always having written forty, but really wanting thirty-four or thirty-five. That piece ended up having a little bit of life because in the mean time, through some connections of his in Hong Kong, a dance company got a hold of the piece and they decided that they wanted to choreograph it for some performances, and so we went to Hong Kong and performed it with dance.72 In some ways it was probably more effective as a multi-media piece than just as a percussion work, or at least it appealed to more people in that format.

69 The mention of a local host and students implies that the work was performed at various universities, while the Group toured. These performances occurred in the late 1990s, but programs do not survive for them.

70 Arnold Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire (Vienna: Universal, 1914). The Pierrot instrumentation includes flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello, piano, and voice. Occasionally, a percussion part replaces the vocal part in compositions and ensembles inspired by this composition.

71 Xiao-Song’s Mist 2 (1991–95) requires an ensemble slightly larger than that of Pierrot Lunaire and a baritone soloist, in addition to a soprano soloist.

72 The City Contemporary Dance Company, a professional contemporary dance ensemble founded in Hong Kong in 1979, organized these performances. They took place on 6–8 March 1992 in the main concert hall of the Hong Kong Cultural Center.

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AUTHOR: Are there any specifics that you remember in terms of him spending time with the

Group? I’m trying to get at his process. Did he come in with questions, such as, “What do these instruments sound like together?” Did he even ask about instruments?

CULLEY: He was not like Mark Saya, who was totally collegial and student-like in his approach. I think Xiao-Song had a very strong concept in his mind of the sounds that he wanted and the durations that he wanted. Then, he would just try to find ways to make them work. For example, you could tell that he knew that he wanted to use Chinese temple blocks at a particular moment, because he would be writing based on the poetry of a certain person, and at a given moment in the piece he could explain how a character is about to go into battle and he is guarding himself with his armor. He could explain that at a moment such as that the temple blocks made sense to him. And so then he would come into the room and would put a microphone on the temple blocks and get their sound to come out of a speaker. We are anti- electronic and we don’t usually want wires strung around us, so we would then respond by seeing how else we could amplify the blocks. Could we set them on a bass drum? Could we do something else with them? He ended up putting them in a piano with the sustain [damper] pedal down, so when they were struck you also got the added vibrations of the piano.

In some ways, Xiao-Song’s music is more appropriate for smaller venues—the [CCM

Cohen Family] Studio Theater always served us well for his music, because it is just a more intimate experience for the audience, and so these real subtleties came across better. Even in

[CCM’s] Patricia Corbett Theater things can get lost. Làm Môt was a more successful grand piece than some of his others, because of the fact that sometimes there are ffff markings providing the John Luther Adams approach of going from the threshold of audibility to the threshold of pain.

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I can at least say that he was extremely exacting, and I think sometimes a little dismissive, due to the fact that we were three American guys who couldn’t quite get into that whole mystical thing. Of course, we can sometimes do the same thing and think that some of his harmonic and melodic material is rather simple or just based on smaller scales, which at times sound quaint. But I can’t tell you how many times he would come over to me as we would be playing a piece and I would have a tam-tam scrape or a note on a bongo, and he would come over and just stand there pointing to a certain moment in the music. Eventually, I got to the point where I would say, “It says pppp, and you want me to play what you wrote,” and he would say,

“Yes, yes, I want you to play what I wrote.” And he would write from pppp to ffffffff on various instruments and so it could be a challenge to provide him with this type of exacting range.

AUTHOR: Did the relationship change over time? If you think about the first contact Al had, when he brought back pieces, then you developed a whole body of material with this one composer, did you see Xiao-Song become more open to the Group throughout this process? Or, more interested in different things you could do? Did his writing change as you became more acquainted? If there were changes, could you elaborate on those?

CULLEY: I think Al would probably say something different here than I would, but I think the change was that in writing for the Group he began to think smaller. The idea of, “How can I make this work for three?” But I don’t think he was really thinking about us at the level of considering, “If I write this dynamic, I know that the guys will play it like this.” I don’t think his concepts or his way of composing really changed much to suit us, beyond getting smaller. Al may disagree with that, but I don’t think it was a big change. I would say if anything over time as he started to use more voice, just as he started to write more for three people, he would also

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come in with voice pieces and especially a lot of poetry. If he wrote some percussion piece based on the poetry of a Chinese poet, then it had to have someone who could come in and deliver these poems about ghosts, battles, and dead souls—all this dire stuff—but they needed lots of vocal dynamics. Xiao-Song had this beard, long hair, and glasses—he just had this delivery that we couldn’t have duplicated here. Even some of the Chinese speakers we could have brought in would have had trouble doing some of these things. So, I think as his form shrank, then the amount of material that the audience needed to hear from his music became simplified. Things became more and more minimal, in a way. More and more space began creeping into the things that he was doing. There was one piece that we ended up doing, which had a soprano part with it, but it had a few guitar strums and then long silences and a little prepared piano with long silences and then a little piano with long silences, and it was all much more atmospheric.73 At the time, I know he was also writing a lot more music for opera, and he would do some operas, and he would create the music for those groups, and I don’t know whether it was an economics issue, but they would always be about the size of the standard Chinese opera band. There would be six people or so back there providing sound. I remember when we were in China, we watched a video of one of his operas, and it was quite sparse. In my own mind, I like to think that all of this fits in with the fact that he’s not even composing anymore and now he is writing books about comparative religions, and he has fallen away from music. He did what he wanted to do with music, and now he is interested in this other thing. His music got gooier and gooier, but Xiao-

Song was also very stubborn. If he wrote something, then he didn’t usually want to change it unless he listened to it and decided for himself that it was not working. We even have a score for a piece where he had listened to a section and then decided that he didn’t like it or maybe the

73 Qu Xiao-Song, Ji No. 6 (New York: Peermusic, 1999).

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way we were playing it wasn’t working the same way he had imagined it, and so he just crossed out that part of the score. The score was then published with the original page and a big black

“X” through the section.74

AUTHOR: Did he naturally gravitate toward writing smaller and writing for three, or were there ever conversations between Al and him asking that he consider writing for three or consider composing pieces specifically for the three of you?

CULLEY: That’s quite possible, but if that is so, I wasn’t privy to the way Al would have tried to bend his ear.75

AUTHOR: Assuming that at least some of his changes and the idea you mentioned about getting smaller may have been his own decision or his own response to working with you, let’s now make a sharp turn and consider John Luther Adams. Adams is a composer, who even in writing for you, has composed quartets or larger, and has not necessarily appeared interested in shrinking works to fit you guys, as a trio. You have now even recorded some of his music, but the relationship does not appear to be one of him writing directly for the Group; rather, he is writing the pieces that are in his mind regardless of you three being a trio. Is that accurate? It is a special relationship, but one where he doesn’t appear to be writing directly for the three of you.

CULLEY: I would agree with everything you said, except in the case of Strange and Sacred

Noise (1998), which I think was specifically a collaboration between John and us, but even that

74 Any published Qu Xiao-Song score with an “X” through a section is yet unidentified.

75 See Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 345–70.

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had to be for more people.76 So, yes, in that sense he won that battle, too. All of this is almost funny, because we now hold in our hands a piece that he threw together over the summer [June–

August 2007], and it’s a new trio specifically for the Percussion Group Cincinnati. As far as I can remember, this is the only time I’ve seen him write for trio. And on his Finale® or Sibelius® program, he wrote at the top of the score “for The Percussion Group Cincinnati.” It is a very quiet piece as well, so I guess this might be his bow to us after all of these years of causing us pain with extremely loud pieces for four or more players.77 Maybe considering Strange and

Sacred Noise to be outside of his norm is also a good thing, because much of his other material already existed well before we discovered it. He came here [to CCM] as part of the visiting composers thing, and as we will sometimes do, we worked up some of his music, so that he could arrive here not knowing what to expect and walk into the room to find us playing his material, but in our trio version.78 We once did a similar thing with Steve Reich. Reich was near

Ann Arbor on the night we happened to be playing a concert there, and he was playing the next night.79 He came walking into our concert during which we would play our three-person version of Drumming [Part I]. That was a little daunting. He was extremely gracious about it, and he said something similar to the words that John Cage had always said about quartets being played by trios: “Now I know what my quartet would sound like with three people.” He was very gracious

76 John Luther Adams, Strange and Sacred Noise (Fairbanks, AK: Taiga Press, 1997).

77 John Luther Adams, Always Very Soft (Fairbanks, AK: Taiga Press, 2007).

78 Otte previously contacted Adams when the Group was in Alaska for a performance of Peck’s The Glory and the Grandeur: A Concerto for Percussion Trio and Orchestra with the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra in April 1993. The “visiting composer thing,” the CCM Visiting Composer Series, brings professional composers to campus to spend several days offering lectures, commenting on rehearsals of their works, and leading master classes. In this case, Adams was specifically invited for the series, since Otte had proposed making trio versions of his percussion quartets and wanted the composer to hear them live.

79 This is a somewhat different situation, because the Group knew in advance of Adams visit to CCM; whereas, they did not have advance warning of Reich’s attendance at their tour performance at the Kerrytown Concert House (Ann Arbor, Michigan) on 7 April 1989.

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about it and was happy enough to have yet somebody else out there playing the piece. John

[Luther Adams] walked in on us doing some movement from his Earth and the Great Weather and his jaw just dropped not so much at the loss of the quartet into the trio, although we were trying to do some subtle things to make that happen, but because we were doing it without a conductor.80 To make this one work we needed to do some combinatorial things within the parts.

Also, at some of the transitional passages, where John is always in favor of the stacking up of two, three, four, five; then three, four, five, six; then four, five, six, seven; and so forth, there he was expecting to hear four polyrhythmic voices coming out and that is one of the few things we can’t really do at those particular moments. Although, we do cheat a little bit here and there, but again I think he was more flabbergasted by the fact that in the past those quartets had always been conducted, and here we were doing them without a conductor. We were clearly starting and ending exactly together, and he was like, “How do you guys do that?” He was much more fascinated by that than by any alarm he may have had about what we were doing to reconstruct his music. So, I think that helped.

AUTHOR: One issue I am considering is to what degree the Group’s relationships with composers influenced compositions. So, even if you begin a relationship by playing a composer’s pre-existing compositions, in what ways in subsequent compositions does he or she write material that is custom fit to your strengths or perhaps in some way particularly identifiable with what the Group usually does. With Adams I am struggling to see this type of change in output. Even with Strange and Sacred Noise, you need to add extra players. One could ask, is there something different about the way you play the siren movement than if some other

80 For the compositional history of Three Drum Quartets from Earth and the Great Weather, see Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, n. 2.

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ensemble stepped up and played the siren movement? Was there something about the piece that

Adams needed you three to be involved, because he couldn’t do it with some other trio of players?

CULLEY: That’s a good question. The only thing I can say with any recollection would be that he did sort of vet the piece with us. I don’t know with other players if he would have vetted the original concept. I don’t know if he would have said, “I am thinking of writing structures and architecture and glaciers and mass, and so I want walls of sound from various media. I want walls of sound in keyboards. I want walls of sound in sirens. I want walls of sound in tam-tams, and so on.” I am going to have to assume that the instruments themselves were his concept, with some of them even coming from his California years of working with new music out there and his relationships with James Tenney.81 Those types of people probably had some influence on him, and of course his knowledge of John Cage is important. When he was a child, he was also heavily influenced by [Edgard] Varèse, and he talks about Varèse quite a bit. I assume that sort of thing [the use of siren] was his idea—he probably thought of Ionisation (1929–31) and monophonic sources or a monotone, and came up with four sirens. James Tenney had also written pieces for just tam-tam that crescendo from very quiet, to painfully loud, and then back.82

Surely, that kind of stuff was just percolating in the back of John’s brain. You can see how all of this spins out. In the tom-tom movement he is thinking, “What could I do with drums that could

81 The idea of using sirens came about after a phone conversation between Otte and Adams. See John Luther Adams, Winter Music, 161. Adams studied with Tenney at the California Institute of the Arts beginning in fall 1971. Adams writes extensively about the important role Tenney played in his development as a composer, calling him “the perfect teacher for me,” and saying Tenney provided him with “a strong sense of connection to the [American] experimentalist tradition from Charles Ives to Lou Harrison to Pauline Oliveros,” Adams, Winter Music, 120–21.

82 James Tenney, Having Never Written a Note for Percussion (Baltimore: Smith Publications, 1997).

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be a natural progression from his other materials?” He comes up with a wall of drum sounds.

Keyboard instruments, as well, are forced to try to create a wall of sound from loud to soft, but also from highs to lows. In those instances the keyboard writing would go from deep sounds to shrieking bells and crotales. I think that he probably came to all of this with some concepts worked out, but I also remember throwing out one movement he wrote for massive sounds of timpani. We played it, and I’m not sure if we recorded it and sent it to him, but we agreed it should be pulled off the shelf.83

AUTHOR: This is an important issue I am trying to figure out. At the end of the Strange and

Sacred Noise recording, there is a DVD feature with a conversation between Al and John.84 At one point Al brings up that in working on Strange and Sacred Noise John had sent the three of you some parts. After you looked at them, Al was very candid in telling John that the timpani material didn’t work.85 Can this type of conversation take place because you have been an established ensemble for twenty or so years by the time you are working on this project? Or did this type of response to a composer happen just as much in your first few years? Is this something that can occur because you feel particularly comfortable with John, or would you have had this discussion regardless of who the composer was?

CULLEY: I think it varies from person to person. It seems like this could have happened with

Xiao-Song, and it definitely occurred with John. There is a lot of John’s material that we’ve

83 Adams ultimately replaced the timpani movement with the siren movement. Adams, Winter Music, 160– 61.

84 John Luther Adams, Strange and Sacred Noise, Percussion Group Cincinnati, Mode 153-DVD, 2005.

85 Culley offers a mild version of the conversation. For Adams’s recollection of the conversation, see Chapter 3, n. 27.

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played, and he has been so collegial about this kind of stuff, that in some ways it is even a little more intimate with him. I don’t think it has to do with the Group getting more exacting or demanding of composers. Often with these kinds of recommendations or feedback, it is just an opportunity for us to get into a piece and see what could happen. John takes it very well. I could imagine that some composers might not take it well or they might say: “Well, I still want that timpani sound. I will just tweak it and come back with another idea.” Whereas, John was more than willing to look at it and he agreed, said thank you, and came back with an even better idea.

We were up in Alaska a couple of years ago for another recording project of an earlier piece, Coyote Builds North America. And Scott Deal, who is from CCM, was recording it with us.86 Do you have this recording?

AUTHOR: No.87

CULLEY: Well, it is in disc-form somewhere just waiting for release. It is a much older piece of his, and he seems to be a composer who is exactly the opposite of Russell Peck. Whereas Peck is as delighted by something that he wrote in 1985 as he is by something he wrote last week, John definitely sees a progression from what might have been graduate school pieces, to slightly later works, and then improved upon more sophisticated works. The good thing about John is that I find myself drawn to the graduate school pieces as well as the newer works.

86 For information about Deal’s relationship with the Group and this project, see Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, n. 11.

87 Mode Records has not yet released the recording of these quartets.

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AUTHOR: Are there any instances where the Group started to work with a composer, but in the process of you providing feedback the composer wasn’t taking it well, and so either you or they or both ended the relationship?

CULLEY: I think we have been lucky, because often we are solicited. When a composer comes to us hat-in-hand they probably sense early on that they are not going to see anything from this except performances. Once that is understood, then they are usually pretty malleable. We’ve done the occasional project where we will go to a university with student composers, but also often faculty composers, who have a particular piece that they would like to hear, and we will often in the context of some composition class play it. I can’t remember what school it was, but once we went and sight read pieces by student composers, and maybe some faculty, and made comments about what was practical and what was not practical. We don’t usually get too much into the quality of the pieces. Well, there was a guy, I can’t remember his name, but somehow we got involved in playing one of his already existing pieces, and I think we may have asked him if we could do certain things and he was reluctant to have anything changed. He didn’t know us beforehand and he had not seen us play, but I think that when we actually went up there and played his piece, he saw what we could do. If that had happened first, and then we provided our requested changes, then I think we could have worked something out.

AUTHOR: We are about out of time for today, but so you know, there are four other large topics that I would like to cover in our final interview: your work with Mark Saya, your recent projects, the reception of the Group, and how you see an ensemble like the Group relating to other forms of percussion music and percussion chamber music in the United States.

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CULLEY: That all sounds fine.

Interview No. 3 24 October 2007 Corbett Center, University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio

AUTHOR: Today we will wrap our interviews up by discussing the Group’s relationship with

Mark Saya and some of your recent projects. Then, I have a follow-up question or two on your early years in the Group. Finally, we will deal with reception and where the Group fits into percussion music in America. So let’s start with Saya. He was a student here at CCM, and he initially became familiar with the Group from his student perspective, but then even after his time as a student concluded he has continued to write for you.88 How did that relationship work?

I am particularly interested in things that might have been different because he was a student and he was around here a lot. Did he have access to rehearsals? Did he stop by your offices more?

CULLEY: Yes, certainly those last items would be significant in comparison to the other composers we’ve spoken about. Mark was here as a student either before I came or concurrently with my arrival, because he and Al had done some work on The Murphy Sonata (1979) soon after I arrived.89 That was a vibraphone piece, which to my understanding was not originally intended for Al; rather, it was just a piece Mark was interested in writing. As they went through it in a tremendous amount of detail, Al got interested in doing it, and so in many ways, he became the fomenter of that whole project. When I got here, Saya had already been working on a piece for what at the time was Gerhard Samuel’s contemporary music ensemble, and I believe it

88 Saya completed an MM and DMA in composition at CCM in 1980 and 1986, respectively.

89 Mark Saya, “The Murphy Sonata” (MM thesis, University of Cincinnati, 1980).

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was for three or four percussionists and string quartet.90 The piece was called Snowtime (1982), and perhaps because there was a lot of percussion in it, I ended up conducting the performance.91

So, I was the arm-waver for that piece, and he and I worked quite a bit on it, but possibly it was even before that when he was talking about doing projects for the Group. I remember he was frustrated with the string quartet after it was done, because of the particular performers he was working with. At an institution like this, a string player’s exposure to new chamber music can be different than other instrumentalists, and so he changed it to a flute quartet, which seemed at the time strange, but then it all worked out well. So, on and off for a year we worked on that piece and we performed it here and then again down at the Contemporary Arts Center, and because of all of this, we got to be pretty good friends.92 It seems like that whole [From the Book of]

Imaginary Beings thing came about later, because Jack [Brennan] was in the Group at the time, and I had been initially collaborating with Saya in the early 1980s.93

I remember that with [From the Book of] Imaginary Beings he was really thinking about the personalities involved, so he must have then been back here [at CCM] at that point, and he also got to be pretty good friends with Jack. I think he and Jack were quite fond of one another, and maybe they were even closer in age than Mark and I were, and part of it may have also been

90 Gerhard Samuel, a composer and conductor known for his interest in twentieth-century music, served on the CCM conducting faculty from 1976–96. Samuel also composed two works for the Group, Circles (1979) and As Imperceptibly as Grief…for Small Orchestra and Percussion Soloists (1987), and collaborated with the Group on several projects, most notably a performance and recording of Larry Austin’s realization of Charles Ives’s Universe Symphony. See Appendix H, Percussion Group Cincinnati Discography.

91 For further information on Snowtime, see n. 39.

92 The Group performed often at the Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati), which was founded in 1939 as the Modern Art Society. It is now officially known as the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art and has served as a frequent concert venue for the Cincinnati Composers’ Guild, with whom the Group has collaborated on at least eleven performances.

93 See Appendix B, Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan, n. 4. The Group premiered the initial character pieces from this collection on 8 November 1985 at a new music festival hosted by Bowling Green State University.

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that they were both out of school at about the same time. Mark wandered through our studio coming up with these ideas of how to paint the imaginary beings that he was considering. He was thinking specifically that each piece would have its own little soloistic portion, with each one then being targeted for an individual in the Group. For Jack he came up with “A Bao A Qu.”

That was in this first set of imaginary beings. It is a movement for tuned gongs and crotales.

Then there was “Bahamut,” which was for chimes and cymbals, and a little bit of piano. There was “The Lamed Wufniks,” which was for a trio with wood, metal, and skin sounds. There was

“The Fauna of Mirrors,” which was for tom-toms and China cymbals.94 And for these works I always use the term Crumb-like, which was to Mark’s great chagrin, at the time.95 I don’t know if now, twenty years later, he would forgive me for the comparison, but he always had more of a sound world, a soundscape, or an atmospheric and quiet style. He didn’t like it, but I would talk about the Crumb aspects of his music, and that is just what they reminded me of. Al also had a movement playing solo chimes and piano with cluster chords. I had a movement of some real fast and furious drumming. “The Lamed Wufniks” was a trio where everybody played the same part. Mark had just put a repeat sign around it, and we played the same music three times.

Also important is that Al must have told him at some point that his favorite composer was

[Frédéric] Chopin, and so Mark, being a very gifted pianist, decided to redo some Chopin preludes in a percussion format.96 He broke them out of the piano and put them into some pretty

94 The China or China-type cymbal common to Western drum sets should not be confused with Chinese cymbals, which are smaller pairs of hand cymbals still closely associated with the music of their Eastern origin. Saya wrote for the former in this work, but the Group also performs a composition, Guo Wenjing’s Drama, on the latter.

95 “Crumb-like” implies similarity to the often contrasting, sectional, and atmospheric music of American composer George Crumb.

96 Saya based his Seven Preludes Revisited (1985–89) on Chopin’s Préludes, Op. 28.

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unusual instrumentation. Well, some were pretty straight ahead, just moving from a piano keyboard to keyboard [percussion] instruments.

AUTHOR: But he was no longer a student at this point, right?

CULLEY: Correct, he was no longer a student at this point, and Jack [Brennan] was out [of the

Group] and Ben [Toth] was in. I don’t know if I told you this, but Mark is the only composer that

I remember who would listen to his music and be really unhappy with it, tweak it, and then sometimes even throw whole pieces out. I remember [Preludes Revisited] was something that he heard us play when we were performing at Southern Methodist [University], and he came and saw it.97 After the show he just kind of sidled up to me, and even though everyone had enjoyed it, he said “Okay, I think I need to go back to that” or “I need to fix it” or “I’m still not happy with how that sounds.”

Then, a few years after that piece, Bachanons (1998) came along and by that point Ben

[Toth] was out [of the Group] and Rusty [Burge] was in.

AUTHOR: With both Seven Preludes Revisited and Bachanons, was Saya’s compositional process different than with From the Book of Imaginary Beings, where he was regularly in the studio and regularly getting feedback?

CULLEY: Yes, absolutely.

AUTHOR: Were these more traditional, in that he sent parts to you guys and you played through them and then sent him feedback? How did the preparation of these pieces work?

97 The Southern Methodist University performance occurred on 13 February 1992 in Caruth Auditorium.

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CULLEY: As I remember it, certainly on Bachanons, we only saw him later on in the process, and most of the earlier contact came through him mailing us parts and probably getting feedback during calls with Al. For the [Seven Preludes Revisited], I am going to say that he dropped in a couple of times to hear it, throughout the process. It seemed like it took a while for the full composition to unfold—to be fully written.

AUTHOR: Is it fair to say that Saya’s early works—his student works—came about in part from him hearing some of the Group’s concerts as well as his learning about what you could do by spending time with you and by spending time in the studio?

CULLEY: Yes, absolutely.

AUTHOR: Your recent projects are the works I know the least about, since these pieces aren’t published, recorded, perhaps haven’t even been performed yet. Could you identify for me some of the recent projects that you think are significant?

CULLEY: This is another question for which it is really good that you are asking all three of us, because my brain might leave out some really important things. In terms of collaborative projects with composers, I think the Mike Barnhart connection is as close to the type of relationship we had with Saya as is any in recent memory. Some of this has to do with longevity as well. I would say there has to be some timeframe where the student just happens to be around a lot. Mike is a

Cincinnati native, he grew up and went to high school here, and he has never really left. He’s

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over in Brown County now, but he’s clearly still a Buckeye.98 He started in an even lower echelon than Saya, because he wasn’t even coming in as a pianist or as a music theory teaching assistant. He started as a lowly student playing in symphony band. He played saxophone when he was in high school, then completed a stint in the military, and then came here. He was helping us out in symphony band, and I think playing in percussion ensemble too, while working on his compositions. He came into this in a real back door fashion. He and another music education student were really good friends, and they were kind of a team. What happened is Michael would just come up with some new idea every now and then, and these things would just knock my head off. I still remember him collaborating with a quartet from our percussion ensemble on what would be the first version of our Breathing Drum (1991, rev. 2003). They created it in their house. This was years and years ago now, but they came out on stage and turned the lights off, and it had the entire skeleton of our current trio version. Even then, I encouraged him to write a trio version of it and he did, but then he wrote it for a student trio. That student trio got it, and I don’t even remember the Group ever really seeing it. I think Rusty may have seen that performance of the student trio, but I don’t think Al saw it. I don’t even know how Al became aware that it existed, outside of me talking about this piece that was one of the best I’d ever seen a percussion ensemble put together. So, slowly but surely he just kind of percolated up in that system, and we ended up first doing the piece that we did last week, The Singing Bridge (2000, rev. 2007), and then probably three years passed before we hauled out Breathing Drum.99

98 Since 2003, Barnhart has been an Assistant Professor of Music at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio.

99 The performance from “last week” was a 12 October 2007 concert in CCM’s Patricia Corbett Theater. As for the spacing between the two works, the first identified performance of The Singing Bridge occurred during a 7 July 2000 concert at the Oberlin Percussion Institute and the Group’s first identified performance of Breathing Drum happened on 16 July 2004, again at a Oberlin Percussion Institute concert.

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There have been a few other student composers in a similar position to Barnhart. Alan

Sentman was also a friend of Barnhart, and he wrote a piece for the percussion ensemble called

Bookoctet (1996), which was all about reading and playing with books. At a certain point, we got him to knock that down to Booktrio, and we did that piece only once in the [CCM Cohen

Family] Studio Theater, complete with bookshelves and those shaded green lights, which you find in old libraries.100 We were throwing books back and forth and reading texts out of them—it was a very theatrical piece.

There have been various students in the composition department who we’ve played music by over the years. Moiya Callahan is one. Another is Paul Hogan.

AUTHOR: But Barnhart is different because he is a composer with at least a little percussion background, who ends up writing for the Group. Many of your longest collaborations are with composers who have little or no experience writing for percussion prior to working with you. Or, even if they have composed a few works for percussion, they are not percussionists.

CULLEY: Yes, that’s right. There are some, but not too many, percussionist/composers whose music we’ve played. We don’t seek out percussionists to be our composers. We look for composers with good music, regardless of their backgrounds.

100 Sentman titled the trio Book between Bookends (1999). The Group premiered this trio on 7 January 2000. The composer clarified in an e-mail that even though this piece was similar to, and inspired by, the earlier Bookoctet, it was a newly composed work and not merely a reduction to trio forces. Alan Sentman, e-mail to author, 2 July 2009. Sentman wrote: “Bookoctet was written in 1996 at Al’s urging during my composition studies with him …. It was premiered by the CCM Percussion Ensemble in early 1997 …. There was some discussion on making a book quartet from the octet, but that never materialized. Instead, I wrote a trio and titled it Book between Bookends.” In an 18 August 2008 conversation with the author, Otte shared the same anecdote about the creation of these works.

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AUTHOR: Let’s move to the John Cage project.101 Having worked with him on several pieces, is there something that the Group does differently than others who perform Cage’s music? What I am trying to understand is whether there is something from your relationship with Cage that makes you approach his percussion music differently than other wonderful performers, who didn’t have that type of relationship with him.

CULLEY: That is tough. I am probably the Group’s resident cynic, so I’m not certain that because we hung out and spent time with him, that there is a big difference in our performances.

To me, the difference may come in terms of my dedication for or desire for this music, but I think John of all people was less interested in us gleaning authentic performances from him. In other words, I think John might listen to some of the things that come out of other ensembles, even youth ensembles, or even from people who don’t necessarily know about what he was doing, and he could be fascinated by them. He could even be more fascinated by them than by the slightly more academic or more polished performances and recordings of his works. This reminds me a lot of [Frederic] Rzewski, too. Rzewski is so bored by many of these [academic] performances, and he and Cage are similar in that way. John so loved the amateurish quality of things that I don’t think he would say, “Yes, those guys are great, because they’re authentic.” I think in most ways people who appreciate our performances of Cage do so because we’ve done that music more than anyone else, and we’ve really worked hard to be absolutely right on with our decisions.

101 “The John Cage project” is a reference to the series of recordings of Cage’s percussion music, which the Group has been working on for Mode Records’ Complete John Cage Edition.

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AUTHOR: To use an example that has come up in other interviews, when you perform [Cage’s]

Third Construction, your tempo is slower than a lot of other ensembles. This is something that

Cage fanatics might consider wonderful, because they can hear all of the intricacies of the dense rhythmic material, but others might listen and say: “What’s wrong with these guys? We can play it a lot faster.” Is the choice of the slower tempo something that the Group does because of your sense as performers that this should be slower and more open, or is this something that you pulled from some experience with Cage?

CULLEY: I’d say the former. In some of the pieces Cage just didn’t give a tempo, which is actually helpful for us. However, he provides a tempo for Credo in US (1942), which we try to honor, but we honor it in the way that many people do—we turn on the metronome, listen for a moment, then as soon as the piece begins, the tempo finds its own little place. I’d say in Third

Construction, we subvert the tempos that are written, but I take a little bit of refuge in believing that when he wrote that piece decades ago for himself and friends, there wouldn’t have been anybody in that era who could have played it at those tempos. The tempos are now in the realm of possibility for kids in ensembles, but back then they definitely were not in the realm of more amateur players, and so I’ve always assumed that there are some errors in the publication. The other thing is that even if you say to yourself that at the opening the printed score clearly says half note equals 108. Well, I could swear the printed score later has a tempo primo marking, but at that point it says quarter note equals 108.102 I’ve always taken a little bit of refuge in that. I

102 John Cage, Third Construction (New York: Henmar Press, 1970). The opening tempo is indeed half note equals 108. The first change in tempo comes twelve measures before rehearsal latter H, with the marking “stringendo poco a poco.” This stringendo lasts until one measure before rehearsal letter H, where there are two fermatas. Following these fermatas, rehearsal letter H begins with the marking “Fast.” This new, quicker tempo continues until four measures before rehearsal letter I, at which point Cage introduces a ritardando. Rehearsal letter I is marked “Tempo,” which is ambiguous. Does he mean “Tempo 1” or perhaps, “A Tempo?” Twenty-four measures later, at rehearsal letter J, he again uses the marking “Tempo,” but this time also writes “half note equals 218

think we play it at a fat ninety-two or something like that. So, yes, it is also true that it is a better listening experience at a slower tempo, because what happens if you do it at the break-neck tempo that some of the percussion ensembles use, then this very wonderful thing that John created with everyone rolling around to a very precise downbeat with these very strong agogic accents, well in those faster performances the material in between the agogic accents becomes an everyman for himself. This is not to say that we’ve never pushed our fives just a little bit or held on to the sevens or nines, but at least we are trying to unwind the material in between each downbeat with as much integrity as is possible. We are trying to be on target.

The other Cage piece that we played so often and perhaps this has something to do with our Third Construction tempo, is Imaginary Landscape No. 2 (1942). We did that piece so very often, and there is no metronomic marking on that score.

AUTHOR: I wanted to return to an issue we spoke about during our first interview. I want to go back to your [job] interview and your initial months after joining the Group. In looking at some of Al [Otte’s] writings regarding the founding of a new group, I’ve seen some fairly clear and consistent comments on his part.103 He had a very clear belief that if he could just get the right players together, then this Group was really going to be a very significant ensemble.104 When you came into the Group, did you also have that same sense that this is going to be a very

108.” Whether Cage wanted both sections to remain at the opening tempo is debatable, but the quarter note indication Culley described is not present in the published version of the score. After this point in the piece, Cage marks an accelerando beginning eleven measures after rehearsal letter N and extending to rehearsal letter O, which is marked, “Fast.” The final two tempo changes are a marking at rehearsal letter S, which says “Faster,” and an accelerando leading from rehearsal letter W to the end.

103 Allen Otte, letter to Eric Forrester, 4 November 1978; Allen Otte, letter to Michael Rosen, 16 October 1978; Allen Otte, letter to Theodore May, 21 November 1978; and Allen Otte, letter to William Youhass, 22 April 1979.

104 Otte wrote: “Assuming I have the excellent ensemble I know I could have, its reputation, under any name, would establish itself before too long.” Otte, letter to Rosen, 16 October 1978.

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significant ensemble? In what way were you just a young guy in the Group? In what way were you considering the ensemble’s long-term significance?

CULLEY: Well, I was pretty convinced when I got in here that this was it, and this was where I would stay for a long time. I had certainly known about Blackearth, had seen them play several times over the years, and so that was certainly something that I was very interested in doing— playing percussion chamber music. At the time, well even now, there is so much more for quartets than there is for trios, so that aspect was a little bit daunting. I remember having to design a program that we could possibly perform and then having to go into the realm of what interests me in percussion music broadly, because I just couldn’t find enough trio literature to fill out what I thought would be a good program. I would say trios after the music of different composers. Despite all the personnel changes of Blackearth, it never occurred to me that there would ever be any changes to our new group. When I came, I thought it was going to be Al

[Otte], Bill [Youhass], and I playing together for a long time, and I didn’t really think beyond that. In some ways, I may have been thinking even more permanently than Al was. Then, maybe being the brash youth that I was, or maybe callow would be a better word, I guess I just didn’t realize the individual issues that we all might have. If Bill had a certain way of playing certain things, it never occurred to me to think of that in a qualitative sense. If Al had a certain way of playing, it never would have occurred to me to think of it in a qualitative sense. It never would have occurred to me, because I was a youth just working to play the best that I could play, and then just standing back and taking in whatever they had to say qualitatively about me. So, yes, whether or not it was going to be big, I didn’t really know, since when we came in we had a list of things that we were going to do, and I’m guessing Al presented them all wrapped up in a box with a little bow. It turned out that the reality of those things was probably different than what I

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thought it was going to be. However, we had performances at this school and performances elsewhere, and we were traveling places. And I didn’t know anything about the money situation, so we would go and play for pennies, basically, for several years, but it didn’t matter because we were just off doing our thing and I thought making a difference. I think the fact that during those early years we went to a lot of places and then were never invited back probably says a little bit about our programming. But, all in all I was there to stick.

AUTHOR: There has not been much scholarly attention or criticism paid to the Group, so I cannot ask you about what other authors have written. However, in just talking about this project to percussionists I know, there has been one issue that consistently arises. For all of your time together, for all of the composers you have worked with, and for all of the compositions that have been written for you, the number of people who know a lot about your repertoire is relatively small.105 Even when compared to other percussion chamber groups, many of which are newer, less progressive in the diversity of material they perform, and have had fewer compositions written for them, those ensembles are marketed, promoted, and thus known, while the Group is not. And I am not speaking broadly about the whole world needing to know you, but even within the percussion community, there are many people who don’t know about you or perhaps they have seen the Group’s name, but can’t specifically say what is in your repertoire, or they might associate you with Cage performances, but can’t say much beyond that. Is this a problem that just comes with the territory of this Group? Is it a problem with blurred identity

105 There is no full-length scholarly study of the Group. The ensemble and the individual members have received occasional mentions in books and articles by and about Herbert Brün, John Cage, and John Luther Adams. There is also a short segment at the conclusion of Karl Reiss’s thesis, where the author compares the Group to its predecessor. As for criticism of being unknown, Benjamin Toth and Russell Burge shared similar opinions on the topic; see Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, 153–56; and Appendix F, Transcript of Interview with Benjamin Toth, 459.

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between the percussion community and the new music community? And, has this ever been something amongst yourselves you have spoken about?

CULLEY: In one sense it is kind of easy to say that we did what we wanted and so be it. I am more of the “so be it” opinion, but not necessarily the “we did what we wanted” one. I have a problem, personally, with the greater percussion community, because over the years the [PAS] conventions have become so big to the point that the PAS has become this organization that now must focus on sustaining itself as a priority. I think that there is information that is disseminated at those conventions that is absolutely valuable and important, but at the same time, we have never really been a part of that club. I am sorry to say that there is a fair amount of pride involved, but it is also our own fault. It is because of what we choose to do that there isn’t an endorsement deal for all of this stuff [pointing to the equipment around the studio], and those things have come up over the years. I don’t know about Al’s feelings now…we probably had this conversation many years ago, and I know he talks about some of this stuff in his [percussion] literature class on occasions, but I have never really been interested in the endorsements. I don’t know whether Al says that he won’t allow us to do it or what, but I’ve never said, “I want us to be endorsed,” to which he would have had to say, “No, no, I don’t want us to be endorsed.” I know when Ben [Toth] came in he was being courted by people who he had known from the

University of Illinois, who were involved in some ways with other companies, to get us going on certain things, and we just didn’t do it. Maybe that’s the only thing that we hold from way back, which is that when we go out and play a concert we probably play on forty-five different [brands of] instruments, and if there were forty-five different companies endorsing us, there would still be forty-five different instruments. The idea that we could then say, “Well, this one is better than the other one,” is not what I’m interested in doing. So, in that sense, we separate ourselves from

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that particular aspect of the percussion world and then that runs us into trouble when it comes to showcase concerts [at PAS conventions]. We hear, “Who’s your sponsor?” I think once or twice we’ve been lucky enough to have Sylvia Smith say she would sponsor us, but otherwise there’s nobody.106 People and companies have come to us, brought us mallets, and pitched ideas.

Perhaps my only regret with ignoring the endorsements is that I went to the Eastman [School of

Music] at a time soon after [Professor] John Beck had signed an endorsement with a drum company—whenever you opened the percussion room door new tom-toms would come falling out. Because of our stance, this school is still using tom-toms from the 1960s. There was also something else in your question that I wanted to address. What was it?

AUTHOR: Perhaps the relationship to other communities: the percussion community, the new music community, the chamber music community …

CULLEY: Yes, I wanted to say that there were a couple of other reasons we have problems with getting our name out there and one of them is the name [itself]. I think our name has been a problem from the start. This is not to say that I have any solution to it. I wouldn’t have wanted to name it after a street, a river, or anything like that. I don’t know what the solution would have been, but if we had something more intriguing to our name, maybe even something like “Sō” or

“Wababaloubob,” I think that would have made a big difference.107 We had a little bit of struggle over the years, even with our managers, as to what they should call us. Our Ann Arbor management [Great Lakes Performing Artist Associates] decided that we would be called The

106 Sylvia Smith, owner and editor of Smith Publications, publishes music by many composers who have written for the Group, including Herbert Brün, Michael Kowalski, Eugene Novotney, and Stuart Saunders Smith.

107 While Sō Percussion is an actual ensemble, Wababaloubob exemplifies a clever or odd name, which could gain attention. For further information on Sō Percussion, see Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, n. 7 and 8.

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Percussion Group, which has just always sound strange, and then our new management [Stanton

Management] said we will call you Percussion Group Cincinnati. You know “Cincinnati,” outside of rolling off the tongue in a very interesting way and just being a very interesting word, seems to mean so very little to people anywhere unless you are in Ohio, and even then I think sometimes it’s a little odd. Where are you from?

AUTHOR: I grew up on Long Island and then did my undergraduate work in Missouri.

CULLEY: So you know what I mean. The name has been a problem. In the 1980s when Jack

Brennan was in the Group, we auditioned for, and got ourselves involved with, Great Lakes

Performing Artist Associates, and this was fabulous.108 As it turned out, the directorship changed hands, and the lady that assumed the directorship was a real advocate for the Group. She knew what the Group was, and she knew how to get out there and market us. The shortcoming was that the Artist Associates focused almost exclusively on six states in the Great Lakes region. So while that arrangement was great, and it helped pay mortgages and get the financial picture flowing, our reach to other areas was a little thin. In that arrangement, we got as far as Lake Tahoe, but that was only once.109 Otherwise, we were up and down the Miami Valley, and just about any river valley that you can think of in Ohio, Michigan, or Wisconsin. Aligning ourselves with New

York management [Stanton Management] ten years ago now, or whenever it was, was an effort to get out even further.

108 Brennan was a member of the Group from September 1985 to January 1987. Great Lakes Performing Artist Associates, a nonprofit management firm, promotes itself as “management for exceptional regional performers.”

109 The Lake Tahoe performances occurred in March 1994 as part of the Tahoe Arts Project.

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AUTHOR: I consider the late 1950s and early 1960s an interesting point when a whole group of percussion pedagogues began writing about the future of the art. Some were looking from the perspectives of high school teachers who had a bunch of guys standing in the back of the band room, while others were talking about possible college programs for percussion. They all shared the ideas of justifying percussion through the composition of new, high quality music.110 They were very clear that if they had good music by good composers, then this would be an easy movement to get going.111 While the Group has never spoken about the need to justify percussion, you have been involved in a process with a similar goal, trying to get quality composers to write quality music for percussion. A large portion of the pedagogical movement was a driving force behind the growth of the PAS, and as we’ve previously talked about, there has been some baggage that has come with that as well. However, is it fair to say that wanting to have good music—music that could stand on its own merits—has been central to what you do, even if you’ve not been interested in all of the other things that came along with the pedagogical movement of decades ago or the PAS of today?

CULLEY: I think so, and this also makes me think of what we spoke about before. I was thinking a little bit about Herbert Brün, he was a force especially at the University of Illinois, and he influenced various people. Obviously, we have some pieces of his that we are fond of and that

110 Examples of such publications include Thomas L. Davis, “Let’s Have Percussion Ensembles,” The Instrumentalist 12 (February 1958): 52–55; Jack McKenzie, “The Percussion Ensemble,” The Instrumentalist 11 (December 1956): 58–60; Charles L. Spohn, The Percussion (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1967), 66–67.

111 Davis writes, “The second goal is to produce absolute music, with percussion instruments, thereby gaining for the percussion section the respect and recognition it rightly deserves” (52). McKenzie claims: “A percussion player should be just that, a percussionist, not just a drummer …. Percussion ensembles are securing for themselves a rightful place in the literature, not only as training devices for developing better percussionists, but also as concert-recital music, music which conveys aesthetic qualities” (58 and 60). A review of Jack McKenzie’s composition Introduction and Allegro runs in the column immediately next to the above mentioned Instrumentalist article, and in it, the author (identified only as R.W.B.) writes, “This work approaches a chamber music concept in its texture ….”

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we keep doing even though they don’t tend to stick in the general percussion repertoire. I guess this, too, is part of who we are. We are not trying to establish the percussion repertoire for everyone else. We don’t do concerts so that people can then contact us for the composer’s information. We don’t go about doing concerts in hopes of having people call and ask if we can send them the pieces we played, so that they can do them with their trio. We’d prefer if people just started working with a composer, doing their own small-time collaborative thing. Look, there is a student out there in the hallway, who after our last concert said: “I’m playing those

Chilean pieces on my senior recital.112 I don’t care what anybody says. I’m going to do that.” I said: “Well, you have to find them first. You would have to either steal our stuff or transcribe them for yourself, because we’re not just going to show our material to you. But, if you want to do some arranging of similar music, or get a composer to work with you and do something that has some ethnic origin to it, by all means, go ahead.” In that sense, I guess the fact that some of our repertoire grows from an idea, then we play it, and then it disappears is just part of this whole crazy thing. We are kind of a road band. We’re very poor at going into the studio and laying down tracks for future generations to hear.

AUTHOR: That’s the topic I was headed toward. To what degree do you think recording has been a problem?

CULLEY: I think we suck at it. I think in terms of the process of going in and laying down tracks by playing clean, accurate takes, well, that is something that we’re pretty good at. But, everything else required to actually plan time, make it into the studio, and then go through

112 The concert mentioned was the 6 October 2007 Jean Eggers Memorial Concert. The “Chilean pieces” are a collection of South American marimba songs that the Group has transcribed.

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production; well, we are clearly outmatched with that. If something comes along in terms of a recording, then I couldn’t be more delighted. Some type of plastic disc immortality would be great, but it sure doesn’t seem to be happening very quickly, or to the extent that it really could if we were one of those more zip zap groups. One example is Sō Percussion. They had their demo disc in the hands of hundreds of educators across the United States with material that was a lot like Spinal Tap, the movie.113 They made that movie with tunes that were thirty-seconds long and then later some of those tunes became real songs that they toured with and released on albums, but originally they were just samples. We have a vast amount of literature; and boy, we are just waiting to get it into the can. [Laughing]

AUTHOR: For a composer like John Luther Adams, it was very important to have his material recorded, and so I assume he took care of some pushing and organizing for the recording. Is this topic something that has been a discussion point with other composers? Have you ever heard frustration from composers who really want you to record their material, but then the recordings just don’t get made?

CULLEY: I don’t think so, because of the fact that so many of our composers have also been friends and have not received much compensation for what they did in writing for us. They are already of that mindset of, “Gosh, how fantastic to hear this played.” I got a wonderful thank-you note from Mike Barnhart last week. He said: “Thank you for playing my music. Whatever it is that you guys do, you are always informers and conspirators.” It was a real nice little note, but

Mike would probably be the last person to say: “When are you going to record Breathing Drum?

It would be fabulous on a disc.” If he had a recording we made of the piece, he would probably

113 The official title of the movie was This Is Spinal Tap (1984).

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have a heart attack from joy. But otherwise, that’s just not his personality. Saya has his cassette versions of what we did from way back, but he is also a faculty member in piano accompanying or maybe it is piano performance at Loyola Marymount or wherever it is, so I don’t think he is holding his breath.114

AUTHOR: Are there ever any other issues that come up with composers, aside from recording, such as them asking for your help in getting parts edited and published? Do they tend to go with the flow set by you?

CULLEY: It is usually going with the flow of a project, and knowing that “flow” might even be a strong word when you are dealing with the Group. Perhaps “ooze” is more appropriate.

[Laughing] I guess everything moves. Even this desk is moving, but our speed is more like this desk than anything else.

Now, we do a lot of our recording in-house. We do almost all of our recording with Tom

[Haines].115 Tom is also a busy faculty member, but he has given us lots of his time for free. I’m sure there are probably issues in terms of venues. Should we really even be in there doing these recordings? If we were to become world famous from the recordings, would somebody at CCM say, “Hey, they used our hall to record, and they used our recoding equipment.”

AUTHOR: One final item. Let’s wrap back to our very first meeting. During that interview, the first topic we spoke about was your students. Are there students who have come through CCM, and then gone out and formed their own ensembles? Do you hear back from them with questions

114 Saya teaches music theory and composition at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

115 Haines is an Associate Professor of Electronic Media at CCM.

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about how to do different things, and how to get projects started? Do they contact you guys for pointers?

CULLEY: Yes, that has and does happen.

AUTHOR: Even if you don’t directly talk about being here to educate people about the Group, how you function, and the music in your repertoire, is there an indirect process where students come here, perhaps even just with a desire to study in someone’s studio, and then over time they learn about the Group, see your concerts, learn the repertoire, and possibly come up with their own ideas of how to do something like this?

CULLEY: Absolutely. I think that is something that is quite common. We are lucky, because often our graduate students tend to be a little bit more informed. They’ve been around, they’ve been through some system before, and though they can sometimes be intractable, and it’s not that were trying to reach out and touch them, but they may not necessarily get what it is that we’re trying to do. So, they keep pursuing their own agenda. But many of them get it. With the undergrads it is quite common that over time they just grow with us, and so they have that full four years of watching us do our thing. I think in some ways it has an influence on everybody. In thinking of the majority of students who I was specifically in charge of during the 1990s, certainly whether or not chamber music is their primary thing, I think they definitely were influenced by what we did. As for their relationships with us, I am still in contact with almost all of those people. I think they know that economically such a thing is horrible to contemplate, but

I do think a lot of them are really interested in getting ensembles going. I have to take a little bit of credit, too, for the [CCM] Percussion Ensemble, because it is my favorite thing. What I do

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with it, is just have the students do what we do—play chamber music, by themselves, without me up there telling them when to play and what to do. They need to work their personalities out and find out which person in the group at a particular moment is the anchor. I try to find pieces that have shifting anchors, so that it doesn’t becoming one person leading. They get a fair amount of that while they are here in Percussion Ensemble, as well as from watching us and figuring out what we do.

AUTHOR: To what degree is the Percussion Ensemble’s repertoire and programming dictated by you? Do your students bring you new ideas or work with composers?

CULLEY: There is some of that, but for the most part I can be somewhat dictatorial about it.

And it varies with me, with age. For a while I was doing all the projects that I had always wanted to do over the years—pieces I knew from undergrad or works I had heard at Eastman [School of

Music]. Other pieces have just stuck over time. Some works go away over time. The next

[concert] program we’re preparing is a little bit stock. I was targeting specific classes, which I usually don’t do. Usually, I just select the music and then figure out who best to do each part, but in this instance I was thinking more of the groups of people involved in each class (freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduate students) and trying to figure out appropriate projects for them to do. In the case of the graduate students, I try to turn it into a reading ensemble, where they get exposed to some of the literature that they may not have done, but that they should have done or should at least know about. Whether or not they actually perform the pieces doesn’t matter as much as long as they are acquainted with them. I know Al [Otte] covers a lot of this stuff in his twentieth-century [percussion] literature class, but I am always surprised at the end of

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the process that our graduates may not really get a picture of the vast repertoire, so I feel an obligation to also put some of these pieces under their hands in the ensemble setting.

AUTHOR: Are there any other topics that we have gone through that you would like to return to for a moment?

CULLEY: We had talked about composers with big influences and I wanted to say that Christian

Wolff had a big influence on me, and even though he doesn’t have that much material out there that we can really do as a trio, the kinds of pieces he did back in the early 1980s were a big deal.116 I should probably also throw Stuart [Saunders] Smith in there. Mentioning him is not necessarily because of what he wrote for us, but just because over the years his compendium of music is stuff that we’ve then tapped into, been associated with, assigned to our students, and so forth.

AUTHOR: With Smith is it also fair to say that he is significant for the Group both as composer and as someone in the field who can give you guys feedback, and thoughts about repertoire and performances?

CULLEY: Yes, definitely. And we have worked with him fiercely on a couple of occasions.

When Ben [Toth] was in the Group we did a graphic piece of his, a version of Return and Recall

(1976, rev. 1988), which we basically turned into a theatrical event. I think he came to that performance.117 I think he was here visiting, probably as part of Darrell Handel’s visiting

116 The Group’s most commonly performed work by Wolff is For 1, 2, or 3 People (New York: C. F. Peters, 1964), which they programmed at least fifteen times during 1981–82.

117 This performance occurred on 11 October 1988 in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium.

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composers series.118 So, he came to the performance and was very skeptical about what we were doing, but reluctantly grew to enjoy it. It wasn’t quite what he had in mind, which is an interesting thing, because when you look at his graphic music it is often a series of shapes that imply much more choreographed and almost dance-like kinds of pieces. He also wrote another

Links, which just happened to be for three people, instead of one.119 It was still for vibraphone, but then had offstage accompaniment parts for bells and chimes. Since I was one of the offstage guys, I never really got a feel for it.

AUTHOR: The three of you also participated in the Noble Snare concert.120

CULLEY: Yes, of course. Very good. That would have been right at the peak of our collaboration with him. There are probably other people, like Stuart [Saunders Smith], whom I am spacing about, but maybe Al and Rusty will fill those in.

AUTHOR: I’ve tried to hit on some of the same people and same topics with everyone, but there have also been various composers who have come up in different side conversations with each of you. Even though only a small number of composers will get discussed in the body of the thesis, all of the others will appear in places throughout, such as in these transcripts, in the discography,

118 Darrell Handel, professor emeritus of composition at CCM, established the Visiting Composers Series in 1983.

119 Stuart Saunders Smith, Links No. 5: Sitting on the Edge of Nothing (Baltimore: Smith Publications, 1986). More than happenstance, Smith composed Links No. 5 specifically for the Group.

120 Publisher Sylvia Smith founded The Noble Snare: Compositions for Unaccompanied Snare Drum, a collection of works by various prominent composers. Smith requested compositions in 1987 and published the first two volumes of what has become a four-volume set in 1988. Smith organized a concert at the Marymount Manhattan Theater on 3 October 1988 to celebrate these new works. Members of the Group performed four of the works in these volumes: Culley played Herbert Brün’s Just Seven for Drum and Dan Senn’s Peeping Tom, Otte played his own contribution, What the Snare Drum Tells Me, and Toth played Barney Childs’s Blazer.

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or in the program data. Al has also provided me with a list of composers who have written works for you.

CULLEY: You’ve got Eugene O’Brien on that list?

AUTHOR: Yes.

CULLEY: That is another one-time collaboration.121 A large part of that happened before I even came, well, the composing happened before I arrived, but the performance of the piece was significant, and it really changed me. It is one little piece that worked best with Al, Bill, and me.

We recorded it.122 The only way I can get these pieces back is to have my kids do them. I’ve had

Allures performed maybe two or three times in the [CCM] Percussion Ensemble over the years.

Sometimes I will do a piece on a Percussion Ensemble concert that Al is scared to bring back, but if he hears the ensemble play it, then sometime it will either annoy him that the kids are taking on a project that he thinks is much too difficult, or he will listen to it again and get excited about it again. I did the same thing with Herbert Brün’s More Dust [with Percussion].

Supposedly, that piece was finished and we weren’t going to do it again, but then I had two

Percussion Ensemble performances of that and then Infraudibles [with Percussion] was done by some of the doctoral students, and it was done pretty well.

AUTHOR: You said Allures changed you. How?

121 O’Brien composed Allures (1979) for the Group, which performed this work many times in its early seasons and recorded it in March 1981 for CRI.

122 American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Composers Award: O’Brien & Peyton, CRI 466, 1982.

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CULLEY: Oh boy, I don’t know if I could explain how. The compositional style of that piece is just like nothing that I’ve seen, and that’s what’s so fun about percussion. It is the same with

Christian Wolff. Even though we subverted what Christian Wolff really wanted in For 1, 2, or 3

People, it was still one of the most gratifying things I had ever done. It just evolved in the trio and evolved [changed] the trio [the Group]. I cannot even remember how. Now, I am daunted by the thought that we even did this. To go into the room and take one part of one page and figure out at this moment I’ve got to play just a second after Al, and then Bill’s going to play with me simultaneously, and then we are going to stop exactly together to do that. Then, to get it into our hands and get it into our ears was probably unlike anything we had done, and we probably haven’t done anything like it since.

Allures was this bright, shiny sonic world—it was really sparkly. In the process of putting it together we really had to get a feel for one another and for each others’ foibles. We got to a point where we knew exactly, totally, exactly what each other was going to do. So, I could play a duet with Bill in that piece, and it would have a completely different feel then playing a duet with Al. Then, happily, there were moments in the piece where there were no duets at all.

Eugene could not have been thinking about this when he wrote that piece, but it was just fabulous.

[Les] Moutons [de Panurge] is another piece that I just keep coming back to for my students to do.123 I use it for all of the things that [Frederic] Rzewski hates most about it. If you really do what he says and play all your eighth notes precisely, you can’t phase. If at a certain moment someone else’s beat pattern shifts and yours doesn’t quite shift with them, you will start falling all over the place. To learn that piece first in my parent’s house, I used a little metronome,

123 Frederic Rzewski, Les Moutons de Panurge (Tokyo: Zen-On Music, 1980).

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and then I found an old tape recorder and just taped a version of myself playing it. I went from one to sixty-five and then from sixty-five to one. Then I just played against myself over and over—this was long before I ever walked into the room to do it with the Group. That was a big moment, and I keep coming back to it.

Another thing that we did that keeps appearing from that era is Lift-Off!, and that is just different. It just doesn’t do for me what other pieces do. It is not boring, and it kind of serves a function. I like the fact that there are lots of triplets, it is in 12/8, it has nice episodes, and it is well written, but I just don’t get the same feeling from it as I do from some of the other things.

Guo [Wenjing] would be another composer who we’ve discussed, whose music continues to satisfy. And, of course the newspaper piece is probably our best piece of all time.124 So, I think I am through rhapsodizing. If anything else comes up please let me know.

AUTHOR: Alright. Thank you very much.

124 See Appendix B, Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan, n. 32.

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Appendix E

Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte

Interview No. 1 15 June 2007 Memorial Hall, University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio

AUTHOR: Thank you for your time. Let’s begin by discussing the founding of the Group. Prior to forming the Group, you wrote about and, with your earlier ensemble [Blackearth], acted on some of your views surrounding percussion chamber music. Specifically, you addressed the need for relationships between performers and composers. This was most notably addressed in your

“Preferences in Percussion” essay.1 When Blackearth ended, and it came time to form the Group, what specific goals did you have for the new ensemble?2 Was there a defining philosophy behind the Group? If so, what was it? And, have the goals or philosophy remained consistent over the past almost thirty years?

OTTE: The philosophy is the same for the Group as it had been for Blackearth. What I had wanted from Blackearth was something that, when it ended, left me still very emotionally involved, and I didn’t want it to stop. I was determined that the goals of the first group were simply going to continue, regardless of whether or not it was with the Blackearth name. It turned out that it could not continue as “Blackearth,” unless I paid for the name. So, although the name

1 Allen Otte, “Preferences in Percussion - 1973,” Percussionist 11 (March 1974): 89–97. Otte is also preparing a 2010 revision to his essay “Preferences in Percussion - 1973.” The revised version was prompted by Justin DeHart’s forthcoming study of percussionist in the twentieth century.

2 Blackearth, a chamber ensemble, whose membership fluctuated between three and four members, existed from 1972 until 1979. It was the predecessor to the Group. In fall 1977 Otte and his Blackearth colleagues moved to CCM as an ensemble-in-residence. The Group has occupied this position since Blackearth disbanded in spring 1979. For more information on Blackearth, see Karl Reiss, “The History of the Blackearth Percussion Group and Their Influence on Percussion Ensemble Literature, Performance, and Pedagogy” (EdD thesis, University of Houston, 1987).

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changed, in many ways the two groups are connected. However, much of the thought behind all of this came about even earlier than Blackearth: it came from my student days. As an undergraduate, I saw string players who had various chamber music courses, and I was envious of that experience. I had a similar experience with jazz—I was interested in jazz and played jazz drumset. The idea of having these small ensembles, whether it was a string quartet or a jazz combo, where you really worked together with the same people every day; I knew even as an undergraduate, that this was the way that I would love to work. So, even more than a desire to work in the orchestral context, the idea that intimate chamber music should be done by percussionists was something with which I left my undergraduate years.

Then, the idea common in the chamber music world of wanting to play music that has been written specifically for your ensemble or at least your type of ensemble was another notion that transferred from Blackearth to the Group. With Blackearth, we played relatively little older music—music from before our time. We only played some of the pieces by [John] Cage, such as

Amores (1943).3 And, since we were a quartet, we played Third Construction (1941). It even turned out that Cage didn’t publish [Third Construction] until 1976 or 1977 [recte 1970], so we actually did the European premiere of that piece.4 I was surprised to realize that this piece wasn’t published earlier—that it had just been played by Cage and his friends, as they did back then, with whomever happened to have some copy of the manuscript. Aside from those few types of pieces, the idea of having the chamber music experience with new pieces and being able to work with the same people on a daily basis was something I was fascinated with, and I used eminent string quartets as my model. We had to go out and look for repertoire to plug into this model, but

3 John Cage, Amores (New York: Edition Peters, 1960).

4 John Cage, Third Construction (New York: Edition Peters, 1970). Blackearth offered the European premiere of the work during its spring 1977 tour, which included performances in Berlin, Bucharest, Cologne, Geneva, Ghent, Paris, and Thessaloniki. Reiss, 66–67.

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in doing so we were more interested in asking our friends to write for us than in needing to track down whoever was the next biggest name. There was always a cultural feeling about not wanting to go to the most famous composers, the people winning all of the prizes, or the ones constantly being published. Rather, I was quite confident that I could identify people who were scraping by, just as we were, but who also deserved to be part of this culture and this type of experience. I wanted to ask my friends, and we wanted to ask people we met while touring. Whenever we’d play at another university and we’d hear someone with a great electronic piece or someone who had something new and interesting, then we would say, “Oh, could you make something for percussion?” The whole interest in what, for us, was going backward to the music of Cage didn’t come until much later.

Ultimately, when Blackearth fell apart because of the interpersonal relationships, the pressures of coming here, and the whole change to this situation—which was a much bigger job with much bigger responsibilities than we had before—well, I was simply determined to keep the same principles going. Now, I will come back around to your question. The answer is yes. What

I told the people who I was trying to attract to be in the new group was that this was a continuation of all of the things that Blackearth had been founded on. However, by that point it was clear that even though Blackearth had six years or so of experience, we were breaking up in part because the other two members found this environment to be too demanding.5 [During] all of those years that we were in Illinois, Blackearth was always in a second position; while an independent percussion department head did all of the bullshit.6 Now [at CCM], we had to do

5 Garry Kvistad and Stacey Bowers were the final two members of Blackearth, who moved to CCM with Otte.

6 Prior to the CCM appointment, Blackearth served as an ensemble-in-residence at Northern Illinois University from 1973–77. The ensemble received the salary of one full-time faculty member, which was divided among the members; however, this position did not carry with it the scope and volume of teaching and service requirements typical of a tenure-track faculty appointment.

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everything. I was clear, when I spoke with [James] Culley and [William] Youhass, that this was going to be a string quartet, but for percussion.7 We would practice together every day, and we wouldn’t take outside jobs. It has only been really recently that any of us takes outside jobs.

Now, after thirty years, I guess, why not? Some famous string quartets break off in the summers and their members go and play sonatas, or moonlight, or whatever, but other string quartets don’t do this, and I very much respect the ones who say, “[Our quartet] is all we do.” I made that point very clear in starting the Group—we weren’t going to play extra with the symphony, we weren’t going to pick up other gigs, we were devoted to this thing, and it was really quite a while before that loosened up at all. I also provided Jim and Bill with an honest report of why Blackearth was suffering in the way that it was. I was clear about being committed to the idea of not having to spend all of our time writing grants. Aside from this type of university situation, what’s the alternative? It is writing grants, getting corporate sponsorship, finding other ways, but especially spending lots and lots of time looking for grant money to support contemporary music projects.

And getting grants mostly means convincing Steve Reich or whoever is the biggest name composer of the moment that he should write a piece for you. Then, it costs you $90,000. You need to raise the money, so you go to a foundation and say, “Look, we have Steve Reich [ready to compose a work for us].” You get all of the proposals written, finally get approval, you give the famous guy all of that money, and in exchange, there will be a string of recordings and performances of the piece. Well, okay, that is the way that some people chose to do it, but I couldn’t then commission my [former] classmates and friends and expect anyone to support such a grant. I already had experience. I knew what it meant to teach the high quality and caliber of

7 Allen Otte, letter to William Youhass, 22 April 1979.

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students here, and it was all part of the philosophy that one wanted to have people [around them] who were also interested in these same sorts of things.

So, I have to go back to one other important aspect. The other important component also came from studying in a conservatory, Oberlin [Conservatory of Music], and having a teacher who was the principal percussionist of the Cleveland Orchestra.8 I learned from him how to isolate a single aspect of a piece or even a technique and how to bring it to the highest possible level of artistry; for example, how to play a single triangle note as perfectly as possible. It meant finding the perfect triangle, the perfect triangle beater, and having the perfect touch. Every detail was considered. This level of absolute highest artistry was for me at its pinnacle in George

Szell’s Cleveland Orchestra, and other such ensembles; while the people who were playing [the music of Karlheinz] Stockhausen, Cage, and most contemporary percussion composers were jobbers and people doing other things on the side.9 It is great that they were the pioneers. They were the people to [first] play this music and that is wonderful, but they weren’t people who had the technique and artistry of the Cleveland Orchestra. They were just slashing, crashing, and burning through this stuff with a pair of 2B drumsticks or banging away on everything with

Musser two-step red medium rubber mallets.10 For me, this all really came together in a percussion lesson with the principal percussionist of George Szell’s Cleveland Orchestra. I was playing Zyklus [No. 9 (1959)] for him, and he had never seen a score like this one.11 He had hardly heard much contemporary music and he hardly cared about it, but he took me very

8 Richard Weiner, percussionist with the Cleveland Orchestra since 1963 and principal since 1968, taught Otte at Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

9 Szell’s tenure as the music director of the Cleveland Orchestra lasted from 1946 until his death in 1970. During this time he earned international attention for his exacting demands.

10 The Musser two-step mallets and 2B drumsticks are generic beaters familiar to all beginning percussionists.

11 Karlheinz Stockhausen, Zyklus No. 9 (London: Universal, 1961).

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seriously. He only came once a week from Cleveland to teach lessons, so most of my time as an undergraduate I was going to the theory and composition professors to talk about new pieces I’d heard and to get their advice.12 But here, in the midst of playing Zyklus, he was taking me very seriously and he stopped me and said, “Did you just hit the triangle with a snare drum stick?

Where is your Stoessel beater?”13 So, I had to figure out a way to hold a triangle beater between my fingers, while I still held a bass drum beater in my palm, and vibraphone mallets in my other hand. I had to put one mallet down and pick the next one up all to make this sound world that was as perfect as possible. Sure, you can have a discussion about whether or not that is the way you should approach Zyklus, but for me there was a new idea born in the meeting of these two worlds. A big light bulb went on as I thought, “Yes, this is the kind of attention [to detail] and artistry that also has to be focused on all of this new repertoire.” We can thank people such as

Max Neuhaus for getting this repertoire going, but what those guys were playing wasn’t even what was actually written on the page.14 It was time for new players with exceptional technique to look at these new pieces. It could be done. These pieces were not out of reach. So, that was part of the reason for then deciding that I wanted to be in a conservatory environment. This is why I was happy and satisfied to take on the extra work at CCM, rather than writing grants, chasing corporate sponsorship, or looking for another form of that sort of thing. While the other members of Blackearth were resistant, I enjoyed this other level of being in a conservatory—the idea of it as a certain scholarly, intellectual community where I could teach students. I could

12 Oberlin Conservatory of Music composition and music theory faculty members Jonathan Kramer and Randolph Coleman offered advice to Otte during his student years and in the subsequent decades composed new works for Blackearth and the Group.

13 Precisely weighed Stoessel triangle beaters come in various sizes to meet specific desired sounds for various passages in the orchestral repertory.

14 Neuhaus, a prominent percussionist in new music circles of the late 1950s and 1960s, offered premieres of many compositions.

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continue to talk about how to play the perfect triangle notes in a symphony by [Gustav] Mahler, and why such things are even interesting. I could start showing others the connections of how the percussion parts in Mahler would, in fact, grow throughout his career, and then there came a point when [Edgard] Varèse could expand percussion parts just a little bit more and it must have become obvious that he didn’t even need all of the other instruments surrounding the percussion parts. That sort of thing wouldn’t yet have occurred to Mahler, but there certainly are passages in his music that aren’t all that far a jump to percussion-only music. Anyway, those types of discussions and considerations are interesting to have if you are in a conservatory and if you have very talented students. So, I wanted this, because I could be constantly refining my playing and refining all of these skills in students, and in that environment, Blackearth could continue to cultivate this rarified image of a string-quartet type of chamber ensemble.

Another issue was that I didn’t want to be in downtown New York, where I would need to rent instruments from Carroll [Music Instrument Rental] and jump in and out of taxis to get between gigs. I didn’t want to have to play on whatever instruments were available to me at different venues. This was also kind of the way that all contemporary percussion music had existed at that point. Even chamber music concerts in the 1960s were happening like this. There weren’t necessarily chamber music concerts for percussion, but there were some pieces:

[Luciano] Berio’s Circles was written in 1960, and it got performances in Europe and George

Crumb was writing pieces for percussion in ensemble contexts.15 Yet, all of these things were still happening with some willing percussionists going out and renting some stuff, borrowing some stuff, and using whatever was available at venues. The whole idea of having a studio,

15 Luciano Berio, Circles (London: Universal, 1960); George Crumb, “Variazioni” (DMA thesis, University of Michigan, 1959); George Crumb, Night Music I (New York: Mills Music, 1967); George Crumb, Echoes of Time and the River (New York: Belwin-Mills, 1968); and George Crumb, Madrigals (New York: Edition Peters, 1971).

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where the rent was going to be paid by teaching, and then all of our other effort could be devoted to having our own instruments, having our own sounds, building an instrumentarium, and building a repertoire, this was not possible with the pressures of a downtown Manhattan life. I thought it was good to be in Illinois; it was good to be in Cincinnati. These were the types of places where we could develop this unique sort of thing.

AUTHOR: I have two follow-up items. Karl Reiss, in writing about Blackearth and ultimately the collapse of that ensemble and the creation of the Group, comments that one of the flaws of

Blackearth, or at least one of the struggles you encountered, was the desire to be totally democratic.16 He says that total democracy became too burdensome in keeping up your daily functions. From decisions on the repertory for performances, to decisions about what should get recorded, all of this was very difficult—near impossible at times. He then implies that this problem with Blackearth was rectified in the Group, because this new ensemble was no longer totally democratic.17 The new ensemble was basically your group, and you made decisions. Is this a sentiment you agree with?

OTTE: Yes, that is exactly right.

16 Reiss introduces this topic by writing, “Formation of the ensemble was an attempt at collective music making based on their belief in democratic principles they felt were lacking in the political and musical climate of the time.” He later elaborates, “The management of Blackearth was handled in a purely democratic manner. This style encouraged discussion and allowed expression of each individual’s views; however, it made progress slow and cumbersome. It quickly became clear that each member had a different concept of the direction the group should take.” Reiss, 2 and 46.

17 Reiss devotes a short section of his conclusion to the beginning of the Group. He writes, “With the support of the University of Cincinnati, Otte formed a new percussion trio named the Percussion Group-Cincinnati. Although it was clearly related to Blackearth, the Percussion Group-Cincinnati should be considered an outgrowth of Blackearth, not a continuation. The formation of the new trio was completely different from the formation of the Blackearth Percussion Group. First, the new members had to meet the performance standards set by Otte as well as the University. This was quite different from the relatively informal and democratic formation of Blackearth. Second, the new group was clearly not a democracy. Otte made most of the decisions regarding music selection and programming.” Reiss, 77–78.

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AUTHOR: Now, my second follow-up item: can you clarify some of your comments about students? One of the goals for the Group was to be like the great string quartets and to be able to practice every day, perfect repertoire, completely know each other’s musical idiosyncrasies, and all of this requires having a lot of time together; all of this is aided by being at a university, where funding is provided to allow you the time to do such things. Being at the university may be seen initially as a means simply toward achieving your goals as performers. Early on, was there also a clear goal related to pedagogy or at least the desire to have students and to pass something along to them? You mentioned the idea of talking about triangle parts in Mahler’s music, and I want to know if that is an interest that has grown over time or if it was a goal early on.

OTTE: I think that grew over time. In fact, in my desire or in my panic about keeping Blackearth from coming apart and my anxiety about not being able to continue it by myself, I even tried to convince the other guys that maybe we didn’t have to be here [at CCM] so much of the time. I suggested that we could establish something, so that as soon as school was over, the group would have a summer residency somewhere else. I said we could stop a little early at the end of the fall quarter, so we would have an even bigger break in December, and we could focus solely on the group then, too. I remember vaguely grasping at straws to try to convince the other guys that we could get our teaching commitment down to merely half a year. So, in other words, in those first few years here [with Blackearth], and in the early years of the Group, it would be disingenuous to say that I was some sort of model educator. I was definitely using the whole construction here to further the goal, and the goal was to emulate all of those relationships of string quartets who had residencies at universities.

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AUTHOR: This also makes me think about the whole notion of the three of you being in a university setting, with a desire to have daily rehearsals, and all of this being a part of getting to know each other’s playing on a deep musical level. Is it this mindset of being like a string quartet that has led you to so rarely perform with additional players? Aren’t you more likely to convert quartets or quintets to trios than add a four or fifth player?

OTTE: Yes.

AUTHOR: You perform [John Cage’s] Quartet (1935) as a trio.18 On a few occasions you’ve even performed a version of Third Construction with three guys?19

OTTE: Right. There are probably two or three different aspects to that. Some of those are pieces that I had studied and realized that there is a whole era of works from composers, such as Cage and [Lou] Harrison, where there are three difficult or busy parts and then one, two, or three more parts that could clearly be performed by a girlfriend, a dancer, or whoever was around.

Imaginary Landscape No. 2 (1942) is [another] example of this type of piece.20 There are these extraneous parts to these pieces, which we played a lot, and the extra players just have to pull a cord or turn on a radio. When I looked at Imaginary Landscape [No. 2], in particular, I noticed

18 Cage composed Quartet in 1935, and it was his first percussion-only composition. John Cage, Quartet (New York: Henmar Press, 1977).

19 The Group performed their own trio version of Cage’s Third Construction in the context of musicircuses on 4 September 1992, 1 April 1993, 30 October 1994, 12 February 1995, 14 February 1995, 15 February 1995, 16 February 1995, 17 February 1995, 4 March 1995, 6 March 1995, 4 April 1995, 22 January 2002, 28 February 2002, 23 March 2002, and 5 April 2003. They performed it with the addition of a fourth player on 12 October 1983, 23 May 1989, 17 June 1989, 19 June 1989, 14 April 1992, 24 April 1992, 27 November 1999, 7 January 2000, and 12 July 2002.

20 John Cage, Imaginary Landscape No. 2 (New York: Henmar Press, 1960).

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there were three lines that had to be played by three real people and then two lines of less difficult sustaining material. So, I made a score where we each had a primary part, and we just shared all of those other things. And we set up our equipment in a way so that if I can do the loin’s roar, then I do it, and if [one of the other guys] can get to it, then they get it, and so on. We found that we could actually play the pieces better as a trio, and this is not because there is anything preferable to a trio than a quartet, but because we rehearse all the time. If it is a complicated rhythmic score, like Imaginary Landscape No. 2, and there’s nobody else who rehearses it all the time, as we used to, then we saw that we were one of the few groups of people who could actually play all of this correctly and make it feel like chamber music, and we could do it with three people. We travel, we have concerts, and since often nobody hears this music correctly, we can provide good performances of it. You might be able to hear one okay performance on a university percussion ensemble concert, but then it is gone. Whereas, we have actually traveled, made radio recordings in Europe of this type of material, and performed live and on radio [compositions, such as] Living Room Music (1940), a delightful piece.21 If you have four people, then you can do it with four, but if you study the piece and make little fixes here and there, then it is possible to do a perfectly creditable presentation with just three. This came about only because we were going to be out there, in all kinds of venues, and I wanted people to hear these pieces. So, that is one issue.

It is also true that some people who play chamber music, such as some string quartets, rarely add players to do string quintets, piano quintets, or whatever. Other people who call themselves chamber music players do this type of thing in the guise of true chamber music. To

21 Such radio events took place on 24 March 1988 and 14 April 1989, as well as during European tours in April–May 1982 and November–December 1983. John Cage, Living Room Music for Percussion and Speech Quartet (New York: Henmar Press, 1976).

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me this is a rather promiscuous way of getting together for a couple of rehearsals before the gig and feeling very proud of themselves. They bring in a couple of guest people for a couple of rehearsals and then play “chamber music.” Well, okay, that was chamber music in the sort of amateur nascence of it in European homes, but it is no longer actually how this stuff should really exist. So, that is one way to do it, but we found, before too long, that the kind of relationship we were developing as three percussionists—and you would think this is the same for string quartets—always made the addition of an outsider to our rehearsal process feel like sand in our gear work. And since there were only a very few quartets, such as Third Construction or Herbert Brün’s “at loose ends: [sic] (1974) that were monumental works we enjoyed doing, but that needed an extra player, we just decided that occasionally we would have a very talented graduate student, with whom we also had some friendly relationship, join us.22 For big pieces that we really wanted to play we could organize performances with an extra player, but for the most part there wasn’t a satisfaction in playing a quartet or a quintet just for the fun of it. The enjoyment wasn’t commensurate with the disruption of having to work at what we felt was a lower level than what we would normally do as a trio.

Also, we find enough works in the repertoire that we love and that are challenging, so we haven’t felt the need to go after every quartet. Maybe, if we were a string trio, there would be more pressure to do quartets just because of the sheer history of the quartet repertoire, but with percussion music there isn’t a long list of [quartets] we are just hankering to play. But it was a very conscious decision to not, in any way, play chamber music with others, just for the sake of it. This might sound kind of pretentious, though I don’t think any of us feel pretentious about it, it just happens to be true. Even doing the [Béla] Bartók [Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion

22 “at loose ends: [sic] comes from Blackearth ’s time as a quartet and calls for both a fourth percussionist and a pianist. Herbert Brün, “at loose ends: (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1977).

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(1937)] with the Pridonoffs can be a pretty frustrating experience.23 It is a great piece, and they are delightful people and great pianists, but it has only finally become fun to play after many performances together. Most of the collaborating that we have done has been with pianist Frank

Weinstock. He has always been our go-to guy. We’ve done a number of things with him that needed piano.24 Then, with the Pridonoffs, they wanted to do the Bartók, and then I have done these arrangements of [compositions by Maurice] Ravel and [Igor] Stravinsky, which we have done with them.25 And those things are a little closer to the experience that other so-called

“professional chamber musicians” have of not worrying so much about perfection, since it is just a one-time, fun project.

AUTHOR: [James] Culley mentioned that during his interview process you asked him to submit an essay to you that addressed his thoughts on chamber music, the direction percussion music was headed, and musical aesthetics.26 He couldn’t remember every detail, but he recalled your expectation of a fairly thorough overview of his opinions on many matters that would intersect with the Group. When you were interviewing possible members for the Group, to what degree did you have a predetermined mold that you were trying to fill? Conversely, were there some issues where you thought, “Let me look for certain types of players and then once they arrive, we

23 Béla Bartók, Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (New York: Boosey & Hawkes, 1942). For a description of the Pridonoff Duo, see Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, n. 19.

24 With Weinstock, the Group performed Brün’s “at loose ends: [sic], Jonathan Kramer’s Notta Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (1993), David Rosenboom’s Continental Divide (1964), Frederic Rzewski’s Coming Together (1972), and Morton Subotnick’s The Key to Songs (1985).

25 Such arrangements include sections from Stravinsky’s Le sacre du printemps (1912) and Ravel’s Ma mère l’oye (1911).

26 Otte made a similar request for an essay to William Youhass in a 22 April 1979 letter. Culley’s essay cannot be located, and Youhass does not recall ever writing one.

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can spend the first year working out who we are as a Group and what it is we are going to do?”

Was this about bringing together like minds that could meld or was it a boss hiring employees?

OTTE: I’m a little bit embarrassed and uncomfortable, from my position today, to report back on what my thoughts were then. I know exactly what it was then and it has changed by today, but it took a good ten years for it to change. I had been bitten by or caught off-guard by the

Blackearth demise. It created a conflict for me and my personality from day one. Socially, sociologically, and politically, I was completely with the program that I thought was Blackearth.

It was socialist. Before, you called it democratic. It wasn’t only democratic, it was a socialist group. I thought I was a communist [laughing], and Blackearth was completely about democratic socialism. Everything about it was that way, and yes, that could have worked for a certain kind of improvised music or jazz; however, melding that with this Cleveland Orchestra or LaSalle

String Quartet image that I held—my model of perfection in chamber music—meant not only were decisions about instruments and scores communal and democratic, but so was the repertory, the rehearsals, and the forming of programs. So, the whole high-art package of Blackearth was in every way in line with some democratic socialist basis, and by the time I was forming the Group, it was very clear what my personality was, what my goals were, and what my dreams were for this whole thing. I think I made it very clear to the incoming people that I would have to find a way to make them feel as welcome and feel like as useful a contributor as possible; however, I would be the one to say, “here’s the repertory” and “here’s the concert order,” and even to this day, I find the composers, I chose the program, and I propose the concert order. By now, I have a good sense of the pieces that the other guys are not going to like, so I say, “Okay, just play it once for me.” There are pieces that I love and that I would play a lot, but I still have to ask that they try some pieces at least once. It’s my impression that it is fairly rare that the other guys

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propose pieces—they just leave that part of things up to me.27 So, yes, that was a change from

Blackearth, and it was made clear at the time we started. The other thing was that Culley was young, but he was my first choice. The [CCM] Dean at that time, Allen Sapp, said, “If you really want a young guy, then you have to have someone else who brings credentials as an experienced teacher. You can’t bring in a very young guy unless you also bring in an experienced teacher.”

So, my other pick, Youhass, was older and already had a résumé of teaching.

AUTHOR: In an interview with Culley, he commented similarly that he believed he filled the role of younger performer and Youhass filled the role of the older, experienced educator.28 If this is how the Group’s goals and dynamics started, then have there been any significant changes?

Have goals changed with projects, or has your planning been amended because of any changes in your values?

OTTE: That’s a good question, and I’d like to think about it, but my immediate impression is no, nothing comes to mind in that way. And some of the things that strike me as significant changes are things that came about just through meeting and speaking with different people, and just chance occurrences. For example, I was writing to people and trying to arrange European tours, and the LaSalle Quartet, CCM’s resident string quartet at the time, were tremendously helpful in feeding me lists of people to contact. They said that I could use their name and all of those sorts of things. I was trying to get the Group a concert at a festival at the West German Radio in

Cologne and the organizer got back to me and said that my proposal to have the Group perform sounded very interesting, but they had been planning to have John Cage at the Festival that year,

27 Notable examples of other Group members introducing repertoire additions include Benjamin Toth bringing Minoru Miki’s Marimba Spiritual (1984) when he joined, and Russell Burge arranging jazz standards.

28 Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 165.

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which was 1980 or 1981, and the organizer had mentioned the Group to him, and so, we could come and do a program of his percussion music and then maybe do some other things.29 That was the first time that we really had contact with Cage. We had to do some older things of his, and I still have the mailgram from him saying that he had made a newer piece, which was

Branches (1976), and we should do it.30 Then, being there at the festival with him for five days and really talking and hanging out with the guy helped me to be able to change my aversion to him as one of the famous, expensive guys, and that got us started on this whole relationship with

Cage—a relationship that led to personal letters, phone calls, and seeing him in many contexts.

We did his new pieces and old pieces, and did a lot of stuff. So, that is the type of thing that was a significant change for us.

Another significant change would be when Russell Peck called with something that was similarly a back-door type of arrangement. Russell had this commission for an orchestral piece, and it could be whatever he wanted. The money for the commission was already coming from other sources, and so he called me and said, “What do you think about me writing a trio percussion concerto?”31 I said, “Yes, sure, but if we do this then I don’t want you just writing it down and sending it to us. I will have ideas. Let’s make it good.” We then had a very close working relationship in developing that piece, which then got us connected to many other outlets, because Russell Peck, like Cage, had contacts.32 Russell was and is a real promoter of his own

29 The festival was the “Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik,” April 1982.

30 John Cage, Branches: Percussion Solo, Duet, Trio, or Orchestra with Any Number of Players (New York: Henmar Press, 1976).

31 For background on Peck and Otte’s existing relationship, see Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, n. 62.

32 Russell Peck, The Glory and the Grandeur: A Concerto for Trio Percussion and Orchestra (Greensboro, NC: Pecktackular Music, 1988).

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music.33 He had all kinds of connections throughout the world of children’s concerts, concerts with orchestras, and so on. I do not know how many times we played the piece, maybe fifty times or whatever, but it was largely because it was a good piece.34 It was this Gershwin-esque piece, and it was obvious why it was easy enough to get concert performances of it booked.

Another change was when we switched management, at about this time, to get management that was in New York City [Stanton Management].35 The new management also had these contacts in the whole orchestral world, and for a few years it really felt like we had changed the kind of plateau on which we existed and were recognized.

None of those changes actually answer the question in the way you are asking it. It seems like over thirty years, I would have changed or refined my idea, but I guess—a little to my embarrassment—it seems not. It seems that the idea was good enough and challenging enough.

Curiously, I don’t know when it was that we passed by the point at which we were nearly the only ones doing this and doing it in the context of having the support of a university and working on that kind of repertoire and wanting, pretentiously or not, to set a standard for how this stuff should be done.36 There has come a point where we are getting older and there are younger people, and it is more possible for groups to come and go. And now, to be very much on the back side of this, I can feel crabby and think: “god damit, we should have had a bigger influence.

Look at the instruments their playing on. Look at the repertoire their playing. Look at the way their hitting that drum.” Then I think maybe it is just the common story of everyone who tries to

33 Subsequent to this interview, Russell Peck died on 1 March 2009.

34 This author identified at least forty-seven performances of the concerto by the Group. See Appendix I, Percussion Group Cincinnati Program Data.

35 See Chapter 5, n. 4 and 5.

36 For a list of other chamber percussion ensembles, see Chapter 5, n. 1.

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make some sort of professional concert career in any repertoire or on any instrument. You feel like you are going to set the new standard and have influence, and I am sure many people would say we did have influence, but then I can go see and hear other things and be pissed off and say:

“They shouldn’t be doing that. [Laughing] We’ve already proved that that is not worth doing.”

AUTHOR: We probably don’t have time today to get through the whole long list of composers that I would like to ask you about, but if you have time, we could go over just a few.

OTTE: Sure.

AUTHOR: And, since you mentioned Cage and Peck, could we start with them? The relationship with Cage covers a variety of different experiences: you performed later works, specifically

Branches, and the piece written for the Group, Music for Three (1984), as well as playing many of his earlier works.37 During your relationship he heard you re-work pieces, like Quartet, into trios and he heard you perform other well-established pieces, which he must have already heard many times and had his own opinions about. You previously shared a story with me of a rehearsal you did of Amores, and Cage was very specific in insisting that you use the back of a beater on a little woodblock.38

OTTE: Yes.

37 John Cage, MUSIC FOR: Parts for voice and instruments without score (New York: Edition Peters, 1984).

38 John Cage, Amores (New York: C. F. Peters, 1960).

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AUTHOR: Working through his already well-established pieces is different than working together on a new composition. In the case of Amores, he had a strong preference about the beater and woodblock.

OTTE: Right.

AUTHOR: So, I want to approach this relationship by considering the differences in the types of projects you worked on with him. Was Cage different to work with on Music for Three than in the contact you had over the older material?

OTTE: In either case, there was less time and experience with having him physically present for rehearsals than with anyone else. He wasn’t present to say, “No, this is what I meant,” or to say,

“Good job.” Even the Amores story is a rare example, since he came up to me only during a sound check in the hall, on the afternoon of a concert. Plus, it was the only thing I remember him saying about the whole concert. In the case of Music for Three, did he even hear it before the performance? I think we met up at the dress rehearsal in Ann Arbor, and so he heard it there and then he heard it once during the performance.39 And, with fifty instruments for each of the three of us, 150 instruments in total, his comment was that he really liked the big bass drum that I played.

AUTHOR: If I remember our conversation correctly, when you first told me the Amores story, I was asking you whether you thought Cage had preferences for certain sounds even though he tried so hard to remove his preferences from his compositional process. I was wondering if,

39 The Group performed Music for Three at the 1 November 1984 PAS convention as the solo part to a concerto, for which Cage’s Renga (1976), performed by the University of Michigan Symphony Band, served as the accompaniment.

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when he heard one of his pieces, he ever said, “Well, I wish I would have told them to use that drum,” or something to that end. I believe you said that it was very rare for him to actually come to you and say “No, I don’t like that.” Rather, he was regularly pleased with what he heard, and so something like this Amores incident was an exception.

OTTE: Yes. Also, another example comes to mind with Music for Three. So, that first performance of Music for Three was with Renga and it was the performance with the University of Michigan students. The second time Cage heard it, we were doing it just as Music for Three.40

Again, he didn’t hear rehearsals before the performance, but during our set-up time I showed him that I had this idea. We were in this era prior to sampling on laptop computers, but when you could, in fact, have some samples on a DX7 or some sort of electronic keyboard, which didn’t really have great sounds, but you could at least assign percussion sounds and a few other electronic extra sounds to a keyboard.41 So, I had to do like an organ part with changing the stops and all that, and it took a fair amount of work, but I was excited about this idea of an electronic prepared piano, and that I could play this piece with all of these sounds coming from a couple of different banks of sounds. With great enthusiasm, I showed it to him before the performance and

I showed him different sounds and all of that, and he just nodded and smiled and said nothing.

Then, after the performance, in his characteristic quiet laughing sort of way, he said something to the effect of, “When you showed the keyboard to me before the concert, I didn’t like it at all, but

I didn’t want to say anything. Now that I’ve heard it in the context of the piece, I thought it was wonderful.” So, yes, of course he still had preferences on sounds, but, to his credit, he was totally

40 A 7 February 1985 performance in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium.

41 Yamaha’s DX7 synthesizer became the first commercially viable product of this type, with over one hundred thousand of them flooding recording studios and concert halls in the short three years it was on the market (1983–86). It was succeeded by Yamaha’s entire DX product line and comparable instruments from competitors.

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able to remain open to these things and then change his mind about something when he actually experienced it.

AUTHOR: Let me offer a little disclaimer that I forgot to mention earlier. As we move through the composers you’ve worked with, I will ask about “your” relationship with them, so you should feel free to differentiate, as necessary, between your individual relationships with composers and those between the entire Group and a composer.

So, in your relationship with Cage, if it wasn’t the type of relationship where you are talking back and forth while creating pieces or if he wasn’t listening to rehearsals and offering comments; then, could you define more clearly for me what this relationship was like? What did you have conversations about? Were you speaking about musical topics or non-musical topics?

Did those conversations impact your music? Was it a friendship that didn’t involve music?

OTTE: One thing I find interesting is related to having this experience this week with [Frederic]

Rzewski.42 For a pretty long time now, I’ve felt like I have been able to respectfully say to any composer: “This is a piece of shit. This is not what you mean here. Trust me, because I think I know what you’re getting at, but this is not going to do it. Just try again or let me do what I think you might be getting at.” I’ve felt comfortable at any level, whether it is just as simple as something being on the wrong instrument, or really a situation of, “Throw out the whole piece. I get the concept, but this piece is not going to do that.” Well, with Cage, if there was anything that he was going to hand over then it seemed to me preposterous to have any opinion to the contrary. I just did what the score said. After all of these years with Frederic [Rzewski], who has

42 This interview occurred the same week that Otte worked with Rzewski to prepare a performance of his solo The Fall of the Empire (2007) for CCM’s “Music07,” an annual contemporary music festival.

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considered me a close friend, colleague, and respected fellow artist for decades already, and who

I came to know a quarter century ago as one of the greatest musicians of this century— a pianist, a composer—well, [while I’m around him] I can’t really transcend my feeling of being a disciple and a student. He sends the music and I might complain about it, but it doesn’t occur to me to say, “You should do this or not do that.” And he is here now, and he wants feedback. I was surprised when he began asking me, “What doesn’t work here? What should I change?” Though

I have some opinions about the piece, I realized that I was pretty much falling back into a different role, which curiously enough was very similar [to what I felt when I worked] with

Herbert Brün. Similarly, he [Brün] couldn’t have been more respectful and he absolutely considered me his colleague and friend, but then there was also a father/son or nearly grandfather/grandson relationship between us—a very intense, personal relationship on that level. I would find myself most of the time in his presence being very quiet, and similarly with

Rzewski. And I now realize that there are students who are very quiet in my presence—they have almost nothing to say in my presence—and I realize that it could be that they are very different in other contexts, but because I become that way for a few people, I realize that both of us—Herbert and me—would have both wanted me to transcend that. Herbert didn’t need me to be quiet and respectful. I should have just been his drinking buddy and that would have been fine. Even more so with Rzewski, it is just the psychological and emotional type of thing.

AUTHOR: With Cage, did this relationship develop because you truly respected his music or was it because he was John Cage and he was already a huge figure in American music?

OTTE: As a student, I was very much against John Cage and his music. I didn’t understand it, and I was a very skeptical undergraduate. Even as I became very interested and committed to

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new music, I was still much more attracted to Stockhausen. I had many misunderstandings with

Cage’s music. And it wasn’t until we met him and really hung out with him in Germany and again in Italy, sat with him at concerts of his own music and of other peoples’ music, had breakfast and dinner together, and took walks that it really became perfectly obvious, in the same way that it would happen to [the Group], that if we were lucky enough to get any newspaper coverage it was going to be a photograph of us playing garbage cans and amplified cactus and [it would run] with whatever the most goofy, sensational headline they could come up with, and, of course, that is what always happened to Cage.43 It is not that simple. You don’t become the most famous composer on the planet without wanting to and without making your own career, being a jerk about it, and self-promoting. There was that side, but he was long since done with that side, and he didn’t have to be that person anymore. He was all of that [earlier in his career], but he could now just be the most congenial, grandfatherly figure in every context, and he was. That was part of the revelation. To get to know him and to experience this myself, on our own little level, and to understand that the publicity you read about someone is not what I should have, as a young student, been forming my opinions of his music on. But, by that time I was coming to an understanding and a respect for his music, most of it was long since printed and established, but a lot of it was still perfect ground—rich soil—for my idea of performing difficult music with this string quartet of percussionists. There weren’t people who were playing the percussion music of

John Cage. You didn’t have groups, like the LaSalle Quartet, to deal with it in that way. When we met with him and showed up at these festivals and play these pieces, I think he saw that, too, and came to enjoy seeing that we were a professional group that took this music very seriously.

For the newer stuff, it was already in his mature aesthetic, so unlike some other composer to

43 For a selection of such headlines, see Chapter 5, n. 21.

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whom I really could say, “This doesn’t sound like a good scoring of this idea,” with Cage it was

“John Cage doing chance operations.” What was there to complain about? There was nothing for me to tell him.

AUTHOR: In this thesis, I am telling a history of the Group, but guiding my narrative are your relationships with composers. The relationship you describe with Cage would likely not have come about from you using a standard commissioning process. You wouldn’t have contacted

Cage, or someone of his stature, prior to ever meeting him and asked for a new work for the

Group. Correct?

OTTE: Yes, correct.

AUTHOR: His early percussion music would still exist, but the relationship between Cage and the Group wouldn’t have been there if it were left to you having to call him up and say, “Mr.

Cage, we are a percussion trio based in Cincinnati that wants to pay you X-amount of money for

X-minutes of music.” Correct?

OTTE: Yes.

AUTHOR: You spoke about Branches and your first performances of it in Germany. Could you tell me about Music for Three?44 What was the Group’s role in its formation?

OTTE: Subsequent to the German thing, we had a similar thing [where we spent time with Cage] in Italy for the few days of a festival.45 At the last minute [for the festival planners], which was

44 For further information on Branches, see Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 179– 80.

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probably a few months in advance, someone, who was going to participate with sessions on computer programs, dropped out. Cage had the idea that the whole substantive part of that composer’s residency could be replaced by having us come. He called and said: “I have a few days coming up in Italy for a big festival, but I can’t bring the composer with the computer thing that I thought I was going to bring. How would you like to come and do a bunch of the old pieces, and then you could also do some of your other repertoire?” So, once again we were spending a couple days together. He had just written a piece called Music for Six, and it was for the eighth blackbird instrumentation.46 He described it to me [while we sat] in his hotel room. He didn’t have the music, but he described to me the whole idea of how the computer program worked and how he had generated this percussion part.

Some months later, in the summer, I had gotten a call from a composer who had agreed to write a concerto for us and a wind ensemble for this PAS event in Ann Arbor, Michigan.47

Nexus was going to play a concerto with an orchestra, a marimbist was going to play the Creston concerto, and then they wanted us to do something with a wind ensemble. I had asked this younger composer to write us a piece, and before the performance, this guy called up and said that there was a crisis and it was terrible, and he couldn’t finish the piece. It wasn’t going to happen. He said he just could not finish it, there was nothing he could do about it, and he just wanted me to know four months in advance. So, it was late notice, but since Cage had described this whole thing to me, with how he used his computer to produce the parts for the last piece, I started thinking of an idea. This was not long after he wrote Renga, since that was for the [United

45 “John Cage a Torino e Ivrea,” May 1984.

46 The instrumentation of the contemporary chamber ensemble eighth blackbird is the same as that of Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello, and piano, plus voice), but with the addition of percussion instead of voice. Cage returned to this instrumentation plus viola for Seven (1988).

47 The Group performed at the Ann Arbor, Michigan, PAS convention on 1 November 1984.

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States] bicentennial and so this must have been 1980 or 81.48 I was already very familiar with

Renga. Did I yet have a score? Maybe I had excerpts of a score. Either way, I knew this whole thing, and it occurred to me that he wrote this big graphic orchestra part based on the numbers of players—not specifically any players, but just the numbers of players in a large ensemble. It existed by itself as Renga or you could have Renga with Apartment House [1776], which is the way it was presented at its premiere during the bicentennial celebrations.49 The Apartment House

[1776] material included an American Indian shaman, a Hebrew cantor, and what else? There were four different voice types chanting and singing, representing different parts of American history.50 All of this may or may not be placed against this background of Renga. My thought was that the [Apartment House 1776] vocalizations could be replaced with percussion music of a kind of pointillistic style against this background concerto accompaniment of Renga. Based on

Cage’s description of his new computer program, which is what he used to generate the parts for

Music for Six, I thought he could take the existing percussion part from the sextet and then use the computer to generate two more percussion parts. I described the whole situation to Cage and my idea for the piece, and he agreed to it. He understood exactly what I was getting at.

AUTHOR: So, there is a similarity to the situation you described before. In relating to Cage as a performer of his early works, you described how he was often content with performances you offered and there wasn’t a lot of discussion of things he wanted you to do differently with specific sounds or specific parts. Similarly, in discussing an entire composition, there wasn’t too much he needed to change after the two of you initially discussed a piece, correct?

48 For further details on Cage’s role in the bicentennial, see Chapter 3, 54.

49 Seiji Ozawa, who arranged the commission of this work, led the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the premiere on 27 October 1976.

50 Cage represented Protestant, Native American, African American, and Sephardi Jewish vocal traditions.

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OTTE: Yes, the composition already existed in the Music for Six version, but he wasn’t looking for additional things to do with it. This was a time in his life when once he had an aesthetic idea finished, then that was it. Here, he already had the computer program completed, and who knows how long he had already worked on that for the Music for Six parts, but then I had an idea, I saw it and knew that if he just did the computer process again and again, he would get basically the same thing but in a different mix. What was interesting about the piece was, because we were using it as a concerto, there were time blocks, like mobiles of floating time, requiring you start no sooner than one time, but no later than another time, and you end no sooner than one time, but no later than another time. This means that in many cases you can go very slowly and make it a very long time, or wait and make it a very short one. I proposed to the other guys, “Let’s find a place where we all make a decision, so we can have a real cadenza and we will all be at our most virtuosic.” We couldn’t do it. It was impossible, because he had paid attention to a certain aesthetic. I’m sure he didn’t say to himself, “I’m not going to let them have a cadenza together,” but he obviously knew that he wanted a certain ground level and knew that nothing was going to pile up too high, and it was always going to stay at a kind of stasis. If someone was busy then someone else was not going to be overly busy. To his credit, I think there now exists about fifteen different parts from the original Music for Six.51

AUTHOR: And is that why the published version lists several ensembles?52

51 Edition Peters now publishes seventeen individual parts for performances of MUSIC FOR:, including four percussion parts, two parts each for piano and violin, and one part each for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trumpet, trombone, viola, violoncello, and voice.

52 The title page of the 1984 Henmar Press edition reads, “MUSIC FOR: Parts for voice and instruments without score (no fixed relation), title to be completed by adding to ‘Music for’- the number of players performing. For the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Cincinnati Percussion Group, and Zeitgeist.” 262

OTTE: Actually, just right after the time he got the original commission for Music for Six from the New York New Music Ensemble was when I asked him for this piece. Then, just after that, a group in Minneapolis, called Zeitgeist, got money from the Minnesota Arts Council and asked him for a piece. So their name also appears. What would he have added for them? I don’t think he would have added anything for them, so I think they were already subsumed into what was happening. So, those were the only names that ever appeared on it, but yes, then later the title

Music for Six was withdrawn and MUSIC FOR: was the new title, and it was published for those three ensembles. For another five or six years after that, seven or eight different instruments got added to this mix and match. Even Jan Williams received a part, so there are now four percussion parts.

AUTHOR: There was a trend in the 1950s and 1960s of people writing trade journal articles in which they put forward ideas about the future of percussion music.53 Common was an argument that said if more non-percussionists composed for percussion, then that would validate percussion chamber music. In order for percussion music to go to the next level, the authors wanted to have real composers (non-percussionists) writing pieces. Was this something you considered in asking someone like John Cage, a well-established composer, for a composition?

Was that part of the string quartet model? You wanted to play a full repertoire of compositions, not just the works composed by a few percussionists.

OTTE: Only in so far as I really wanted to distinguish ourselves as not being a percussion ensemble. I felt almost no connection to the world of university percussion ensembles. I said,

53 For a complete list of these sources, see Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, n. 9.

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“We are a new music chamber group that happens to be made up of three percussionists.”

Almost every time we asked someone to write music for us, it was not based on any percussion piece they had written, it was instead based on their electronic music, string quartets, orchestral pieces, or something else. So, the Cage thing wasn’t a certain sort of exception just because he was such a big person. Also, I think that by that time, even though it was somewhat early on in the Group’s days, I already had a history by being in Blackearth. So, this didn’t feel like we were trying to legitimize anything. In that sense, the Russell Peck relationship and getting into the world of playing concertos was a much more significant legitimation of us as a professional concert circuit ensemble than even the Cage relationship. John Cage was still playing European, avant-garde new music festivals and playing pieces in this country on programs of other stuff.

Herbert Brün is another whole subject area, but he clearly enjoyed percussion and he wrote well for it in his chamber music pieces. He wrote these three percussion solo pieces with computer back in 1967 and those were more computer projects, but still he was really thinking about percussion.54 That’s more an example of an established European composer of another generation who wrote and had connections and contacts in the world of real computer music and string quartets, and him writing something for us, that was more of an example of a legitimation.

AUTHOR: Was that on your mind? You wanted to legitimize the fact that you were chamber musicians, not just percussionists, and so it mattered very little whether people criticized your music for aesthetic reasons, as long as they didn’t judge you as solely percussionists.

OTTE: I think this is a really good and interesting point, but ask it again.

54 Herbert Brün, Plot (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1967); Stalks and Trees and Drops and Clouds (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1967); and Touch and Go (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1967).

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AUTHOR: In the 1950s and 1960s, authors addressing percussion chamber music often drew attention to percussionist’s concerns over being judged solely as percussionists and not as performers of a legitimized repertoire.55 They advocated performers taking steps as a means of validation: change the repertoire, the composers, the venues, and so forth, all in an effort to transcend a stereotype. The articles that come to mind mention the need for percussionists to perform music by professional composers—composers who write more than just percussion music.56 So, I was wondering if with Cage and Brün, were you interested in working with them because of this apparent percussionist guilt—this desire to shed an earlier incarnation of percussion chamber music or transcend the stereotype—or was this a musical decision driven by the three of you wanting to play the compositions by these composers, who you respected, regardless of their status?

OTTE: I really think it was the latter. There was a certain youthful arrogance about the whole thing: I knew I was good, I had great training, we played well together, and we worked really hard. We felt, “How dare anyone not take us seriously.” I make the joke that I am now at the age that when I started all of these things, whether it was Blackearth or even the Group, it was the people my age today who I was telling to get out of the way: “Here I come. Your time is over.

You did what you did, but it wasn’t quite right, and it is time for the next thing.” And now, it is for sure I who has to answer the question: Is it time for me to get out of the way? In our case, because I don’t know that we played any music by other percussionists, or anything that was in any sense a staples of percussion ensemble literature, I think we, from the first concert, thought

55 For a complete list of these sources, see Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, n. 9.

56 Thomas Davis, “Let’s Have Percussion Ensembles,” The Instrumentalist 12 (February 1958): 52–55; and Jack McKenzie, “The Percussion Ensemble,” The Instrumentalist 11 (December 1956): 58–60.

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that anyone of those pieces on our program could appear on a Darmstadt Festival program as absolutely the highest quality, newest proposal of chamber music for instrumentalists.57

AUTHOR: I have one more follow-up question. The exclusion of percussion composers was made on a musical basis—your opinion of their compositions—and not on the basis of their background—their identity as a percussionists, correct?

OTTE: That’s right.

AUTHOR: We can stop here and then pick back up on these topics after I have an opportunity to speak, at least initially, with your colleagues.

Interview No. 2 27 October 2007 Memorial Hall, University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio

AUTHOR: I wanted to begin today by providing you with an overview of what I’ve done thus far and then go back to Brün and begin to make our way through some of the other composers with whom the Group has worked. In prior conversations, you’ve mentioned that you always feel that you are the member of the Group who has the deepest interest in talking with the composers and learning about their musical ideas. Is that a fair summation?

OTTE: Yes.

57 While far less likely to turn to standards of the percussion chamber repertory, especially early in the ensembles history, the Group has none the less performed a variety of canonic percussive works; for examples, see Chapter 4, 61–63.

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AUTHOR: That was one reason why I felt, from a methodological perspective, I should speak with the other members of the ensemble and gather their perspectives, before coming back to you. The most common criticism I have heard from the other members of the Group who have read the Reiss thesis is that it seems one sided, like it is solely you making decisions; whereas in my conversations with the other members, they actually have a rather different take. I think it was Ben Toth who said that he always felt that the appropriate decisions were being made naturally by the right person.58 When you had new compositions, you brought them in, and there was never a feeling from the other members that they couldn’t bring material in, but since you had the most interest, you just did it more often than anyone else. Similarly, if there was a decision about purchasing a van, taking care of it, or whatever the issue at hand, it just always seemed like the right person was making the right decision. So, even though you are the person who has the most contact—over the phone, in letters, or in e-mails—with composers, the level of everyone else’s collective contact has always felt very natural, and it is not a topic that is regularly discussed or is regularly a source for confrontation. The three of you do not discuss a desire for you to bring in less music or the need for someone else to bring in more music. You simply do it and the same could be said about all of the different aspects of keeping the Group going.

OTTE: I can’t remember what the context would have been, but I always remember that the composer Bill DeFotis, in talking about the Group—it seems to me that I even read this, it was the first time I saw this in print—articulated this very thing and I can almost see how he said it, but I can’t quite repeat it. Bill had some way of saying that very thing: at the right moment, the right person in the Group instinctively knows to step forward and that everybody was

58 Appendix F, Transcript of Interview with Benjamin Toth, 407 and 460.

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comfortable with it.59 So, maybe I am just confirming, even with never sitting down with a composer to talk about this, that they, too, saw from the outside how we functioned. [DeFotis] had conversations about his piece with me, but from the outside, he saw that when we arrived and the truck had to be unloaded, and that there was even a truck and equipment in the first place, and that there was a necessary hotel and money and all of that stuff, that it was clear to him that among the trio, different people were the leader of the Group at different moments, depending on what the issue was, and that all of this, though it may have seemed well orchestrated, was something that just happened without us having to get into great levels of detail or without me assigning tasks or without anyone assigning tasks.

AUTHOR: If I stretch all the way back to the “Preference in Percussion - 1973” essay and the founding philosophy surrounding Blackearth, an aspect that ties the ensembles together is that their organization is not written out or spoken about in a hierarchical sort of way, such as you going into a rehearsal and saying, “I am the guy who is going to make decisions about repertory, and you are the guy who is going to handle hotels and booking.” It doesn’t come off as dictatorial.

OTTE: Yes, and having seen those letters now, that I wrote at the moment of the transition, there was that moment of establishing the new group where I think I said exactly these things. Clearly,

I had the experience and the perspective, and so in a sense, more so with this group, there was a moment when I was admitting that I was continuing something that I had been involved in, but of course by now, the thing that is interesting for me, in looking at those letters, is that at one

59 I have been unable to identify the publication information for the DeFotis comment paraphrased by Otte.

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point [James] Culley was someone coming right out of graduate school and so clearly there was an initial hierarchy. At what point did he have “enough” experience? When did it change?

AUTHOR: In reviewing your essay and letters, I have gotten the sense that in founding the

Group, you felt that you knew exactly what you wanted and that if you had the right people, then you could do great things.60 There were projects you wanted to work on and you had a clear sense that this undertaking was large and important. So, in talking with Jim Culley, I asked him if he was also assuming that there were big things that he wanted to do upon founding the Group.

He said that he had a sense of permanence when he got here and started playing. He really felt like this was exactly what he wanted.61 For me, an outsider, all of these opinions and ideas actually form a fairly cohesive image. Even if you weren’t talking about it as an ensemble, everyone was looking at the Group as an important, long-term venture.

So, going back to composers, what I have done with everyone I have spoken with, is focus the discussions on a few composers and topics, then if other names come up along the way, we have discussed those as well. Let’s go to Herbert Brün. Especially when I spoke with Ben

Toth, he further emphasized an idea that you mentioned during our first interview—your relationship with Herbert was one of the closest he witnessed between you and a composer.62 He said it was very fatherly.

OTTE: For all of the positive things about that and also in the sense of it being an example of how a very strong personality can have an oppressive presence, I don’t think that I ever felt it

60 Otte wrote: “Assuming I have the excellent ensemble I know I could have, its reputation, under any name, would establish itself before too long.” Allen Otte, letter to Michael Rosen, 16 October 1978.

61 Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 220.

62 Appendix F, Transcript of Interview with Benjamin Toth, 414.

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was oppressive, but I became aware that I needed to be careful of what an incredibly strong personality this was and how much I did go to him as a father figure. I spoke to him about my personal life, wife, girlfriends, and whatever else. In conversations with him, all of that was as fair game as was music. I think it also had something to do with the strong impression he made about the social aspect of music, which was just something that was part of his persona and part of why he was doing what he was doing for his whole life.

I’ve been thinking—slightly tangential to Herbert—what was it about Blackearth that in its own tiny little circle, made it the legendary Blackearth Group, and what makes the Group, a continuation of that ensemble, maybe less legendary? Or, maybe the minute that the Group is over, then it will become legendary. [Laughing] Perhaps, when it is gone then it will be much more interesting than when it still existed. But there was something about Blackearth, and I don’t mean to be off the subject of Herbert, but there was something about Blackearth that was completely honest—there was no creation of an image. This is the thing that I am thinking about when in contrast I say the “Kronos-cization of contemporary music.” Both Jim and I were unwilling, but unable to participate in that sort of thing. And then I think, to the detriment of the

Group, in the way that eight blackbird—being kind of a mentor to them for the years that they were here [at CCM] and having known them in the years before they were here—when I think of the conversations I had with them, or when they came to me and we would discuss what their next move should be. Now, it seems in a very naïve and sweet sort of way, it was already in them that their freight train was zooming past me in the way I had thought about or had done these things myself. Their image of how to do these things was of their time and place, and my image of how to do it was of my time and place. Blackearth was not creating any image and not thinking like that. The photographs were just us dressing the way we dressed, standing there in

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the postures we stood there in, playing the music that we thought was cool and important, and we were committed and it all came out of all of us being involved in street protests. We really did participate in sit-ins and we really did make placards against this and all such stuff. And the music, the collective spirit, and blah blah; well, Blackearth just flowed out of that, and now, I would say I really admire it in a certain sense. I can see over twenty-five and thirty years and there are certain pop stars, and I don’t pay much attention to them, but I am aware that there are people who recreate their image so that they are part of something in this era and then these cycles go much faster. Two years or five years go by and then suddenly you can even see magazine articles talking about how they now dress differently or their hair is different and their music is changed, and in a sense, I can admire this recreating of themselves to be part of a new cycle, and a few of them have done it over decades of time. That could be a criticism of the

Group: we resisted this, or didn’t want to do it, or weren’t good at it. Blackearth didn’t do any more or less of this than the Group did or did not do it, but the times changed so much. When

Blackearth arrived, Herbert Brün saw that there was a completely raw and totally honest energy there, in doing what we were doing, and he already had a lifetime of articulate, Germanic, professorial experience about that, and the whole history of Adorno, and the philosophy of how music and society in one way can be melded. Absolutely concurrent with this was when

Blackearth met Frederic Rzewski and then I made a relationship with him, which has continued for all of these decades, but here was another example of someone who again was enough older than us to already be viewable as a role model and yet was somewhere between Blackearth and

Herbert in both age and style. But Herbert and Rzewski knew one another and had contact, and to view these two role models as a place we could go in being committed to something, even if it was a naïve version of improving society. Now, I look back, and I have a certain sadness about

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the whole thing. To look now where the culture is and think that in our era there was all of our youthful enthusiasm about changing the world and making a better society, and Blackearth was about bringing new music to the people and we actually said that over and over, “Bringing New

Music to the People,” and in a sense there was even a little bit of thinking, “Okay, we’ve said so, we’ve put our energies in that, and now we can just pay attention to really perfecting our chamber music sort of stuff.” In the mean time, if that wasn’t cultivated on a daily basis by every member of the society, in every way that they were interested in doing these things, well of course people in society would keep changing and people with stronger agendas or with more money and energy to do it, would begin directing things in new and different ways, and sometimes I feel like while I was perfecting my personal percussion technique and the ensemble technique of this thing, I wasn’t paying attention to the whole society. It is now a different society, and I am left with an anachronistic idea. But it was Herbert, who I think—it is not like we ever talked about this—but I can now look back and see it must have been tremendously exciting to him to see this raw energy of these young people who were totally dedicated to this and actually very talented at it, and that he could, in a way that was part of his personality, serve as the mentor without ever announcing that this was what he wanted to do. He helped give us some direction in all of this, and he very much did. For whatever reasons, I was the one who was the most smitten with all of that, both in the socio-political sense, but I was also very attracted to the music that he loved and could speak about it.

AUTHOR: Could I stop you there?

OTTE: Please.

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AUTHOR: I have a few different follow-up items. At the end of each of my conversations with the other members, I asked a few questions about reception issues. You and I will get to those at some point, but very briefly you commented about Blackearth having this reputation as legendary. And you wonder if that will ever come for the Group. Are there aspects of

Blackearth’s reception that came about just because of the timing—being an ensemble doing the music you were doing, when you were doing it? Then, as soon as the Group started it was naturally seen as a continuation, in part because you [Al Otte] were there and in part because

Blackearth had already been trailblazers in this territory for ten years. Does it seem like a fair assumption that Blackearth reached legendary status because it was working at time when few others were playing this music?

OTTE: When I consider these things now, I think it was just my good fortune, I was lucky, just as everybody else tells the same stories about their lives, in these ways: the right people, at the right time, in the right place. Yes, it was exactly that. You even introduced the word reception here. When I loosely think over all of these things now, it is not even reception at the time that I am considering to be different, since it is not that I felt like a Blackearth concert in 1977 was better received than a Group concert in 1979—there was no difference. The audience over all this time began to change and the interest in this kind of music changed.

AUTHOR: In terms of Rzewski, if we look at Brün and Rzewski side-by-side, you and Rzewski have worked on individual projects, but in terms of the Group’s repertoire, much more of it came from Brün, correct?

OTTE: Yes, absolutely.

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AUTHOR: Was that intentional?

OTTE: I guess we could look at the statistics of performances of Les Moutons [de Panurge] and

Herbert’s pieces and maybe the difference is that Frederic’s one piece was something that we liked and we played it and it was there and it floats in and out of the repertoire over the years and we did other pieces by Frederic, but he was always in Europe, and in that sense it wasn’t as close of a fatherly relationship.63 Okay, it was a close personal relationship, but Herbert was right here,

I saw him more often and it was easier to say to Herbert, “I have an idea for the next piece.

Could you make something like this?” Whereas, with Frederic, it was just enough of a step further away, and so though we talk about it, unless I came up with a commission or something like that or kept after him, it was less likely that there were going to be new pieces coming.

AUTHOR: And that relates to another follow-up question about Brün. Did you seek out Herbert, or at least someone like Herbert—a mentor for the Group—or did this relationship come about just because he was at [the University of] Illinois, you got to know him when Blackearth was there, and you were interested in what he was doing?

OTTE: It’s a great question, because I want to say, yes, we would have, I would have sought out such a person. When I was in high school still and Mike Rosen was my teacher for one year, he was in the Milwaukee Symphony at that point, and he had been at the University of Illinois, and so the name came up. He said, “When you get to or if you ever get a chance, when you go to the

University of Illinois, to meet this really interesting composer there, Herbert Brün, you should

63 The Group performed Rzewski’s Les Moutons de Panurge on at least fifty concerts in their first thirty seasons. The Group performed compositions by Brün on at least forty-eight concerts. For the complete list of Rzewski and Brün compositions in the Group’s repertoire, see Appendix G, Percussion Group Cincinnati Repertoire.

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meet him and get to know him.” So, I had heard the name already once from someone who was a mentor to me, then at Oberlin [Conservatory of Music], perhaps in my senior year, Herbert was invited as part of the new music series. Herbert came, and that was the first time I had ever met him. So, I already heard his name once and then he comes and we were doing a concert that included a bunch of his music, and it included a couple of us doing one of his computer graphics pieces and I played on one of his trios.64 And he was there for a couple of days and so I had contact then, and, again, the music was very interesting to me and he was a very strong personality. I don’t know if the idea of Blackearth had even come up yet, but by coincidence I had already, from a couple of different fronts, been pointed in his direction, and it was a completely natural setting when we [Blackearth] got [to the University of Illinois], because there were a bunch of composers working on new music. Ben Johnson, in some ways, had a reputation. Sal Martirano had a reputation. And there were any number of people at [the

University of] Illinois, who in those days, had pretty big reputations in the world of experimental music. I had almost no contact with Martirano. Ben Johnson became a friendly relationship, because we did Knocking Piece (1962) and he worked with us on that, but that was all that ever happened.65 We never pursued him as someone to write a piece for the Group, which today in some ways seems strange, since he also had all of the contact with Harry Partch and that seems like an obvious match, but I think it really was this socio-political thing that Herbert was so clear and so strong about, which was independent of our interests in chamber music and whatever repertory we were going to play, that there was another side of each of our personalities that really just magnetically drew us to him. It was so reassuring to us that we had kind of an

64 Brün composed the following two trios for mixed chamber ensembles including percussion: Trio for Trumpet, Trombone, and Percussion (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1977) and Trio for Flute, Double Bass, and Percussion (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1984).

65 Ben Johnson, Knocking Piece (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1990).

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inarticulate feeling about why this was important and what we wanted to do beyond just being a chamber music percussion ensemble, we really knew that there was something that was inarticulate, but here was a guy who would drown you in articulateness.

AUTHOR: With regard to the creative process, how did the relationship work? Did you have to ask for a piece or did he usually come to you and say: “I’ve been working on this new piece.

Will you guys take a look at it?” I know some of the compositions already existed from the

Blackearth era.

OTTE: Yes, “at loose ends: [sic] came from that era, and I don’t remember exactly how it happened with that one, but it seems to me, in every case and probably in that case as well, I would humbly ask, “Is there any chance you could make something for us?” And I think he always was waiting—he was older and wiser and he probably knew that the sentence was coming at some point, but maybe even intelligently knew that it would be a positive thing if it came from me, if I would be the one to make the request—so he could then say: “Well, yes, of course.”

AUTHOR: And these requests were in line with your thoughts about personal relationships being very important. You two shared a closeness of socio-political views and other interests, so this was all part of a philosophy where you shouldn’t have to pay for a composition from a composer who is in your circle of friends, correct?66 We are eventually going to get to the Group’s relationship with Russell Peck, which is a little more complicated, since he typically has to get paid by someone. That wasn’t the case with Brün, right?

66 Otte, “Preferences in Percussion - 1973,” 90.

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OTTE: Yes.

AUTHOR: With Brün, if you asked him for a piece, you never had to sit down and figure out who would write the grant.

OTTE: Right, and, in a sense, I certainly wasn’t thinking about this at the time, but now I certainly do think that maybe we also stumbled into this thing, because along with my dear friends at Oberlin [Conservatory of Music] and then my new friends at [the University of

Illinois], whose music I wanted to play; well, already on my senior recital at Oberlin, my friends’ compositions comprised half of the repertory. I asked them to write pieces for me and of course they did, then I felt very strongly about continuing these relationships. But it is funny to think back now, since I was against playing Cage. I was against playing the music of famous composers instead of the pieces of my friends. I didn’t want Amores on Blackearth’s first LP and later, when Third Construction was first published, we don’t know why exactly, but Cage gets his contract with C. F. Peters in 1962 and he goes through his files and gives them a box of stuff which happened not to include Third Construction, so it is not until 1977 [recte 1970] when he is still pulling out more stuff for Peters and says, “Oh, well, do you want this?” So, in 1977 [recte

1970] Third Construction comes along and we heard Jan Williams and some other people play it at a PAS convention—they were smaller in those days and I don’t know if it even was officially called the “Percussive Arts Society International Convention”—and so they played it, we heard it, and I kind of shrugged my shoulders and said, “Oh, another Cage piece.”67 It was Garry

67 The Percussive Arts Society hosted its first annual conference, titled the “PAS Percussion Day,” in 1971. The title changed to the “PAS Day of Percussion” in 1972, then became the “PAS National Conference” in 1974, and settled on the “Percussive Arts Society International Convention” (PASIC) in 1976.

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[Kvistad] and Stacey [Bowers] who said we should get this piece and play it, while I was still saying, “You know, we need to play the music of un-famous people. Plenty of people already want to aggrandize by being in the limelight of famous people and let’s not do that. Herbert Brün is as great of a musical mind as any of the people we will meet and he is not playing that game, and so let’s not play it along with him.” Well, they prevailed, and we ended up playing the

European premiere of Third Construction. So, I was wrong. I am glad that other people dragged me into it. I am glad that we recorded Amores and put it on that first LP.68 If it had been up to me, maybe it would not have happened, or they confined me at some point, or I was out voted or something.

But, what I was thinking about before was that it was also a coincidence that Herbert was a person who, similar to what we’ve done here, had formed a world view of having a university job with a good salary, and he was committed to his students. In that sense, we weren’t his students, but we were part of his whole mentoring of younger people. This was also a very positive example of rather than moving to Manhattan and being at the hub of things—let’s even say that that’s another way to do it—you can go to a university somewhere, you spend a lot of time doing other things, and of course someone else could make the argument, “Well what difference does it make if you are a jobber and spend your time writing grants?” Well, maybe it even balances out the same: fifty percent of the time on your ensemble and fifty percent of the time raising the money in some other way. Herbert was already one example of how to raise the money to pay the mortgage and groceries in a way that seemed more noble than being a jobber and writing grants and trying to get that kind of money. And once that was established, that I paid for my rent and groceries from sitting with young people and trying to pass along all such

68 The Blackearth Percussion Group, The Blackearth Percussion Group, Opus One 22, LP, 1974.

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stuff, then I actually didn’t need or want to participate in this other culture of getting more and more money. Already Herbert was sort of saying: “You want a piece? I would be happy to write you a piece, because I don’t need more money than I already have.” So there was a certain way, whether it is noble or not, it impressed me as an honest way to deal with money and then it balanced very well, so that I could play the music of my friends and they were happy to have that happen. This sort of set a precedent, from the very beginning, that we could have people of the older generation who in their own right were established and in certain circles—for example on our European tours we had a certain credibility because we had someone like Herbert Brün, who was known as someone who was working at a high level. I also have to add that the LaSalle

Quartet was a tremendous influence—well, it was less of an influence on Blackearth—since this was a parallel example to Herbert, in that they were a group who were committed to not needing to be in downtown Berlin or downtown Manhattan, but could come to the “provinces,” a place like Cincinnati, and do quality work. Though they then made sure that they had a big touring career, and recording career and things. In the era when they did their work, things were different than in the era that we have done our work. So, if the LaSalle Quartet, with their values, were competing against Kronos and all the others, I think their career might have been different in how they competed against that. But this was a strong image for us of working in a provincial university.

AUTHOR: From what you’ve shared about your arguments with the other guys in Blackearth as to why residing at a place like CCM was wise, it seems you were less interested in passing along knowledge to future generations and more interested in the model of financial stability that the university positions provided.

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OTTE: Yes.

AUTHOR: It seems like your interest in teaching and passing along your knowledge to students has grown more robust over time.

OTTE: Yes, I think that is the natural progression.

AUTHOR: So, returning to Herbert Brün, you approached him and he would work on a piece for you. During his compositional process, did he write a piece and then hand you a finished product?

OTTE: No, never, and this was also absolutely formative. I would say having never really thought about this in this way, it was formative. Even with More Dust, he was making these computer images with which I was awestruck. I was amazed by this whole project: Sawdust.69

He was creating variations of these pieces, and I said to him: “Could you make a piece in this series for us? Could you make a new computer thing with percussion? Surely this music sounds like stuff that we could also be involved in.” Then, the structure of the composition was his idea.

He was doing these computer programs that could actually generate pieces. It was clearly the same piece, but it could be slightly longer, slightly short, have more silences at different sections, different sections could have more interactions of a certain kind. He would say: “Well, I could do another More Dust.” I always called it More Dust, and that is the only way that we ever programmed it. Though Herbert and I never had this discussion, there were funny things about this over the whole history of our relationship. I think of this now, a number of times where he let me say something the way I wanted to say it, without ever stopping me, but then he said it the

69 More Dust and More Dust with Percussion comprised one portion of Brün’s Sawdust project.

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way he wanted to say it. To him our piece was always More Dust with Percussion, since he already made More Dust. Now, this was a different piece, it was More Dust with Percussion.

AUTHOR: And on the recording doesn’t he have both More Dust and More Dust with

Percussion?70

OTTE: He does. [Laughing] So that piece, it would be funny to see the manuscript of the different sections of the piece, because they are all on different types of manuscript paper and different sizes of paper, because he would write a section and then come in with something and say: “What do you think about this?” We might try something out and play a little something or he would have a thought; for example, one of the instruments in that piece is called “silver”—he had the idea, and this goes back to his concept of the timbrack, which then Michael Udow also used, since Udow had been a student there, and Udow actually went somewhere with it. But even at Oberlin [Conservatory of Music], the first time I met Herbert, he was the one who said to me that he could write a piece for a timbre-rack, a rack of timbres. I drew this funny little thing that I could build. It looked like an organ console, and it would be made by big 2x4s. And in a very silly ill-perspective drawing you saw how you could suspend these things so you could play through a scale. Herbert was the one who wrote for it in one of his chamber ensemble pieces, where it is written on a normal five-line staff. So, for this “silver,” he had an idea of a mallet instrument where you would line these things up so that the tones belong to different octaves: C- sharp is in the right place and then D follows, but D is in a completely different octave. All this came from a guy who was a complete serialist composer, and of course, why wouldn’t he think of that, and of course, he makes the connection that what is really hard on an oboe, can easily

70 Herbert Brün, Sawdust Computer Music Project, Electronic Music Foundation 00644, CD, 1998.

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work for a percussionist to just pull the C-sharp from a different octave of the instrument and place it next to the D, and well you can make that leap. And yes, we could cut aluminum pipes to all the different lengths and then line them up, and he called it “silver” since these pipes he was thinking of looked silver. So, that is how the instrument came about, and then I was the one who figured it out and I made the drawing that goes in the score of how you make this thing, and I don’t know if anyone has tried to make it. I guess other people have played the piece, but has anyone actually tried to make one of those things? I don’t know.

I also remember in that piece—I was saying that he was the one who developed in me this willingness, sometimes audaciousness, to engage with a composer and say totally respectfully: “You’re the guy who knows the system and the structures, and let’s admit that in the way you know the piano or the violin, you couldn’t possibly know this room full of stuff.71

That’s where my expertise comes in, and so don’t worry about finishing all compositional thoughts in that way, give us something and we will look around and find something and we can make suggestions back to you.” There was one place in More Dust [with Percussion], and it is now my favorite place, where he wrote the music, but at this one point he was saying:

“Everything is finished, but here at this one point, halfway through the piece, there is a section I haven’t written. What do you like?” I said: “My favorite instrument is the tambourine. I have a beautiful tambourine I bought in Switzerland on one of our tours.” And he said, “Okay, fine, I will write music for tambourine.” He wrote this great, tiny, little, virtuosic tambourine part and then he had to kind of come up with whatever kind of stuff could go along to make sense out of tambourine. Then, he came to this other part in the piece, the whole piece was done, but he said:

“I don’t have another idea. I am not sure what to do there, and the piece is finished, but for that

71 For a definition of the Group’s studio, see Appendix B, Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan, n. 7.

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spot.” And this was in a phone conversation, so I said: “You have these sections of drum music and you used mostly snares off, and it all happens at different times, but each one of us also gets to turn our snare drum snares on with all of this Buddy Rich-style testing of equipment stuff, which is so cool. What is missing is that you have a resource you haven’t used. Could you turn the snare drums on and have a snare drum trio? This is something that hasn’t happened in the piece, but it is all sitting there waiting to happen.” And he said, “Ah yes, I see what you mean.”

And he came back having written, on yet a different size of manuscript paper, another little snare drum trio, and it is a very satisfying and fun section, with all of these rolls and stick click things.

I think these were my first experiences with a relationship like that. I think it had been a little different when it was only with my classmates, only with people my own age, which is partly the way that this developed from the very beginning, that is there was a socio-political component to it, and my friends in college were the other composers and I played on their recitals and they played on my recitals. When Michael Kowalski did his piano recital, he played

Cage and he asked me to play Cage with him, so we did Theatre Piece together.72 It wasn’t just composers who cared about themselves and wanted to get me to play their music. These were partnerships in doing this music and in discovering Cage. When Kowalski and Bill Matthews, two people who wrote pieces for my senior recital, played [Steve Reich’s] Piano Phase (1967), when it was only a year or two old—I don’t know how they got the manuscript for a student recital at Oberlin [Conservatory of Music] in the very early 1970s—well, I don’t know if they were any good at it or not, but I remember hearing it for the first time in that setting.73 So, we just did these projects together, and so of course, when they would write a piece, they would just

72 John Cage, Theatre Piece (New York: Henmar Press, 1960).

73 Steve Reich, Piano Phase (London: Universal, 1980).

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come to the studio. We were all the same age and we were all just groveling together to make things happen, and so then to transfer this to Herbert, clearly an established composer, but also someone who was open to this, and then again there was a sense of him probably playing the role of a really good pedagogue by just leaving some space, in this case for me to think about these things, while of course he was good enough that he could have thought of three different options for that section without any of my input—he could have finished the piece somehow. It is not like the piece never would have been finished, but it felt nice of him to say: “You know, I am stuck here. Give it a thought and tell me your ideas.”

AUTHOR: So, the entire way through the composition was a collaborative process. That is a different process from working with, let’s say John Luther Adams, who sends you completed movements and you respond with comments about the entire movement.

OTTE: That’s right.

AUTHOR: With Brün you collaborated in the midst of the compositional process. You worked through segments together.

OTTE: Yes, that is true, but it was not because he was any less capable. In fact, he had already had a longer track record of being capable. It remains a good lesson for me to learn even right now, as we speak. I think there was a conscious sense, on his part, of what he was doing—of how to make the whole thing function as a collaboration. He loved to talk about conspiracies—

“to breath together”—he fostered this.

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AUTHOR: In this thesis, I have tried, as much as possible, to remain focused on the performer’s perspective, and thus, have been less interested in the composer’s perspective. I am trying—on a high level—to address a flaw in the way contemporary percussion histories and commentaries fixate almost entirely on composers. These accounts tell us about Varèse, Cage, and Harrison, but fail to recognize how their compositions may have actually resulted from collaboration with performers. I am taking a much more performer-oriented perspective, but in these instances the individual identities and efforts of composers and performers become harder to parse. In the relationship you are describing, Herbert played more of the composer role and you that of the performer, but the composition was a joint venture. This is not just the case of a performer who forced a few ideas into the compositional process. Herbert was a composer who wanted the involvement of performers.

OTTE: Yes, that’s right, because there are composers who have been taken back a little bit by this sort of thing. Some are so completely unfamiliar with this that, initially, they feel like it is some indictment of their expertise or that we shouldn’t be commenting or that if they allow me into their process then they are admitting some flaw or weakness. There has to be a way to get over that, so they understand that when we comment on a compositional issue, it is not about a chink in their armor.

AUTHOR: Since the relationship with Brün was so close, did those pieces see a different type of development once they were part of the Group’s repertoire? Even after they became established parts of the repertoire and you played them on many concerts, did you approach them differently, because you had been so involved in the creation? Was there a sense of reverence around them,

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or perhaps, were you more willing to take a fresh approach with them, since you felt more ownership?

OTTE: The first thing that comes to mind is something that I’ve never thought about before, because there was this reverence for the composer, the performances had to be perfect. I feel some emotion about all of this, and I remember back to what it felt like to personally practice my parts and then to rehearse the parts together. Because of that connection to Herbert, of course they could never be perfect, but there was a maniacal drive—it was not possible to do any less than try to make them perfect. Well, then what are you going to do? Go to the next piece on the program and blow it off? Of course not, so this emotion just infused the whole attitude about what it meant, and whether or not we said this to ourselves, or whether I said this to myself, there was at least an intuition then that if this is what it feels like with that piece, with that guy, then on some other level it must be true with this piece, with some other guy who I don’t know quite as well or as personally. In that sense, I am not sure we dealt with them any differently other than it came to mean that we knew what Herbert wanted here or there and what this or that means, and so then we developed the same feelings about the next piece.

AUTHOR: This might be a very personal topic, but I’d like to know more about this goal of perfection. Money was not a factor—there wasn’t a financial gain to be made on either side.

Your reputation and Herbert’s reputation were already established and you had a strong sense of who you were and what you wanted to do. Was your goal of perfection important, solely because of the quality of the personal relationship?

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OTTE: It almost sounds corny, so it probably is, but it was actually about art—there was nothing else for it to be about except the integrity of the piece and the process. And that doesn’t feel pretentious now: it feels humbling. Just the opposite of being pretentious, it feels totally humbling. Also, what I loved about that is something that is a slightly defining characteristic of this whole history—many times Herbert would reference Chopin, Schubert, Mahler, or whoever.

What the hell does Chopin have to do with a bunch of hippies playing computer music on dirty old percussion instruments? I can’t tell you how many times he would say: “This is like the part of a Schubert song, like in Die schöne Müllerin.” Herbert could go to the piano and start playing any of these things. At his New Year’s Eve parties, at his house, he played a little bit of that and a little of this, and there was one time he must have started playing some Kurt Weill piece at the piano, and his wife went into the kitchen to get one of those old scouring brushes so I could play a brush pattern on some big book as Herbert played Weill on the piano. The point of all of this being: never was there any doubt that this was connected to the Western art music tradition. This is also the whole dichotomy of when you’re continuing a tradition, even when you say that you’re changing it. When [George] Antheil said he was the bad boy of music or when you say you are going to break the tradition and do something outrageous, you know that you must be familiar with the tradition and what it is you are rebelling against, so it is obvious that actually you are very much reverent of this whole thing. The whole idea of a chamber music group functioning in these sensitive sort of ways also comes from the fact that Herbert knew what he was talking about, whether it was Chopin piano music or Schubert songs, those things came up all the time and I guess they added a certain credibility for me, since I was eager to console myself—I wasn’t just a kid from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, banging around on a bunch of strange drum music. Here there was a way to connect this thing we were doing to the grandest and

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deepest traditions of my existence. Sure, there are a lot of other composers who cared about these different parts of the tradition and who would have done it, but there are just as many who wouldn’t have, and even those who made music for us and never talked about these connections or cared about them. Can I also say, if I’ve never said it, I’ve never felt, on the other hand, proud that I had to ask Michael Kowalski, whoever, fill in the blank, to write a piece for us, while we were not able to give him any money. We could only tell him that we would work on it, play it as well as we could, and play it as often as we could, but we didn’t have the money. It wasn’t that we were too lazy to pursue getting into the whole pipeline of chasing grants, but the fact of the matter was, it was very clear that if we were going to get a grant, then we were going to have to commission John Cage or Mario Davidovsky or someone who didn’t need the money, while

Michael Kowalski and Bill DeFotis weren’t doing that; they were doing the same thing as us.

Therefore, I think it is true that Mark Saya, who is someone I adore as a person and as a thinker, and who I can sit in concerts with and go to concerts together here at CCM, and we used to make some comments to each other about how Gerhard Samuel was interpreting a Mahler symphony or that Les Noces was a moment when Stravinsky actually knew what he was doing …. Well, I can’t write a grant and put Mark Saya’s name on it, and think that I am going to get the grant. So,

I am not proud of the fact that I have not paid Mark Saya. He should be paid, but there were reasons why we didn’t get into that whole track and once we had not been in it, then we’ve been out of it for nearly the whole time.

AUTHOR: Before I started this project and before I came to CCM, I had heard about your performances of Brün’s Plot, and when I was interviewing Ben Toth, he too brought up this

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piece.74 He commented that while he was a student at [the University of] Illinois, he saw you perform Plot and then spoke with Brün about the performance.75 Brün seemed in awe of all of the little things that you brought into it—all of the little excerpts that you had pulled from here and there. Was that something that you and Brün talked about?

OTTE: No, I’ve actually never heard that, and it is of course nice to hear. Did I ever tell you the story about Plot and Touch and Go?

AUTHOR: No.

OTTE: As I said earlier, Herbert would let me say something the way I wanted to say it and then he would say it the way he wanted to say it. So, there were these phone conversations between the two of us, because I think he was invited to one of the new music days at a PAS convention in Arizona. He said, “Could you play Touch and Go?” And I said, “Oh, well Plot is the piece I play.” He said, “Yeah, that’s right, Plot is the one you play.” And I said, “Okay, I’ll think about it. Maybe I could revive it.” So days and weeks go by, and we were again on the phone and he said, “So, Touch and Go, do you think it will happen?” I said, “No, Plot is the one I can prepare for this thing.” And he said, “Oh yes, yes.” I said, “I think I’ll have time to do it.” I can’t remember exactly, but this same thing probably happened a third time, and I hung up the phone and thought: “What a shame, Herbert is getting senile.” Then it dawned on me: “Wait a second, he really wants me to play Touch and Go.” So, I call him back and I said, “I’m thinking about playing Touch and Go for the performance.” And he said, “Wonderful!” Then there are other

74 See n. 55.

75 Appendix F, Transcript of Interview with Benjamin Toth, 416.

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anecdotes about the learning process for Touch and Go, but I finally arrived in Arizona, and I found him and said, “I have a dress rehearsal time, so you better come and see it.” He said: “I can just see it with everyone else. I’m sure it will be fine. I don’t need to check on you.” And so I was surprised and nervous. I played it in the concert, and he came up and took his bow afterwards. He was standing next to me and as the applause died down, he said, to me quietly—I can count on one hand the things that people have said to me where I think: “I will keep that one,”—so he nodded and quietly said, “For once in my life, someone has met me on this territory.” I knew what that meant, because it is a piece about touch and everything involving touching these surfaces and bringing music to life where it otherwise isn’t. So, though I didn’t know that he enjoyed Plot, it makes me think that I should go back, before I’m too old, and revive that one once more. It is interesting and it makes me a little uncomfortable here, since I don’t know you well enough—I’m not uncomfortable with people knowing that I am passionate about these things; that there is emotion involved and that there are deep connections to other human beings; connections bigger than either of us—but I was moved that Touch and Go was connected to Chopin somehow. Why wouldn’t one feel deep emotions about all of this? What is a little uncomfortable about it is the sense that you ask the question and then I have to think back, and I don’t want it to feel like I am at the end of my life surveying the various war zones and gardens of the past. I don’t want to feel like it is that, but in that sense, I suppose it could also just be fascinating.

AUTHOR: Some histories of ensembles are written after the members finish their careers or well after they are gone. Those are perfectly valid. However, my justification in studying the Group, an ensemble that is still performing, taking on new projects, and working with new composers, is that the Group is so minimally documented. Unless this type of study is completed while the

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three of you are still active, I don’t think I could get at a significant portion of the material, such as the contents of these interviews. I don’t want this to have the feeling of sharing old war stories, but I am interested in documenting as much of this undocumented ensemble as is possible and then focusing in on your collaboration with composers.

OTTE: And part of all of that is for good reasons. You could tell the story that for all the best reasons, we have not participated in a culture of celebrity and therefore it is less likely, unless someone comes along and has a personal situation like this, that our material is even discoverable or ferret-out-able.

AUTHOR: My hope is to put more of this material into a scholarly document, so that even if my analysis changes in time, or if I leave aspects unaddressed, than at least there is a sizable body of primary and secondary source data for others to turn to in the coming years.

I hope to eventually compare the collaborations with Cage and Brün, since a lot of people, even if they know very little about the Group, will likely at least make an association between this ensemble and John Cage.

OTTE: Yes.

AUTHOR: Whereas, if there is a single relationship with a composer that best defines the initial goals of the Group, it would probably be the relationship with Brün.

OTTE: Yes.

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AUTHOR: And if you ask a room full of PAS attendees, “Who is Herbert Brün?,” I assume many would probably have no idea.

OTTE: Of course.

AUTHOR: So this is one of multiple instances where the less-documented portions of the

Group’s history are significant, but difficult to analyze without further information from all of you. A similar situation arises when we look at Russell Peck. Lift-Off! was a composition well established in your repertoire and then you began working on the concerto, and had direct contact with Peck as you dramatically influenced that composition. And here, you are going to have to help fill me in on some of this. From what I know, you recommended to Peck that he use something along the lines of Lift-Off! for the opening of The Glory and the Grandeur.

OTTE: No. I literally cut and pasted Lift-Off! into The Glory and the Grandeur.

AUTHOR: If you want to start more broadly in discussing your relationship with Peck and then get into the history of the concerto, then that is fine. This is a different relationship than the one with Brün, but both provided for very direct contact between you and a composer.

OTTE: Yes, absolutely.

AUTHOR: And the relationship contributed directly to the composition.

OTTE: Yes. With Peck, we should go way back to catch the establishment of that relationship.

When I was a senior at Oberlin [Conservatory of Music], Bill Albright came to play a concert,

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and he played a piece by William Bolcom called Black Host (1967) for organ and percussion.76 I was the percussionist who played the small percussion part with him. This was the part of my life at Oberlin during which I worshipped my traditional teacher from the Cleveland Orchestra

[Richard Weiner], who came down once a week, but spent all of my daily life with the composition faculty and the young theory faculty. So, when they brought in someone like Bill

Albright, maybe beyond what now seems easily appropriate, I was invited to spend time with him. I kept in touch with Albright a little bit after his visit, and it wasn’t long after that when

Blackearth was getting started. I wrote to him and said: “I’m starting a new group. Do you think you could write a piece for us?” Something about him, about his genial personality, made me feel comfortable actually writing to him, and he said, “yes,” he would like to write for us. So, this is a case where he just sent us a xerox of his manuscript. The piece was dedicated “to the memory of Russell Peck, Take That.”77 It didn’t mean anything to us. It didn’t mean anything for years. It was a great piece, and we played it a lot.

A few years later, Blackearth had been at Northern Illinois University for a year or two when the school hired a new composer for the faculty, Russell Peck. In the first weeks that he is there, he came by our studio and said: “Hey, I wrote a percussion piece years ago, and I thought you might want to look at it.” He hands us his manuscript of Lift-Off!, and our jaws hit the floor.

A few days later, I said, “Russell, I’m not sure you know about this,” and I gave him the score to

Take That. I still have the letter that Russell then wrote to Bill Albright in which he was just fuming. It is a funny letter—he was just really fuming. And in the mean time, it had happened that somebody saw the score to Take That “to the memory of Russell Peck” and said, “Gosh, I

76 William Bolcom, Black Host (Paris: Jobert, 1972).

77 The dedication reads, “To Russell Peck.” The title, Take That, follows on the next line. See Chapter 2, 29–30.

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didn’t know Russell died.” I said: “I don’t know. I don’t know Russell.” Then Russell was very strong with us; if we ever played Take That again then he thought we were as culpable in the whole rotten thing as was Albright. I always took the attitude that these two pieces are less similar than a Haydn and a Mozart string quartet from a certain moment in the whole history of music. But isn’t it interesting, just because it is a piece for bass drums and tom-toms and that it ends with rising swells in the age of stereo LPs, that therefore Russell felt he had been ripped off.

He took the title personally, as if it said, “fuck you.” I didn’t fault Bill Albright, and I don’t think it meant that either. I think it meant, “take that,” as a comment to the audience, since it was an assaulting kind of piece. So, Blackearth was about to become a trio, and we started playing Lift-

Off! I did, then subsequently, make a trio version of Take That, and we played it once in a while, years later.

So, Russell was a friend on the faculty for those years at Northern Illinois [University].

We played Lift-Off! a lot already in those years. Then he called me one day. We had since both gone our separate ways. We came here [to CCM], and he had moved to North Carolina. Over the years we had occasional, friendly contact, but then he called me one day, and I was sitting at my kitchen table, and he said: “I have a commission from the Greensboro Symphony. I had the idea to write a percussion concerto and I wonder if you would be interested in that?” I said:

“Fabulous! Yes, I am very, very interested.” So then I started thinking what would make a good concerto for us, and I called him back after a while and said: “Here are some thoughts. Like the

Beethoven Fourth Piano Concerto, let us start the piece. Let us go out and do what we do best.

We will set the mood for how the piece is going to go. Put the cadenza in the beginning so we can set the tone in every way for everyone—for ourselves, we will feel good about doing what

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we are doing, and also for the audience so that they can get into that, and the orchestra can get that idea. Then, they join us.” You know the Beethoven Fourth Piano Concerto?

AUTHOR: Yes.

OTTE: The opening goes by very quickly, but it does this sort of thing. Russell said: “Okay, that makes sense to me.” I said: “Now, a few other things—we’ve got these Chilean songs that we’ve played for a long time, and we all play them on one marimba. So, the idea of all of us going to one marimba at some point in the piece, this would be a beautiful thing. I want you to find a way to do that in the piece. Those are the two big things, but then, thirdly, I would like to go around our studio and make a recording for you of just sounds that are interesting.” So, I made a tape of all or our Chinese gliss gongs, and that ended up being a big section in the piece, and I can’t remember what else. Some of the sounds never happened to find their way into the piece, but he was really interested, for a long time, in these kids’ hoses.78 Russell called them “harmono- twirls.” It was great. He said: “I’m going to call them harmono-twirls.” There was always going to be a second movement to this piece. It was going to feature harmono-twirls, but he never got around to it. So, then again, he sent us manuscripts of little parts of the piece and asked if the sections worked. Now, this sort of curious thing has happened over the years, when composers send us material from the beginning of a piece: we decide who is going to do what, having no idea that the part you just chose, five minutes down the road in the piece, is going to be the one that gets something else. Well, that happened in this piece. The truth of the matter is that there are places, and we still do the piece differently than it is published, where we end up switching

78 The Group keeps several hose-like children’s toys that when swung in circles in the air create a pitched humming sound.

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parts, and this happens in other pieces too. So, he composed an opening cadenza for three sets of drums, like Lift-Off!, but a completely new composition, and we played through it. I then called him up and said: “Russell, Lift-Off! is so much better. The constraints of having to catch that kind of energy ought not be more than two and a half minutes. I feel like you missed it, but in a way that you really got it in Lift-Off! I have an idea. Do you mind if I try to cut up Lift-Off!, and I will get us from here to there?” He said: “Sure, have a try.” So I did that. I sent it back to him and he said: “Well, why not? This sounds great.” So, we still play the opening of the concerto from the original cut and pasted portions of the 1966 manuscript of Lift-Off! Russell, long since then, recopied the parts and had his wife put it into Finale®, and that his how everyone else plays it. Now, there was one other section in the piece.

AUTHOR: Could I jump in for a moment?

OTTE: Absolutely.

AUTHOR: When you sent it back to him with the cuts and pastes, was there any hesitation on his part?

OTTE: No, it was just thumbs up. I don’t remember any change from what I recommended.

There had to be the slightest little fudging of Lift-Off! in order to make the transitions, but I just went to those places, and I knew what we were trying to do—this was the opening moments of catching the audience—so I selected the moments of Lift-Off! that do that best. Then we just needed to get from there, to there, to there. I found those three spots and found a way to just connect them and let the tempo flow a little bit to get between each one, and I change what drum a few things happen on, since we want to get to the big drums for the swells at the end, but we

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were not there in what Russell always called “the jungle music part,” and since that stuff had to be there, we gradually had to move down through the drums to arrive at where we needed to be.

But, yes, he was immediately fine with this.

There is one other section in the piece where he just cascades through these kaleidoscope ideas. It is a lovely moment where his orchestration is just beautiful, and it is brilliant and things are at a little transitional moment between two bigger sections. There is a xylophone duo here, and those parts are just zooming up and down scales, contrary arpeggios, and little things.

Modulations keep happening and while that is going on, the third player was playing kind of a drum set part. There are other places in the piece where the Lift-Off! setup can have snares on or off and there are suspended cymbals, so where it becomes drum set stuff. So, he had drum set kicks and pokes in there, and for whatever reason it occurred to me that to enhance this kaleidoscope of chord changes, I thought: “The drum set part is actually detracting. There is a glockenspiel sitting right there. The third guy should go over and just participate in a third kaleidoscope wheel of things. Now, what did Russell say about that? Well, he didn’t want to be bothered with it, or perhaps he would do it, but I think I offered. I said: “I can do it. I know I can write that part.” Or maybe he said, “I don’t feel like it. Do you want to do it?” Maybe he said,

“I’m not sure exactly what you mean.” And I said, “I can write it and show you.” But, however it happened, for those eight bars I just looked at the score and added a third layer of a glockenspiel part and then I sent him a xerox, and he said, “Yeah, it looks great.” So, we learned that. It was a good idea and so sometimes over the decades he has made a little joke about my two cents worth of royalties for composing those parts. The fact of the matter is, it was another one of those moments, and it is easy to say with hindsight, I was right. It worked well.

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Then, the first time we played the rehearsal, there in Greensboro, it was a fabulously exhilarating experience. I always liked the piece and the irony of this piece was that Nexus had gotten started performing their [Toru] Takemitsu piece.

AUTHOR: From Me Flows What You Call Time?79

OTTE: Yes, with its shockingly pretentious title—I know it comes from a novel and it didn’t really mean that, but it kind of meant that.80 So, they had gotten going on that piece right at the same time. For a group whose whole success was based on their audience-friendly entertainment value, this was a very serious concerto. Conversely, the inside people, who would hear us play

Cage, and then hear them play Cage, when they would occasionally play Cage or some other new music piece, would talk about these two different groups existing. Other than that, they had a whole different sphere of activity. So, we get going on concertos at about the same time, and the irony is that they get this twenty-five minute pretty darn serious concerto, which I personally have heard many times and I don’t think it is very successful and I don’t care for it, but they get all of their standing ovations for this kind of serious new music thing, and they play it over and over again. Whereas, we, the serious Herbert Brün guys, get this piece which is nothing more than George Gershwin goes to Motown. And Russell Peck is brilliant with this stuff—he is really good at his ability to write for the orchestra. He is like [Maurice] Ravel. He learned his lessons from Ravel as well as anybody could learn them. The way he scores these pieces—you can tell when you stand there and can hear and see them—they are beautiful. The fact that the piece was fun, well done, and calculated to make its affect, but also beautifully done and very well written;

79 Toru Takemitsu, From Me Flows What You Call Time (Tokyo: Schott, 2004).

80 Takemitsu drew the title from Makoto Ooka’s poem “Clear Blue Water.”

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well, I really respected that. I always have liked the piece despite the irony that some people thought it was the cheapest thing that we had ever done. We played it on pops concerts and outdoor concerts, and it was such an entré into the world of orchestral music and that’s another big thing. We did the premiere of it, and I sensed that we had entered a new world, a new era. I felt this was going to do something for the Group; this was a big deal for us. The truth of the matter is that Ben [Toth] and Jim [Culley] were skeptical about this Motown-type piece and how it fit our image. One or both of them said after the first performance, “We certainly will never play that again.” I certainly want to say it wasn’t that it touched an unseemly commercial corner of my soul. I never thought, “Ah, finally I can get out there and compete with all of these people and compete on this level and sell my soul to be as famous as some other people.” I don’t think so. I think I am being honest about understanding what Russell had done. When he said, “I want to write a concerto for you.” I said, “Absolutely, could you send a cassette of some of your recent orchestra pieces?” Or, he may have offered by saying, “You should hear some of what I have been doing, so you know what we are talking about.” Either way, he sent a cassette of two recent pieces, one of which is called Signs of Life (1983–86), a two-movement piece, which again, I have always described it as a two-movement piece where the first movement is a slow movement—a string orchestra piece—and the second movement is Gustav Mahler on a train going to Appalachia and hearing country fiddles for the first time in his life.81 It is just wonderful. After all of this string music straight out of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony, we stumble across Appalachia and you start tapping your toe. It is just great, and it is just so well done. I love it. Then there was this children’s concert piece, which he has since done a million times, called

81 Russell Peck, Signs of Life (Greensboro, NC: Pecktackular Music, 1986).

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The Thrill of the Orchestra (1985).82 It is a Benjamin Britten-style children’s guide and this makes me want to go listen to it again right now, because it is just so genuinely happy and it is so well done with his narration—how he introduces children to all the cool things—but it is also a toe-tapping piece.83 One can hear in his orchestrations that he knows his art and craft. So my response to him was, “Yes, yes, make something like that for us.” Then, when we performed it

[The Glory and the Grandeur] for the first time, I felt that indeed it was a level of performing where we could, in fact, inhabit a world of the professional concert industry that was above just university new music concerts, art galleries, and children’s concerts in the elementary schools. It was a piece that I felt, obviously, was going to be able to do all of that. And sure enough, Russell is one of the best composers at his own self promotion, and all of this happened because he had the contacts and he was pushing it and he said, “Let’s do this next, then this.” But, there were all kinds of bitter pills with that piece. Well, god damit, it is a better piece because of the way that we worked with the composer. We work with composers in that way all the time. By the time you tally up the way that opening works, the instrumentation, the wonderful little marimba trio, how he used the gliss gongs, which then generated various sections of little chinoiseries, and all of these are wonderful things, we were a big part of that piece. So, when it comes time to record the piece, if it had been Herbert Brün or Mark Saya or a different personality with a different relationship to their career, they would have said no to recording until it came down that we were the ones who were going to play it. Russell Peck had this orchestra [Alabama Symphony] in

Atlanta or wherever it was—somewhere in the South—and had a conductor [Paul Polivnick] who was a big promoter and had done some of Russell’s music. The conductor said: “Okay, I got

82 Russell Peck, The Thrill of the Orchestra (Greensboro, NC: Pecktackular Music, 1985).

83 Otte refers to Benjamin Britten, The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra: Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell, Op. 34 (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 1947).

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the grant. Our orchestra is going to make a recording of your music and let’s play The Glory and the Grandeur.” 84 Russell might have said, “Well, can you hire the guys who did the premiere?”

I’m sure he said the sentence, but the conductor probably said: “That will be awkward here. I should just use my percussionists.” So, Russell said, “Fine.” Did he make the right decision for the life of the piece? I don’t know, maybe. Why would he have canceled the whole project with this conductor and orchestra just to protect the integrity of my friendship? I don’t know.

AUTHOR: At this point you had already started discussing recording the piece with Peck and an orchestra in Europe, correct?

OTTE: You know, there was even an interview in a Cincinnati newspaper, something about the

Group, and so I even called Russell and said: “You know, I don’t want to be saying this in print if it is not really very sure or if it might not happen. Can I say this? I am about to do an interview with a newspaper. Can I mention it?” He assured me, “Yeah, absolutely, this is going to happen, because actually the orchestra in the South isn’t going to do everything, they are just going to do two or three of my pieces, and the London Symphony is already contracted to do a different piece.” Russell said: “Yes, I want you guys to do the concerto with the London Symphony. We are going to go over and do the recording.” So, you can try to find the article somewhere, and it says: “The Group is on its way to London to record its concerto.”85 Then it never happened. And this is another example which comes up repeatedly now, where my colleagues, even if they change a little bit over the years, take these things differently. There are a number of things that play into this: one, is the obvious thing, that I am the one who has more of the contact with the

84 Russell Peck, Orchestral Music, Albany Records-Troy 040, CD, 2000.

85 I have been unable to identify the publication information for the comment Otte paraphrased.

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composers, the personal relationships, which then develop into going out for beer and coffee after the concert, hanging out a little bit, going to visit them to work on the pieces before hand or continuing the personal friendships afterward. It never, with any of these people, remains just talking about the music. These are friendships, so we talked about everything: current events, love lives, food, and of course it is a normal friendship, so when stuff happens, like this recording falling through, and it has happened with a number of these composers, whoever the colleagues are at the time, they are cynical about it. They have not invested themselves in as much of a personal relationship and they understand that while we play that guy’s music, we are his best friend and he loves us, and the moment that someone else is going to play it or some other dollar sign or some other celebrity thing comes up, then they might not remember so clearly how dear a friend we are. And I would have to say that my personal friends, over all of these decades, have tended not to be other percussionists. I know the percussionists in the

[Cincinnati] Symphony [Orchestra], but I have never hung with them; whereas, Rusty [Burge] and Jim [Culley] do—they have nice personal relationships with them and with other percussionists. I have always had personal, friendly relationships with composers all over the world. So, I am invested in these friendships in a way that they are not invested in these friendships. They have a slightly more traditional musician’s skepticism. Even when new music comes in and we are rehearsing it, they can be easily more dismissive of pieces: “What is this?” I don’t mean to disparage anything that’s happening, but there are different personalities involved and there are ways that people exist and function and things that happen. It is true that I’m the one who has had those relationships, and it is also true that I’m the one who then gets back to the composers and says: “I don’t think this works. Either you should fix it, or I think I know what you meant—could you have meant this? If we change the instruments or if we change this or

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that, then that will help.” Often the composers will say, “Yeah, maybe you’re right,” or, “Sure, try it out.” It is rare that they will say, “No, don’t do that.” My colleagues aren’t in that kind of mindset. If something is printed in a score, then they say: “Yeah, I agree with you, it is stupid and it doesn’t work, but let’s get it over with. Let’s play it once and be done with it.” If you play in the Cincinnati Symphony [Orchestra], you don’t raise your hand and say, “Maestro, could I rewrite this? Could you contact John Williams and tell him that this doesn’t work?” So, they are in a little more of a different mindset. I think that they get annoyed, as though this is about some sort of inflated opinion of myself. I don’t know, maybe it is. I don’t feel that way—I wouldn’t tell the story that way. Maybe some psychoanalyst has to ultimately write the biography that says that this is exactly what I was doing all along, but it doesn’t feel that way right now.

AUTHOR: There are two issues related to the topic of reception, which we will address later, but that I want to at least touch on now, since they are also part of this discussion. One criticism that could be leveled against the Group is that your very few recordings have limited the number of people who can listen to the works in your repertoire.86 Nexus, by comparison, has produced many recordings.87 A second criticism is that you haven’t used the percussion community as an avenue for airing new material. The Group doesn’t appear to associate with the percussion ensemble community.

86 While the Group has contributed tracks to fifteen commercially available recordings, only three of those are their own full-length albums: Percussion Group Cincinnati, The Percussion Group Cincinnati: Music of Herbert Brün, Theodore May, Stephen Mosko, Takayoshi Yoshioka, William DeFotis, Jonathan Kramer, Russell Peck, Christian Wolff, and Michael Udow, Opus One Records 80 & 81, LP, 1981; Percussion Group Cincinnati, Percussion Group Cincinnati, Ars Moderno 01, CD, 1999; and John Luther Adams, Strange and Sacred Noise, performed by the Percussion Group Cincinnati, Mode Records 153, DVD, 2005.

87 Nexus, the Toronto-based percussion chamber music group, released its twenty-third full-length album in 2007.

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OTTE: Yes, right. There is a story related to this, too. It was my idea to Russell [Peck], after we played the concerto a bunch of times with orchestras all over the place, that he should make a wind ensemble version. Most percussion concertos eventually have a wind ensemble version, and if he made one, then we could market it to universities, where we were going to do workshops. He said, “Absolutely not! I am not going to degrade the greatness of this orchestra piece by turning it into a band piece.” He refused year after year after year. He said, “Not until it is completely played out as an orchestra piece, will I do that.” Then, just a year ago, after two decades and many conversations, it was time to do a wind ensemble version.88 Well, somehow the University of North Texas, a big wind ensemble program, got the premiere. Somehow,

Christopher Deane, my former student and someone who likes me a lot and who is very respectful, got the premiere for [the University of] North Texas. He was in Greensboro [North

Carolina] for a while and also knew Russell, so they had their own personal relationship. I don’t know the history of who got things going, but there it was, the first time the wind ensemble version is ever played, and it is at a PAS convention in front of thousands of people, and it is played by somebody else, with no mention of us whatsoever, and no mention of the history of it.89 The new version is already recorded by them.90 So, I could be pissed off with Russell for selling us short on this thing, but, once again, somebody else was expending the energy, getting the money in place, and whatever else needed to be done—somebody else expended the energy to make it happen. What could I have done differently? Was it too late when I found out? What

88 Russell Peck, The Glory and the Grandeur: A Concerto for Percussion Trio, arranged for wind symphony by the composer (Greensboro, NC: Pecktackular Music, 2006).

89 While the Group was not mentioned in the program for the November 2006 premiere performance at the PAS convention in Austin, Texas, they were mentioned in the first sentence of Scott Herring’s review of the new arrangement, which ran in the subsequent issue of the PAS journal, Percussive Notes.

90 The University of North Texas Wind Symphony, Percussive Palooza, GIA Publication DVD-753, DVD, 2006.

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happened and why did the thing in London fall through? Did it disintegrate because this other thing rose up? Was it too late by that moment? It seems that I would have clutched at the instant that he said some other people were interested in recording the concerto. Would I have done something? Shouldn’t I have gone to every businessman in Cincinnati and said, “I need to raise

$5,000 for a recording project?” It wouldn’t have been that much, at that time, to record one piece. Why didn’t I do that?

AUTHOR: Culley told me that the way he found out about the Alabama Symphony recording was through one of his friends.91 His friend was one of the percussionists recording it, and he called Jim to ask a question about a part, since the friend knew the Group premiered the concerto. That was the first Culley had heard that you guys weren’t going to do the recording.

OTTE: He has a good memory for all of these little details. That rings true to me, and then I would have called Russell and he would have cleared his throat and put a positive spin on it.

AUTHOR: You mentioned that you were the one who suggested the wind ensemble version.

OTTE: Absolutely.

AUTHOR: Does that date all the way back to the time of composition?

OTTE: No, that was at least seven to ten years later. It was after we had really been out and playing the concerto and having success. I had the idea that we could play this at universities, but that university orchestras probably weren’t going to hire us. There was, however, a big market

91 Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 197.

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for wind ensemble versions of these pieces. Market, hmm …? This is the other frustration. I guess there are three things you have to put on the list of criticisms. [Laughing] We are not endorsers. We have no corporate affiliation. People by this point in history, and this goes back to something I said at the beginning of this session about how times have changed and people have reinvented themselves, and in the Blackearth days, that wasn’t the case. I don’t think we would have discussed it at that time, well yeah, we probably did, but it wasn’t like it was happening, but it has long since happened that pretty much the only way that other percussionists would get to do workshops, not only at other universities but anywhere, is based on who your sponsors are and which companies are going to throw money into the pot. We used to get calls, though we are getting them less now, we used to get calls with some regularity from all over, Argentina and

Puerto Rico as well as from places like Oklahoma and South Carolina: “We’ve got to have you guys. You are great. Who is your sponsor?” And I said, “Well, we don’t do that.” And I’d hear:

“Okay, that might be a problem. I will check into it and get back to you.” And, of course, that was the last time we would ever hear from them. So this Russell Peck piece, I thought, would be a way to address that problem, because I felt it then and I feel it even more right now—I know that we, as individuals and as a group, are good teachers. We have something to say. We have something to show. We really have something to offer. All over the internet you see all these people who are—I don’t know how their wives and kids know them—they are so fucking busy all over the planet, with all of their little clinics and workshops and all of this kind of stuff. I don’t know, maybe they’re nice people, but some of them, I think, we have something more interesting to say than they do. So great, I’m a jerk [laughing], but I know how to teach. I know how to say it and tell it, but these things aren’t going to happen because Vic Firth is not going to send me $500 to go wherever and say it. Well, I don’t want Vic Firth’s $500. So, to connect this

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to the Russell Peck thing, at least ten years ago or whenever that was, there was a thought that this would be a way to make ourselves an interesting package for which people could scrape together some money for us to do this.

AUTHOR: The two metaphors I’ve heard you associate with the Group are the road band—you play new music in live concerts—and the string quartet—you are chamber musicians who make very high quality music after spending intense rehearsals getting to know each others’ idiosyncrasies. Those two images do not put the Group in the same realm with the percussion ensembles that go to PAS conventions. They would undoubtedly explain their efforts toward quality music-making, but I cannot recall a single instance, in all of the literature about percussion chamber ensembles, where an ensemble purposefully compared themselves to a string quartet. Most ensembles seem eager to take compositions to PAS conventions, not to chamber music society concert series. If you premiere the initial version of the Peck concerto at a PAS convention, it could have likely trickled down through college ensembles and then into some better high school ensembles, as has the wind symphony version. This model is visible in the standard reception of many works premiered at those conventions. Is it reasonable to assume that if you recorded works, such as the concerto, and floated them in the normal percussion pools, then the Group might be better known in the percussion community?

OTTE: Yes, if you looked at catalogs of publications from various university presses and their wide distribution, in comparison to how deeply people, like you, have to go into our arcana just to write their theses; well, there could be a whole book on why the Group failed. It would be about the individual personality flaws, the character flaws, and what was it that made me incapable of just playing the game. What about the managers? Why was there not the right

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manager at the right time? Why was the wrong manager not jettisoned soon enough? I don’t even know what all the answers are, and I don’t know what all the questions are. And maybe we didn’t fail, but sometimes sitting on this side of my glasses, I can feel tremendously self- deprecatory about the whole thing and how badly it was handled. And then there could be a whole discussion of my perception, where I’m culpable of not doing the right thing at the right time. Then, during the whole time, having, wanting, and needing to put the positive spin on all of these things. I’m not sure which is true. The positive spin? Perhaps Herbert Brün could sit here, or is sitting in his grave, or is looking down, and his spirit is thinking what an idiot I am for saying these things. I don’t need to spin these things. I did do it for the right reasons and these are good things. Of course I am not a celebrity. He would say, “Are you an idiot? Of course you don’t want to be a celebrity.” And of course I shouldn’t be as famous as Mark Ford and “Talking

Heads” or whatever his pieces are called.92 He is even a nice guy, so it has nothing to do with that. But, boy there sure is a lot of time when I stare out at my twenty-five acres of trees and think, “Did I do the right thing? Did I do the wrong thing? Which way should the story be told?”

AUTHOR: What about the differences found in each of your relationships with composers and the resulting compositions? If you consider the [Herbert] Brün pieces, then go to [Russell] Peck, then [Mark] Saya, [Michael] Barnhart, [John Luther] Adams, [John] Cage, and so forth, and if you look at each of these individually—one composer, one set of pieces, one relationship—then it seems like there have been many different models. To use Herbert’s term, “the conspiracies” are comprised partly by you, partly by Jim, partly by Rusty, and partly by the composer.

Presumably, a successful collaboration with Peck wouldn’t look similar to a successful collaboration with Cage or one with anyone else. A mistake with Peck might not have even been

92 Mark Ford, Head Talk (Nashville, TN: Innovative Percussion, 1995).

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an issue with Saya. What are your opinions about the value of your process—treating each relationship individually? For the purpose of comparison, I have been looking at a dissertation on the University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Series.93 That is a standardized process, written-out in great detail. The composers contracted tend to be stylistically similar, and the pieces are required to fall within a specific criterion. That model has produced a lot of works that are performed, both by [the University of] Oklahoma Percussion

Ensemble and other ensembles, recorded, and talked about. The Group’s works aren’t like that.

They aren’t performed as often, but they appear far more diverse.

OTTE: It is a wonderful perspective for me to hear, because how many percussionists—which exponentially multiplies this beyond just saying percussion groups—would have pieces written for them by Russell Peck and Lou Harrison? Does anybody even know that Lou Harrison wrote a piece for us?94 [Laughing]

I then start to feel sorry for you, because with my personality and interest in all of these things, it is obvious that I am going to say, “Wow, this is very interesting,” but it really is interesting, and so I feel sorry for you, because we have been sitting here a long time talking and

I feel like we are just scratching the surface. I have plenty to say, and we could stumble through all of this—the whole Lou Harrison thing would be quite interesting to share, with the personal contact and all of this stuff with him.95

93 Lance Drege, “The University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Series and Percussion Press, 1978–99: An Examination of Its History” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 2000).

94 Lou Harrison, Canticle and Round for Gerhard Samuel’s Birthday (1942, rev. 1993), folder 14:8, Lou Harrison Music Manuscript Collection, University of California, Santa Cruz. Harrison gave his permission for Otte to revise Canticle # 5 (1942) for the Group, and the composer then added to it a new piece called Round, which he dedicated to his friend, conductor and composer Gerhard Samuel.

95 During a visit to the University of Illinois, Otte spent a day looking through the contents of the “Paul Price Percussion Music and Papers, 1961–82,” which are housed in the university’s Sousa Archive and Center for 309

So, this makes me think of the thing I was saying in the beginning, about my former classmates from undergraduate school, people who were then, and are still—now thirty-five years later—my closest friends. One transfer from those relationships was that I have always paid attention not only to big composers—Lou Harrison—but also to students: undergraduate composers, masters, and doctoral students. We have always had in our repertory, works by students—people we ask because we heard one of their pieces and noticed them in the hallways.

This might also be a difference from other percussionists or percussion ensembles that might be more likely to ask a composer to write a piece for them after hearing one of that composer’s percussion pieces. We are more likely to ask a composer to write something for us after we hear his computer piece or her string quartet. It is just fine that they have never written a note for percussion. It is just fine if you hear a fabulous piece for string quartet or a computer piece and you say, “I’d like to talk to you about your next project.” Of course there are talented twenty- year olds—of course not every one of them or not every year—so, you can probably count on one hand the undergraduate works in our entire history, but why not include them. They are xeroxes of messy pencil manuscripts, and that is another element of all this. For other people to know these pieces and play them, I or the composer would have to somehow get a good copy to a publisher or use some internet dissemination. There has not been much success in that, since that also takes some amount of energy and time.

American Music. In the collection, Otte discovered one of Lou Harrison’s notebooks. Upon leafing through the pages, Otte came across a composition titled Canticle No. 5. It was an unpublished quartet, and Otte was confident it was in Harrison’s hand, so he xeroxed the pages. Soon thereafter he called Harrison, who Otte had previously met through a mutual friend, Gerhard Samuel. Harrison was delighted that someone had found the notebook, because he had lost it years earlier. Otte inquired about Canticle No. 5 and asked if Harrison would allow him to adapt it for three players. The composer agreed. Otte also asked Harrison if he would be willing to compose a new work to pair with Canticle No. 5. Harrison responded by composing Round for Gerhard Samuel’s Birthday. The Group performs the resulting combined composition as Canticle and Round for Gerhard Samuel’s Birthday.

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AUTHOR: The flip side is that if the Group was solely devoted to advocating the works of undergraduates, you might never have The Glory and the Grandeur or Music for Three.

OTTE: That’s right.

AUTHOR: So, the question returns to your goals. One could ask, if you wanted to play the music of Brün, then why were you also interested in the music of Cage, or Saya, or Xiao-Song?

OTTE: It is diverse, and yet it is an interesting point to develop—diverse within what trajectory?

Especially compared to most percussion ensembles, who consider themselves diverse, but mostly in my era that has meant including popular music, if not literally ragtime, or that plus pop music influences, world music influences, or a willingness or an ability to play lots of different kinds of ethnic instruments, if not even that culture’s actual music.

AUTHOR: Does that element of composer meritocracy re-enter your equation? You seek a good composer who might be interested in writing for percussion as opposed to finding a proven percussion composer.

OTTE: I have a deep desire to have an imaginary new music festival in Paris or Donaueschingen, where there is a string quartet, then a piano piece, then a computer piece, then we come on and play our percussion trio, and then a chamber orchestra piece finishes. This has never happened, but my feeling is that a huge percentage of the body of works to be performed at next week’s

PAS convention could not be the piece that goes in that slot. And I only want the pieces that go in that slot. I only want the pieces that I could offer to the new music festival promoters and to which they would say, “Oh yes, this can go right here.” So, then a fourth criticism is this whole

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idea of the exalted position I give to chamber music and wanting to make the analogy to the string quartet that even by the time I first articulated it, the cultural visionaries were already looking at something else. I am about the same age as the first violinist of the Kronos Quartet.96

I’m not sure exactly what their history is or exactly what was the very first things they did. I guess they were a little later, because in the Blackearth days, the Concord Quartet was a group that we both had a little sympathy with, but were also competitive with, because the cellist in the

Concord Quartet was a classmate of ours at Oberlin [Conservatory of Music].97 They only lasted for like seven years, but they paralleled the Blackearth time, and I was a little crabby that they were getting more famous than we were for playing new music, but they were an absolutely traditional down-the-pike string quartet, that just played almost exclusively new music. So, this is maybe the last example of a new music quartet before Kronos. My point is that the Kronos people are about my generation, but they were the visionaries, who were able to smell where the culture was going and how to be a part of the celebrity culture. Let’s say, for all the right reasons, we play well, and we also want to promote ourselves and to be on the wave of where things are going. We would have had to cultivate an image, dye our hair, and wear this or that. Well, they were already doing those things when I was still taking as my examples the LaSalle Quartet and the Julliard Quartet. I was saying and kept saying, “We are going to play chamber music.” What the hell is chamber music? Who cares about chamber music in 2007? The chamber music societies, as Franz Schubert knew them, are dead and buried all over the world. How preposterous was it that I was fighting for my position in a dead European genre?

96 Violinist David Harrington (b. 1949) founded the Kronos Quartet in 1973.

97 Norman Fischer, Otte’s Oberlin Conservatory of Music classmate, performed as the Concord Quartet’s cellist through the ensemble’s entire history, 1971–87.

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AUTHOR: Perhaps another way of making sense of all of this is to look at another different relationship. We spoke about Brün, a mentor and composer with whom the Group shared a founding philosophy and shared interests. Then, we looked at Peck and the composition of a piece that included a tremendous amount of contact between composer and performer. Now, can we turn to a student, someone who was totally unknown when you first met? Let’s talk about

Mark Saya. It begins as a relationship between a student and a faculty member.98 Could you walk me through how you got to know him?

OTTE: I feel like I should say as a footnote to the Peck discussion, although he and I continued our friendship—though we don’t have a lot of contact now—it is the kind of friendship that even if we haven’t talked for a couple of years, the moment we are on the phone, things just click in and it goes, and it is fun and funny. So, the relationship with him had a lot to do with him as a person, not only this piece. We were very much then on his coat tails, because of this piece, since he was the businessman in this world. He had the experience. He had the contacts. He had the energy. He was the one who would say: “Here is the phone number of this conductor and this manager. Pursue this. I have already mentioned you guys to him. They did my music two years ago, so just remind them.” So, it was his energy and business sense that dragged me along through that aspect of playing a concerto, but it was easy enough with someone feeding it to me.

A tremendous frustration though, is that there were any number of examples, no exaggeration, when he would get something started, or maybe even somehow between our manager and me, we would get something going, and I would be sending video tapes, recordings, photographs, score examples, and all of this stuff, and then at the last moment, all of a sudden, the trail ran dry. Either I would call Russell and say: “What is going on? Do you know what is going on?”

98 Saya completed an MM and DMA in composition at CCM in 1980 and 1986, respectively.

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Or, it just dried up and I heard nothing. I’d say, “These things happens.” Then, I’d see published somewhere that indeed someone else was doing the piece. They would just do it with three percussionists from the local orchestra. This happened any number of times, and it just drove me crazy—not only because I had done all of the work to get this thing in the pipeline, but what orchestra on the planet would have some manager call them and say: “Beethoven wrote a really great violin concerto and you should do it. Here is the music. Here is a video.” Then they finally decide to do it and the conductor says: “Okay we are going to play this Beethoven violin concerto. Is anyone in the second violins busy that night? Sally, would you like to play this piece?” Well, that never happens with violin concertos, but with percussion concertos, things are different.

You can spin it positively and say we did a great thing for the world of percussion with this piece, and people who are good players, and in some cases students of ours, got to play the piece in any number of situations. So, I should be happy that they got to do something good, yet the whole story of the input to the composition, what it was supposed to be about, the idea of letting us get out there and do our chamber music thing, well, what the hell does it sound like when that sort of stuff is played by three people who have never played chamber music together, except for counting one-thousand measures of rest together prior to poking a triangle. It just made me throw up my hands. It was a disappointment and an annoyance, because did that ever happen with the Takemitsu piece [From Me Flows What You Call Time]? Well, I am sure it never happened. Why not? Was it in the contract or was someone protecting Nexus, so that this piece could never be performed by the people in the orchestra—the solo parts had to be performed by Nexus? They probably had an exclusive thing that made it impossible for the orchestra guys just to play the parts, but for us, this was nearly a regular occurrence.

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Another footnote to the Russell Peck story is that after we had played the concerto a lot, I knew that he had begun to write a second movement. He had ideas and we had talked about it, even about some of the instruments and what was going to happen. I said, “Mozart wrote five violin concertos, you could write a second percussion concerto.” We talked pretty seriously about it and about arranging a consortium this time: “Let’s go back to all of the people who have played the first piece with us. All they will need to do is pay $1,000. They can chip in.” This is another thing my colleagues have always said: I am very naïve about these things. Well, Russell

Peck is a businessman who protects the interests of Russell Peck. So, suddenly there was a big consortium for a timpani concerto.99 It could very well be that many people knew from us or from others about the first concerto, in which there is a little timpani solo. The reason there is a little timpani solo is because during the first performance in Greensboro, North Carolina, our student, Stuart Chafitz, happened to be the timpanist in the orchestra. There was a little place where he plays a prominent timpani part and we said, I said, somebody said: “Couldn’t we just extend that passage by a couple of bars and let Stuart play by himself? It will be fun.” So every time we played the piece, we got to know the percussionists in the orchestra, and, at that point,

I’m not busy, so I always catch eyes with the timpanist, smile, and he plays this solo. So, timpanists would have known about this piece. Some timpanist may have had the idea that

Russell could write a timpani concerto for them. And how would they raise the money? Well, all the orchestras could pay some portion of the total, and then they could play the piece. Who knows the whole story? But the second trio concerto, which was already being discussed, just evaporated and was replaced by the biggest consortium grant in the history of American music

99 Russell Peck, Harmonic Rhythm: A Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra (Greensboro, NC: Pecktackular Music, 2000).

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with thirty orchestras commissioning a timpani concerto from Russell.100 I don’t care for the piece very much, since somehow it turned into a drum corps piece. When Russell took his

Motown toe-tapping and put one guy out in front or the orchestra with five timpani, it turned into a big tri-tom type of extravaganza.101 So, this was another missed opportunity.

Now, as for Mark Saya, I first had contact with him for his Murphy Sonata, but being a solo piece, I don’t remember that I had a tremendous amount of input.102 He had a lot of clear ideas about all of that, and so I just worked on it. It is a big piece, and it took a lot of work. Once

I had it, I performed it on his recital and in a few other contexts around here. So, that is how the relationship stated, just with that piece. I even played it on a PAS convention—part of the

Group’s first convention performance—in Ann Arbor, Michigan.103 I convinced the other guys to include it as part of our program. I thought, and they agreed, since it was a few years after Mark wrote it, that it was an interesting piece, and even though it was a solo piece, it was good to air it at one of these conventions.

What happened next? Mark and I are both bibliophiles, we like books and we like collecting books. There was a lot of exchanging of things that we were looking at, time at the library, and trips to Duttenhofer’s used book shop.104 It seems to me, that he was reading all kinds of things by Borges and he came across the Book of Imaginary Beings, and he had an idea

100 Thirty-nine orchestras contributed toward the joint commission of the timpani concerto, many having previously performed The Glory and the Grandeur.

101 Tri-toms are the three drums mounted on shoulder harness frequently employed by marching bands and drum crops.

102 Mark Saya, “The Murphy Sonata” (MM thesis, University of Cincinnati, 1980).

103 Otte performed The Murphy Sonata on 3 November 1984 at the PAS convention in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

104 Duttenhofer’s Books is a used and rare book shop located one block south of CCM.

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about little character sketches.105 He wanted to start extracting all of these little crazy stories and have each one serve as a little, different piece. It was all his thought. He asked, “Would you be interested in playing them?” I responded, “Yeah, it sounds great.” And he said, “Well, if I did that, could I actually come into the studio to test sounds?” So, he actually had a key—we gave him an extra key to our studio. Jim and I are Capricorns, but I guess we just can’t keep up with the studio. Mark is also a Capricorn, so, usually, what he would do is straighten up the entire studio and get the desk all tidied up after every visit. He must have spent hours in there, and he always left it in much better condition than how he found it. He spent countless hours in the studio poking around, and then he’d ask: “Well, could you set that up? What about this?” And there were lots of little penciled manuscripts for us to try. He’d say, “This beginning, will this work?” He found a broken autoharp in the studio, so that became part of a way to use the inside of a grand piano without trashing it, yet getting it to have an additional strange quality. I would have never thought of suggesting our broken autoharp: “We’d really like music for our broken autoharp.” But he would have never thought of using a broken autoharp independently. Just by having access to the studio, he stumbled across it. I don’t particularly remember any such stories where I said: “Oh, this passage doesn’t work. Could I suggest that you replace this?” The conspiracy was in sharing a space, sounds, and ideas.

I think he is the slowest working composer ever. We would see a xerox of one page of penciled manuscript at a time. But once we’d see the manuscript and tried it, we would say,

“Yeah, looks good.” I’d have to go back and really look at all of those scores to see if anything jostled my memory, where it is absolutely clear that there was real direct input. I don’t remember

105 In April 1985, Saya purchased a copy of Jorge Luis Borges, Book of Imaginary Beings, trans. Thomas di Giovanni (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1978). He immediately began reading it and composed the first of his character pieces, “Bahamut,” by August of the same year. Saya, e-mail to author, 18 January 2010.

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that with him. The collaboration with him was this other thing: giving him complete access to our studio. If he asked for a certain kind of instrument, I would help with that: “By Tuesday night, could I find these kinds of things in the middle of the floor?” Or, he would set things up and go through it himself; then, when I would come in the next day, he would say: “Could you try this? What would it feel like if you improvised this way, on these things?” Then he would see how it would really work. So, From the Book of Imaginary Beings pieces, a couple of them were the first things to come out of that collaboration.106 The next thing that he wrote was a couple of little piano pieces. Then, because we were in contact all of the time, we talked about everything—lots of different stuff—and he would come to the Cage seminar, so he worked on these Cage-inspired pieces.107 Cage’s erasure pieces provided Mark, who is a fine pianist and composer of good vocal music, an approach. Look, Russell Peck is living in the world of the orchestra, and so he loves the repertoire of the orchestra. I don’t remember ever talking with

Russell about this song by Brahms or that piano piece by Ravel. Saya was also a quite good pianist and he writes songs, and we enjoyed discussing performances and recordings. So, he gets the idea, by learning a little bit about Cage and coming to the Cage seminar and the percussion literature class, that he could erase parts. Mark starts taking Chopin preludes, and he erases them.

It is painstaking. I have done it myself with other kinds of pieces. You can do it quickly and accept whatever you get. You can do like Cage, through chance methods. But even when Cage did it by chance methods, he would still keep refining the chance methods. He would look at the resulting composition after the first time through and say: “Well, there is nothing wrong with

106 Saya has added multiple character pieces to the collection at various points in his career. To date, the publications from the series include Mark Saya, From the Book of Imaginary Beings: An Open-Ended Catalog of Pieces for Three Percussionists (Cincinnati, OH: M. Saya, 1986); Mark Saya, From the Book of Imaginary Beings: Three Morlocks (n.p.: Media Press, 1991); and Mark Saya, From the Book of Imaginary Beings: Tigre Capiangos and the Sect of the Brujeria (n.p.: Media Press, 2004).

107 From time to time, Otte teaches a class on Cage and his music.

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what it produced, but my questions—the questions that I asked of the chance procedure—were wrong. I have to refine the way I ask the questions in order to produce a result that is more intriguing or more different or more something.” Well, Mark used this mode of operation, but from the ears of a Western-art-music-loving, Chopin-loving composer. Over and over, he tried every possible thing to get the right notes erased and the right things floating. If you map them back on each Chopin prelude, there is no pitch or no rhythm out of place. However, even if you know the prelude, you wouldn’t get it until the end of the piece. It would just make you gasp:

“Oh my god! That was that Chopin piece.” You can then pick out what piece it was and, retrospectively, you hear what you have just been listening to. So, he did this little series of Five

Preludes Revisited.108 They were so ingenious and wonderful. I said: “You could orchestrate these. You could leave the piano part, but then do these little Webern-esque things here or there.

You’ve got to do this piece.” So, he did orchestrate a few of them. Then, I think he got up to nine of them, and he started to write some new ones, which were already conceived as having percussion parts in them.109 We played them a number of times. Even in a very recent conversation, a couple weeks ago, by e-mail, he said that if he makes this next Imaginary Beings piece, which could be ready by this spring, he could come out, and we could play it. I said,

“Well, we could also play some other stuff, because there is this whole list of things we’ve done together.”110 I included the Preludes Revisited in the list, but without any conversation, he replied, “Well, maybe not the Chopin things.” I read into it that maybe it was an interesting

108 Saya composed his initial Five Preludes Revisited for piano, and so these should not be confused with his later Seven Preludes Revisited, composed for the Group.

109 The Group premiered Seven Preludes Revisited on 23 January 1990. In subsequent concerts, the Group performed only some of the preludes, and thus used the less specific title Preludes Revisited. Also, since Saya continued to edit these works over a number of years, a variety of date ranges appear in programs, with 1985–89 and 1985–91 occurring most often.

110 For the Group, Saya composed the multi-movement From the Book of Imaginary Beings (1985–94), Seven Preludes Revisited (1985–91), and Bachanons (1996).

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project then, but maybe not as successful as if they had stayed as piano erasures. Even though there were some fascinating things that came out of the trio version, maybe he thought it wasn’t the best, and some people could have said, “Well, there is too much Chopin in them for a percussion trio.”

AUTHOR: Saya’s use of Chopin, did that have to do with him knowing you and knowing your love of Chopin.

OTTE: I think so. Well, maybe that’s not true, because each of the original five pieces has little initials at the end, so they are cryptically—in an Elgar sense—dedicated to someone close.111

One of these preludes has “A. O.” at the bottom, so, in that sense, he knew that this would be absolutely as close to my heart as anything he could do, but being a pianist and a lover of that music himself, I think he just had the idea that he wanted to apply Cage’s erasure approach to

Chopin. Then, when I saw them, whether or not it was dedicated to me, I wanted to play them.

For one of the pieces, I think I said, “It works so well that I just have to learn to play it.” It was just a piano piece, but I thought it would serve as a nice interlude among the percussion pieces on a program. I don’t know that the piano parts were too difficult, but Frank Weinstock came to that concert, and complimented me afterwards. He said, “I didn’t know you were that good of a pianist.” So, at least I didn’t embarrass myself in front of a real pianist.

111 Otte refers to Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, which contain a dedication, in the form of the subject’s initials, for each variation.

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There was another Imaginary Being that came, but [Saya] was not here anymore, at that point. Could it have been the stomping tube piece [“Tigre Capiangos”]? Have you seen the stomping tube piece?112

AUTHOR: No, I’ve only heard about it. Was he in Texas at that point?

OTTE: No, he would have already gone to California. He would have finished here and moved.

So, he wrote this stomping tube piece, and even sent us xeroxes out of an ethnomusicology book.

The pages had natives on a beach with hand drawings of how these stomping tubes are supposed to work. He just thought it was a good idea, but he didn’t really have any idea of how he was going to do it. I remember considering log drums. The first time we did it, we even set up log drums, but it was clear that this was not going to communicate at all. So it took a while to figure out. That was an instance where I think the music was written, but how we were going to play it, was not yet developed. The music was completely finished, but he had not decided what we were going to play it on. We started patting and pounding on log drums, then the idea that somehow we should really get some sort of big stomping tubes and then find some surface that they could work on—the whole idea of getting a conductor’s podium and amplifying it so it had some slight resonance—that stuff happened after we had the music, and we had started to try all of those things. Once again, those kinds of things—well, I think I am more excited about them. Am I more excited about them? Do I care more about them? I don’t know. Am I willing to be bothered with them more? Do the other guys let me do it because that is what they expect, because that’s what I do, and they do other things? I am the one hanging around, going to junk yards, going to

112 For a discussion of the theatrical elements of this piece, see Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge, 142–44.

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Home Depot and Pier 1, looking for what kind of home décor could be turned into things. With this piece, the tubes couldn’t be too heavy, because that was the other thing; sure, you could get a big PVC pipe, but what kind of thing could look like that, but play music as complex as what

Saya had written?

A funny thing happened when we revived this particular Imaginary Being. We revived it using his original manuscript—he is a composer with a beautiful manuscript—since I don’t want to play his music from the stupid Finale® things which he feels he has to do, so we always go back and play it from the original manuscript parts. In the mean time, since the first performance, he had made a Finale® version of this piece. We got out the parts and we were playing the piece and at some point it goes from the wooden stomping to someone stomping on metal kinds of stuff. I move to microtonal metal instruments and I am playing it, and I think it just doesn’t feel right. I know these are the microtonal aluminum tubes that I used the first time, but this is a compositional moment that is exuberantly opening up and really resonant and doing all of this stuff. What was written wasn’t enough. It needed something else, but it needed these microtonal figures too. I thought about it a few days and I decided I needed to figure out a way to setup a small tam-tam, so that I could somehow hit a tam-tam and while I played this microtonal material there would also be some splash of stuff. Well, it still wasn’t enough. Then, I found a crotale. It now took four sticks to hit the tam-tam, the crotale, and tubes. I am going through all of this stuff, I recreate this whole thing, and then Jim found the Finale® version that Mark sent to us. All of this stuff was in there. [Laughing] Meaning that I was getting so senile that I did this all five or ten years ago and didn’t remember it, but I had the same reactions the second time around and did the same stuff. Originally, I just played it that way, and we sent him the tape. I told him this is what I did and he said, “Great.” He then included all of that in the Finale® score

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and then I forgot about it, since we hadn’t played it in a while. It was embarrassing that I had forgotten all of that, but when I went back to the original score, I just started with what was there and just went through the whole process again.

AUTHOR: I have not seen the piece performed, but if it is the one I am recalling from conversations, was it also your idea or the Group’s idea to do it in the dark?

OTTE: Yes, it was somehow our idea, but I don’t know when, exactly, we came to that. We always performed it that way, and there is a certain ominousness about it—three guys standing there playing these tubes. It is clearly theatrical and so the idea from us was to further the theatrical aspect by lowering the lights.

AUTHOR: The Saya relationship began with you two being very geographically close, because he was here as a student. At that point, you had regular contact with him, invited him into the studio, and spent time together, but it ends up being a long-term and long-distance collaboration.

After he left CCM, he still composed for you and, as you just shared, he is going to be working with you again. How was the relationship different, when he had been away from here [CCM] for a little while; for example, when he started working on the Bach? Did he send you whole pieces or whole movements at a time, or did he still send you a page at a time? Did you talk regularly throughout the compositional process?

OTTE: After the Chopin, I kept asking him about the Bach. I knew that somehow he was the right person to do it, since, you know how percussionists are always playing Bach on the marimba and it is not something that we could credibly, comfortably do in our concerts. Yet, I had this hard-to-articulate feeling that this was an incredibly rich area that I wanted to be

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involved in. So, when it was discovered that the Goldberg Variations were based on a little puzzle canon, and this was published in the recent history in the 1980s, well, fireworks went off.113 The Goldberg Variations were the type of thing that he and I would have talked about:

“Which is the single greatest work of Western art music?” So, here they are discovered to be these puzzle canons to be worked out by the performer or composer for any instrument, and the fireworks just went off. I immediately contacted him and said, “Here is what I need. Can you do this? Look at this. Think about this. If I look at this puzzle, I can’t read it, I can’t figure it out, it is really very sophisticated, but there is a publication by somebody working on this.” I sent the article to him and he said, “Of course, it is perfect.” He was absolutely intrigued by this. Then, again, it just took years for this to develop into a piece.

AUTHOR: You were thinking about Bach and you made a choice to go to Mark Saya. Did you consider other composers?

OTTE: Without question this was just perfect for him. So, I was really excited, and in a sense, one feels bad about that, because it is easy for me to have an idea and then say, “Here, do all of the work, and I will keep bothering you until you do it.”

It is curious for me to think back on these things. Why do I have really absolutely, indelibly clear memories about certain pieces, certain contributions, and certain moments in time? It is not necessarily because they are nearer in time. How did these Bach things arrive? Are

113 A series of scholarly discoveries and publications between 1975 and 1996 dramatically altered discussions of the so-called Goldberg Variations: Werner Brieg, “Bachs Goldberg-Variationen als zyklisches Werk,” Archiv für Musikwissenschaft 32 (1975): 243–65; Hans Joachim Schulze, “Melodiezitate und Mehrtextigkeit in der Bauernkantate und in den Goldberg-Variationen,” Bach-Jahrbuch (1976): 58–72; Christoph Wolff, “Bach's Handexemplar of the Goldberg Variations: A New Source,” Journal of the American Musicological Society 29 (1976): 224–41; and David Humphreys, “More on the Cosmological Allegory in Bach's Goldberg Variations,” Soundings 12 (1984–85): 25–45.

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there even any manuscripts of them? The only way that I know them is in a Finale® version. I should look through my stuff and check, but I think that, I know that I have manuscripts of pre- compositional notes on how he is thinking about dealing with certain different parts of it, but they are not yet the pieces. For him, this too was a far more elaborate and imaginary kind of piece. I remember one of the disappointments all around is that by the time he finished it, it was a long piece, like thirty minutes, with lots of movements, and since he was writing it at his desk, in his imagination, and there was no planned setup; well, we ended up having to use two vibraphones, two marimbas, the celeste, and one or two glockenspiels. There was just no way to travel with it. It is all of these tiny, little pieces, but they are all complicated, and the parts have to be there. It ended up being a cumbersome piece—not easy to take on the road—if we would have even had road shows that we could have programmed it on. We once made a little, shorter version. We played just two or three movements of it, which was somehow less satisfying. There are pieces where I feel they deserved to be played as much as Alonzo [Alexander’s] little mbira piece [Mbira Music, Book One], which we’ve played so many times. Look, Mike Barnhart commented after this concert two weeks ago, and he said, the first time we played his piece, it was great.114 We were playing his music, he was honored, humbled, and so forth, but he wasn’t sure whether it was his fault or our fault, but something was not exactly right. Now, he hears it on our concert, some five years later, and we’ve played it on almost every concert in the last five years, and he said he was just dumbfounded. It was like a different piece, because we are so comfortable with it. This happens to anybody who plays anything repeatedly in a public situation. So, of course this is going to happen. Well, it never happened to the Bach piece. We played it a couple of times, but because it was hard, it was long, it was cumbersome, and it is a

114 The Group performed Barnhart’s Breathing Drum during many tour performances and then again for the composer during their 12 October 2007 concert in CCM’s Patricia Corbett Theater.

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special piece, a very sophisticated piece, and some audiences are going to be just fascinated by it and other audiences are going to be waiting for it to be over—they won’t get it or won’t care about it—so, we didn’t play it out on the road a whole lot.115 In that sense, it didn’t mature as a performance piece in the way that it very much deserved to. But, I do think that mostly with this piece, once he was given the ball, he took it and ran with it. Maybe, also, he had become experienced with writing percussion stuff, being in our studio, seeing us play all matters of stuff—the Chopin was mostly all keyboard music, the Book of Imaginary Beings was mostly all multiple percussion, the Murphy Sonata was a big, virtuosic solo vibraphone piece—and he became a pretty experienced percussion composer just through working with us. By the time it came to write this Bach piece, as I remember the story, he pretty much did it on his own. Once he had the ideas, he worked them out on his own, sent it to us, and we did it.

AUTHOR: You are now discussing the addition of a new Imaginary Being. Does the process change at this point, now that you’ve had these pieces in your repertory, you’ve played them often, and the composer and the Group have lived with them? When he says, “I am thinking about this new piece.” Do you say, “Sure thing,” or, “I want to think about it and get back to you,” or, “Yes, but I want to have input?” How does it work now?

OTTE: At least on two occasions now, over many years, Mark has sent xeroxes of pencil sketches, he often sends outlines of what the formal structure of pieces looks like, and prose descriptions, like, “This will happen, then this,” which is wonderful to see and fun to see. As long as there are no red flags, then I always respond: “Gosh, it looks great. Indeed, go ahead and

115 The Group performed Saya’s Bachanons three times: 11 April 1998, 14 April 1998, and 17 July 1998.

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do whatever you want to do.” And more so than with most composers, I trust him, what he is going to do, and how he is going to do it.

AUTHOR: Have there been instances with Saya or with other composers where, after you’ve gotten to know him as a student, and he spent time writing for the Group, he came to you with questions about pieces not being composed for the Group, or perhaps not even for percussion, but just for another project in the works? Are there composers that approach the Group with questions about pieces that aren’t necessarily for you guys?

OTTE: The answer must be yes. What specific examples will come to mind? In Mark’s case, what exists are still in various stages of dreaming: “I’m thinking of rescoring this Imaginary

Being from three people to ten.” It seems to me that he presented it and asked what I thought. He also has a piece on Kafka texts—I think it can be a solo vibraphone piece, just running by musings like that, but that is different than what you are actually asking about. This sort of thing definitely comes up with John Luther Adams. What about Herbert [Brün]? He sent me a chamber ensemble piece to confirm a few things about his notation. And Barnhart, for sure, since he would get a commission for a chamber music piece and then run ideas by me.

AUTHOR: If, as we are talking, you remember any of those types of examples, please feel free to mention them as well, because if that this sort of thing happens from time to time, then it speaks to the type of relationships developed between composers and the Group—specifically, the value composers place in your opinions.

When Saya was a student, did he attend rehearsals? And, was he there throughout the rehearsal process or only at dress rehearsals?

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OTTE: Once we would have talked things through into a notate-able chunk or whole composition, we would then get going on our normal rehearsal process. We would then present something to him for his reaction, after it was rehearsed. Culley might have a more concrete memory of this part of the rehearsal process and when Mark actually came in.

AUTHOR: Are there any composers—students or faculty—who spent time on campus and got to attend regular rehearsals?

OTTE: A number of times people have asked if they can come and sit in on rehearsals, and it always feels bad to say, “Absolutely not,” because they are expressing a real interest in seeing how this works or learning about the instruments. However, you’ve been in that room. You know it wouldn’t be a real rehearsal if there were some foreign organism watching us. It is not like we are embarrassed to have someone watching us, but it just wouldn’t be our regular rehearsal. It would be some type of performance for an outside person.

Mark would have come in at some point, and any composer who has written a piece for us comes in at least a day or two in advance, to hear final rehearsals. Mark would be the composer who spent the most time with us in the studio, but he did not attend regular rehearsals.

AUTHOR: You first got introduced to Saya with a solo piece. With Qu Xiao-Song, am I correct that the first performance of his music at CCM is the music you brought back from New York to do with the [CCM] Percussion Ensemble?116

116 Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 198.

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OTTE: Is that the first thing? That seems unlikely. I don’t think that is true. The Qu Xiao-Song chapter is a pretty big chapter, so maybe we should wait and talk about him another time. We can spend more time talking about other things, since Qu Xiao-Song will be a long discussion.

AUTHOR: Okay, are there other instances of students who were on campus and who came to you with compositional questions, either because they were taking a class with you or they were working on a project? I’m wondering about students who came to you with something other than their ideas for a percussion trio—situations where the relationship started the opposite way. Are their examples of students coming to you with questions about another composition and you responding: “This I really like. Would you consider writing a trio?”

OTTE: Moiya Callahan may be the only example of that. I don’t want to say she is the only example, because I wish there to be more than just that example. Maybe there are, but maybe the pieces that the other people wrote were things that we only played once or not that often and so they are less memorable. But, yes, I can think of a couple of others where they had interesting material up front and then their trios were less successful for one reason or another. With Moiya, the piece that she wrote for us [here it is], she wrote after she had left here.117 She was just someone who was in a composition seminar and was already an interesting person in there.

Then, I heard a couple other pieces of hers, including a big piano piece, which made me interested in the quality of her work. Then, I heard another piece, a chamber ensemble piece that had extensive percussion writing.118 That piece was for voice, a few instruments, and a pretty sophisticated percussion part. She came and asked me some things about writing this percussion

117 Moiya Callahan, here it is, 2005, computer printout, Archive of the MidAmerica Center for Contemporary Music, Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, OH).

118 Moiya Callahan, “Killing the Angel in the House” (DMA Thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2001).

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part—like a question about notation—because she was actually in the writing for percussion class, which is occasionally offered, and it was such an interesting piece. It was also a cumbersome piece and not performed so well, because it was just a group of students putting it together. Then, after she was gone, I asked her if I could re-score some of movements of that piece for piano, percussion, and voice. I wanted to expand the piano part a little and, especially, expand the percussion part so that we could cover the contributions of the three other instruments. As any young composer would do, she said: “Well, okay, sure. Try, and see what you can get.” So I did that and we performed it in a more professional context a number of times.

It was wonderful and really interesting music. We played it a few times and then we started to have a little [professional] relationship, since she never saw the performance, but I sent her the tape of it and said it was a wonderful piece. Then she said, “I am writing some new pieces.” She sent a couple of pieces for voice and chamber ensemble, and since I do this Grandin Festival every summer, I thought: “Gosh, this is very interesting. I would like to do one of these pieces for that.”119 Simultaneously with this, because she had written this really interesting solo piano piece, and I had made an arrangement of her chamber and percussion piece, and one of our students, Stu Gerber, who was a doctoral student here at the time, commissioned her to write a piece for piano and percussion, because he had a duo with a pianist here.120 Then she wrote a solo snare drum piece. So, she was accumulating, on her own and through direct contact with our studio, other pieces that include percussion parts, at which point I asked the guys: “You know,

Moiya is writing all this really wonderful music and she is accumulating experience as a percussion composer. I especially love the chamber pieces with voice, and I want to ask her to

119 The Grandin Festival, a summer chamber music festival founded in 1996 and hosted by CCM, provides coaching for young singers and instrumentalists interested in performing vocal chamber music.

120 Moiya Callahan, Magnify, 2002, holograph, Archive of the MidAmerica Center for Contemporary Music, Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, OH).

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write a piece for us, if that is okay?” There always is a moment when I’m sure of the fact that I want a piece from a composer—I feel like I am committed—and at that point I can ask them to write a piece, and in so doing, I am saying definitely, “If you do the work to write the piece, then

I am sure by the quality of the other work I have seen that I will perform this new piece.” The other guys are not nearly as close to that loop and so I have to go to them and say, “For these reasons, I want to ask her for a piece.” There is sort of an unstated aspect, that if they don’t like the piece, if it is not a good piece, they don’t feel obligated to do it and they don’t feel obligated to Moiya [or any other composer]. They don’t want to get out there and do a stupid piece if it is garbage. By this point in the process, I already have decided that this person is surely going to write a piece that is at least as good as anything we’ve played once or twice. In this game, I am already saying, “We are going to play the piece.” So, I think there is some friction then, when a piece comes, and it is not necessarily what we were expecting.

So, Moiya was writing and said, “Can you play with your hands and play the harmonica at the same time?” It was a total coincidence that the [Michael] Barnhart piece [Breathing Drum] was coming around at the same time, which was also maybe bad luck or something, because in our whole history, we have two pieces that involve harmonica and they were both by composers who were students here, neither of whom had heard each other’s pieces, and they both came around the same time. Since we loved the Barnhart piece and everything was already working with that, maybe it made it highly unlikely that we were going to play both of these pieces on the same program. In that sense, bad luck for Moiya. Her harmonica piece may have been much more unique than it felt, coming when it did.

I think Rusty and Jim had much less invested in the whole project, and were more skeptical of it. But Moiya had studied with [Louis] Andriessen, and her chamber pieces are all

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what I would call neo-medieval, with all of these beguilingly attractive, long-time canvases.

They were very beautiful pieces with a real mystique about them. They were all like this. So, here was her chance, she was now writing for three guys playing percussion and she wanted to do something else—something different—and good for her, but then here comes this piece where

I’m playing brake drums, Jim is playing kick drum and cowbell, and Rusty is playing piccolo snare drum, so it is basically a garage band drum set kind of piece with significant harmonica parts and it was hard to do, annoying to do, exhausting to do, easy to get mixed up in, get off, and get light headed. Generally, my colleagues are much closer or more interested in vernacular music than I am, and this is something in our history, when every time there comes a piece where the composer is obviously drawing upon or making reference to something from the history of

American vernacular music, they are somewhere on the scale of skeptical to “we don’t do that.”

This has been another behind closed doors or dirty laundry sort of thing, a sort of frustration to me. It has come up regularly, where it is easy for them to dismiss me and the composer as being intellectual academics playing in the sandbox of vernacular music and not knowing what we are doing, and therefore doing something that is embarrassing to them. Well, Moiya Callahan has danced to more contemporary American music than have the three of us. So what, it is art; it is subjective. I liked Moiya’s piece. If I could get them to listen to our recording of it again, I think it deserves a little more airplay than we gave it. I think it deserves a recording for the thirty-year retrospective recording—the imaginary thirty-year retrospective set.121 Maybe that piece needs to be shortened or tightened up or something, but it’s too bad that we didn’t play it more, because there have been too few women composers in the list of the composers we’ve worked with. I

121 Aside from the recording of John Luther Adams’s Strange and Sacred Noise, the Group has produced only two other full-length albums; see n. 87. The first album included material from the initial two seasons; while the second album included repertory from the subsequent seventeen seasons. A further decade has passed since the second recording, so the Group has discussed production of a large anniversary album to document both recent works and earlier compositions absent from the previous recordings.

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guess this is a fifth criticism. I wouldn’t seek women composers just because they’re women.

And it just came down over the years that whenever there is someone we are aware of, who is doing something interesting, it is a he. I should look through the whole history of this stuff, but I would say there are precious few pieces that we have played for which we didn’t know the composer—where there wasn’t some personal relationship, even if it was just getting to know him or her with a little bit of contact, a personal meeting, phone calls, or something. I know there are other women out there, who are making careers in music, but the ones you know about are the ones that are already making careers and I am disinclined to get on the bandwagon, and chase after them and say, “I want to play your music, too.” Therefore, it has been the women that we do actually meet—it doesn’t have to be that they are here in Cincinnati—but if we meet at a festival or something, and we can have coffee and discuss something, then the relationship starts as it does with other men.

AUTHOR: This, too, implies a rather meritocratic approach to composer selection: you don’t care whether man or woman; percussionist, non-percussionist, or someone who has never written for percussion; or student or faculty. You select composers based on interest in their music and a mutually beneficial relationship.

OTTE: Yes.

AUTHOR: You meet a composer, hear their music, and if you like it, then you ask if they will write for you, correct?

OTTE: Right. But our perception of our career is also a little different: we look at how something is good for us and how it is good for a composer. For example, when I was on sabbatical and

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spent time at Oberlin [Conservatory of Music], I taught some composition classes. I got to know the eighth blackbird members and some of their composer friends. They were playing the music of those peers and friends, which was good. Then, when the members of eighth blackbird were students here [at CCM], we were in contact again. I invited them to come to Lucca, Italy, for a summer program I was doing there. I said: “Why don’t you come to Lucca? It will be fun. We can work together on projects, but you could also gain a whole level of experience, because you are interested in costumes and staging and so you could be part of this Monteverdi project that I am doing there.” So, we did stuff together on the floor of some little rehearsal villa in Lucca.

During that trip they learned that they won some chamber music competition, and it included money to commission a new work. They said to me: “We won this award.122 We now have money available to commission a composer.” Then, they literally said: “Here is a list of all of the composers who have won the Pulitzer Prize or whatever other prizes. Here is a list of all of the prize-winning composers of the last x number of years from whom we could commission a work.” Such a thing would never occur to me to do. And they are good people, but this was just an obvious way for them to make a career, to promote their career, where to hitch their wagon, when to hitch it, and when to unhitch it. So, this is how they got connected to Frederic Rzewski.

We were looking at these lists and I said to them: “Well you know, what I always did, if I had some way to pass a project along to my friends, someone I went to school with, then, I looked to do that. I knew composers from Oberlin [Conservatory of Music], who were very good composers. These were friends I met when I was a student there. I eventually commissioned these people or played their pieces.” And since I knew eighth blackbird had also played a lot of pieces by their own friends and colleagues, I tried to encourage them in that direction, but I also

122 The ensemble won the Naumburg Chamber Music Award in 2000.

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said: “I see you would like to use this money for some higher level thing. Could I propose, as a compromise, Frederic Rzewski? He is, in my opinion, one of the giant musical figures of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. He is one of the absolute giants. He is a difficult personality and he has all kinds of baggage, but as far as a quality musician, this guy is in the league of Stockhausen and Cage. If you really know him and know what he does, it is a very rarified thing. This would be a way for you to get somebody of that prestige, like on your list, but who is not playing the game of just winning competitions. Could that be a compromise? I’d prefer to see you do something like this with Frederic, so what if I call Frederic and get the whole thing going?” They said “yes,” and the rest is history. So, what does that have to do with this?

AUTHOR: Well, you were speaking about the whole idea of you seeking out composers with whom you can share a mutual benefit; but let me, for a moment, go back to the Callahan material. You mentioned that you went to the other members of the Group and said, “I would like to ask Moiya for a piece.” Is that usually the way it works? You get to know a composer and then you approach the rest of the Group with the idea?

OTTE: Yes, that is exactly the way it is. Always.

AUTHOR: In conducting interviews with everyone, the feeling I got was that there is a certain level of trust. If one of you wants to try out a composition, then there is usually a willingness to try it out, at least in rehearsals.

OTTE: That’s right. I don’t think there would be any reason for any of us to be skeptical about this sort of thing. I’ve always been respectful of the fact that even if I really like the composer

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and I really like the piece, if one or both of the other members really doesn’t care for it, then we have mutual respect that we will do our best and we will do it at least once or maybe twice. Then

I will stop pushing it, and let it go. So, in that sense, we are all respectful of new pieces, even if there is skepticism after we get the composition. We try it out, but there is only a certain amount of pushing that I will do.

AUTHOR: There were two items that I wanted to return to from our first interview, so instead of moving on to another composer, this might be a good way to conclude for today. First, we talked about the Group’s history with Cage, but in terms of current items you are working on, I wanted to get some comments about the Cage project.123 Considering that many people know the Group for your performances of Cage’s music, are there aspects of your relationship with Cage that inform your approach to his music still today? Do you try to place a label of authenticity on your performances of these works? Or at this point, after playing a composition, such as Amores, many times, are you comfortable with a certain performance of it, and so that is what you just go to, without rethinking every detail?

OTTE: It seems like the right answer would be: “We have to revisit these things, and since it is a different moment in history, we have been informed by all of this music we have played in between and all of the music we’ve heard, so one should really rethink these things.” I don’t know in some deeper sub-strata if we really do that. It seems like that would be the right answer, but the other way to answer it is that these compositions were done so thoroughly the first time around, so annoyingly thoroughly, with us getting on each other’s nerves to make it as perfect as

123 “The Cage project” is a reference to the series of recordings of Cage’s percussion music, which the Group has been working on for Mode Records’ Complete John Cage Edition.

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possible and just clawing away at it and at our preferences and understandings, so that when they came into being, they actually had an honesty about them already. Now, we can stand behind that product, because there is a reason it came to be those instruments, that setup, those balances, those kinds of tempos, and even though it is at variance with other performances or with published versions of a manuscript, it came from a valid and honest attempt. For example, in

Third Construction we already thoroughly questioned, “Could he have meant that?” I think sitting at his desk in 1941 is different than standing in this room today, with these sounds. We cannot just blindly, automatically obey the instruction of that little printed metronome mark, because we have experienced the correctness of a slight adjustment. There are some things which are just tiny, little thorns in our flesh—forever they will keep getting revisited—because there must be a better way to solve these little problems, like that fucking lion’s roar in Imaginary

Landscape No. 2. It is such a good idea, and we’ve tried so many things over the years, but it is a tough one to solve. The recording of it, for Mode, sounds fabulous, because we could use the right person, but we still had to do an overdub so you could really have your hand wet and really get a good one and not try to grab it at the same time you were doing something else. I wish we could solve that, but it has been many years that we’ve tried without actually solving it. Little things, like that, come up with every piece that we revisit and so somebody does a little something different.

We are doing Third Construction again since we are going out to visit Ben [Toth]. We are going to do it with Ben, and I didn’t mention this to the guys yet, but I hope that we can work it out so that he can come back here this spring, and we could do it here, as well. Then, we should record it at that time and have a final document of that piece.

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AUTHOR: Now, my second follow-up item: it is easy to think about the group as the antithesis of the type of corporate percussion culture tied to PAS conventions, but there have also been people throughout the history of the PAS organization, who have been huge supporters of yours.

OTTE: Yes.

AUTHOR: Tom Siwe and Eugene Novotney are two of those people. First, can you tell me more about some of those relationships? And, could you tell me some of your ideas about how a convention organized by people like Siwe, Novotney, and others has become also strongly driven by the percussion corporations. I guess the Wednesday sessions are the exception, but you can shuffle around the program for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday sessions from year to year and still see many of the same composers, performers, and types of ensemble compositions.124

OTTE: Yes. I think I am being honest in saying that there is very little chance that I will ever be voted into the PAS Hall of Fame. But, Mike Rosen would be the only other obvious name for that list of supporters. I should think a little about that, but with Novotney, he was an undergraduate student here, then a master’s and doctoral student of [Tom] Siwe’s, so he is very much an insider, but also a very smart guy, who has made his own contributions. Being of that generation, I think that he was one of the people committed to being on the [PAS] Board [of

Directors] and wanting to be involved. He had that kind of energy and interest in not letting just the corporate interests or the careerists railroad the whole thing. He thought, “As long as some of us stay in place, then we can have an impact.” Larry Snider is a similar example, having had that

124 “Focus Day,” formerly “New Music Research Day” occupies the first day of the annual PAS convention (typically Wednesday). The Wednesday session tend to feature more composers and performers in the early part of their career, or those who remain without major publishing or performing contracts.

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very strong connection to Ben [Toth] and [Tom] Siwe. So, this, too, comes back to a lot of the same people; whereas, Jan Williams, who is very supportive of us, since he himself has stayed out of that whole PAS circle, it doesn’t matter that he likes us or doesn’t like us. There are probably people then who are similarly saying good things about us and who I’m not even aware of. However, I do worry about the marginalization, over the years. Another way to say it is that I have had the luck and the privileges, and have been in the right place at the right time to have the support to get this job. Garry Kvistad, clearly with Woodstock Percussion, has become a multi- millionaire.125 He is a wonderful guy and he is even interested in the right things, but he has business sense. His father was a very successful businessman, and Garry has this thing that I have none of, this sense was very helpful for Blackearth. That sense provided us a way to get going. So, there are all of these people who have helped me at the right time and in the right way, and we get to the point where we are now and the reasons we have a real quality product to offer and share. This doesn’t mean that I have such a high and self-aggrandizing opinion of myself—I am perfectly willing to say that these were all lucky circumstances and helpful things. We now have this to offer—a trio with a quality product—but time marches on, and the careerists, entrepreneurs, culture of celebrity, money, and everything else has taken the field in a different direction. eight blackbird, I love them, I know them, and I have nothing but nice things to say about them, so this is nothing behind their back, but we can all laugh now that they can work the system, while I am hopelessly incapable of doing it. It is all just funny. But what is then sad about it—and this is part of the growing list of criticisms—is that, like with the Cage project, how many people have said: “god damit! You have a responsibility to do these recordings, so

125 Upon the dissolution of Blackearth, Kvistad founded Woodstock Percussion, a small business focused on the production and sale of various wind chimes and bells and the importation of percussive instruments form around the world. In 1995 he won Ernst & Young Magazine’s “Entrepreneur of the Year Award,” and has since severed on several state and federal small business conferences, commissions, and committees.

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that more people know at least what they can sound like, if not what they look like live,” and by whining about it, being lazy, or hiding our light under a bushel, well, this is wrong. I worry that as the decades pass, more and more generations of younger and younger people are further and further away from the Group and this music. You know, at certain times, I felt like in my own tiny way, in my own small circle, sort of famous—people knew my name and recognized me:

“Aren’t you Al Otte?” I guess that still happens. Maybe there are still enough second and third generation performers, but it is interesting that the kind of profession where this would mean something is that of a scholar—well in historical scholarship there must also be all types of brilliant, important people who wrote a book and were once famous, but now the book is out of print, and you might be able to say you know the book, because you passionately sought it out, but are the next generations after you going to know that book? And all because professor so- and-so didn’t take care that his very valuable information was kept alive or passed on. Was it his responsibility? Or is this precisely what you are doing? Is this just what is supposed to happen?

I’ve done what I can do, I have my personality, and I would like to keep doing this for another decade or so. So god or somebody sent you, and you’ll be added to the list. [Laughing] Mike

Rosen was helpful in one way, [Frederic] Rzewski in one way, Herbert in one way, and you were helpful in this other way. Now, I feel almost helpless in response to the juggernaut of PAS corporate culture.

AUTHOR: Can you look at the Wednesday convention sessions, the “New Music Research

Day,” to get a sense of percussion literature of the past or to see the direction the field is heading?

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OTTE: Well, when they said they were going to change the name to “Focus Day,” I smelled that dead fish immediately. Now they can start focusing on anything.

AUTHOR: But there was the initial notion that these types of new music sessions could serve as an internal spring to foster the composition of new music for percussion. That model may appear to have faded from PAS. Do you believe that the Group’s model—working directly with composers and getting good composers to write for percussion—more completely realized a means of fostering new music creation? If so, is your current problem one of branding? If more people associated the Group’s name with effective new percussion music creation, then perhaps you would have more influence on the direction of the field.

OTTE: Well, exactly how much of a problem is that? Why is Michael Burritt more of a brand than we are?126 We’ve been around a lot longer, and we’ve been just as consistent in our offering as he is in his. Is it because he is recognized as a brand, because there is an energy that he has and a facility that he has to promote and craft his brand? It could be as simple as he has done that and we haven’t. If we were still “Blackearth,” which was a cool name, and it wasn’t cool because we were trying to be cool, but it was another one of these completely coincidental things—

Blackearth [Wisconsin] was honestly just the name of the community we started in—and had I come up with $10,000 to buy the name from Garry [Kvistad], would that have made all the difference?127 Had I had a better sense, at that time, I should have gone to the community and gotten the money to buy the name. Then Jim [Culley] and Bill [Youhass] would have been very happy to join Blackearth. Now, Jim’s identity is only connected with the Group, since Blackearth

126 Burritt performs as a marimba soloist and as a concerto soloist with orchestras.

127 See Otte’s prior discussion of buying the name, 236.

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didn’t have anything to do with him. Retrospectively, he doesn’t think it was a mistake not to have done that, but maybe it was. Blackearth would have lasted just as long as Nexus has lasted, but at the time it was all just tied up with personalities—it was so hurtful—so, partly I just rejected the idea of buying the name because I was so angry and hurt: “Well, screw you. I am not going to give money to you for a name. I’ll show you.” Maybe the way I did things missed a certain part of the necessary boat.

AUTHOR: One additional follow-up item: were Herbert Brün’s ideas about the timbrack, in any way, tied to [Harry] Partch, or discussions they may have had at the University of Illinois?128

OTTE: I’ve never thought about that. It is an excellent question. I should look into it. It could be.

It might well be that when Partch was there, with his instruments, was before Herbert arrived, but it would have been close. If Herbert had seen the instruments and even if he didn’t like them, since it is the kind of thing that he would have looked down his nose at—well, no, he was always supportive of players and performers. I think he would have not cared for the music, but if he saw the instruments then I would say, even if he wouldn’t admit it, maybe it was a subconscious thing. I never asked him where he got the idea, and then [Michael] Udow was the one to propagate it. So, I don’t know where Herbert got it, and in one sense, you could imagine that anyone who was working with electronic music—he had made musique concrète—anyone working with the idea of merging individual pieces of tape or of programming in a computer, that it all gets very close to a theater organ effect, and he could have made the leap to timbrack.

Or, something else entirely may have inspired it.

128 Partch spent time at the University of Illinois from 1956–57 and again from 1959–62, though he never held an official faculty position. Brün taught composition at the University of Illinois from 1962–87. Any overlap in their time together would have been brief.

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AUTHOR: Okay. Thank you.

Interview No. 3 7 November 2007 Memorial Hall, University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio

AUTHOR: Today, I wanted to talk about Qu Xiao-Song. This relationship is interesting, because when he started composing for the Group, he was already writing percussion music, but it could suit many ensembles. He eventually wrote works for the Group that kept in mind your sounds, instruments, interests, strengths, and so forth. So, in a way, he provides an easy juxtaposition to

John Luther Adams, who also worked closely with you, but who composed pieces that would attract and work well with a variety of percussion chamber ensembles. So, let’s begin with some of the background history. How were you introduced to Qu Xiao-Song’s music?

OTTE: I recall, last time, I said that this is where we would start next time, since it is a long story. It is a particularly curious sort of story, too. So, my freshmen year at Oberlin

[Conservatory of Music], in 1968, my roommate was randomly selected. He came from a wealthy, downtown New York family. He is a downtown Manhattan guy who couldn’t be more different from me. He was in the college, not the conservatory, and so it was just shocking that the two of us would be together—the drummer from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and the son of a

Jewish construction company guy from Manhattan. This was just the most unlikely possible thing. Here we are, thirty-five years later, and still best friends. Somehow this friendship works.

It is just a wonderful thing. We’ve kept in very close contact ever since, but he knows nothing about music, which I guess is part of the charm of the years of this relationship. So, whenever I

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go to New York, I have my own room in a penthouse overlooking Central Park. I’ve had this arrangement for decades now, and I can go whenever I want.

So, this same friend, who is attracted to beautiful Asian women, saw a woman, when he is out one evening, and he approached her and introduced himself. He kept bothering her and asking if they could meet up sometime. She eventually said, “Look, I have a boyfriend. We can meet again, but I’m bringing my boyfriend.” So, he said, “Alright.” It turns out that the beautiful woman, Bai Ling, was a famous movie actress and her boyfriend was Qu Xiao-Song, and the three of them hit it off. My roommate had studied some Chinese, and so he learned from Xiao-

Song that he was a composer. Xiao-Song played some of his music for my roommate, who called me up and said: “I just met this composer and his music is incredible. It is just unbelievable. You have to come and meet this guy and hear his music.” I thought, “Well, he doesn’t know music.”

But I said, “Okay, sure, I’ll come.” Then I put him off, but he kept calling, and finally I said,

“Alright, alright, I’ll come.” I figured it would be a huge embarrassment, since my roommate couldn’t possibly know what this was that he was hearing. By this time, he had gathered a bunch of Xiao-Song’s cassettes, and so before I actually met the composer, I sat in the penthouse listening to all of this music, and my jaw dropped. I thought—and this turned out to be more true than I even initially realized—it sounded like the music of a Chinese George Crumb.

As a student, Xiao-Song was a classmate of Tan Dun, Chen Yi, Bright Sheng, Guo

Wenjing, and all of these sorts of composers. He is from exactly the same age group and had the same experiences of, in high school, being as Xiao-Song describes it, “sent down to countryside.” They were all dispersed to go do cultural research in Tibet or wherever, and collect folk songs and do some useful work on a farm. So, they could collect folk songs while they also did this other work. Many of them did this type of thing. Xiao-Song was in Tibet. Then, after the

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Cultural Revolution, he went back home. So, he is in that group of people. As a student, he was particularly attracted to hearing things like [the music of] George Crumb and to kind of making copies of this type of music, but from his Chinese perspective. It was very exotic and experimental, and fun and interesting stuff. That’s how I met him. He was already in New York, because Chou Wen-chung, this guy who was the student of [Edgard] Varèse came over to

Columbia University in a previous decade, and stayed in this country. Then, Columbia

University started this program to bring Chinese composers, through Chou Wen-chung, for brief periods, to visit as scholars or even just to study a little. Qu Xiao-Song was one of these student/scholars, and he stayed in New York for about ten years, and that was partly because my former roommate has unlimited financial resources and bought him his green card—if you hire the right lawyers and have the right energy and all of this, then it can happen.129 So, Xiao-Song ended up with dual citizenship, and has an American passport and became a citizen. Then Xiao-

Song even lived in the basement of one of my roommate’s homes for a while and they became close friends. I think Xiao-Song liked the fact that he was being introduced to a real American performer. Clearly, I was totally enamored with his music, and, for me, it was the first time I was meeting a working Chinese composer of my generation. And a deep friendship began and exists.

He is a year or two younger than I am, but still, the little Chinese I know is “wo shi ni di di,” which is “Hi, it’s your younger brother.” We address each other in this way because there is this feeling, even though he is younger than I, that he was the one who was always more sure of what he was doing. He had the answers and everything. So, he is the older brother and I am the younger brother.

129 Qu Xiao-Song arrived at Columbia University’s Center for U.S.-China Arts Exchange in 1989.

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At that point, Xiao-Song had already written this piece called Xi (1991) for six percussionists.130 (“Dawn” was the translation we always used.) Then, around that time, he got a commission from a choreographer in Hong Kong to write a piece. He called me up and told me he had a commission. I then gave him all of the [audio] tapes of the Group. So, we exchanged this stuff. He was very taken, because he had performances of his music, but only in China, and the people who were enthusiastic about trying to play his percussion music certainly didn’t play it at a professional level. So, there was an attraction for both of us. Then, he got this commission from the choreographer for a big piece to perform in Hong Kong, and he simply said: “This is what I want to do, and I will only do it if I can have these players. It is going to take real players and so the commission must include bringing this group to Hong Kong to play the music.” The composition was Làm Môt (1991), the first big piece that he wrote for us.131 He was, and still is, pretty famous in China, because he did a lot of film scores and had these connections with film people. I’ve never really been able to figure out, in a country of however many billion people, what does it mean to be famous? How big is the circle of people who must agree with one another so as to make someone else famous? Whatever it is, he seems to be famous in these circles.

AUTHOR: Let me jump in with two quick questions.

OTTE: Yes, please.

130 Yet unpublished, Xi is one of the most rarely performed of Qu Xiao-Song’s compositions. The Group, their students, and students at Oberlin Conservatory of Music appear to be the only ensemble to have performed Xi in the United States.

131 Qu Xiao-Song, Làm Môt (New York: Southern Music, 1995).

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AUTHOR: When you met Xiao-Song, he was in New York, via the invitation from Columbia

[University]. But, at that moment, his music was not really known in the United States, correct?

OTTE: Right. No one here knew his music, not at all.

AUTHOR: Was it Xiao-Song’s percussion music that you first heard on the cassette tapes?

OTTE: No. Even though the piece Xi existed at the time, this was not in the collection on the cassettes. I did not hear that one, I heard only other stuff. And this is the common experience for the Group: I don’t need to hear a percussion piece by a composer, before asking them to write for us. But this is a good point, because I would have then said to Xiao-Song, “You have to write something for three percussionists.” And then, he said: “Well, I actually had a commission from

Taiwan to write something for six percussionists and I composed this piece, Xi, but I will keep looking for a way to write a trio. Then, that is when this commission from Hong Kong came in, and it wasn’t originally for percussion, it was just for him to write something for a dance show.

He said, “How about I do a trio.” At that point, I still had not seen any of his scores. I had the cassettes from before our first meeting, and then, when I met Xiao-Song, he must have given me a few scores that I could see. Then that is where the big percussion trio, Làm Môt, fits in. And

“làm” and “môt” are Vietnamese phonemes, which don’t mean anything. They just sounded nice, and since his girlfriend at the time was an actress who was, at that point, auditioning for some big Hollywood film about Vietnam, she was actually learning a little bit of Vietnamese.132 That’s how he stumbled across the title Làm Môt. The piece is quite similar to Xi. I don’t remember if I saw the score to the sextet first or if it came in the opposite order. Làm Môt is sort of a distilling

132 Bai Ling’s role in the film The Beautiful Country, not released until 2004, provided her introduction to Vietnamese.

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of Xi, even though it is a longer piece. One can see the characteristics of what he had already found in this piece for six percussionists and all of his tastes for these Chinese instruments. I would have to say that in 1991, having not yet played any Chinese music—we played the music of Maki Ishii and a couple of Japanese composers and so there were a few instruments that we had—but we had to get all of these other things through him, like all of the noisy, little cymbals.133 That whole thing was something new to us. Unlike some composers, like Mark Saya, who was someone who would always send stuff to us in advance of the composition, or John

Luther Adams, who really worked through compositions step by step and as a personal friend; well, as close as the friendship became with Xiao-Song, and I would say this is characteristic of a lot of the things he did for us, he retained more of a traditional composer’s role. He was the composer and knew what he wanted. He would just write stuff for us to play, so there wasn’t actually a lot of back and forth discussion as this piece [Làm Môt], for instance, was coming about. He just sent stuff, and I remember situations where I had questions about it: “How is this going to work?” “Is this right?” “How does this go?” I was feeling my way through, but there definitely was a cultural kind of thing. He was working very hard at his English—his English wasn’t great. There was also a little resistance, on his part, from retaining that traditional role of knowing what he was doing, because he was the composer. Then, it later turns out, when Làm

Môt finally got published, years later, the score was published with pages with big “Xs” and cross outs. There was no shame. He changed his mind and said, “This is the way it is now,” and so he wasn’t even going to try to make a nice copy for publication purposes. In the score he just wrote: “Don’t play this section.” These decisions came about from our discussions, where I

133 The Group previously performed the music of Japanese composers, such as Yoshio Hachimura’s Ahania (1971), Maki Ishii’s Marimbastück (1969), Minoru Miki’s Marimba Spiritual (1984), Toru Takemitsu’s Rain Tree (1981), and Takayoshi Yoshioka’s Paradox III (1978) and Reflections (1982), as well as the music of one Korean composers, Kyu-yung Chin’s Myung-Sang (1984), but until Qu Xiao-Song, never the music of a Chinese composer.

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would say: “It feels like we are hanging around this section too long. We should move on.” And he’d say, “Okay,” but sometimes more reluctantly. I was also going to say that more so than with many other composers, there was an extraordinarily deep connection. This whole thing of coming to refer to one another as brothers—we were as different as the downtown New York millionaire and I could have been. Here was someone born in the mountains of China, on the other side of the world, and yet all of the music we would talk about, the music we most enjoyed and respected, the way we talked about it, we connected. There was, immediately, a very deep, personal connection, and this is what, on a friendship level, generated all of these things in the music. I would say, and this is another part of the history of all of these things, it was not that, because these people were my friends that I then liked their music; rather, I liked their music, because of what it stood for artistically and compositionally; that then made them my friends. Of course they then generated more things that were true to their own being, and I continued to like their music. What was very significant, though, about Xiao-Song was that he had these contacts in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China, and after ten years in the U.S., he then went back to China, and was offered a big position in the Shanghai Conservatory, where he could sort of write his own contract. He didn’t really want to be a teacher. Unlike some other people in this country, who very much wish they could get a university job to pay the rent, and though he never had much money to do this, he wasn’t going to teach for that reason. He would get money from big commissions. He would get commissions often, for instance, when we were in Hong Kong, Yuji

Takahashi, the famous pianist from the Stockhausen and Xenakis era, and the next generation up, who I knew as Xenakis’s virtuoso pianist on all of these recordings, well, he is also a composer, and somehow he is a good, personal friend of Xiao-Song.134 So, this guy comes to hear our piece

134 Qu Xiao-Song arranged the Group’s first trip to Hong Kong in February–March 1992.

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[Làm Môt], and we then went together to visit a monastery on another island near Hong Kong.

Then, Takahashi starts showing me fascinating pieces that he is writing. I didn’t even realize that he was a composer. So, these guys knew each other and could recommend each other performers for commissions and projects. Xiao-Song continued to get commissions, and that is how he supported all of this stuff. Again, we never had the money to commission any of these pieces from him. He would just get the money from a commissioner and then he would tell me: “Look,

I’ve got money to keep paying the rent, and this organization wants a piece. I think I can write another piece for three percussionists.” So, he has all of these pieces for three percussionists, and it is all because of us. In most cases, then, he would parlay the piece into a visit—not in every case could he—but often we would be the ones who would go there. He made the trip to Hong

Kong happen. Then, once we were there, he started to establish these connections for us by telling everybody: “These are the greatest percussionists in America. You have to invite these guys to perform your music.” He had a tremendous contribution to our career during those years.

But I also started to say that for this job he got, in Shanghai, he dictated the contract and he got a tremendous amount of money. He said the position required a certain number of hours a year, but he could come to the school from time to time and put a little note up on his bulletin board announcing: “Next Tuesday night, I will talk about Shostakovich.” And that was it. He would show up, and there would be a small lecture hall full of people listening to him talk about

Shostakovich. Then, ten days later or six weeks later or whenever, he could post another note announcing: “Xiao-Song will talk about his music next week.” Again, everyone would see it and show up. That was all he had to do, or that, at least, was my understanding of it. Then, after a while doing this, he didn’t like living in Shanghai, since it was too Westernized and too capitalistic. He wanted to move back to Beijing, but he still has the same job, so he just goes to

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Shanghai occasionally to talk and collect his check. It is the kind of thing that when people here at CCM do it, it makes me very, very angry. Well, Xiao-Song is that guy in Shanghai. So, his position has gotten us connections to people who have then invited us to come to Shanghai a number of times.135 All of that stuff is through his connections.

As for pieces themselves, all of the things that are, in a sense, characteristic of us, the

Chinese tom-toms from the Cage era and the other things we needed to play the music of that era, they already existed in our studio. When we found our Chinese composer, he was surprised to see a room with all of these choices of sounds, but then, of course, he used them along with some of his sounds. Oddly enough, his previous pieces all have these parts for rototoms.136 I said: “I’m not going to play on rototoms. I will not do it!” He always kind of wanted us to, but we would never do it. The fact is, all of these pieces have a big marimba part and some Chinese tom-toms, and so there are certain formulas that he often used.

AUTHOR: Were there compositions that you brought back from your first meeting in New York for the CCM Percussion Ensemble to perform? Perhaps, did you play through the six parts of Xi with members of the ensemble? I believe [Jim] Culley said that some of the initial Xiao-Song material, even before Làm Môt, was performed with or by students here.137

OTTE: If we just played through the piece, then those dates might not even be checkable. I remember the first time we did Xi, and I would have said that it was not before Làm Môt, but

135 The Group toured Shanghai and surrounding cities in May 2001 and December 2005.

136 Rototoms are frameless drum heads attached to a metal spoke-like frame, which can be rotated in either direction to raise or lower the specific pitch of the drum. They were most commonly employed in the large drum sets of the 1970s and 1980s era bands, and are less likely to appear in orchestral contexts.

137 Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 198.

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maybe Jim [Culley] is right. I remember it in the other order, because I can clearly remember the conversations, over the telephone, from New York to my kitchen, with Xiao-Song’s English is not so good, and there were many times on the telephone that with his Chinese accent and his choice of words, it was just enormously charming—I just loved it. He was always very insistent about me correcting his English, and I would say, “I love the way you say it now; however, we would say it like this.” So, I remember so distinctly him calling and saying, “Would you like to go to Hong Kong?” And I thought, “Am I understanding him right? Did he just invite us to

Hong Kong?” We hadn’t been to Asia at all at that point. But I just don’t know the exact order of the performances.

AUTHOR: I will see if I can track down initial performances for each.138 My sources for these details are these interviews and the concert programs I’ve gathered and included in my database, so, I can’t be sure that I’ve even located every concert program.139

OTTE: I can remember, distinctly, that there was a Polish student involved in the Xi performance. The Group did these summer things in Poland for two years, and then, after that, two Polish students came here. So, I distinctly remember one of them being in the performance of Xi, because I have this picture in my head of Tomás doing something that made me mad.140 I can’t remember, however, if that was before or after Làm Môt, because it seemed like the Làm

138 In extant programs, Làm Môt appears as the first Xiao-Song composition the Group performed. The tour performances in Hong Kong took place on 6–8 March 1992 in the Concert Hall of the Hong Kong Cultural Center. The American premiere followed on 21 March 1992. The Group then performed some of his earlier works, compositions revised for percussion, and premieres of new compositions, including Fang Yan Kou on 16 October 1998 and Mirage on 26 February 1999. The first extant program for a performance of Xi comes from a 13 October 2000 concert in CCM’s Cohen Family Studio Theater; however at least one performance must have occurred prior to 1994, when the work was performed by students at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, during Otte’s sabbatical there.

139 Appendix I, Percussion Group Cincinnati Program Data.

140 I cannot identify this performance from the existing program data.

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Môt thing got going really quickly. It could be that the commission and the idea for the piece, came up pretty quickly, then a year later we were performing it, and in the interim year, the first actually performance of Xiao-Song’s music at CCM could have been this other piece [Xi]. I don’t know.

AUTHOR: Could you also clarify how long Xiao-Song spent at CCM? Was it ever an extended period of time?

OTTE: No, there was never an extended period of time. He came for visits. When I did a sabbatical at Oberlin [Conservatory of Music], in 1994, which was just three years into the whole relationship, he came to Oberlin as well, and I got him a room in Asia House, where he stayed for a couple of months.141 He just needed to get out of his apartment in New York, and he needed a place to work on some stuff. I brought him to Oberlin, he gave a few lectures, and the students there played Xi. At CCM, he would just come to visit and would stay with me, but he was never here in any official capacity and was never hanging out for more than a week or ten days. I don’t remember him coming here to work on Làm Môt before we did it in Hong Kong. I almost feel like we worked it up in phone conversations, then we went to Hong Kong, and that was the first time that he heard the piece, and we discussed the issues. It seems likely, because anytime that he came here, in order to pay for it, I would have to get the composition seminar to bring him. We would then do a concert with some piece of his, and he would talk to the composition seminar.

That wouldn’t have happened if we were just working on this piece that was commissioned by other people.

141 Asia House is a themed dorm and living community organized by the East Asian Studies Department at Oberlin College.

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AUTHOR: So, unlike Mark Saya, who was physically spending a lot of time in your studio, looking at your instruments, testing things out, this was not the case with Xiao-Song.

OTTE: Not for the first piece. That definitely happened with later pieces, but not nearly the same length of time that Mark spent. Xiao-Song developed some stuff or he would hear things in other peoples’ music and then ask me about it. Then, he would be here to visit and we would try out things, and he would develop these various ideas in his own way. But that type of process only happened later in our relationship.

So, there was this first version of Làm Môt, which ended up being choreographed. That was the idea. We were on stage and these dancers did something that I don’t really remember.

The piece, after that, got shortened and fixed as a concert piece. Everybody knew, from day one, that it was going to be a long piece and composed for dance, although, Xiao-Song always said that he was writing something that was not background music for dance. He expected that portions might have to be changed a little, if the choreographer needed more of this or less of that. Now, how did that happen? Clearly the choreographer must have had a tape from which to make his choreography. Did we record stuff here and then mail a tape? I think it is quite possible that he got some people in Hong Kong to make the first tape. But how could he have done that, because he was living in New York? This happened with later pieces, where he would get a recording session for some people he knew at home or at the Shanghai Conservatory to just do something and then he would later finalize the score. But the first tape was just for purposes of choreography. This was all around Ben Toth’s time in the Group.142 I don’t know if we made tapes and sent them off, or what.

142 Toth’s tenure in the Group ran from January 1987 to June 1992.

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As we speak, Xiao-Song and I have now been out of touch for the last year. Of course, when he was in New York, we saw each other very regularly, and we traveled together. This all relates to the time he was composing his pieces for us, because we were together a lot and because I have this airline thing, where I can travel easily.143 So, he got invited to New Zealand and he had a few months there, when he was always free to do these kinds of things. I went with him, and we spent a few weeks traveling through the different universities in New Zealand, because their school year occurs during our summer. I lived where he was living, in a couple of different houses. More so than with any other composer, this is a particularly good example of just hanging out and spending weeks just talking about music and life, and walking along the beach and all of that sort of stuff. We were scheming and planning for future projects, but it was different than just a composer and performer talking. He would get commissions from good musicians, it was a normal kind of thing for him, but even if fine musicians commissioned works for some fine European or Japanese new music festivals and they were going to really carefully rehearse and play his pieces, they would do one performance and then it would be done.

Whereas, in our situation, he knew that the Group had the potential to play more performances, so he was always interested in what we could do with his pieces.

AUTHOR: How free was the flow of ideas about pieces? Did you say, “Would you write another piece for us?” Did he usually come to you and say, “I have another piece,” or “I have an idea?”

OTTE: I think it was a flow back and forth: he would have an idea or the possibility of a commission, then I might have an idea. There were many things that didn’t materialize, where he would try, it seemed like for several years, with almost every possibility that came up for him, he

143 Otte’s wife works in the airline industry, thereby providing him flexible travel options.

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would offer the commissioner: “I’d like to write a percussion trio,” or, “How about this instrument plus percussion trio, and you must bring my percussionists?” Sometimes the whole commission fell through or they didn’t want percussion, so he took the money and wrote for something else, or he would write the piece, but they would want to do it with local percussionists. All these things happened, but it always at least started with, “We could be together, and we could do this, it would be a good project.” It happened in many different contexts.

We already had the Russell Peck concerto at this time, and we had been playing it. I already knew that we needed a new concerto and this was going to be perfect, since it was a

Chinese composer and the piece could be quite exotic. He already has his own reputation and contacts. The problem was, he wasn’t interested. To write a concerto was not interesting to him.

The idea of even writing for a Western orchestra was not interesting to him. I know I was pushing for this piece year after year and it was frustrating, since I knew I needed this and we could make use of it. He always wanted to do something else, and then it eventually came. Years later, he was asked by a conductor in Hong Kong—a conductor who he had introduced us to and for whom I had played something else while in Shanghai. I went to Shanghai once, by myself, and played the principal percussion part with the orchestra in some other piece by Xiao-Song.

Well, this conductor then got a job in Hong Kong conducting a chamber orchestra, and he wanted to commission a piece from Xiao-Song, who parlayed this into something for us. It turns out Xiao-Song was right all along, his heart wasn’t really in it to write a concerto. I should go back and listen to the piece [The Stone].144 We made a tape of it, but we only played it once.145 It

144 Qu Xiao-Song, The Stone: Concerto for Three Percussion and Chamber Orchestra (2002), unpublished.

145 The Group played the premiere and lone performance during a 22 February 2002 concert with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta.

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was fun and interesting, but it didn’t translate into any further performances, partly because it seemed not as successful as all of Xiao-Song’s other works. It was called The Stone, because it was based on some Chinese story or legend—everything of his is based on some Chinese story or legend or something to do with some famous history or the Monkey King’s rebellion or whatever—but going back in that whole sequence of myths.146 I don’t even know what the story is, but that was the title.

AUTHOR: In speaking with Jim [Culley], he offered two guesses as to why there weren’t more continual back and forth discussions with Xiao-Song over specific parts of his works: one idea was the language barrier, the other was that many times these pieces were deeply rooted in

Chinese mythology or epics and so the compositions were highly developed by the time they arrived.147 For the three of you to then say, “How about we change this?” Well, that would have been problematic, especially if there were implications for the larger narrative that Xiao-Song had created. Did you feel similarly?

OTTE: I think both of those have an aspect of truth, but especially the second. Close friends, as we were, it was certainly easier to tell John Luther Adams, “That’s a piece of shit.” He knew what I meant and didn’t take it personally. To Xiao-Song, there was a little cultural and language barrier. Why wouldn’t there be one? We should want there to be one, if he grew up in a little village in the mountains of China, and I in Wisconsin. How could there not be some difference there? Jim’s second point is really very good. So, Xiao-Song and I have been out of touch the last year, because once he moved back to China, it has been harder to keep this relationship up.

146 The Sun Wukong [Monkey King], a figure in Chinese literature and folklore, first appeared in the sixteenth century novel Hsi-yu chi [Journey to the West].

147 Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 200–203.

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He has not been in this country for years, and he has no reason or desire to come. It is harder for me to spend much time there. He now studies Buddhism and is writing a book about Buddhism.

Also, the woman he later married [Wu Lan], some years ago, is a writer and they have developed opera libretti together for his last two opera projects. She does newspaper articles on film, culture, and such things. I have a copy of this book, which is from a real publisher.148 I don’t know how, in this country—one gets the impression that this would be a book about John Cage or Steve Reich—how do you get a publisher to do this? Mark Saya is not going to get a publisher to do a collection of his essays, filled with photographs. But, Wu Lan, his wife, filled the book with all of these photographs: Xiao-Song in the hills of Tibet, Xiao-Song dancing with Tibetans,

Xiao-Song making a pilgrimage back to where he was “sent down to countryside.” So, here are all of the photographs of the people welcoming him back and he is dancing with the peasants, and it is filled with stories about this and that. He tells me that there is a little chapter about me— his relationship with the American percussionist. 149 It is all in beautiful Chinese characters and so I don’t know what it says, but it is one of these books with chapters on the different parts of his life, and reflections on all the different kinds of stuff that he wrote with his wife.

AUTHOR: Do you have a copy?

OTTE: Yes, and for instance, Gao Ping, do you know that name?

AUTHOR: No.

148 Qu Xiao-Song and Wu Lan, Yi lu liang qiang (Shanghai: Wenhui Publisher, 2004).

149 Ibid., 46–47.

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OTTE: Xiao-Song’s composition teacher in Beijing [Gao Wei-jie] has a son who is a composer and a pianist. That son, Gao Ping, went to school at Oberlin [Conservatory of Music], and when

Xiao-Song and I were there, he was a student. Then, Gao Ping came here [to CCM], and so every time Xiao-Song came to town, then they reconnected. Gao Ping is now in New Zealand and has a job there.150 He is a wonderful composer, a young guy, and much more Americanized. He read

Xiao-Song’s book and told me that it’s actually very interesting. Already, in this book of a few years ago, Xiao-Song is talking about Buddhism and philosophical things. Now, he is working on his next book, which is just about Buddhism and its relation to the Western world. He feels very strongly that the world and culture is all lost here. He is moving away from even spending time composing music. And this goes back to my point about Jim saying that his pieces were all based on ancient Chinese legends and spirituality. He has a way of doing these things, and it has been part of this trajectory from the very beginning, and it has now even ended up with him no longer writing music. I don’t know when he’ll come back to writing music or if he’ll come back to it.

AUTHOR: This is a little tangent, but bear with me for a moment. You speak about your performances of the music of Cage being one of the few examples of the Group playing the compositions of a famous, big-name composer. Instead of looking for that type of composer, you tend to champion lesser-known figures.

OTTE: That’s right.

150 Gao Ping has served as a composition lecturer at Canterbury University (Christchurch, New Zealand), since 2004.

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AUTHOR: Even though Xiao-Song was lesser-known in the United States, when you first met, your work with him provides another example of the Group playing the music of a big-name, famous, and popular composer—at least in the eyes of his countrymen, when you played all of the concerts in China.

OTTE: It actually is. I hadn’t thought about it like that, but it is, because that is exactly what got us to Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Taiwan. It was our connection to Xiao-Song that got us our piece from Guo Wenjing, this noisy cymbal piece.151 Guo Wenjing was his classmate. I went to

Amsterdam and spent a week there with Xiao-Song for the premiere of one of his operas, which the Holland Festival had commissioned. It was a double bill of Guo Wenjing and Qu Xiao-Song.

That is how I met Guo. Xiao-Song said, “Guo, you should write a piece for these guys.” Guo, now, almost like Tan Dun, has a worldwide reputation. He has a huge reputation in China and is quickly becoming one of the most famous composers in Europe. Xiao-Song made that connection for us, but also part of this whole relationship and part of the reason we connected on such a personal level is that he has the same feelings about self promotion. All of the same things that I am unwilling, but incapable, of doing in my career are the same things Xiao-Song is unwilling and incapable of doing for himself. He would not lift a finger for that sort of stuff, but he would help put our name out there to friends. His career developed because of the right luck and the right people. He, somehow, had the right help in coming to be known in Asia, and he is quite well known in Europe—he has had his operas commissioned by big festivals and performed by big companies. In this country the only things he ever pursued were things that I was interested in. He still has almost no reputation in the states, but quite a big reputation elsewhere.

151 Guo Wenjing, Drama (Milan: Ricordi, 1995).

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AUTHOR: I’ve been considering the Group’s reception from the perspective of percussion chamber music history and reception in the United States; however, since you were playing so much of Xiao-Song’s music in Asia, then I am wondering now if it was perhaps an even bigger deal for this notable composer to bring in three American percussionists. When you performed in

Asia, was the Group treated as something new, novel, and interesting, or was the attention largely focused on Xiao-Song and his music?

OTTE: Yes, I was surprised and embarrassed that for all of these situations in Asia—these new music festivals and the dance things—there were always press conferences. Just like Condi Rice does her press conferences, there would always be time set aside for Xiao-Song and me to answer questions. It happened over and over. There would be some room, in some convention center, set aside with rows of long tables, microphones, and glasses of water. Then Xiao-Song, the choreographer, and I would sit at the front table and we would be treated as though we were

Leonard Bernstein or Isaac Stern, but even that wouldn’t happen in America for them. There were ten or twelve reporters from all of the important newspapers and radio stations, and they would have questions. It was all in Chinese, so I didn’t know everything that was going on, but someone would translate questions for me and I would provide answers. There was this level of celebrity about it, and I don’t think it was because it was Xiao-Song or the Group. I think it was just because it was clearly part of the society—the idea of cultural events were still taken very serious by the local news media, and we were very much a part of this.

AUTHOR: The other day I read a short blurb in my alma mater’s newsletter, in which Chen Yi, who is on the faculty at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, commented that many Chinese

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musicians warmly embrace the quality of chamber music performance and training found in the

United States. Was the notion of percussionist performing chamber music, something that was of particular interest to your Chinese audiences?

OTTE: Not that I’m aware of, but there was also Xiao-Song’s connection in Taipei. There has been, for many years, the Taipei International Percussion Convention, and similarly, it has tremendous amounts of government money. There is a central figure in Taiwanese percussion who organizes all of this, and it happens every three years.152 I met so many people at these events. There was even a reception where I met some big government officials. Each time the festival is held there is one group from China, one group from Japan, one group from France, one group from Canada, and of course, all of the most famous ensembles attend—one from each country. Xiao-Song introduced us to these people and said, “From America, you have to bring these guys.” Up until then they had always invited a soloist from America, such as Leigh Stevens or whoever had some profile at the time, but they weren’t really bringing U.S. percussion groups.

Up until then, the best they could figure out was to bring someone like Michael Burritt and then have him bring some of his students, too. So, we weren’t on the radar in Taipei until Xiao-Song put us on the radar. Then we went, and this was a week-long festival and every concert was sold out, with thousands of people in the audience.153 We still have photographs of hundreds of people coming down to the stage to get us to sign autographs. We still have students who are coming here now, who say: “Yes, I saw you when I was in high school. I saw that performance, and I wanted to come and study with you guys ever since.” This was a connection that was made

152 Tzong-Ching Ju founded the Taipei International Percussion Convention and remains its chief organizer.

153 The Group’s first Taipei performance came with their invitation to participate in the May 1999 Taipei International Percussion Convention.

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because Xiao-Song elevated us to the level of popularity known by Nexus in North America or

Les Percussions de Strasbourg in Europe. We were even there at the same time [Les Percussion de] Strasbourg was invited back, after they had been there years earlier. But every other percussion group that came there, everyone in Taipei, all of the European groups, and all of the

Japanese groups had at least four, five, six, or more people, and they absolutely filled the stage with instruments. Every concert was pretty much the same in this way. So, when we sat there, just the three of us, very close together, and did our chamber music trios, it was actually odd for some of the audience members, who weren’t sure what they were getting. What we do, is something quite different for them, but it was a big success.

AUTHOR: Beyond Làm Môt and the concerto, did you get a sense with later pieces that the more the Group worked with Xiao-Song, the more his compositions were crafted around what you did best?

OTTE: Yes, because Làm Môt was the biggest piece, the one we did the most, and we recorded it, but it was pretty much written before us. Whereas, a piece like Mirage (1998), for three percussionists and Xiao-Song speaking these poems, was very much for us and this relationship.154 Hmmm…, what’s going to happen with that one? We recorded all of the percussion parts and the idea was that Xiao-Song was going to overlay the voice part, because it is different when he speaks that part. I’ve seen him do so many lectures about his music, and he demonstrates the Chinese language and how it was used in the theater. And he can cite poems and famous lines, and he can even say, “Now, I will say for you, I will walk across the street.”

154 Qu Xiao-Song, Mirage: Two Poems by Su Shi, for a Vocalist and Three Percussionists (New York: Peermusic Classical, 1998).

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And he will do it in this stylized, breathtaking, and poetic performance. So, we did this piece with him and he wrote it for his voice—his setting of these Sprechstimme-like intoned poems. He spent a lot of time in our studio futzing around with dipping triangles into buckets of water and putting a temple block inside the piano with the pedal down so that the temple block would have the resonance of the piano. All these were things that he developed in our studio, for this piece.

There were all kinds of little things like this; for example, bouncing a super ball on a conga and then dragging it across the head, and all of that stuff came about from him experimenting in our studio, with our instruments. By this time, John Luther Adams had given me copies of these Inuit paddle drums. We had ones made by school children and then John made a gift to me of a bigger, really nice one, though it does not have a seal-skin head, it is synthetic, but it is a very nice one. Xiao-Song was really fascinated by that, since it came from the Arctic Circle. So, he really wanted to use these. He tried hitting these drums, waving them over the timpani, and so forth. I’m not sure it was totally successful. But that piece [Mirage] is an example of one we did that very much needs him. I’m thinking now, could we get, of all possible Chinese speakers, anyone else to speak these texts with as much drama? I’m afraid the answer is no. It is a composition that is really connected to him. I would really like to make that happen and finish that project.

Similar to John Luther Adams, but even more so, and more so than with anybody else, the collaboration with Xiao-Song was a personal friendship. I spent lots of personal time with him in China, New Zealand, Europe, and New York. I was coming back a lot of the times to the guys and saying, “Look, I’ve got the next project with Xiao-Song.” We were regularly doing new, pieces with him, then another thing would come as a rewrite, then there were at least two or three previous pieces, which I loved and which were beautiful pieces for other instruments,

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where I said: “Could this be rescored for us? Could you make a version for three percussionists plus your voice or soprano or something?” It would always, sooner or later, happen. So, I was always having to come back to the guys and say, “I have another Xiao-Song piece.” I think it really helped that Xiao-Song had the possibility to and did deliver concerts in Hong Kong and

Shanghai and elsewhere, and he kept doing this and that to make them possible. I never did these pieces just so we could go to Shanghai, but he would often just call up and say: “I’ve been invited to this festival. Do you want to come along?” And they would generate thousands and thousands of dollars. I could say, “Okay, we need three air tickets or we need four, because

Audrey Luna is going to come along and sing this fabulous piece [Mist 2].”155 It was originally a chamber ensemble piece that I first did with a contemporary music ensemble here.156 I think

Audrey also sang it the first time, with all of the other instruments, and I said, “Well, could you rewrite it just for percussion and voice?” That’s a really good piece. In it, the three of us also have to sing, to replace the oboe and other stuff. Xiao-Song came here to work with us on that.

So, there is something very special about this relationship—there is something very special about the music, too—yet, it is also a good example of not only rough edges, but even a little bit of a soiled history here, since these are unfinished projects. They are half done. They didn’t quite get finished. By this point, there were enough pieces to do a whole CD of just Xiao-Song’s music, and his publisher was going to pay for it, but then it was a bad publisher, who Xiao-Song didn’t like, and then he didn’t have the energy to keep bothering them, so he dropped the ball and did nothing about the publisher. Then it was in my lap to bother the publisher, to pay the money for these recordings, and then I did that, and then they never pay or they send a little bit of money,

155 Soprano Audrey Luna sang both Mist 2 (1991, rev. 1995) as well as Four Poems form Shijing (2000) during this 7 May 2001 performance at the Shanghai Center Theater.

156 Qu Xiao-Song, Mist, for Soprano, Baritone, and Chamber Ensemble (New York: Peermusic, 1995).

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but that is the end of it. So, it is embarrassing situation with the recording engineer [Tom Haines] and it is embarrassing situation with Jim [Culley] and Rusty [Burge], who put a lot of time into the project. It just got all caught up between various people—between Xiao-Song and me, and a bad publisher. Along the way, his publisher came to realize that they didn’t hire the next Tan

Dun; rather, they hired a guy who actually wants to meditate, practice Buddhism, and write meditative pieces with long silences and tiny sounds, they realized they hired a Morton Feldman, but one with no interest in promoting his career, and so they have no interest in promoting it for him. And I’m not Leigh Stevens. I love this music for its spiritual quality and so forth, but I’m not going to, and I can’t, promote this whole thing on my own. So, the music sits there. This wonderful music sits there, unfinished. It makes me a little embarrassed now. How am I going to finish this stuff? And then it just begins to recede into the past.

AUTHOR: You once shared with me that there was a point when Xiao-Song said that you were his best friend in the whole world.

OTTE: Yes.

AUTHOR: So, I’m looking at this relationship as an example of how close the personal connection can become, while you and a composer work together. It appears that in many instances the close personal relationships are helpful in the creative processes, and the back and forth of composing and performing new music, but they can also add feelings of vulnerability or sensitivity or whatnot when projects don’t work out. Put another way: if you randomly met a composer and asked for a new work, and then the project didn’t work out, you likely wouldn’t feel the same sorts of things you are describing in this setting, correct? If it were just business

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and a commission fell through—as happens to big orchestras, small ensembles, and other percussion groups—you might be frustrated, but you could just wrap up the necessary contractual items and go your separate ways. There wouldn’t be that level of depth to your feelings, right?

OTTE: Yes. This brings up two thoughts. There is a similarity, in that sense, with John Luther

Adams, with whom I was the most involved. Though Jim [Culley] and Rusty [Burge] got to know him, I was the one who had long phone conversations with him. We talked about lots of other things and I was vested in a personal relationship, so that when John introduced career things into the whole mix, it didn’t affect Jim and Rusty as much—they were not surprised all that much that there was a certain professional composer careerism involved. Whereas, I felt this came at my expense and I am very hurt by this sort of thing. Something like that has never happened with Xiao-Song. With John Luther Adams, because there is no cultural difference, there is also a very professional side to it; whereas, with Xiao-Song it rather quickly became this deep, personal friendship, and because music was at the core of both of our lives, we shared our very deepest responses to each other’s music and music making, and other people’s music. So, professional matters were just constantly swirling in the bigger mix of our personal relationship.

From that relationship professional projects would continuously arise—they were just ongoing in this whole thing. And because there was the assumption that, in this decade, he was just always there and there was just always the next project and the next piece and some performance going on of the last piece, there was not a clarity of this being the piece, this being the project, or this being the performance—things were just always swirling around. Now, here we are without the recording—a fault of both of our personalities. The positive thing is that one could look back and say, “What makes him who he is, and what makes me who I am, is this aversion to the

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commercial side of the whole thing,” but because we lived together in that world, ten or fifteen years later we have some messy, rough edges—things that are not finished. It is not even clear how to finish them. That is how it all happened. It was just a friendship, and it was personal and ongoing. Look, I have a great job here. I make the money to keep my life going, and in a certain perspective, I have my recognition and success, as he does his in his culture. He gets these commissions, and writes books and the like. Why weren’t either of us able to bring that part of our careers to this relationship? I don’t know.

AUTHOR: Are there other significant compositions from that relationship? Also, are any of these projects ones that you think you will return to?

OTTE: My gosh! Sitting in Tom Haines’s vault are recording sessions of at least two other pieces, Mirage and Ji No. 6, which is a piece where Jim [Culley] played guitar or something.157

Again, it was a piece that I heard and was so moved by. I can’t tell you how many pieces Xiao-

Song played for me that were pieces that only received one performance in China or Japan, but when he would play the tapes for me, I was just so deeply moved. Just hearing Ji No. 6, I got it immediately. So, what was he going to do with this piece for biwa and a female, Japanese,

Buddhist nun and some other instruments?158 It was the most moving piece of music I had ever heard. I just cried immediately, and I was listening to a stupid cassette tape of this piece. I said:

“It can’t die here, on this cassette tape. We have to find a way to perform this piece.” So, Audrey

Luna learned to do the overtone singing and the chanting, I played all of the inside the piano

157 Qu Xiao-Song’s Ji No. 6 remains unpublished. Available is a single copy of a version of the composition for flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello, and piano: Qu Xiao-Song, Ji No. 6 for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Violoncello, and Piano, 1997, photocopy of holograph, Special Collections, University of Hong Kong.

158 Biwa is a Japanese lute.

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stuff, and the biwa part got transferred to a guitar and Jim [Culley] played that. This was going to be part of a whole project, and there was this recording session for it. Where is the recording now? Can it be finished? I hope so, because that one, in theory, was finished.

The percussion parts for Mirage are also finished. They just need to be edited, and somehow Xiao-Song has to put his voice over the top. That was the concept: the tape would be sent to China and he would sit in a studio there and speak over the top of this. The best piece of all is Mist. It is from the same time period as Xi and Làm Môt. It was originally composed for soprano and chamber ensemble, and he then re-wrote it for soprano and three percussionists.159 It was just so hard, and we had to speak, shout, and sing. There is also this soprano singing. There are so many instruments, it just seemed so difficult that we wondered if we would ever be able to place microphones correctly to be able to get it the way we wanted on these recordings. That one never got a recording session. So, the answer to your question is, yes, there are at least those two pieces we need to return to. With Xi, the piece for six percussionists, the idea was always that the three of us, plus some of our students, would finish it, record it, and add it to the mix, because compared to what’s out there, that piece predates any relationship with me, but it is just as good as any percussion sextet of the late twentieth century.

AUTHOR: Do you know if Xiao-Song ever thought about himself in the context of other percussion music? Were there other composers whose music informed his percussion writing?

OTTE: Good question. My immediate response would be, no, but what made him write the things that he writes? He knew all of the traditional, exuberant folk traditions of the percussion ensembles of China—the Chinese versions of Japanese Kodō drummers—these include all kinds

159 See n. 154.

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of dance and drum ensembles, mostly with big drums and noisy cymbals. He was completely familiar with that kind of stuff, but he also wrote these long sections of singing, Morton

Feldman-like chords on the marimba, long sections of just prayer bowls, and chime passages that take long silences and time to build up. Where does that all come from? I don’t think it has anything to do with any other example in the percussion literature?

AUTHOR: Early on in the relationship, but after you exchanged some recordings, did Xiao-Song ever comment to you about things he heard the Group do, especially while performing other composers’ music?

OTTE: Yes, that is a good question, too. What did he think of those things? What did he care about? He saw any number of our concerts. He loved the “Chilean pieces,” and when we went to

Shanghai he said, “Do some of your Chile [sic] songs.”160 He loved the energy and noisiness of all the Cage pieces. The “Alaska [sic] composer” is what he called John Luther Adams. He saw the Earth and the Great Weather, and he mentioned liking the energy of those pieces. It is fascinating though, in whatever ways he enjoyed these things, or in whatever ways he got a picture of our expertise as players and as an ensemble, the level of playing we were capable of, and the examples of our repertoire, he provided a pretty sophisticated example of a composer taking it all in. However, when it came back out of him, I know he was paying attention and he was thinking, “Okay, now I am going to write something specifically for them,” but no one could ever say, “Here is the influence of this piece or that composer.” No matter what he took in, it all came out in his own language. Yes, he was paying attention and was enthusiastic, and had particular favorites, but when it translated into his musical language, it became very personal.

160 For a description of the “Chilean Songs,” see Chapter 4, 65.

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Xiao-Song probably heard us perform more than most other composers, because he arranged pieces, and because he came to visit, and when he was here, sometimes, it would be just one of his pieces on a concert—the rest of it would be us doing other stuff. I think he heard us play more different repertoire than any other composer. Mark Saya may be the lone exception, but since Mark has been gone a long time, he doesn’t know our mature repertoire or our mature playing style as does Xiao-Song. I guess that’s a good part of his story, that he translated all of the material he heard without, in any way, it showing clearly through.

AUTHOR: Do you know if, during that same period, early on in the relationship, Xiao-Song was listening to other American percussion music?

OTTE: I would say, almost for sure, not. He paid attention to what his classmates and colleagues were doing. He was competitive, but he respected some of Tan Dun’s ideas and Guo Wenjing’s ideas. He seemed to be more aware of things that they were doing. I know he was also very interested in Morton Feldman, who was his favorite American composer. Xiao-Song is a very sociable guy, and it was nice to see him interacting with all of these people he knew. The first time I was in Shanghai, all of those composers were there: Chen Yi, Bright Sheng, Tan Dun, and a couple of Europeans, and they were all very friendly. I know that Xiao-Song has a fairly low estimation of Bright Sheng and Chen Yi, in particular. Part of it was the fact that they are just

Chinese people who are writing chinoiseries, and that really pisses him off. They are not actually grabbing the core of the culture. They are just writing the things American audiences want to hear, and so they are no different than the early twentieth-century European composers who glossed pentatonic melodies. Well, Chen Yi might be able to do that sort of thing better, because she has heard many more of the actual melodies, but that is all it is. Speaking of people who have

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cushy jobs and can just show up and collect their check, did you feel that she has any kind of presence in Missouri—is she around much?

AUTHOR: Actually, she does and she is. From what I saw, she always seemed quite devoted to her composition students. And now, both she and Zhou Long, her husband, are members of the composition faculty, so I believe they spend a large portion of their time in Kansas City. She received the Charles Ives Living Award at some point, when I was a student there, so that took her away from the campus for three years, but I regularly saw her in the Performing Arts

Center.161 During my freshman year, she taught one week of my music theory class. I also heard her offer several lectures to a survey of world music class. We are out of time for today. We will likely meet once more for a few follow-up topics.

OTTE: Okay.

Interview No. 4 1 July 2008 Memorial Hall, University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio

AUTHOR: Today will probably serve as our final formal interview. I wanted to just touch on a few follow-up items. The first involves your collaboration with John Cage. Obviously, you marked “composed for the Group” in the programs of performances of Music for Three, but the other day I saw a composition, perhaps a musicircus, titled What Mushroom? What Leaf?, which was also marked “composed for the Group.” Did Cage write a second work for you?

161 Instituted in 1998, the Charles Ives Living Award, provides an American composer in the middle of their career with three-years of subsidized time solely for the purpose of music composition. Aside from Chen Yi (2001), the other recipients of the $225,000 award include Martin Bresnick (1998), Stephen Hartke (2004), and George Tsontakis (2007). That Chen Yi earned such an award, speaks, in part, to Xiao-Song’s notion of her music being more Americanized.

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OTTE: There is a little story here. I don’t remember exactly when the idea occurred to me, but there are these two pieces: cȻomposed [sic] Improvisation for Snare Drum Alone and cȻomposed [sic] Improvisation for Single-Headed Frame Drum.162 Then he wrote this piece cȻomposed [sic] Improvisation for Electric Bass, and at some point he may have even said that they can all be played simultaneously, I don’t remember.163 And the whole musicircus idea certainly provides the possible that they could all be played together. These pieces provide the same sort of situation as with Branches and Child of Tree, which are basically the same type of composition: through chance operations you get time blocks, and you basically fill up the time blocks.164 You can perform Child of Tree by yourself or you multiply the performers and it becomes Branches. Now, added to these ideas, the first time we played Music for Three I had a huge bass drum in my setup, which was over on the end of the setup. I didn’t use it very often, but it was always a big gesture when I had to go over there and make a huge note on this bass drum. After the performance, Cage commented that he loved the bass drum. He thought it was great to see me, every half hour, walk over to hit that bass drum. So, it occurred to me, couldn’t we take the whole format Cage used for the cȻomposed [sic] Improvisations and make one more, but for bass drum. Basically, it is the same as the snare drum piece, but using different kinds of sticks. Then, we had a trio of cȻomposed [sic] Improvisations for snare drum, tambourine, and bass drum that we could play as this piece. I worked all this out, then I called him [John Cage]

162 John Cage, cȻomposed [sic] Improvisation for Snare Drum Alone (New York: Henmar Press, 1990); and John Cage, cȻomposed [sic] Improvisation for One-Sided Drums with or without Jangles (New York: Henmar Press, 1990).

163 John Cage, cȻomposed [sic] Improvisation for Steinberger Bass Guitar (New York: Henmar Press, 1990). David Revill confirms Cage’s intent for the three cȻomposed [sic] Improvisations to be played individually or together. David Revill, The Roaring Silence: John Cage – A Life (New York: Arcade, 1992), 281.

164 John Cage, Branches (New York: Henmar Press, 1976); and John Cage, Child of Tree (New York: Henmar Press, 1975).

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and had the discussion and said, “Remember in Music for Three, we had the big bass drum you loved?” He said, “Yes, that was great.” I said, “Well, I just had the idea to do this,” and I explained everything. He said, “Great! It sounds wonderful.” So, we played it at least once here, and then I know we included it when we played at the PAS convention in Philadelphia.165 Cage was there, and we did this as part of a musicircus. I don’t know if we then listed everything that was included, but it seems to me that Music for Three was also included in that. So, in that sense, that part of the whole would be the bona fide piece by Cage. Of course, this musicircus doesn’t really exist in Cage’s catalog of works.

AUTHOR: Shifting topics, I have quite a bit of material about you, personally, speaking with composer, having phone calls, and so forth. Are there instances when other members of the

Group took the lead in the discussions with a composer?

OTTE: Not that I can honestly remember. Maybe if we looked at every piece in the repertoire we’d find an example, but I really don’t think so.

AUTHOR: Then do you think it is a fair statement to paraphrase the comments of William

DeFotis and Ben Toth, that in the context of rehearsals, every member has equal voice and can share their ideas freely.166

165 The Group performed the musicircus What Mushroom? What Leaf? twice in Cincinnati, on 17 October 1989 and 24 February 1990, prior to the 7 November 1990 PAS convention performance in Philadelphia. The program note for the premiere performance describes the composition: “What Mushroom? What Leaf? Is another of our presentations which, though filled with the music and ideas of John Cage, is not actually a piece by him. It derives from a number of Cage’s important statements and interests: “musicircus” (as in 3-ring)—the simultaneous presentation of different pieces; that any portion of one of his works can be thought of as being representative of the whole; and that he is not particularly interested in the performance of his older pieces, but would rather have new things done.”

166 See n. 59 and 60.

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OTTE: Yes, absolutely.

AUTHOR: But in terms of the Group’s planning, whether it is organizing instruments, purchasing a van, paying bills, or so forth, the right person for that job always just naturally steps up and handles it. None of you holds a checklist over the other. No one hands out assignments.

OTTE: That’s absolutely right.

AUTHOR: And, in terms of bringing new music into the repertoire, that has been your role.

OTTE: Yes. And since Rusty [Burge] is a creative person in the jazz idiom, and has all kinds of jazz pieces to his credit—original creations and arrangements—then once in a while he’ll bring something in, in a way that [Jim] Culley just doesn’t. If I bring up a piece or if we are talking about a piece, he [Culley] will say, “It’s about time we bring that piece back,” or, “That’s the best piece we’ve played recently, let’s hold on to it.” But he doesn’t usually come in and say,

“Here is new material I found, and we should try it.”

AUTHOR: In particular, I heard from Ben [Toth] and Jim [Culley] about their belief that the passage at the end of the Reiss dissertation is inaccurate; so, the important difference that I want to clarify is that you do not view yourself as the executive or chief decision-maker for all aspects of the Group.167 Reiss says that the Group is “not a democracy.”168 Interestingly, he follows that statement with the sentence: “Otte made most of the decisions regarding music selection and programming.” So, I think his flaw is in only looking at repertory decisions to determine

167 Karl Reiss, “The History of the Blackearth Percussion Group and Their Influence on Percussion Ensemble Literature, Performance, and Pedagogy” (EdD thesis, University of Houston, 1987), 77–78.

168 Ibid.

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leadership of all other aspects of the ensemble. From what I’ve seen, wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that although you supply the Group’s repertoire and you have the most personal connections with the composers, it is not because you’ve told Jim, Rusty, Ben, Jack, or Bill that they couldn’t talk to composers; rather it is because this was your area of greatest interest, so you just did it? They do other things, you all have equal say in rehearsal, but you take care of the repertoire? Am I correct in even saying that the other members could bring in new musical material, if they wanted? No one has barred them from doing so, but repertory selection has traditionally been part of your role.

OTTE: Yes, but it would have made me very uncomfortable, and that’s just a personal admission. I am not even saying that I have reason to feel this way. It is irrational on my part. I have some issues about this—I do feel proprietary about this thing. I realize, when I am proposing programs or composers, that I cannot force things. I know if I really want something to happen, then I should be careful to make everyone welcome in the process. But I also think I was clear, in my various letters prior to founding the Group, that I had a lot of ideas and I would try my best to make sure everyone felt included in those.169 I think that is, in a sense, all that I thought Reiss was trying to say: at the transitional moment, I was the one who, against many people’s recommendations and wishes—the Blackearth guys didn’t want me to continue, they just wanted it to be over with—kept a group going. For some people, it was in their interest to say, “This new group has nothing to do with Blackearth, this is Al’s new group.” With the new group, I was recruiting from the perspective that I was married to the fact that this was a transition, and I was forming a group to continue what was started. Initially, I did a lot of administrative things, then after a while, Culley said: “Why don’t you let me take the truck. I’ll

169 Allen Otte, letter to William Youhass, 22 April 1979.

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make sure that the oil gets changed and this and that.” So, I let go of that, and this was a very good idea. He takes better care of the truck than I ever did. He also offered to do the taxes. That was hard to give up—to give up financial control of the Group—that was a pretty big deal, but it made sense, because he is much better with all of that. It is obvious that he is a more organized person, and he can sit there with spreadsheets and do all of this stuff, and that is very significant.

He is the CFO of the Group, but it is the right thing, for sure. Everything works better now because of that.

AUTHOR: What I read as concerns with Reiss’s framing of the situation, was that his language implied a hierarchy: you are the boss and the other members are underlings, who report to you.

He portrays the overly democratic ways of Blackearth as part of its downfall and the Group’s hierarchy as a solution.170 It comes across as a shift away from the beliefs that Blackearth was founded on. If I were to craft a final argument today, I’d likely say that the shift between the two ensembles was not about abandoning any notions of collective music making; but about refining the way to do it—different members take up different tasks. Everyone has the ability to voice ideas and concerns, but the three members take on responsibilities in the areas where they are most comfortable. No one is anyone else’s underling. In a way, this is also much more in-line with the notions of sharing responsibilities and creating mutual benefits that you championed in

“Preferences in Percussion.”171

OTTE: Right.

170 “The management of Blackearth was handled in a purely democratic manner. This style encouraged discussion and allowed expression of each individual’s views; however, it made progress slow and cumbersome. It quickly became clear that each member had a different concept of the direction the group should take.” Reiss, 2 and 46.

171 Otte, “Preferences,” 90 and 93.

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AUTHOR: So, as a summation, no one has been anointed as boss over the others. You have had areas, some of them very well defined, even if not verbally expressed, where you have made consistent contributions to the Group. In using the term “democratic,” Reiss is trying to say that in Blackearth, every member played an equal part in bring forward the repertoire ideas. That is something that is different in the Group.

OTTE: Right. I basically agree with everything they have taken exception with, in the Reiss statement. I think it is helpful, though, to clarify the whole emotional thing surrounding that moment of transition. What I want to be true is that there was a clear moment of transition, when somebody had to forge ahead and make the new ensemble happen. Once it was in place, then it became true that we were, and are, all equals. But this also makes me think now, that I am happy to say that there are people who, like [Jim] Culley, are better at taking care of the truck, taxes, finances, and so forth. He is better in having risen to be coordinator of the percussion area. He is better at getting the tambourine part covered for the band parts. Without saying so, maybe we just admit that it is clear we are all passionate about these things. In a sense, it is not my conscious effort to make sure that I keep so much information coming about new composers, new pieces, and programming ideas, so as to make it impossible for someone else to get in a word edgewise, but it is perfectly clear that I am going to keep this stuff coming. So, there is no reason for them to be seeking out these things, because they apparently have been satisfied enough with what I have found in the past years and what we have done. There are pieces that I am disappointed that we played more rarely than I wanted to, but if we perform something and one of us clearly doesn’t like it, then there is no reason to keep hammering at it.

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Reiss is correct, though, in saying that there is this difference, and what you are saying then makes the difference clearer. Because, you are right, in Blackearth a real part of the demise was that choosing repertory, choosing composers, and planning programs eventually got down to everybody going around the circle: “I want to play this piece.” “And, I want to play this piece.”

“Well, I hate that piece.” “I hate your piece, but I will at least play it,” and so on. With the

Group, that absolutely doesn’t happen. I think it absolutely was a source of conflict in the

Blackearth super-democracy. Repertory and programming are a little different now.

AUTHOR: Also, in forming the Group and in bringing in new members over the years, there has actually been a hiring process, so there was consideration of both technical abilities, but also personalities, and how everyone might work together. You could, at least, get an idea of areas where various members may excel.

OTTE: That’s correct.

AUTHOR: So, if one were to refine Reiss’s comparison, a starting point could be that the biggest difference between these two groups isn’t an overly democratic model versus a hierarchical model; rather, the Group differs from Blackearth by having all of the necessary tasks spread out across the membership, and as members are brought into the Group, there can be consideration of how and where they will function, even if these discussions are not verbalized.

OTTE: That’s right.

AUTHOR: And if one member is more or less passionate about one aspect of the Group: repertory, recording, planning tours, or so forth, then they can decide where they will focus their

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efforts, but no one hands out assignments or forces anyone else to sit down. Second, by allowing all of these roles to be handled by the person with the most natural inclinations in that area, you’ve been able to spend more time and energy focus on the consistent goals of both groups: playing new music by young composers and your friends, developing the string-quartet model of chamber music, and avoid contemporary models for ensembles: corporation-driven, celebrity- driven, and so forth.

OTTE: That’s exactly right.

AUTHOR: And going one final step, the area where it appears the Group has seen its most success is in building lasting relationships with composers—relationships that have benefited both parties in terms of the quality of the composition, the quality of the performance, and the number of projects undertaken. The consistency in this regard has meant that not only do the three of you practice your craft by rehearsing and performing a piece many times at a high level, but also the composers you work with can practice their craft by crafting multiple new works for the same Group of performers. They learn more about you, you about them.

OTTE: That sounds correct, even to the extent that there are sometimes pieces that come to us from the outside—people will say, “This is an obvious piece for you,” or “This will be great for the Group.” I might even be interested in the composer or I might even like the piece, but because it has already been played by another ensemble, it seems like it is not necessary for us to do it. I don’t know if there is a little ego involved in this—that the piece is never going to be personally associated with the Group; therefore, even if it is a good piece and we’d like to play it, we don’t, because there isn’t room for us to be in on the early part of the process. But that has

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happened with a number of pieces that we’ve never brought into our repertoire, simply because they are already up and running, and therefore they don’t need us.

AUTHOR: The idea of a composition needing you was something I also noticed in looking at the

Cage percussion compositions you most frequently perform. Many people associate the Group with your Cage performances, but you tend to spend more time doing some of less frequently performed Cage works. You perform Branches, Music for Marcel Duchamp, and Variations II, yet you haven’t tried turning First Construction (in Metal) or Second Construction into trios.

You’ve not played Imaginary Landscape No. 1, but you’ve played Quartet and Trio, which most ensembles wholly ignore.

OTTE: That’s correct. We do some of the more common percussion works, such as Imaginary

Landscape No. 2 and Amores. So, I guess if the things fit us well, we do them, but we’ve also done plenty of the other compositions that are not seen on the common percussion ensemble concert program.

Did we talk about Jonathan Kramer?

AUTHOR: No, we have not.

OTTE: I didn’t think so. Do you know about him?

AUTHOR: Not much, except for his program notes.172

172 Music theorist and composer Kramer served as program annotator for the San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Many of his finest program notes were collected in Jonathan D. Kramer, Listen to the Music: A Self-Guided Tour Through the Orchestral Repertory (New York: Schirmer, 1988).

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OTTE: Yes, so there are his quite wonderful program notes and his monograph [The Time of

Music], then, before his shocking and untimely death a couple of years ago, he was said to have been working on the final draft of a book on postmodernism in music.173 He had already published a number of articles on the topic.174 But it occurred to me that here is another person who wrote three huge pieces for the Group.175 He is, perhaps along with [Herbert] Brün, the only composer who wrote for Blackearth, then continued and wrote for the Group.

AUTHOR: Michael Udow would fit in that category as well, right?

OTTE: Yes, I guess Four Movements (1975, rev. 1979) came to the Group after the Blackearth time.176 But Jonathan [Kramer] is especially important, because this last piece that he wrote for us, Notta Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (1992–93), was a really good piece, and he got it played at least once or twice from other people. I think he got a performance in Australia or somewhere else, but when we ever get together this compendium of recorded performances and archival performance, we will have to include this one on it, because we did make a recording of that piece, since he was going to put it on one of his own CDs. A few days before he died, I had a long conversation with him about using it for a retrospective recording and he said: “Yes, you should do that. It can either be both places or I can put something else on my CD.” Anyway,

173 Jonathan D. Kramer, The Time of Music: New Meanings, New Temporalities, New Listening Strategies (New York, Schirmer, 1988).

174 Most notably Jonathan Kramer, “Beyond Unity: Toward an Understanding of Postmodernism in Music and Music Theory,” in Concert Music, Rock and Jazz since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies, ed. Elizabeth West Marvin and Richard Hermann (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 1995), 11–33; and Jonathan Kramer, “Postmodern Concepts of Musical Time,” Indiana Theory Review 17 (Fall 1996), 21–61.

175 Kramer composed two works for the Group: Five Studies on Six Notes, 1980, unpublished; and Notta Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (Saint Louis, MO: MMB Music, 1993). The third composition was for Blackearth: The Canons of Blackearth, 1972–73, unpublished.

176 Michael Udow, Four Movements for Percussion Quartet (New York: American Composers Alliance, 1975).

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each of these pieces is kind of a major musical and philosophical essay from this guy who was a theorist and an aesthetician—a brilliant guy who was a great writer. The fact that he clearly addressed, in thirty-minute compositions, three times over this quarter of a century, major topics going on in music is unheard of. The fact is that The Canons of Blackearth (1972–73), I would say is now, retrospectively, a less successful piece, and the last piece [Notta Sonata] is a major work and amazing piece of music, which you’ve probably never heard.

AUTHOR: No. I have not.

OTTE: It is really an amazing piece of music, and it is his ultimate essay in postmodern composition. In thirty-minutes he barrels through [Leonard] Bernstein, Philip Glass, [Pierre]

Boulez, and all of these things. How he makes the transitions or doesn’t make the transitions and just keeps us going, it is amazing. He has us up and running at this virtuoso level for the whole time. It is odd, and it is a stunning piece and darn hard. But it is for two pianos and so we played it a few times, because of the unusualness of the ensemble; whereas we played the Five Studies on Six Notes quite a bit in that era, and it remains one of my wife’s favorite pieces.177 That already was a first step in his postmodern research. He was questioning whether he could write five completely different pieces, in completely different styles, but unify them with this very limited instrumentation and this very limited pitch set.

AUTHOR: We’re you and Kramer discussing these ideas while he was composing?

177 Whereas the Group performed Five Studies on at least twenty concerts, they performed Notta Sonata only four times. Frank Weinstock and Michael Chertock played the two piano parts for those performances.

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OTTE: Yes. When I was an undergraduate at Oberlin [Conservatory], his first job was as a member of the theory faculty, so I got to know him. I’ve told you the story about having a percussion teacher [Richard Weiner], who was not on campus, but was in Cleveland playing with the Cleveland Orchestra, and so he only came to Oberlin once a week to teach lessons. All of my real relationships with adults were formed with the composition and theory faculty. Jonathan

Kramer was one of these people. He really spent a lot of time with me and showed me the music of [Karlheinz] Stockhausen, [John] Cage, and all of this stuff. Then, when I left Oberlin

[Conservatory] and started Blackearth, he got a job at Yale [University]. So, Jonathan went to

Yale, and there he wrote The Canons of Blackearth, and brought us to Yale to play it. Then, we toured with it, recorded it—I think he actually came out to DeKalb, Illinois, for the recording session—and we kept up our friendship, because he was not that much older than me.178 The job at Oberlin [Conservatory] was his first, after getting his doctorate. He and I exchanged letters about forming Blackearth, about the difficulty of it, the personal problems in that group, and so he was sort of a friend in this way. He had a lot of things to say about it.

Then, by wild coincidence, after being a Yale University, he got a better job offer to come to CCM, and then he was here for ten years [recte twelve years] and we found ourselves again as friends hanging out and as colleagues on the faculty.179 The Five Studies on Six Notes began life as a harpsichord piece, actually.180 Then, when I began talking to him about wanting a piece from him, he said that he didn’t think that piece was currently in the right hands—in the hands of these harpsichordists. He also thought he could expand it out. So, we sat with the piece

178 Jonathan Kramer, The Canons of Blackearth, Blackearth Percussion Group, Opus One 31, LP, 1977. At that time, Blackearth resided at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.

179 Kramer served on the CCM faculty from 1978–90.

180 Jonathan Kramer, Five Studies on Six Notes for Two-Manual Harpsichord, 1977, signed manuscript, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

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and tried things. Of course, all of the manuscript kind of stuff, before he got it into a final form, was basically in his very clear aesthetic. His ideas about just what it was that he wanted were clear: five very disparate studies unified by just these six notes.

So, then he got the job at Columbia and left [CCM]. I think he was already coming to an even a bigger aesthetic manifesto, but he knew that he needed not an orchestra, a pick-up group, nor an individual—it had to be more than a soloist, more than a piano sonata—rather, it had to be a group that could really practice the piece and really rehearse it at the highest level. It was his idea to follow in the way of the [Béla] Bartók [Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion]. He

[Kramer] had already written five piano sonatas, though he was not a pianist himself. He had experience writing for piano, and he also had experience, by now, writing for percussion. So, he made the proposal for a major work. He laid out the kinds of things involved. He was already in

New York, and I remember music arriving from him like it arrived from Russell Peck, we would get five pages and a note saying, “It is not the beginning, but here are five pages,” and then another: “Now, here is the beginning,” and another: “Here are another three middle pages,” and another: “Here is more of the beginning.” We started practicing it and rehearsing it, and I poignantly remember when the Philip Glass section arrived, because we are all better at different things, and although in the early days of the Group I enjoyed playing and was good at playing the [Maki] Ishii piece, the [Takayoshi]Yoshioka piece, and these big marimba pieces of that era; for just walking up to the instrument and playing a thousand right notes in that Philip Glass style,

Rusty [Burge] and Jim [Culley] are both absolutely better at this.181 So, there came this amazing section of very fast unison playing between two pianists, xylophone, and marimba or vibraphone

181 Maki Ishii, Marimbastück mit zwei Schlagzeugern (Tokyo: Ongaku No Tomo Sha, 1971); and Takayoshi Yoshioka, Paradox III (1978), unpublished manuscript, University of California-Los Angeles Music Library.

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or something. It starts out on glockenspiel, and we already knew who was playing what parts, because the glockenspiel does this for the shortest amount of time, drops out, and goes to something else. This reminds me, that in him sending bits and pieces, which we would try out, there was probably less commenting about something that didn’t work, because he was already a pretty accomplished composer. He had written a lot of orchestral music and music for us. I also think that since he really knew what he wanted, we had less to comment on, but there were still lots of phone conversations as parts arrived and as we worked through them.

I would only recap to say that, as I think back on it, whether or not these pieces became part of our repertoire or other groups’ repertories; and whether or not they are judged to be wonderful contributions to the body of new percussion music, which, like many such pieces, don’t actually get played a lot; and whether or not we even agree that these are wonderful pieces, since I’m not even saying that I have any confidence about these pieces being important contributions to the history of our literature; however, they stand out as some of the most important statements of a composer who was, in the best senses of experimental new music, one with a philosophy and an aesthetic point to be made. He was working out his philosophic statements in his composing and his academic writing—in these cases mostly addressing the aesthetics of postmodernism in music—and he worked them out thoroughly in his compositions for us. I suppose, in the same way that we could say that Strange and Sacred Noise is one of

John Luther Adams’s major essays or a kind of aesthetic statement worked out thoroughly, so, too, is Notta Sonata absolutely the same thing. I certainly speak about them in that way.

AUTHOR: Another composer, who we’ve spoken about, and with whom you worked on similar important aesthetic projects was Herbert Brün. You spent a lot of time with Brün, at [the

University of] Illinois—during your time in Blackearth and traveling back for performances,

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after moving to Cincinnati. You and Jonathan Kramer spent time together at Oberlin

Conservatory and then again, here [at CCM]. You maintained a strong relationship with Gerhard

Samuel, while he was on the faculty here. More recently, you and Mara [Helmuth] have been working together on new compositions.

OTTE: Yes.

AUTHOR: We spoke about some of the various collaborations with students, but it seems like there is something to be said about you building relationships with faculty colleagues—the people who are physically close to you on a daily basis and people with whom you can have regular contact. It seems more than coincidental that all of the composers we’ve discussed who have provided multiple works to the Group’s repertoire are people who either taught near you, studied near you, or, in the case of John Luther Adams, had many, many phone conversations with you. Physical or geographical nearness seems like a prerequisite for the relationships you wish to build.

OTTE: Yes, yes it is. In a sense, I would wish that to be exemplary. Maybe that is the thing that I wish people to notice and pass on. It is not even so important that people play the music of

Jonathan Kramer, but that, when in a setting like this, they passionately live their life. Maybe there is no way to draw a distinction between people who just have occasional meetings in the hallways of CCM, but I am talking about something different—not just a one-time gesture. You know, when a flute teacher passes by a theory teacher who also composes and says: “Hey, I’m going to do a recital next fall. I’ll play one of your pieces on my recital if you write me one.” The theory teacher composes a piece and the flute teacher plays it once. It is not like people in music

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schools don’t have these exchanges already. What is it that makes me so pretentious about the quality of my exchanges? I don’t know, but I would wish them to be cumulative—built over time with compositions and discussion back and forth. I hope that cumulatively, over the years, there is some qualitative difference about how I lived this. So that, whether or not I think Jonathan

Kramer’s Notta Sonata is in fact a fine and important contribution, I am even more concerned that people noticed or learned something from the interaction. That is the example of a healthy life for collegial musicians.

AUTHOR: So, at least a pedagogical goal now is showing others a model for collaboration. Over time you’ve had plenty of pieces written for the Group. You’ve built a large repertoire, but you are actually less interested in canon creation, less interested in creating the new standards in percussion literature. You haven’t said, “We’ll get the recordings of these works out there for others to hear.” You haven’t said, “We’ll help get the piece published.” You don’t promise to market or promote compositions, publications, or recordings. Is it correct, in your view, that those are all secondary to creating the long-term relationships with the composers?

OTTE: Yes, that’s right.

AUTHOR: Another follow-up question. I wanted to briefly ask about Martin Sweidel, since we spoke about your collaborations with CCM students. Bucky’s View (1983) was in the Group’s repertoire for a while and he also wrote another piece for the Group.182

OTTE: Yes.

182 Martin Sweidel, Bucky’s View remains unpublished. Sweidel did not compose the second work, IX (1991), specifically for the Group, although they performed it at least once in the early 1990s. Neither the exact date nor the venue information was included in the program.

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AUTHOR: Again, Sweidel was someone physically near you, and I assume you got to know him pretty well.

OTTE: Right. He was a CCM student, maybe even an undergraduate who stayed on as a graduate student. He was around for a long time. He was a rock ’n’ roll guitar player who then went into electronic music. I’m trying to remember the sequence of things. Perhaps he was

Jonathan Kramer’s assistant in electronic music program, and when Jonathan went to Columbia then Marty was in an obvious position to follow into the electronic music position and so he became a junior faculty member or a visiting faculty member for a brief period. So, he was running the electronic music program for a brief time. Marty was a great guy, a tremendously likeable guy, with lots of energy. He created the Cincinnati Composers’ Guild so that there was an independent way for people to get their music out, downtown, and heard. It was not such an unusual example, but he was really good at organizing it and all of these things, but probably a less good composer. His pieces were of less compelling quality than most of the other music we played. But one of the other reasons he was such an attractive personality and a friend was that our socio-political views were right in the same place. When he wanted to do a piece about some of Buckminster Fuller’s ideas, and Fuller’s relationship to Cage, it seemed to me like this was a great idea. He may have started Bucky’s View as part of a different project with a different name.

It had a few other performers in it, originally. I liked it and I said that I want to have a piece with

Buckminster Fuller texts: “A piece like that with tape would be just great. Could you make a new

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version for the Group?” He agreed and worked on it and made something. It has two texts spoken live. I don’t think we ever tried to get it down to a tour-able format.183

AUTHOR: There is at least one program, where there are not narrators listed. Of course, it is not clear whether there were people speaking and their names just didn’t make the program, or if, in fact, you performed some other arrangement of Bucky’s View.

OTTE: I’m not sure. The whole appearance of that piece was very cool, but what we were doing wasn’t that interesting. It was us doing little ostinatos.

I had forgotten about this one [Bucky’s View], but it would, actually, be a good piece to include in the imaginary thirty-year retrospective. It could be an interesting piece to have included in such a compendium of our work, even if it is not as interesting as when you see it done on stage, with us doing the interesting stuff.

AUTHOR: Moving to a different topic. As Mark Saya continued to add character pieces to From the Book of Imaginary Beings, you began performing individual movements from the collection.184 You performed “The Fauna of Mirrors” movement alone as soon as a year later, then you did this with other movements.185 Why did you do this? Were some Beings better?

183 The Group took Bucky’s View on tour for several performances during the 1984–92 seasons. In all but two instances the names of two narrators were included in the programs. It is unclear if the 13 March 1986 and 12 April 1986 performance occurred without narration, or if the members of the Group provided the narration, or whether the narrators’ names were omitted from the program.

184 During the first year of performances of From the Book of Imaginary Beings, the Group included multiple, if not all of the movements, on their concerts.

185 The Group performed multiple movements from 8 November 1985 to 21 January 1986. It performed “The Fauna of Mirrors” alone from 3 March 1988 to 22 April 1989, “The Lamed Wufniks” alone from 16 October 1990 to 21 June 1991, and “Tigre Capiangos” alone from 24 October 1995 to 14 April 2006.

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OTTE: The other Beings were, at the very least, less transportable: some of them have inside the piano parts and require big racks of gongs. Starting to take just one of them was, in part, a gesture toward wanting to keep Mark [Saya] included on the programs. It was a positive personal relationship and playing these pieces on tour was good for him. This one [“The Fauna of the

Mirrors”] was just the shortest piece and the most easily transportable.

AUTHOR: I have one final follow-up question. In sorting through program data, it appears that during some of the early touring seasons, you would rotate through works even on a single tour.

Some compositions would be performed one night, then off the program the next. You had some collection of works from the repertoire that appeared throughout the tour, but night-to-night one piece could be substituted for another. That seems to happen less often in your more recent touring programs. Was that just for your guys own interest? Was there a specific reason for making these nightly changes? Were you trying out more repertoire then?

OTTE: I can’t exactly say, unless someone had specifically asked for something. Now, another criticism that I am self conscious about is that over the last decade we have found a touring program of pieces that we all like very much and that are easy to tour with. The truck is still filled with stuff, but the Chinese cymbal piece [Guo Wenjing’s Drama], Alonzo [Alexander’s] piece [Mbira Music, Book One] are certainly easier to transport. Maybe this represents that we are older and trying not to setup a huge stage full of stuff. Part of it is that they are all good pieces and that is why we generated them and I proposed them for a program, but they are also fine pieces of music that people can enjoy. But one could offer a criticism if they then looked at an ensemble like eighth blackbird—they’re going through repertoire like crazy and they have lots of different pieces and it is always changing—while in the same exact time span we have

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really settled, if not calcified, into a predictable format for our touring program. Though I can excuse it and make a good case as to why these pieces deserve to be played and why they are successful, and I don’t believe that we have settled, and I don’t think there is anyone saying,

“We’d hire those guys again, but they always play the same things,” I am aware that it could be criticized. I don’t know if people are even paying that much attention to our program details, in the way you are, but I don’t think it has hurt us. Actually, it has done us good. In the places we’ve played, the people have loved this stuff. Yet, I am self conscious about whether we or I have lost a certain edge about creating the next format of fascinating programs.

AUTHOR: Is there an element to this that you think about or discuss in rehearsals? Perhaps these are compositions still growing a lot within the Group, or pieces that are still growing with your audiences. Or, are these pieces from composers with whom you want to keep relationships going and now you are hoping for more music similar to the compositions you’ve already seen from the relationships?

OTTE: It is nice that you ask that question in that way. I wish it were true, but I think that is not the case. These pieces are all pretty much established in how we play them. I don’t think they are works that are still changing.

AUTHOR: That concludes my questions. Any shorter follow-up items that may arise are likely questions we can address through e-mail.

OTTE: One thing I wanted to add is something I just recently articulated to myself. I was just checking the websites of various other professional groups and I was wondering whether we are, or are nearly, the only professional percussion group that I could think of that hasn’t done the

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connection to ethnic players. Almost every other professional group, whether it is Synergy

Percussion in Australia, Kroumata, Amadinda, or any of the others, they all have CDs with an

African drummer or an Indian drummer or the members playing gamelan. Especially, a lot of

African material comes up, and good for them, of course, because this is the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century and that’s exactly in line with the currents in the world and globalization and all of that. It just suddenly struck me: “My gosh, we are the only people who haven’t done that.” I’ve been tremendously interested in the idea of cross-cultural infiltrations of musical and aesthetic ideas and playing. We’ve played music by Chinese composers and we play the mbira piece [Mbira Music, Book One], but that is because I love mbira. We are not just going to be the cool guys and play some Zimbabwe dance music on one

African-inspired CD. We’ve always addressed these desires by getting people to write actual chamber music for us. Until the other day, I had never thought about it, that we may be the only professional percussion ensemble that has not gotten an African drummer to join us on stage and jammed with him. We may be the only group who has not invited Keiko Abe and played with her. Everyone else has played with Keiko Abe. Everyone of them is now playing with Michael

Burritt or Leigh Stevens. I still have no interest whatsoever in doing something like that once and calling it chamber music. It is tough for us even to bring one of our own students into the group to play a quartet, which is why it is so wonderful to play something like Third Construction with

Ben [Toth]. It is a dream, because the Group, the trio, simply becomes a quartet for that moment.

We’ve played with a few pianists, but we’ve loved and hated doing that. They throw all kinds of sand in our gear work. We’ve played satisfying works with only a few different pianists, but that is it.

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AUTHOR: Do you think that lack of an African drumming collaboration has to do with the model that you are comfortable with? By that I mean, if there was an African drummer walking the halls of CCM and you became good friends, then perhaps you’d ask them to write a work for the Group or join you for several performances. In terms of these ethno-oriented influences, you simply have not had those colleagues or students at CCM. We don’t have a big ethnomusicology program—we don’t have any ethnomusicology program. There are not people floating around here for you to partner with in using your model of collaboration with their musical or cultural influences. To go out and find an African drummer for one concert would be to break down the model you have been describing to me.

OTTE: Yes, very much so.

AUTHOR: You don’t usually travel far for your composers, and when you do, there are many phone calls, as were the cases with [Russell] Peck and John Luther Adams.

OTTE: Yes, but even with John there was time we spent together. When we played the Peck concerto [The Glory and the Grandeur] in Fairbanks, we went up there for a few days to rehearse with the orchestra and play a concert at the university.186 So, we were around for three or four extra days and since I knew that a composer called “John Luther Adams” lived there, I made it a point to contact him. He may have even come to a rehearsal. So, we met and set aside a whole day to go to his composition shed outside of Fairbanks, and he played some of his music for me.

186 The Group’s April 1993 trip to Alaska included a recital and master class at the University of Alaska- Fairbanks as well as the concerto performance with the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra.

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We had played the songbirdsongs (1974–79) several years earlier, without ever knowing him.187

He also knew the Blackearth album, but there was really no contact between us before then. This was really the first time that we had actually met. I sat there for hours in his studio, and he played tapes for me of this then new piece, Earth and the Great Weather. It had these drum quartets and

I specifically said, “Let me see the music.” I don’t think I proposed it then, but I already knew that this was great stuff, and so I took it back here and worked it out, and I thought, “Yes, this can happen.” Then, I called him and said: “I know how we can do this as a trio. Is that okay with you?” That’s how we first met, but then there have been more hours on the telephone with John

Luther [Adams] than with any other composer I know. Over the whole ten year period when we really in touch, there were a great many phone conversations.

AUTHOR: And then with Russell Peck, even though you had played Lift-Off! and The Glory and the Grandeur many times, those are his only two works in your repertoire, so even that relationship is a little different.

OTTE: That’s right.

AUTHOR: Peck composed Lift-Off! prior to meeting you, and then you had a tremendous amount of input into the concerto, but then additional works never followed.

OTTE: Well, Russell already had additional movements for another piece, and with the success of the first concerto, I said, “Write a second concerto.” That turned into his timpani concerto

[Harmonic Rhythm]. Russell is a guy who—no criticism meant—has his career and is a good

187 John Luther Adams, songbirdsongs, Book I (Fairbanks, AK: Taiga Press, 1993); and John Luther Adams, songbirdsongs, Book II (Fairbanks, AK: Taiga Press, 1993). The Group performed the “Morningfield Song” and the “Mourning Dove” with flautists Susan Deaver and Stefani Starin on 30 April 1983.

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businessman. He knew what was best for his career, and the timpani work was a more lucrative consortium than writing another trio for us. However, my point here is that Russell had a career as an orchestral composer and was himself passionately devoted to this form of music. He seeks commissions from orchestras for pieces and that is where he wants to make his mark. He has written very, very little for any other medium. Even Lift-Off! is an early and odd example in his whole output. He is not the kind of person who was ever a likely person to write for percussion trio. The whole first concerto was generated because of the commission. It was not generated from us looking for a concerto from him. He contacted us.

The other thing I’ve recently noticed in the whole history of Evelyn Glennie’s concerto performances and Nexus with their [Toru] Takemitsu concerto [From Me Flows What You Call

Time], which they’ve played hundreds of times, and other concertos that they’ve only played once or twice, such as Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s [Rituals (2003)]; well, I went back and checked the dates of all of these things, and once again I am going to proudly say we were the people who first performed in this format.188 There was the [Paul] Creston [Concertino for Marimba and

188 Glennie performs the following concertos, all of which were composed for or later dedicated to her, Frangiz Ali-Sade’s Silk Road (1999); Sally Beamish’s Trance O’ Nicht (2004); David Bedford’s Percussion Concerto (2000); Richard R. Bennett’s Percussion Concerto (1990); Derek Bourgeois’s Concerto for Percussion and Brass Band (1995); Rory Boyle’s Marimba Concerto (1993); Gerard Brophy’s Trance …… Dakar (1998); Margaret Brouwer’s Aurolucent Circles (2001); Geoffrey Burgon’s City Adventures (1995); Richard Causton’s Concerto for Solo Percussion and Gamelan (2001); Chen Yi’s Percussion Concerto (1999); Michael Daugherty’s UFO (1998); Kenneth Dempster’s Concerto Palindromes (1985); Jason Eckardt’s Reul na Coille (2002); Gareth Farr’s Hikoi (1999); Adam Gorb’s Elements (1998); David Gow’s Marimba Concerto (1992); Paul Hart’s Cathcart Concertina for Percussion (1998); Jonathan Harvey’s Percussion Concerto (1997); Christos Hatzis’s Tongues of Fire (2007); David C. Heath’s African Sunrise-Manhattan Rave (1995); Piers Hellawell’s Drum of the Nájd (1997); Matthew Hindson’s Percussion Concerto (2005); David Horne’s Ignition (2002); Lukas Hurnik’s Globus (2001); Tjunde Jegede’s Savanna (2000); Christian Jost’s Cosmosdromion (2002); Andrew Keeling’s Nekyia (1995); David Lang’s Loud Love Songs (2004); James MacMillan’s Veni, Veni, Emmanuel (1992); Askell Masson’s Crossings (2002); Askell Masson’s Percussion Concerto (2000); Eddie McGuire’s Prazdnik (2003); John McLeod’s Percussion Concerto (1987); Dominic Muldowney’s Figure in a Landscape (1991); Thea Musgrave’s Journey through a Japanese Landscape (1994); Thea Musgrave’s Two’s Company (2006); George Newson’s Both Arms (2002); Rodney Newton’s Variations for Percussion (1992); John Psathas’s View from Olympus (2001); Kevin Puts’s Percussion Concerto (2005); Alan Ridout’s Concertino for Percussion (1985); Ned Rorem’s Concerto for Mallet Instruments (2004); Ney Rosauro’s Concerto for Vibraphone and Orchestra (1996); Christopher Rouse’s Der Gerettete Alberich (1998); Bright Sheng’s Colours of Crimson (2004); Howard Skempton’s Concerto for Hurdy Gurdy & Percussion (1994); Roberto Sierra’s Con Madera, Metal y Cuero (1998); Marjin Simons’s Concerto for an 396

Orchestra (1940)], [James] Basta [Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra (1978)], [Darius]

Milhaud [Concerto pour batterie et petit orchestra (1966)], and a little pile of percussion concertos from way back when, but now, since 1988, there is nothing but percussion concertos coming out everywhere, all the time.189 They are mostly solo things, but some are for multiple soloists. In 1988; however, there was no piece of this modern era that pre-dates the Peck concerto. That one started this trend, then the Takemitsu came, and then others. Now, I’m sure you would be the first person to comment that it is not that everyone noticed our concerto and then said, “Let’s evolve this genre,” but this was, in fact, what happened. We started going around to orchestras and appearing as soloists with this piece, and then other people started doing this. So, 1988 marks a new era. It wasn’t that Russell [Peck] and I noticed that other people had concertos, and we should have one, too. Nor did we say, at that time: “Here is a new marketing ploy. Let’s do this.” It just arose because of the type of music Russell was writing. He was going to write good drum parts in his orchestral music anyway, so he probably just thought, “I can also put them out in front of the orchestra.” He thought of our relationship, from the years in DeKalb,

Illinois, the beer-tasting parties, and the nice friendship we had there.

AUTHOR: Okay, that covers all of the material. Thank you very much for all of your time.

Odd Couple (2005); Steve Stucky’s Spirit Voices (2003); Joan Tower’s Strike Zones (2001); Terry Trower’s To Freedom (1992); George Tsontakis’s Mirologia (2001); Mark Anthony Turnage’s Fractured Lines (2000); Erkki- Sven Tuur’s Magma (2002); Jacob ter Veldhuis’s Barracuda Concerto (2006); Stewart Wallace’s Gorilla in a Cage (1996); Nebojsa Zivkovic’s Castle of the Mad King (1999); and Nebojsa Zivkovic’s Concerto of the Mad Queen (2000). Nexus performs the following concertos which were composed for it, William Cahn’s The Birds (1984); William Cahn’s Kebjar-Bali (1982); Bill Douglas’s Concerto for African Percussion Ensemble and Orchestra (1999); Harry Freedman’s Touchings (1992); Bruce Mathers’s Tallbrem Variations (1994); Toru Takemitsu’s From Me Flows What You Call Time (1990); and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Rituals (2003).

189 Glennie’s performances of concertos by Dempster (1985), Ridout (1985), and McLeod (1987) and Nexus’ performances of Cahn’s two percussion soloist and orchestra works in 1982 and 1984 predate 1988 tipping point mentioned by Otte. However, Glennie’s and Nexus’s signature concertos arrived after the Group had received Peck’s The Glory and the Grandeur.

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Appendix F

Transcript of Interview with Benjamin Toth

2 July 2007 Home of Benjamin Toth North Granby, Connecticut

AUTHOR: Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. Let’s begin by discussing your entrance into the Group. When the two founding members auditioned for Al [Otte], he asked them to write an essay detailing their thoughts about percussion music; chamber music, in general; and perhaps even to address their personal aesthetic views.1 [Jim] Culley remembers aspects of his essay coming up as topics of discussion during his campus visit.2 The contents of such essays, and even the fact that Al requested them, helps establish the idea that he [Otte] formed the trio on more than just members’ abilities as performers. For him, it was essential to establish a shared musical aesthetic, but also an approach to music-making similar to what he described in “Preferences in Percussion.”3 Are you familiar with that essay?

TOTH: Sure.

AUTHOR: I should also state that my thinking on this topic has been informed by Karl Reiss’s dissertation on Blackearth, in which he considers some of Al’s beliefs about where percussion music should be headed.4 But back on topic, did Al ask you to write any type of essay? And, at

1 Allen Otte, letter to William Youhass, 22 April 1979. James Culley and William Youhass founded the Group, along with Otte, in the fall 1979.

2 Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 168–71.

3 Allen Otte, “Preferences in Percussion - 1973,” Percussionist 11 (March 1974): 89–97.

4 “Blackearth was founded on the belief that the proper performance and interpretation of new music required extensive preparation which could best be realized by an ensemble dedicated to that goal on a full-time basis ….” Reiss continues: “Formation of the ensemble was an attempt at collective music making based on their 398

any point during the application process was there a candid discussion about the philosophy of the ensemble, your thoughts on percussion music, chamber music, and so forth?

TOTH: I wasn’t asked to write anything. I visited CCM twice as part of my audition process during the fall of 1986. Al and Jim [Culley] kind of knew me, because I had auditioned at CCM for graduate school, but ultimately chose to go to the University of Illinois instead. Then, during my first year at Illinois, the Group did a residency there.5 Of course, they already had huge ties there, primarily with Herbert Brün, but also with Tom Siwe and other people. So, they were there during my first year of graduate school. Jack Brennan was in the Group at that point.6 They played [Mauricio] Kagel’s Dressur (1977), Mark Saya’s From the Book of Imaginary Beings

(1986), and some other stuff.7 During that visit, I was their gopher, and I also had two coaching sessions with them. I played [Maki Ishii’s] Marimbastück (1969), which is in the Group’s repertoire, with the [the University of] Illinois graduate percussion trio, and I also played a marimba solo by Charles Lipp called The Reckless Sleeper (1983).8 Charles was one of Herbert

belief in democratic principles they felt were lacking in the political and musical climate of the time.” Karl Reiss, “The History of the Blackearth Percussion Group and Their Influence on Percussion Ensemble Literature, Performance, and Pedagogy” (EdD thesis, University of Houston, 1987), 2, 35–38, and 45–47.

5 The Group led masterclasses and performed recitals during a week-long residency at the University of Illinois in March 1986.

6 Brennan’s tenure in the Group lasted from September 1985 to January 1987.

7 Mauricio Kagel, Dressur (Frankfurt, Germany: Litolff, 1983); and Mark Saya, From the Book of Imaginary Beings: An Open-Ended Catalog of Pieces for Three Percussionists (Cincinnati, OH: M. Saya, 1986). The remainder of the Group’s 3 March 1986 program included Herbert Brün, Infraudibles with Percussion, 1968– 84, unpublished; John Cage, Imaginary Landscape No. 2 (New York: Henmar Press, 1960); and Allen Otte, Sonata as Interlude: Rolling with John, 1985, unpublished.

8 Maki Ishii, Marimbastück mit zwei Schlagzeugern (Tokyo: Ongaku No Tomo Sha, 1971); and Charles Lipp, Reckless Sleeper, 1986, unpublished.

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Brün’s students, who was living in Urbana or Champaign, at the time.9 The guys coached me on

Charles’ piece, during one of Herbert’s composer seminars. So, I had the opportunity to play for the Group about one year after my graduate school auditions. Then, when Jack’s position in the

Group came open the next year, Al happened to be talking to Siwe and, as I understand it, Tom suggested that they look at my stuff as I was applying for the position. I was twenty-three when I applied (and twenty-four when I joined the Group), so I was young, as was Jim [Culley] when he joined the Group, but I think that having contact with them prior to this time helped with their willingness to consider my application.10 I had already interacted with them twice in the previous year and a half, and I assume that it helped that my main focus at [the University of] Illinois was contemporary chamber music. I had worked with Herbert Brün, Paul Zonn, Sal Martirano, David

Liptak, and virtually every composer there. Those composers all served as references for my application, and they may have been more important than my percussion references (Siwe and

Larry Snider), especially Herbert Brün. Anyhow, Jim and Al knew that I had chamber music interests and that chamber playing was where I had focused my energy during graduate school, and they had actually heard me play. I then went to Cincinnati for the audition. The audition included [Russell Peck’s] Lift-Off! (1966), [Eugene Novotney’s] Intentions (1983), the tom-tom movement from [John Cage’s] Amores (1943), and it also included playing a little informal recital for the students.11 I may have led a little masterclass or coaching, but I’m not sure about that. There was also lots of discussion during the audition process. I stayed at Al’s house, and we

9 Theodore May described Lipp as “one of the original coterie around Herbert Brün,” along with Otte, Michael Kowalski, and others. Theodore May, “Lipp,” Simian Simmerings: The Weblog of Theo May, http://www.theomay.net/lipp.html (accessed 1 April 2009).

10 At age twenty-four, Culley joined Otte and Youhass to found the Group.

11 Russell Peck, Lift-Off! (Chicago: M. M. Cole, 1977); Eugene Novotney, Intentions (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1990); and John Cage, Amores (New York: Henmar Press, 1960).

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spoke quite a bit about music, amongst other things. There was also some talk of politics, because it was right when the Oliver North “weapons-for-hostages” scandal broke.

AUTHOR: Iran Contra.

TOTH: Yes, and of course Al was all over that. At that time, I was not especially politically astute nor even interested, so I didn’t have a lot to say. My time had been focused on studying for classes, practicing, and performing at that point. As my audition-visit was coming to a close, they said that they were going on tour soon, and that they would be in touch. They said: “Maybe we’ll see you. We’re going to be on tour in Chicago. Maybe we’ll stop in Urbana en route.” And then I didn’t hear from them for some weeks. December 1986 arrived. I was playing my graduate school recital at [the University of] Illinois, in Smith Hall. I walked out to play my first piece, which was Time (1968) by [Minoru] Miki, and all of the percussion students, my friends and family were seated in the main level of the hall and there were just three people sitting in the balcony: Al, Jim, and Jack.12 I didn’t know they were going to be there, so it was intense. I actually had been thinking that I was out of the running for the job, because I hadn’t heard anything from them. So, this recital turned out to be another sort of informal part to my audition.

Then, I still didn’t hear from them for a little while, and finally Al called and said that they were very interested in me, but they wanted to make sure that it was the right fit. He said, “We think that musically you are the right fit, but Jim wants to make sure that on a personal level it is the right fit, because we spend so much time together, and I think that is a good idea.” So I had to go back to Cincinnati. I think I went back to CCM after my recital, later in December, 1986. I didn’t play during this visit. We basically just spent some time together, including attending a new

12 Minoru Miki, Time (Tokyo: Ongaku No Tomo Sha, 1969).

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music concert. Part of the process seemed to be Al picking my brain after the concert—did I think it was well presented, what did I think of the compositions, and so forth. The concert was presented by CCM’s new music ensemble, a student group. Jim, Al, and I went out for dessert afterwards, and we spoke for quite a while. They just wanted to make sure everyone was comfortable with each other, or more likely, that they were comfortable with me. I think they had decided that I was the right person to join the Group, but they wanted to just make sure.

Then, I began working there [at CCM] in January 1987. I moved very shortly after New

Year’s Day—you know how that works, with the new quarter starting very early in January. I probably moved there on 2 January 1987, and, actually, my first week on campus was Jack

Brennan’s last week there. I went and observed him teaching all of his students. I was able to observe his teaching and got to meet his [students]. I was introduced to several method books and etudes that I was not familiar with. I still use many of the books that Jack used in his teaching – more so than the books that I had used during my own schooling. These lesson observations made for a good transition, because I inherited Jack’s studio of students. It was a really good studio with great kids. Now, Jack had started there the previous school year. I can’t tell you exactly what month he started there, but it was probably around September of 1985.

AUTHOR: Yes, September of the 1985–86 academic year.

TOTH: Yes, and he only stayed for the first quarter of the 1986–87 academic year. He was only there at CCM for a total of four quarters. He may have originally moved to Cincinnati in the summer of 1985, but I kind of doubt it, because he was on leave from the Buffalo Philharmonic and so that put him on a pretty tight schedule in terms of when he could leave Buffalo and arrive

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in Cincinnati.13 He, in fact, went back to that job after leaving the Group, and now, as you know, he is the timpanist in Indianapolis.14 And, of course, [William] Youhass was in the Group more or less right up until then.15

AUTHOR: I have several follow-up questions, but let me first back up and provide you with some introductory material, which will help direct our conversation. You have seen my thesis proposal and so you know my focus is on the unique relationships between the Group and composers. Much of the impetus for this thesis is laid out in the proposal’s opening section, where I detail how authors of many percussion ensemble histories have constructed them largely along chronological lines. They assume some form of a Darwinian evolutionary narrative as a means of addressing how percussion music went from one historical point to the next. In my experience, both as a performer and a historian, I have always assumed that in crafting music for an ensemble, such as the Group, the performers play a large role in working with the composers on the pieces that are ultimately seen and heard by the audience. So, without considering the relationships between the performers and composers, we lose a great deal of material that could inform us about why certain choices were made in realizing a work and who made those choices.

The Group is interesting in this regard, because of the lack of a single model for how they work with composers. One comparison I am considering is between the Group and an ensemble like the University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble, which has a very standardized commissioning

13 Brennan and Otte were still discussing the position as late as August 1985. See Appendix B, Transcript of Interview with Jack Brennan, 103.

14 In January 1987 Brennan returned to the position of Associate Principal Timpanist of the Buffalo Philharmonic, and since 1998 has held the Thomas N. Akins Principal Timpanist Chair with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

15 Youhass performed in the Group from September 1979 to May 1985.

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process.16 That ensemble’s process includes contracts and deadlines.17 That process provides only limited contact between the performers and the composer, at least until the final rehearsal or two. The Group, on the other hand, appears to have frequent contact with composers, but no standardized commissioning documents. All of the questions surrounding the Group’s relationships with composers are what I am trying to get at. Also, there are some issues that I may deal with regarding Reiss’s presentation of the Group in the final chapter of his dissertation, which leaves us with the dissolution of Blackearth and the beginning of the Group.

TOTH: Right. I believe he was working on that dissertation when I was in the Group. I remember Jim [Culley] telling me that he had looked over some of the drafts of the document.

AUTHOR: Reiss spent a lot of time talking about relationships within Blackearth, which were significant in understanding that group and all of its changes in membership. So, he wrote more about the members of Blackearth and their personalities than about any relationships with composers. I do not plan to delve far into the interpersonal relationships of the Group.

So, that is everything in way of an overview. Getting back to your audition for the Group, were the interviews and conversations something that took place between you and Al or did they also include Jim [Culley] and/or Jack [Jack Brennan]?

TOTH: During the first visit, many of the conversations took place at Al’s home, so it was just

Al and I, but the second time it was more structured for all three of us: me, Al, and Jim. It seemed like that’s how it was intended and that’s why I had returned to CCM for a second

16 Lance Drege, “The University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Series and Percussion Press, 1978–99: An Examination of Its History” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 2000). On a yearly basis this ensemble commissions, premieres, and publishes a new composition for percussion ensemble.

17 Ibid., 25–31.

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audition visit. All three of us were together during that visit, we spent time and spoke together, and I left thinking that this hiring was a collective decision involving Jim and Al.

AUTHOR: Were any of topics from the “Preferences in Percussion - 1973” essay brought up— discussion about percussionist and composers working together as inhabitants of the same community?18 Were the conversations more about specific musical issues?

TOTH: It was much more about general musical aesthetics or preferences, such as, “What do you think of a given composition or a certain composer?” There was no discussion about the way the Group worked with composers or how they cultivated commissions. I just sort of learned those details over time. I understood the Group’s mission on a surface level when I auditioned, but I understood it at a much deeper level by the time I left. That is, the mission as outlined in

Al’s “Preferences in Percussion”.

AUTHOR: The item from the Reiss dissertation, which I may need to revisit in my thesis, is his analysis of how the problems of Blackearth were resolved by the Group. He argues that

Blackearth was overly democratic, and because of this, the decision making became far too cumbersome for daily function.19 Everything from planning programs, to purchasing pencils, to long-term decisions proved problematic. Reiss says that to rectify this, the Group was created as

Al’s group, and he implies that it was less about democracy and more about hierarchy, or at least

18 Otte, “Preferences,” 90–91.

19 “The management of Blackearth was handled in a purely democratic manner. This style encouraged discussion and allowed expression of each individual’s views; however, it made progress slow and cumbersome. It quickly became clear that each member had a different concept of the direction the group should take.” Reiss, 46.

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it was more controlled by one person: Al.20 Now, Al had very clear ideas when founding the

Group—ideas about the mission of the Group and the quality and type of music it would perform—however, I need to figure out the degree to which the rest of the members work with and relate with composers. I want to know how this model of long-term relationships and intense collaboration functions.

From your initial days in the Group, or even during the interview, did Jim or Al ever convey to you that you were an employee of one of both of theirs or that you answered to one of them?

TOTH: No, never.

AUTHOR: Was there ever a discussion to the contrary: that the Group functions as some type of collective and that you all made decisions together?

TOTH: It all functioned very naturally. I don’t think anyone ever articulated any sort of Group hierarchy nor decision-making protocol. One has to admit, that sometimes being a younger person is to your advantage when applying for a job, because you are going to be more malleable, and open-minded, to some extent. There was definitely a collective musical, artistic aesthetic. There was an existing group aesthetic in terms of what they played, how they played it, and how they looked when they played. They knew that if they brought in a forty-year-old guy,

20 Reiss devotes a short section of his conclusion to the beginning of the Group. He writes, “With the support of the University of Cincinnati, Otte formed a new percussion trio named the Percussion Group-Cincinnati. Although it was clearly related to Blackearth, the Percussion Group-Cincinnati should be considered an outgrowth of Blackearth, not a continuation. The formation of the new trio was completely different from the formation of the Blackearth Percussion Group. First, the new members had to meet the performance standards set by Otte as well as the University. This was quite different from the relatively informal and democratic formation of Blackearth. Second, the new group was clearly not a democracy. Otte made most of the decisions regarding music selection and programming.” Ibid., 77–78.

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who had been playing one way for a long time, then that was going to be the way he played with them. A younger player was malleable and more likely to be influenced by their way of playing.

There was talk in rehearsals about how to look when we played, ideas about strokes, tone quality, ensemble time-keeping and phrasing, and even how to bow, but I never felt like I was being beaten down. There was discussion if one of us did something that seemed to contradict the general ensemble vibe. One of the advantages I had when I applied for the position was that I knew all of those composers at [the University of] Illinois, and had gained some good experience working with them, but I was also young and was eager to please. I think Al and Jim knew that. I was young and eager to fit in, and to a degree that was also true with Jack [Brennan].21 Jack had studied with all three of those guys, Jim at Oberlin [Conservatory of Music], Bill at Ithaca

[College], and Al at CCM, which is pretty interesting. In fact, I may have been the only guy who has ever been in the Group, including much of the Blackearth era, who was not a former student of one of the members.22 In any case, when Jack got the job he was a little older than me, and he and Al were very close. Rusty [Burge] was a little older than me when he got it, but he, too, was a former student.23 You know, although I was young, Al never once said, “This is my Group, and this how we do it.” The way it worked, in a practical sense, was that Al would come in and say,

“I’m thinking about a collaboration with this student named Mark Saya (for example), and maybe we’ll do something with him.” He would typically bounce these ideas off Jim and I as they emerged. Most of the repertoire ideas really came from Al, because that was his passion. I imagine that Jim suggested some things, and I know that Jim suggested what some of our touring

21 Brennan joined the ensemble at age twenty-eight.

22 Jim Culley and William Youhass never studied with Otte or other members of Blackearth; however, Brennan studied with Youhass and later Otte, and Burge studied with the members of the Group while a graduate student at CCM.

23 Burge joined the Group at age twenty-eight.

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repertoire should be, but that tended to be repertoire that we, or they, had done before.

Throughout the year, if things we played at CCM had worked well, then we might bring them into the touring repertory. There were also at least one or two things that I brought into the

Group, most notably [Minoru Miki’s] Marimba Spiritual (1984), which we played quite a bit.24

It served as our closing piece on many concerts for four or five years.25 I think we played it on my first concert at CCM and it went over so well that we played it again on my second concert, and then it became part of the touring repertory.26

AUTHOR: Were you playing the marimba part?

TOTH: Yes, they had seen me play it on my graduate recital at the University of Illinois back in

December of 1986. It was a little bit of a departure for them, with the closest thing in their repertoire being maybe Lift-Off! or [William Albright’s] Take That (1972).27 I actually arranged the Miki for trio, as opposed to quartet, and Jim played two parts more or less by himself—he played parts two and three—which was amazing to see. Anyhow, I arranged it not knowing if they would be willing to play it, but I said, “If I arrange it, will you guys try it?” They said,

“Yes,” and though they were a little hesitant at first, they seemed to enjoy playing it and it became a staple in our repertory. So, there is an example of how even a new guy could have an influence on the Group’s activities. I didn’t bring many pieces to the repertoire, but the one that I did bring probably got played more than anything else while I was there.

24 Minoru Miki, Marimba Spiritual (Tokyo: Ongaka No Tomo Sha, 1989).

25 The Group performed Marimba Spiritual at least fifty-three times during Toth’s tenure.

26 The Group performed Marimba Spiritual on Toth’s first full concert, a 26 March 1987 performance at Ball State University.

27 William Albright, Take That (Paris: Editions Jobert, 1974).

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AUTHOR: The issue of being the young guy in the Group is something that also came up with

Culley.28 And Al recognized that he was young.29 However, Al also said that when he was looking to start the new ensemble, he was looking for the people who would be the best members for the Group, and at the time he was somewhat less interested in their teaching experience. That was more a concern of the CCM Dean. There was clearly a pedagogical aspect to the job, but he was considering younger players with less teaching experience, because the issue of being a teacher was for him secondary, at that point. By the time you joined the ensemble, was teaching an important part of the Group? Did it grow over your time there or was it an aspect of fairly immediate importance? And, related to this, what influence did your teaching have on your playing and vice versa?

TOTH: I think playing in the Group more influenced my teaching than the other way around. I was still basically a student when I joined the group. I hadn’t yet finished my master’s degree, which is one reason why I was crazy busy during my first year at CCM. I had to finish my master’s degree by the end of the school year, while playing in the Group and teaching at CCM. I completed my degree requirements by submitting a thesis dealing with the history of steel drums and the emergence of that art form in the United States. Anyhow, I was busy with that, trying to teach these kids, and learn all this repertory—both touring repertory and new repertory for the

CCM concerts. So, with all of this happening at the same time, there is no question that playing in the Group, and also consciously observing their teaching, greatly influenced my teaching. As I mentioned earlier, the materials that I currently use in my teaching are highly influenced by my

28 Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 168.

29 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otter, 250.

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years at CCM. Playing in the Group, seeing how they dealt with musical issues and solved musical problems, seeing how they taught their students, and seeing what their students played, all influenced my teaching. Also, by my second year or so, I convinced them to present masterclasses each week for the CCM percussion students, which gave me additional opportunities to watch them teach. I also tried to initiate something we did for a few years, where we rotated students a little bit. Each of us would get a student from one of the other studios for one quarter, so that we each could have some meaningful influence on all the students. I don’t know whether either of these policies are still in use at CCM.

So, I have always felt that my teaching has been significantly influenced by Jim and Al.

The other topic I would return to at this point is the previous question about the Group dynamic.

Although Al brought in most of the repertory suggestions, when we actually rehearsed music, and when we talked about nuts and bolts—who was rushing and who was dragging or how should we try this or what instrument should we use for that—those discussions were completely democratic. Even from my first rehearsals, if I had a comment, I could share it. It was a very objective rehearsal process. The exchanges were a little bit colder than what I was used to, but they were totally democratic discussions.

AUTHOR: One final item before we dive into composers. You mentioned Marimba Spiritual as your contribution to the Group, but you noted that you had to arrange it as a trio. The Group seems to have a rugged determination to remain a trio and often will adapt pieces into a trio format rather than bringing in extra players.

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TOTH: Yes, [John Cage’s] Imaginary Landscape No. 2 (1942) is a quintet that they had worked out for three guys. We also played [Cage’s] Credo in US (1942),30 and Albright’s Take That

(1972) as a trio.

AUTHOR: Can you share your thoughts on why it is so important for the Group to remain a trio?

Many chamber ensembles are regularly adding players for pieces. A string quartet that wants to play a piano quintet can easily just bring in a pianist. A lot of groups are more fluid in bringing in an extra player from time to time, but the Group seems to arrange things for three players as the default.

TOTH: Yes, they also did this type of trio arranging with [Michael] Udow’s “Strike.”31 I think the reason for preferring to work as a trio is because they rehearse with such intensity and efficiency. When I was in the Group we were always playing new stuff. Every quarter there was some new music to learn. Everything was new to me, but even for Jim and Al, there was always some new repertory, sometimes lots of new stuff. There is also a certain rehearsal vibe. There is a certain efficiency in knowing how people work together, knowing how people respond, and knowing how prepared each player will be. When you bring another person into that process, it slows everything down. It doesn’t ruin the vibe, but I think that it definitely inhibits it. I also think that the Group has a certain mystique. This is part of the reason why I think that the Group may never get the respect that it is due—there are personal, aesthetic, and political reasons for this. I think it is an incredibly important ensemble, but their success and influence seems to be

30 John Cage, Credo in US (New York: Edition Peters, 1962).

31 Michael Udow, Four Movements for Percussion Quartet (New York: American Composers Alliance, 1975). Udow and the Group adapted “Strike,” a movement from Four Movements for Percussion Quartet, into Four Movements for Percussion Trio in 1979.

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affected by the fact that they don’t answer to anyone or anything, only their own deeply felt convictions about music and art. When you are inside that room, you realize that it is a kind of closed circle, and somehow it feels right. There are things about the Group that no one quite knows about. There are things about the way we played, when I was in the Group, that no one quite understood, and it just seemed natural. And our students weren’t comfortable in that room, since they knew that it was the Group’s space. When I was there, I was nearly the same age as some of the students, and so sometimes it felt to me as if we were too uptight about keeping our rehearsals closed, but now that I’m older and more experienced, I see that there is a certain advantage to having some separation between your students and yourself. Students never watched us rehearse. They couldn’t watch us rehearse. On the day of a concert we would do a little masterclass to talk about the pieces, how we solved logistical or ensemble problems, but other than that, it was a closed process and it just felt right. I know that many groups aren’t quite like that, but for us it made sense.

Now, on the other hand, if there was a piece that really required an extra player, and we thought it was an important piece for us to do, then we would bring in someone. An example is

[Herbert Brün’s] “at loose ends: [sic] (1974), which we would do with a graduate student playing the fourth percussion part and Frank Weinstock playing piano.32 The same was true for

[John Cage’s] Third Construction (1941).33 Those are two of the quartets or quintets that we most often played, but we also did the [Michael] Colgrass concerto, Déjà Vu (1977, rev. 1987),

32 Herbert Brün, “at loose ends: [sic] (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1977). In all of the performance of “at loose ends: [sic] identified by this author, the fourth percussion part was either performed by Jeff Cornelius during the Youhass era or Rusty Burge during the Toth era. Frank Weinstock always performed the piano part.

33 John Cage, Third Construction (New York: Henmar Press, 1970). The Group performs Third Construction as both a trio and as a quartet. See Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, 184.

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for percussion quartet and wind ensemble with one of our graduate students.34 Those were excellent collaborative opportunities for the graduate students.

AUTHOR: The Group’s relationships with composers are the real meat and potatoes of this thesis. I have not yet made decisions on which composers will get more or less space in the chapters, though a handful or two who will likely receive more focused attention. Can you think about the long list of composers you worked with and identify some of the relationships that you believe are most significant? You can define the significance however you would like. So, you can think about the number of pieces they wrote, the quality of the pieces, the amount of contact they had with the Group, etc.

TOTH: I’ve made a copy of my repertoire list for you—including all the things that I played with the Group—and so looking at that is probably the most efficient way to think through the composers we worked with during that time. I think Herbert Brün was the most important. I am sure you could have guessed that already. He was like Al’s surrogate father. They were very close from the very beginning until Herbert’s passing in 2000. We did a concert of his music for his seventieth birthday at CCM and we went and played for his retirement celebration at [the

University of] Illinois, but besides those performances he was in touch with the Group at all times.35 I’m sure you’ve heard about how much he and Al interacted when Blackearth was just getting started. If you have time, you should talk to Al about his interaction with Brün as he was composing “at loose ends: [sic] during the Blackearth days. Have you done that?

34 Michael Colgrass, Déjà Vu: A Concerto for Percussion Quartet and Orchestra (New York: C. Fischer, 1979). Graduate student Greg Secor joined the Group for this February 1988 performance with the CCM Wind Symphony.

35 The Group performed for the 12 January 1988 birthday concert in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium and the 5 May 1988 retirement concert in the University of Illinois’ Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

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AUTHOR: We’ve started discussing Brün, but only briefly, and the collaboration on “at loose ends: [sic] is a little outside my scope, since it occurred during the Blackearth era.

TOTH: That piece illustrates the kind of interactive relationship that developed, and continued, between the two of them. There are some very specific things in the piece which were suggested by Al, like putting thimbles on one’s fingers for the cymbal rolls, using very hard rubber mallets on the marimba, and rolling on the nodes to create all of these timbral variations. Of course,

Herbert had a history of working closely with percussionists, most notably in his three solo pieces Plot (1967), Stalks and Trees and Drops and Clouds (1967), and Touch and Go (1967), which were for Michael Ranta, Bill Youhass, and Allan O’Connor, [respectively].36 He interacted with many of the percussionists who were at the University of Illinois, so by the time the Blackearth guys spent that semester or two there, he was already ripe for that collaborative type of relationship, and they worked together quite a bit.37 Even by the time I went to [the

University of] Illinois, Herbert was still hanging around the percussion studio. He came by and would sometimes watch the steel drum band rehearse. He liked the way we played almost more than the actual music we were playing. He was so taken by the lead pan. I was usually playing lead, and he would watch me play sometimes and he observed how lead players moved around the pan—move this way and that way.38 That is what inspired him when he wrote Just Seven for

Drum (1988), where he delineates the different places on the snare drum head—I think it even

36 Herbert Brün, Plot (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1967); Stalks and Trees and Drops and Clouds (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1967); and Touch and Go (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1967).

37 Tom Siwe arranged for Blackearth to reside at the University of Illinois from summer 1972 until spring 1973, when they moved to Northern Illinois University.

38 Toth demonstrated moving toward and away from the pan.

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includes the rim.39 He preferred that it was viewed from a profile perspective, with the drum at an angle, so it even looked like a lead pan. Watching those rehearsals directly inspired that piece.

So, those kinds of connections are very common in the relationship between Herbert and Al.

When Al played Plot, I remember the tremendous depth that he brought into his realization, from how he dealt with timbral variance, to quotes of significant orchestral pieces that he inserted. I remember talking to Herbert about it once, and he was fascinated by that. It impressed me that a man of his age and his stature would still be so taken by one person’s performance. He asked me if sometime I could write down for him all of the little connections that Al was making between

Plot and his other pieces and between Plot and other chamber and orchestral pieces.

So, Brün is the most important guy, and when I was in the Group we still saw him regularly. I think there were three major collaborations that come to mind: one was the 1987

PAS convention in St. Louis, and then the other two were, like I said earlier, the celebration of his birthday at CCM and his retirement concert in Illinois.40 I think that is even the order they happened in.41 So, keep in mind that the PAS performance was just a few years before he turned seventy, yet there was still a lot of correspondence between Herbert and the Group. We received from him instructions for pieces, but he was also often eager for feedback. This openness was always very impressive to me, particularly because I consider Brün to be one of the two most important composers of percussion music—the other one being John Cage.

39 Herbert Brün, “Just Seven for Drum” in The Noble Snare: Compositions for Unaccompanied Snare Drum, vol. 2, ed. Stuart Saunders Smith (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1988). Fellow Group member James Culley premiered the composition on 12 January 1988.

40 The Group performance of “at loose ends: [sic] on 28 October 1987 at the PAS convention concert in the St. Louis Adam’s Mark Hotel. For this performance Culley, Otte, and Toth were joined by Rusty Burge, who played the fourth percussion part, and Frank Weinstock, who played the piano part.

41 This order is correct: 28 October 1987 in St. Louis, 12 January 1988 in Cincinnati, and 5 May 1988 in Urbana/Champaign.

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Of course Cage is the other person you should really talk about. They did more collaborating with him before I was in the Group.

AUTHOR: Let me get in a few questions on Brün, before we move to Cage. Al has been forthcoming about his personal relationship with Brün, particularly in one conversation where he compared it to his relationship with [Frederic] Rzewski.42 He wasn’t sure how much of these types of personal things come across to the other guys in the Group. At least as he has discussed them with me—and this is something he and I will talk about further—Al sees these types of relationships as being very personal between himself and the composer, in this case, Brün. That is not necessarily the same thing as the Group’s relationship with Brün. Again, similar to

Rzewski, he said that providing feedback to Brün, who he deeply admired as colleagues, but also mentors, was very different than providing feedback to other composers. He was aware that his comments were good and valid ones, but he thought through them a few extra times before ever presenting them to Brün—at least this could have been the case early in the relationship. And since all of this was such a personal relationship between him and Brün, I don’t think he knew or was purposefully looking to see if other people noticed. Was this apparent to you?

TOTH: Well, yes, there was no doubt that Al revered Brün, and with good reason. Herbert was brilliant. He was an inspiration, but he could also be intimidating, at least I found him to be a little intimidating. He mastered language and communication like no one I have ever met—and

English was his second language! One would be wise to mull over any feedback they had for

Herbert before sharing it with him. But that is not to say that he was not open, and even eager, to exchange ideas with his colleagues and students. It was clear that Al had such respect for Herbert

42 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 256–57.

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and his music that there was almost no reason to be questioning this note or that note in a piece.

In fact, a similar thing happened for me when I played the premiere of The Odd End (1998), the marimba solo which was the last piece Brün completed in its entirety.43 I was already here [at the

University of Hartford], at that point—it wasn’t that long ago.44 That was for the 2000 PAS convention in Dallas, and it featured a marimba day for the Wednesday “New Music Research

Day” theme. Smith Publications organized a marimba concert to present a collection of pieces called Marimba Concert, so it was similar to The Noble Snare collection.45 I played three pieces on this concert, of which one was this piece by Herbert. The fun thing was that The Odd End was based entirely on fragments from “at loose ends: [sic]. Although Herbert went on to more or less complete a timpani solo, he didn’t quite complete it before he died, so this little marimba solo is the last complete piece he wrote.46 Herbert and I had a few conversations about that piece, as I was working on it. I arranged to make an informal CD of a couple run-throughs of the piece, to send off to him. The piece was very short—like two minutes long—it was a very difficult two- mallet piece. So, we talked a lot about the genesis of the piece, and then I made the recording of it and sent it to him, so he could give me some feedback. Well, he died while it was in the mail, and so when I premiered it, he had just recently passed away a week or two earlier.47 My point to all of this is that the piece was written for a low-A marimba, and it has a pattern—completely in octaves—which he presents in one key and then he presents it in another key, but when he

43 Herbert Brün, “The Odd End,” in Marimba Concert, ed. Sylvia Smith (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 2000).

44 The 15 November 2000 “New Music Research Day” theme was “Time for Marimba.”

45 Sylvia Smith launched the published collection The Noble Snare at a 3 October 1988 concert of the same name. Similarly, Smith launched Marimba Concert with this 15 November 2000 concert of the same name.

46 The unfinished solo timpani work is moody moments (2000).

47 Brün passed away on 6 November 2000, and Toth premiered the work on 15 November 2000.

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presents it in the second key you run out of notes as Herbert wrote for a low-A marimba, so he modified the bass line, changing the interval between the hands in the process. Well, I had a five- octave marimba, and so I thought about asking, “Since I have a lower range, should we make the second time just the same as the first time?” I was afraid to ask him, because of the reverence I had, which was something I saw with Al. I didn’t want to question Herbert Brün. I thought that he composed it that way for a reason, and even if he was thinking the range of his instrument was limited, then moving it down the octave still could compromise the composition, perhaps. I couldn’t figure out how the piece would be compromised, but this was written by Herbert Brün, so I had the same type of reticence to bring up my suggestion, and I never did. I thought about it a lot, but by the time I thought maybe I should ask him, it was too late, and so even when I play it now, I just play it as he wrote it. When my students play it, I tell them that we don’t want to change it, because we never had a chance to ask him.

Do you have any other Brün questions?

AUTHOR: Not at this point.

TOTH: Now, with [John] Cage, the only collaboration we had with him was at the Philadelphia

PAS convention, which was in 1989, 1990, or sometime around there.48 We did a musicircus of his stuff. It was half of a program—thirty-five or forty minutes of music—and so he came and we spoke with him a little bit. Al hung out with him throughout the day, and he came to the performance. He may have seen a little tiny bit of our setting up and warming up, but it wasn’t like a session for feedback. I think, at that point in his life and career, everything seemed to be

48 The Group performed “What Mushroom? What Leaf? A 50-Year Retrospective Musicircus of the Percussion Music of John Cage” during their 7 November 1990 PAS convention concert.

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just great as far as he was concerned, and so he listened and seemed pleased. Of course, it would have been contrary to his philosophy to have passed judgment on anything that he heard. I’d like to think that he really loved our performance.

That was the only time we interacted with him during my tenure in the Group. Most of our interpretations of Cage’s music was informed by previous collaborations the Group had had with him.

AUTHOR: Regardless of whether it was the Group or another ensemble playing his music would there have been tremendous respect for the performance, simply because Cage was involved and he had a huge reputation? Was there something specific to his relationship with the Group that made your performances different?

TOTH: That’s a good question. I do think that no ensemble in the world is better qualified to interpret the percussion music of John Cage. His relationship with the Group always seemed especially unique to me when considering the Group’s mission. And, this was, to some extent, outlined in “Preferences in Percussion.”49 The way Al described the mission to me, and the way I always thought of it, was that we were to promote the music of American composers, and primarily younger, lesser-known American composer. Cage, of course, is the big exception.

Sure, someone like Brün was also an exception, but since, with the exception of “at loose ends:

[sic], we never toured with his music. Our playing so much of Cage’s music was clearly an exception to the Group’s mission. We were always playing his music, but he was hugely famous.

And, of course, he was famous before he started his interactions with the Group, so it wasn’t even like they started working together when he was a lesser-known figure, and then over the

49 Otte, “Preferences.”

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years he became famous. I think the music and philosophy was the most important connection between Cage and the Group. It was not any sort of personal connection early on. I would guess that the Blackearth guys just started playing Cage’s music in the 1970s because it was some of the coolest stuff, and at that point there wasn’t too much to pick from.50 Al then got the chance to meet Cage, and then they cultivated a relationship.51 Eventually, Cage agreed to write a piece for the Group dealing with his interest in the writings of Henry David Thoreau, and along the same lines as his MUREAU. Do you know the piece, PERMUREAU (1986)?52

AUTHOR: I’ve seen the title, but don’t know much about the piece.

TOTH: So, Cage agreed to write a piece that would be a graphic looking sort of thing, incorporating words and sketches from Thoreau’s journals, but he never got around to writing it, so the Group just created the piece themselves. It included actual entries from Thoreau’s journals, filtered through Cage’s aesthetic.53 The final product was basically a piece created by

Al, but very inspired by Cage, who was inspired by Thoreau. It had a little bit of a Branches

(1976) vibe to it, because of all of the organic material.54 That piece [PERMUREAU] was

50 For a discussion of Blackearth’s approach to Cage’s percussion music, see Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 237–38.

51 For further details on Otte and Cage’s friendship, see Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 251.

52 In programs, the Group always identified the unpublished PERMUREAU as composed by Allen Otte/John Cage and often included a note by Otte: “As the story goes, I suggested to John, on a number of occasions over the past three years, that he make a piece for us using small percussion sounds as accompaniment and complement to the fragmented sounds and rhythms of his speech pieces. He thought it was a very good idea, and wanted to do it. He is very busy. Interested as I was in having the piece come about, I was disinclined to bother him about it too much, so I did it myself.”

53 Cage already made the connection to the writings of Thoreau in the precursor composition, his spoke- word piece MUREAU.

54 John Cage, Branches: Percussion Solo, Duet, Trio, or Orchestra with Any Number of Players (New York: Henmar Press, 1976).

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cultivated during the Jack Brennan era, but it came about because they were waiting and waiting for Cage to do it himself, but he never got around to it. I don’t know if they ever sent it to him.

AUTHOR: So, did that pre-dated Music for Three (1984)?55

TOTH: No, I don’t think so, because I heard Music for Three in 1984 or 1985, when I was still in college.56 PERMUREAU came after that. So, that piece represents one exchange with Cage, but I don’t know if Al communicated with Cage after he put PERMUREAU together, or if he simply knew Cage’s aesthetic so well that he just put it together. I don’t know if he ever sent it to Cage, but we played it a lot, and it was a lot of fun and a good experience.57 The Philadelphia PAS convention performance and the performances of PERMUREAU were the two closest connections to Cage that I had during my time in the Group. Of course, we played several of

Cage’s other pieces throughout my years in the Group, and our interpretations, mallet choices, and instrument choices were often the result of advice they had received directly from Cage.

AUTHOR: So, you see Brün and Cage as the two most significant relationships between the

Group and composers, but beyond those two, are there other composers who come to mind, even if the relationships were less significant?

55 John Cage, MUSIC FOR: Parts for voice and instruments without score (New York: Edition Peters, 1984).

56 Toth most likely heard Music for Three during the 1 November 1984 premiere performance at the PAS convention in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

57 The Group performed PERMUREAU at least fifteen times during Toth’s tenure: 26 March 1987, 15 May 1987, 17 July 1987, 18 September 1987, 19 September 1987, 25 September 1987, 26 September 1987, 28 September 1987, 26 March 1988, 27 March 1988, 11 September 1988, 21 October 1988, 22 April 1989, as well as a Cincinnati Composers’ Guild performance in either February or March 1987 and a University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point performance in either March or April 1987.

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TOTH: Sure, let me just run down this repertoire list and I can identify the people we worked with, but yes, for many of these other composers their relationships with the Group seemed to be less significant.

AUTHOR: Sure.

TOTH: We premiered Stuart [Saunders] Smith’s Links No. 5 (1987).58 Al played the vibraphone part, while Jim and I played glockenspiel. We played other pieces of his, such as Return and

Recall (1976), and we used Songs I–IX (1984) as the source material for that.59 There was definitely a collaboration with Stuart on that project, and there were some phone conversations between Al and Stuart. Stuart then came by, I think at least once, while we were rehearsing. He has always been friendly with the Group. I can’t think of any pieces of his that we played other than those, but all three of us also played on the Noble Snare Concert.60 We played at the Noble

Snare premiere at Symphony Space [recte Marymount Manhattan Theater] in New York. Do you know about that?

AUTHOR: Yes.

TOTH: I think it was [3 October] 1988. It was in New York and Tom Goldstein organized the concert. He is a friend of Stuart’s, and who now teaches at [University of Maryland, Baltimore

58 Stuart Saunders Smith, Links No. 5: Sitting on the Edge of Nothing (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1990). The Group’s first documented performance of Links No. 5 came during a 9 October 1988 performance in Muncie, Indiana, but the members’ promoted the 11 October 1988 performance in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium as the official premiere.

59 Stuart Saunders Smith, Return and Recall: Initiatives and Reactions (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1978); and Songs I-IX for Actor-Percussionists (Baltimore, MD: Smith Publications, 1984).

60 For further information on The Noble Snare publication and concert, see Appendix D, Transcript of Interviews with James Culley, n. 120.

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County] UMBC. So, we were involved in that as well. There are definitely connections between

Stuart and the Group, but I think he and anyone else I am going to mention now, influenced the

Group far less than did Cage or Brün. I think that those two guys also directly influenced every other percussionist who plays chamber music. Maybe later, just for fun, I can explain that, but for now, let me just continue going down through this list of composers.

We had a brief encounter with Elliott Carter for one of his birthday celebrations.61 One of

Carter’s students, Joel Hoffman, taught at CCM.

AUTHOR: He still teaches composition at CCM.

TOTH: So, Joel was organizing like a seventieth [recte eightieth] birthday party for Carter, and we played a little something for him.62 It was a very tangential thing. I don’t think we played anything else by Carter while I was in the Group.63

Eugene Novotney, who was one of Al’s students both during the time of Blackearth and then the Group, wrote Intentions, which was a big part of our repertoire. That relationship was such a comfortable fit, because he was a former student. Some of the most comfortable fits were with composers who were students at CCM. Jennifer Stasack and Mark Saya are examples of this as well, but I don’t think Eugene ever came in and worked with us, like the other two did during the time when I was in the Group. I think the connection with Novotney happened prior to my time—it happened when he was a student and then shortly after he left. And the guys and

Eugene are still very friendly, of course.

61 The Group performed for a 20 January 1989 concert titled, “Cincinnati Celebrates Elliott Carter’s Eightieth Birthday.”

62 The Group performed Carter’s Canon for 3 (1971) and Joel Hoffman’s 26x3 for 3 and E.C. at 80 (1988).

63 Canon for 3 is the only Carter composition in the Group’s repertory.

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Another student who wrote a little piece was Jahn Beukes, who was a student from South

Africa. He wrote an mbira piece that we played, which is different from the new one they play now.64

Gerhard Samuel, CCM’s orchestra conductor, wrote a concerto for us called As

Imperceptibly as Grief (1987).65 I think we only played it once.66

And, of course, Russell Peck is a very important composer for the Group. I’ve heard that

Lift-Off! was written for the Group, but I don’t think that is exactly right, because I once saw a letter Peck wrote to Al.67 Do you know what I am talking about? Have you seen this letter?

AUTHOR: No, I haven’t.

TOTH: I think that [William] Alright and Peck were classmates at the University of Michigan.68

They both wrote these tom-tom pieces: Peck wrote Lift-Off! and Albright wrote Take That. I think Peck’s piece was written first.69 So, if you know the pieces, then you know there is a lot of similarity between the two. Russell was always miffed that his idea was lifted by Albright. Since they are really similar, I can see why he was upset.

64 Beukes’s original piece was Three Mbiras (1992). The Group later added to its repertory Beukes’s mbira composition Umculo Wa Bathatho (1992), as well as an mbira piece by Alonzo Alexander, Mbira Music, Book One (1996).

65 Gerhard Samuel, As Imperceptibly as Grief: Two Interconnected Fragments for Three Percussion Players and Chamber Orchestra (Saint Louis, MO: MMB Music, 1987).

66 The Group’s lone performance of this concerto came during a 20 February 1988 concert of the CCM Philharmonia with Samuel conducting.

67 Peck did not compose Lift-Off! for the Group or for Blackearth. He composed it in 1966, and Otte learned of it years later when Peck joined the faculty of the University of Northern Illinois, where Blackearth was in residence. For a discussion of Peck’s letter, see Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 293–94.

68 In the late 1960s, Albright and Peck studied composition with Ross Lee Finney at the University of Michigan.

69 Peck composed Lift-Off! as a student piece in 1966, and Albright wrote Take That for the Blackearth Group in 1972. 424

AUTHOR: Do you think this piece stands out, perhaps as a little odd, in the context of the

Group’s repertoire?

TOTH: Lift-Off!?

AUTHOR: Yes.

TOTH: Do you mean aesthetically?

AUTHOR: Well, it was clearly in the realm of contemporary percussion music in the 1960s, but it is much more of a crowd-pleaser of a composition, than something like a Herbert Brün tape piece. It is visceral drumming, which has always struck me as highly accessible for audiences.

TOTH: Perhaps, too groovy for them? Yes, it was a departure from their normal repertoire.

AUTHOR: The issue might not be whether it is groovy, but that definitely comes later with

Peck’s The Glory and the Grandeur (1988).70

TOTH: Well, keep in mind that I don’t think Peck was writing Lift-Off! expressly for them. He may have had a connection to Al or someone in Blackearth, but I know that when he heard they were also playing Albright’s piece, he was not pleased. He wrote this letter saying that he couldn’t believe they were playing that refried, ripped-off composition.71 So, one way or another,

70 Russell Peck, The Glory and the Grandeur: A Concerto for Trio Percussion and Orchestra (Greensboro, NC: Pecktackular Music, 1988).

71 Part of Peck’s frustration also came from Albright’s dedication and title. In the published score, without any mention of Lift-Off!, Albright wrote two lines: a dedication, “to Russell Peck,” followed by the title, “Take That.” Peck read the dedication as a single, unified statement and an insult, “to Russell Peck, Take That.”

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there was definitely a connection between Peck and the Group while I was in Cincinnati. This was when he wrote The Glory and the Grandeur, the concerto, and so I can tell you a lot about that interaction. One thing that I learned during [the composition and preparation of] this [piece] was that although Al is very true to his art, his music, and his aesthetic values, his personal relationships with composers are also highly significant to him. Keep in mind, he and Russell are pretty close.72 I remember as a twenty-something getting up and performing The Glory and the

Grandeur with symphony orchestras and feeling a little self conscious. It felt like we were selling-out as contemporary music guys playing this totally rock ’n’ roll concerto. Much more than Lift-Off!, The Glory and the Grandeur always felt like accessible rock ’n’ roll to me. I think of Lift-Off! as being much more subtle and nuanced than that concerto. Al didn’t see it that way.

This was one of those moments, during my time in the Group, when I was just shocked, because he was talking about the orchestration being very Gershwin-esque and to me it still sounded like we were playing rock ’n’ roll for the grey-haired patrons. The concerto became a successful piece, but it illustrated to me how if there was a strong personal connection with a composer, and because of the Group’s strong interest in promoting young, American composers, then Al was willing to venture pretty far from the Group’s typical repertoire. In retrospect, I guess I better understand Al’s point of view on this, and am grateful that I was part of the premiere of this concerto. The Group made The Glory and the Grandeur popular. They also made Lift-Off! popular, just by playing it so much. They played it at every children’s concert. They played it all over the country. Up until the time when we added Marimba Spiritual to the repertory, Lift-Off! was the Group’s closing piece—they seemed to end most concerts with it. Then, after Marimba

Spiritual became our closing piece, we started using Lift-Off! as an opener. We were really

72 Subsequent to this interview, Russell Peck died on 1 March 2009.

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starting and ending every concert with a bang, and it was very successful programming. I imagine our touring program was probably one of the more accessible programs they have ever done. It would typically include Lift-Off!, Marimba Spiritual, a few “Chilean songs,” perhaps

[Karlheinz] Stockhausen’s Tierkreis (1975) or [Toru Takemitsu’s] Rain Tree (1981), and usually we would throw in something like [John Cage’s] Imaginary Landscape No. 2, Living Room

Music (1940) or Branches, which would be a more unusual piece for a typical audience.73 Our touring schedule picked up, and I think it was because of the combination of this repertoire and the fact that we had just, for the first time, gotten management: Great Lakes Performing Artist

Associates. The Group has a New York-based management now.74 I don’t think they are with

Great Lakes PAA anymore, but at the time having a little management and having repertory that was accessible to a variety of audiences helped a lot. I think in our busiest season we approached sixty concerts, which was a lot for the Group. That wasn’t our average, but we did present about fifty-five concerts that one year.75

So, getting back to Russell [Peck], when he wrote The Glory and the Grandeur, he sent sketches to us. We played through them and provided feedback. Al often spoke to him on the phone. Do you know the piece?

AUTHOR: Yes.

73 The “Chilean Songs;” Karlheinz Stockhausen, Tierkreis (Kuerten, Germany: Stockhausen-Verlag, 1975); Toru Takemitsu, Rain Tree for Three Percussion Players (New York: Schott, 1981); and John Cage, Living Room Music for Percussion and Speech Quartet (New York: Henmar Press, 1976).

74 The Group is currently represented by New York-based Stanton Management.

75 Toth’s second full academic year in the Group, 1988–89, proved to be one of the ensemble’s most rigorous touring seasons. The trio performed forty-eight programmed concerts during this season. The difference between the program data and the numbers offered by Toth likely come from children’s concerts and other public demonstrations for which the Group rarely printed programs.

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TOTH: So, you know it starts with the Lift-Off! excerpt, then the orchestra enters, and then there is a vibraphone passage. Well, it is at that point, the vibraphone passage, where the piece was originally going to start. Did you know this already?

AUTHOR: No.

TOTH: So, this ties directly into your thesis. You can ask Al to provide more detail, but the piece originally began with just these romantic, extended chords.76 Jim [Culley] and I shared a vibraphone and Al was on the glockenspiel, while the orchestra was playing long, lyrical melodies. It just seemed a little wimpy, and we felt like the piece didn’t showcase enough of what we could do as a chamber ensemble—it didn’t showcase any ensemble virtuosity. There were a couple moments that were kind of cool, and we got to play a little rock ’n’ roll marimba.

There was also some dueling xylophone material and some fun tom-tom riffs, but nothing that really tapped into what was possible for us to play as a trio. So, Al proposed to Russell that he start with an opening trio cadenza. Al may have even suggested to open with Lift-Off!, or maybe something like Lift-Off!—something where we were all playing drums and where it could build up some intensity before the orchestra entered.77 I remember when we got the revised score, it was literally Lift-Off! cut and pasted into the opening. I’m not sure if Al suggested for him literally to copy his own piece, rather than just write something along those lines. Either way, we all sort of laughed when that became the final score, because we thought, “He just ripped himself off.” So, Lift-Off! became the beginning of the piece, and I think that went a long way toward the

76 For Otte’s description of the collaboration on Peck’s The Glory and the Grandeur, see Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 294–97.

77 Otte not only recommended the use of the Lift-Off! material, but actually cut and pasted the necessary measures from Lift-Off! into the concerto score.

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success of the piece. Just to demonstrate Russell’s openness to this type of input, I remember that we proposed many mallet choices and stickings, which Russell included in the original score. I also remember when we were warming up for the premiere with the Greensboro Symphony, which would have been in 1988 or 1989, I was on stage warming up on the vibraphone, and he said: “Wow, that sounds really cool. Is that hard?” 78 I said, “No, it’s just some permutations.”

He said, “Wow, let me see that again. For the next piece I write, I want you to show me that, because we’ve got to use something like that in the piece.” He seemed to be very open to new ideas, both musical and technical. So, the concerto was premiered with the Greensboro

Symphony, with Jim’s former student, Stuart Chafetz playing timpani.79 So, Russell’s relationship with the Group is an interesting one to look at, but those were the only two pieces of his that we played.

AUTHOR: Would you, if you can recall, walk me through how that relationship worked? For example, you received the concerto in manuscript form, you rehearse it for a while, then, did Al make a phone call to Russell? Was it more of a daily thing, where you would see a few minor things during a rehearsal and [Al] would hop on the phone and then report Peck’s response to you and Jim during the following day’s rehearsal? Did Al wait to the end of each week and send

Peck a letter?

TOTH: I don’t know too many of the specific details about how Al contacted Russell. I recall that we got the music—I don’t know if we got it all at once or half and half—and then we would rehearse it. I remember marking my part and giving Al a copy of that. I always assumed that Al

78 The Group and the Greensboro Symphony premiered The Glory and the Grandeur on 18 October 1988.

79 Chafetz was one of the Group’s former students from CCM.

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had phone conversations with Russell about how it was going, and I assumed that some of those conversations included dialogue, feedback, or suggestions. I definitely remember making decisions about mallets and [vibraphone] pedaling. We had to deal with sharing the vibraphone, and there were some register overlaps that we needed to work out. It was not like we had to rearrange anything—it was mostly little nuances—but most of what he put down worked out fine. However, the opening cadenza idea was huge, and it really only happened because of Al.

AUTHOR: I can’t imagine the piece just starting at the vibraphone section.

TOTH: I know; it was boring. I remember all three of us agreed that if we were playing a concerto, then we wanted to get up there and earn the right to stand in front of the orchestra. We wanted to really do something that would be engaging and more virtuosic, given that it was a concerto. We all agreed that it was a problem and we may have discussed the issue of adding a cadenza, but as the idea became more crystallized, it was really Al who was working this out and communicating it with Russell.

AUTHOR: Are there other important composers?

TOTH: There is Bill DeFotis. Sadly, I’m not sure if he is still with us, as he has long since been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

AUTHOR: No, I don’t think so.80

80 DeFotis passed away on 22 January 2003.

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TOTH: His sister, Constance [DeFotis] teaches at UConn [the University of Connecticut]. She is their choral person [Director of Choral Activities]. The Group is going to be doing a tour stop at

UConn next year.81 They are doing her arrangement of [Carl Orff’s] Carmina Burana (1937).

Then, they are actually going to be coming here [to the University of Hartford] and doing a concert and a masterclass for my students in December. But, yes, [Bill] DeFotis was a close friend of Al’s and a collaborator with the Group. We premiered a piece of his for the Group while I was there.82 It was for the LaSalle String Quartet and us, although I’m not sure if it was written while I was there or written before I got there, because by the time I got there I think the

LaSalle guys weren’t playing together so often.83 I believe I saw their last concert. So, I think when we premiered Bill’s piece, perhaps graduate students played and some of the guys from

LaSalle coached them.84 The piece was for eight people: percussion trio, and string quintet, I guess. I think DeFotis came to CCM for the performance. I think he also did a little residency at

CCM, while I was there. He was a great guy, who taught [composition] at [the College of]

William and Mary. I don’t recall if he wrote anything else for the Group, but the connection with him was stronger than it was for people who just wrote one piece for them.85 There was both a

81 A 7 December 2007 performance in the Von Der Mehden Recital Hall on the campus of the University of Connecticut.

82 William DeFotis, Percussion and String Octet, 1985, photocopy of manuscript, College of William and Mary. The Group did not premiere the composition until 23 January 1990, which was also its only performance.

83 The LaSalle Quartet, CCM’s string quartet-in-residence from 1946–87, disbanded just shortly after Toth joined the Group. The ensemble assisted Otte during the Group’s formative years, and members Lee Fiser and Peter Kamnitzer remained faculty colleagues with the Group, long after the dissolution of the quartet.

84 Students Susan Jensen, Eva Rosenberg, Mark Newkirk, Mary Davis, and Stephen Phillips participated in the performance.

85 DeFotis also composed Continuous Showing (1978), which the Group regularly performed in its early seasons and included it on the 1981 LP. The trio performed Continuous Showing twice during Toth’s tenure: a 7 April 1988 performance in Corbett Auditorium and a 31 March 1989 performance at the College of William and Mary.

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friendship with DeFotis and a mutual respect, and I believe the connection began at the

University of Illinois, during the Blackearth days, as DeFotis was a student there at the time.

Larry Austin is another composer to look at. You probably know about the Life Pulse

Prelude and Austin’s research on Charles Ives.86 We played the Life Pulse Prelude when I was in the Group. This was the first time that the Group did it, and we ultimately recorded it for

Centaur Records.87 Then, the entire Universe Symphony project came after I had left. For the first recording Jim, Al, and I overlaid most of the tracks and then the two teachers from [the

University of] North Texas, [Robert] Schietroma and [Ron] Fink, each played one track.

AUTHOR: So, the recording with Gerhard Samuel, the CCM ensembles, and the Group playing the Universe Symphony, those are not the tracks that you recorded?88

TOTH: No. I think they did that one with the CCM Percussion Ensemble and Philharmonia a few years later. The CD that I’m talking about was put out on a computer music series by

Centaur, and included only the one piece by Larry Austin, the Life Pulse Prelude. Austin was definitely involved in our preparation and recording of the piece. I think that the Life Pulse

Prelude had been realized before, but never recorded. Larry Austin eventually came to CCM and we played the piece live, with the CCM Percussion Ensemble. The three of us played and the

86 Austin initially realized and completed the Life Pulse Prelude, the opening portion of Charles Ives’s previously unfinished Universe Symphony (1911–51). The Group worked closely with Austin on this project, and the results were performances and recordings of both the Life Pulse Prelude and, later, a full realization and completion of the entire symphony.

87 The Virtuoso in the Computer Age-II, vol. 12, Centaur Records 2133, CD, 1992.

88 Charles Ives, Universe Symphony, Orchestral Set. No. 2, and The Unanswered Question. Centaur Records CRC2205, compact disc, 1994.

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students joined us. And, of course, when we did the recording down in Texas, Austin was the producer. But that relationship was all about that one piece.89

TOTH: We spoke about Rzewski before, but do you know about “the newspaper piece?”90

AUTHOR: I know the piece.

TOTH: Rzewski gave a group of compositions students an assignment to write a short piece for the next class, and it wasn’t expected to be a great work of art, but it had to be timely, relevant, and had to involve a newspaper. From that project came this piece for reading, flapping, shaking, and tearing newspapers. It was a regular part of our touring repertory. It was always relevant to any community we were in, because wherever we played the piece, we would use newspapers from that town. The piece was very contemporary, very relevant, and as an assignment it took away the composers’ fear of feeling like you had to write a great masterpiece every time you sat down to compose. It was more about being sure that you composed something each day. So, that piece, influenced by Rzewski, became part of the touring repertory for the entire time I was in the Group.

Jennifer Stasack was a graduate student at CCM and we did two significant collaborations with her. One of them was called This Unsought Dominion (1988), which was for double bass, vocalist, and percussion trio. Barry Green played the double bass part, and I can’t

89 Several years later, Austin composed a second work for the Group, accidental sevens for g.s. (1994), on the occasion of Gerhard Samuel’s seventieth birthday. The Group premiered the composition during the 25 April 1994 concert “For and By Gerhard Samuel: A Seventieth Birthday Celebration.”

90 The “newspaper piece” is a work based on collective input from a variety of composers and performers, which goes by the title I Read in the News Today, Oh Boy! (1988). It grew from an assignment that Frederic Rzewski gave to a class of student composers.

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remember if Jennifer actually sang or spoke, or perhaps Constance DeFotis was the vocalist.91

We did it on a benefit concert organized by Barry Green for the wildlife fund or something like that.92 I don’t remember exactly what it was about, but anyhow, it was a real collaboration with the composer. Since Jennifer was a student, she was very open to ideas. Again, Al was involved more directly with the compositional process, but then she would ask each of us about our specific parts and how they felt. She would also come to rehearsals all the time, and so there was a real give and take.

AUTHOR: How did that change the dynamic of the rehearsal?

TOTH: You mean having other people there?

AUTHOR: Yes.

TOTH: I don’t recall that it was awkward, though the learning curve was a little slower than usual with the two additional musicians. She generally provided useful feedback and was very open to our suggestions. She was easy to work with. This, as I recall, was one of the first pieces during my time in the Group, if not the first piece, that we played that was new to everybody. In other words, when we played Lift-Off!, the Cage pieces, the Brün pieces, and lots of other repertory, Jim and Al had already played them but they were new to me. This was a piece that

91 DeFotis was the vocalist listed in the programs for the 31 March 1988 and 7 April 1988 performances.

92 The first performance was as part of one of Barry Green’s annual “Big Green Machine” concerts in Patricia Corbett Theater on 31 March 1988.

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we all learned from scratch.93 So, that in itself made it feel different. Then, later, she wrote a marimba solo, and Al was heavily involved in that process.94

Another composer the Group collaborated with is a guy named Marty Sweidel. They worked together on a piece called Bucky’s View (1983), which we played while I was in the

Group. Have you and Al already talked about him?

AUTHOR: No, we have not.

TOTH: We went to this school, where I believe Marty was teaching.95 The piece was about

Buckminster Fuller and the geodesic dome. I think the piece was written for the Group, at least that is how I have it listed, here on my repertoire list.96 It was a piece for percussion trio, and I believe with tape.97 I think the tape included recordings of Buckminster Fuller speaking. By the time I got to CCM this was just a piece from their past repertoire, revived for a performance at

Marty’s school. I don’t know how elaborate the connection was when the piece was being composed.

Another composer would be Peter Garland. Do you know his work?

93 Gerhard Samuel’s As Imperceptibly as Grief was also new to all three members, when they prepared it for the 20 February 1988 premiere.

94 Jennifer Stasack, Six Elegies Dancing (Everett, PA: HoneyRock, 1987).

95 Aside from a visiting appointment as the Director of Electronic Music at CCM, Sweidel has spent the rest of his career on the faculty at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, where the Group performed Bucky’s View on 13 February 1992.

96 Sweidel composed Bucky’s View for the Group, and in the program notes for the premiere, the composer wrote, “At the request of Allen Otte of The Percussion Group, Bucky’s View was derived from a larger-scale work of mine titled I Seem to Be a Verb.”

97 Bucky’s View also includes two narrators’ parts, which were fulfilled by Jennifer Stasack and James Rosenberger on 7 May 1988, and Linda Anderson and Lloyd Pfautsch on 13 February 1992, the two performances from Toth’s tenure in the Group.

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AUTHOR: I know the name and the compositions in the Group’s repertoire, but I don’t yet know the depth of collaboration involved for those pieces, if any.

TOTH: He definitely goes back to Blackearth days. His pieces include the Three Songs of Mad

Coyote (1973) and The Three Strange Angels (1972).98 We also played a piece of his that was a meditation. I think it was Apple Blossom (1972).99 It involved everyone rolling on one marimba, and was somewhat of a meditation. That was a Blackearth piece, so any collaboration would have been with the Blackearth guys, at some point. Those are all cool pieces.

We played pieces by [Mauricio] Kagel, but we didn’t work with him.100

We never worked with [Steve] Reich either, though we played Drumming [Part I (1971)] and Clapping Music (1972), while I was in the Group. We toured some with Drumming and used Clapping Music for live radio broadcasts, in conjunction with interviews.101

AUTHOR: Al shared with me a story about a performance of Drumming, when Steve Reich and his ensemble was in the same city or nearby for a concert the next evening.

TOTH: That was in [Ann Arbor] Michigan at the Kerrytown Concert House [on 7 April 1989].

That was intense. We played that three-man version for the first time at CCM earlier that season

98 Three Songs of Mad Coyote and The Three Strange Angels are published in Peter Garland, Three Pieces for Percussion (Oakland, CA: Frog Peak Music, 1991).

99 Peter Garland, Apple Blossom (Lebanon, NH: Frog Peak Music, 1972). The Group performed Apple Blossom at least twice during Toth’s time: 2 January 1988 and 21 January 1990.

100 The Group has performed Mauricio Kagel, Dressur (Frankfurt, Germany: Litolff, 1983); and Rrrrrrr… (Frankfurt, Germany: Litolff, 1985); as well as an arrangement Otte made of Pas de Cinq: Walking Scene for Five Actors (London: Universal, 1967), which the Group calls Pas de Trois (arr. 1988).

101 The Group performed Drumming, Part I, on at least thirty-two concerts; however, performances of Clapping Music remain unconfirmed. The composition is not present in the program data, other members’ repertory lists, or concert reviews.

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[on 17 January 1989].102 In fact, here is an article talking about our version of Drumming, because this all went on during the Group’s tenth-anniversary year.103 We played it at CCM, and then I think our second performance was the one at Kerrytown.104 It was intense, because Steve

Reich and the Musicians were playing in Detroit and we were in Ann Arbor. And, the way I remember it is not that Reich was there—I don’t know if he came or not—but all of his percussionists came and I remember exactly who they were: Garry Kvistad, Bob Becker, Russell

Hartenberger, and James Preiss.105 Also, because we were in Ann Arbor, Michigan, [Michael]

Udow was there with all of his students.

AUTHOR: From what Al has shared with me, he remembers Reich’s performance, the next evening, not being as precise as the Group’s performance.

TOTH: What I remember was being very nervous. In the five-and-a-half years I was in the

Group, I only dropped a stick once, and it was during that performance. It happened at the perfect time, because the piece builds up with the wooden sticks and then it fades out. Then you flip over the sticks and use the softer end. It was right then, when I was at my last repeated measure. Jim and I hit sticks, because he and I were across from each other…he played

Hartenberger’s part and I played Becker’s part. I played the phasing part and he played the steady part. So, we were always across from each other, and we clicked sticks. Luckily I dropped a stick right when I was going to stop. I remember feeling awful about it. I never dropped a stick

102 This was a 17 January 1989 performance in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium.

103 Ray Cooklis, “CCM Percussion Group to Drum Out Reich Piece,” Cincinnati Enquirer, 15 January 1989.

104 Three performances occurred before the one in Ann Arbor: a 31 March 1989 concert at the College of William and Mary, a 5 April 1989 concert at Roosevelt University, and a 6 April 1989 concert at Harper College.

105 Otte confirms Reich attended the Group’s performance along with his percussionists.

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again, during the rest of my time in the Group. Then, I remember the next night we drove to

Detroit and watched their concert, and I remember thinking that it didn’t seem as tight in terms of attacks lining up, but I definitely felt like Becker was making the phases extra long. Mine were respectable—they were pretty long—but his were insane. He could do that as gradually as he wanted, and I remember that they seemed at least twice as long as mine. I didn’t think theirs was a bad performance, and even though I don’t consider their recorded performance to be especially tight—it is just a different aesthetic.106 There is a certain energy to their performances.

They’re very musical and engaging, and one can never discount the fact that they have worked directly with Reich from the very beginning. I also think with the four guys playing you can hear the resultant patterns more clearly then when you cut it down to three.

But, we never really worked with Reich. We played Drumming, but I remember there was a little bit of apprehension on my part at first, because it was a piece that was sort of Nexus’ piece, and we had such a different aesthetic, in terms of our ensemble playing and the interpretation of that piece. Shall we discuss other composers?

AUTHOR: Sure.

TOTH: There was a former CCM student named Bob Clendenen who wrote a piece for the

Group called Textures II (1989). He was at CCM for a time and then after that he went to Cal

Arts to do more composition studies. Textures II was a very polyrhythmic drumming piece. We played it, but it was more of him just saying, “Here is the piece.” I don’t recall much interaction

106 Steve Reich, Drumming, Steve Reich and Musicians, Elektra/Nonesuch 79170-1, LP, 1987.

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with him. He came to CCM and did a little residency when we played it.107 We played for him, but as far as I know, I don’t think we influenced the piece.

We played one piece by Joel Hoffman. I think it was in conjunction with the [Elliott]

Carter visit. I guess it was written for the Group.

AUTHOR: Yes, Al’s repertoire list for the Group has at least one Hoffman composition.108

TOTH: 26 x 3 for 3 (and E.C. at 80)?

AUTHOR: Yes.

TOTH: I don’t remember the piece at all. I don’t even recall what the instrumentation was.109

Now, Michael Kowalski would be a good composer to look at. I think Rebus (1980) is the one where each player has their instruments on stands and is making these semaphore-type signs as they play their part.110 Did you ever see them do that one?

AUTHOR: No, I haven’t.

TOTH: It goes back to Youhass’s time. We played it in children’s concerts, when I was in the

Group. Each player has four instruments mounted up on really high stands. You are standing between the stands with one instrument above each of your shoulders and one out from each of

107 The Group performed Textures II once, a 15 May 1990 concert during Clendenen’s residency.

108 Hoffman composed two works for the Group: 26 x 3 for 3 (and E.C. at 80) (Cincinnati, OH: Onibatan Music, 1988); and Metasmo (Cincinnati, OH: Onibatan Music, 1992).

109 The score allows for the performers to choose their own instruments.

110 Michael Kowalski, Rebus (New York: Postindustrial Productions, 1980).

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your arms, at hip level. When you are playing, you are reaching to these four corners, so visually you are making these semaphore signals with your mallets. With the three of us in a row it looked almost like the cover of the Help album.111 I don’t think we shared instruments, but they were mounted right next to each other. It was a big three-movement piece. I only played the full piece like one or two times, but there was one of the movements that we did as an excerpt for children’s concerts.112

Kowalski also wrote a new piece while I was there, called Gringo Blaster (1988–89). It definitely had a pop influence. I am trying to remember exactly what it was about. I think I played a major drum set part in that piece—I did my best Steve Gadd impersonation. I had to play an open drum set solo on a Group concert, and I think it was in this piece. It had a tape part with it, and it was pretty unusual. I think that was also the piece where Al had like a little garbage can drum set—a found object drum set. I had a real drum set. I can’t remember what Jim was doing. I remember it had a big pop influence, and it was very rhythmic. It was a large scale piece and a big project. I don’t know if Kowalski wrote the drum set part because he knew one of the people in the Group played some drum set or if it was just a coincidence.

There was another trio where all three of us had to play drum sets. It was by a guy named

Fred Bianchi, and though he was an electronic music guy there at CCM, I think this piece was for all acoustic drum sets.113 It was kind of wild to see Jim and Al both playing drum set, but it wasn’t a piece that required major drum set chops. The drum set sounds were approached almost like sounds on a tape. It was a timbral and rhythmic piece, but not one requiring traditional drum

111 The Beatles, Help!, Parlophone Records , LP, 1965.

112 Toth performed Rebus in four full-length concerts: 18 March 1988, 7 April 1988, 16 April 1988, and 22 April 1989. The section for children’s concerts came from the first movement.

113 Bianchi, Max Roach Variations (n.p.: F. Bianchi, 1988).

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set independence. For the Kowalski piece, I really had to sit down and play some drum set. I think I had to groove with a tape, and Al might remember more about that collaboration.

Of course, Jonathan Kramer, who taught at CCM and then moved and taught at Columbia

[University], will be important for you to investigate.114 He also wrote program notes—really amazing program notes—for the Cincinnati Symphony for many years. All of them were eventually published in a book.115He was a brilliant guy. He recently passed, maybe five or six years ago. He only wrote one piece, that I recall, for the Group: Five Studies on Six Notes

(1980).116 This was a little mallet trio. It was a great piece—very difficult. Kramer was always into rhythmic experimentation and manipulation. The Studies, as I recall, were really difficult in that regard. Of course, I don’t have music to most of these things, and so I haven’t seen them in a long time, but as for the relationship, there seems to have been a very close relationship between

Jonathan and the Group. It was one of mutual respect. He was the kind of guy that would go to our concerts, and I assumed that Al talked to him afterwards and got feedback from him. He probably influenced the Group more than we influenced him. He was a great musician and scholar.

AUTHOR: One quick aside: when you were a member of the Group, did each member hold onto his own scores for pieces?

114 Kramer was a member of the CCM composition faculty from 1978–90.

115 Jonathan D. Kramer, Listen to the Music: A Self-Guided Tour Through the Orchestral Repertory (New York: Schirmer, 1988).

116 Kramer composed two works for the Group: Five Studies on Six Notes, 1980, unpublished; and Notta Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (Saint Louis, MO: MMB Music, 1993).

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TOTH: Yes, we held onto our own parts. A lot of the material that I got still had [William]

Youhass’s name on it, or occasionally Jack [Brennan’s], and similarly the new pieces I got had my name on them. I photocopied some parts that I wanted for teaching purposes, but when I arrived at CCM there was a pile of music that was the third guy’s pile and I am sure that is what

Rusty walked into, as well.

AUTHOR: Did you add your name to parts that already had Youhass’s name?

TOTH: No. I probably didn’t add anything except maybe a few notes to help me play the parts. I really got used to Bill’s system. An example is with double stickings: he would tie the notes together to show that they were to be played with the same hand, and so I got used to that tie pretty quickly. So, no, you wouldn’t see my name on the older parts. There were even a few parts that I received that had “Garry” written on them. So those were Garry Kvistad’s parts from the

Blackearth days. My part for “at loose ends: [sic] still had Garry’s name on it.

The next composer would be Charles Lipp, who is the same guy who wrote the marimba solo I told you about. He was one of Brün’s students, and he wrote a trio for us.117 The connection to Charles was more through Herbert. Anytime we went to Illinois we would see

Charles, and he also came to CCM on a couple occasions. He was a friend of the Group, and so he came when we did our first big musicircus at CCM.118 It was a ninety-minute musicircus, and

Charles was there the whole day just taking photos—black and white photos. I actually have a copy of all of them. These were photos of all of our cool Cage setups spread all over Corbett

117 Charles Lipp, Composition for Marimba, Six Hands, 1992, unpublished.

118 The Group began their tenth-anniversary season with a 17 October 1989 musicircus performance, “What Mushroom? What Leaf? A 50-Year Retrospective Musicircus of the Percussion Music of John Cage.”

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Auditorium. So, Charles was a friend of the Group, but we only played that one piece of his. He actually had some sort of a day job. He composed as more of a hobby by the time I knew him.

The Group worked with Theodore May. You probably know the piece para-DIDDLE

(1979). It is almost a rudimental version of Lift-Off! We played that piece and we met Ted May, but since that piece was written long before I got there, I’m not sure how much interaction there was at the time of composition.

There is a piece on my list by a composer named [Steven] Medley. The piece is called

Shadow Chaser (1983). I don’t remember it, but have it marked as being written for the

Group.119

Of course there is the Chinese composer Qu Xiao-Song, who wrote at least two pieces for the Group. The first piece, Làm Môt (1991), is a big piece.120 I remember there was a bass drum with bongos around it, or something like that. He took us to Hong Kong to play that piece, which had dance along with it.121 Then, later, he wrote another piece for them with the Chinese clapping cymbals, so there was definitely interaction with Al.122 He was intricately involved in those pieces.

AUTHOR: This is one relationship that Al and I have spoken about only briefly, but we plan to discuss in greater detail. We have spoken about Al’s respect for Xiao-Song’s music, but also

119 Medley composed Shadow Chaser for the Group, and it remained a regular part of the repertory during the Youhass era. The Group only performed it twice during Toth’s tenure: 6 November 1988 and 19 November 1988.

120 Qu Xiao-Song, Làm Môt (New York: Southern Music, 1995). While Xiao-Song went on to compose multiple works for the Group, Làm Môt is his only composition from the Toth era.

121 Toth participated in the Group’s March 1992 Hong Kong tour.

122 Guo Wenjing, and not Qu Xiao-Song, composed the Group’s Chinese clapping cymbal piece, Drama.

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their almost brotherly admiration for each other.123 When starting this project, I knew much more about the music involved than I did about the relationships with the composers. I assumed, and I think accurately so, that the variety of the relationships matches the variety of the musical material. This relationship, at least between Al and Xiao-Song, appears to be one of the deepest personal relationships. Al and Xiao-Song talked at length, over many years, about all sorts of things musical and otherwise. But all of those conversations and that personal relationship was not something that necessarily transferred to the entire Group’s dynamic with a composer, correct? By that I mean, Al being great friends with Xiao-Song didn’t directly mean that everyone in the Group had the same friendship or even, necessarily, the same admiration for his music. If you liked his music, it wasn’t because you had the same type of relationship with Xiao-

Song that Al had, correct?

TOTH: Yes. Al was the one that was the most passionate about new music and generating this repertoire, and tracking down new composers. I was not quite as interested in the same things. I was into playing the music. I didn’t get to know Xiao-Song or some of the other composers nearly as well as Al did. I premiered Làm Môt. I went to Hong Kong for the performances, we hung out with him for those couple weeks, and we worked with him, but by the time I was part of the process, it was more about the logistics and about playing the piece. Al had the contact before that point. So, he will need to tell you about how the Group influenced the piece itself.

And then the hand-cymbal piece didn’t exist until after I was gone. I think the relationship between Xiao-Song and the Group was already a good, tight bond when I was there, but I think it has definitely grown even more since then.

123 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 346.

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Now, if you can only focus on five or six composers, I think you should consider Mark

Saya. Do you know [From the] Book of Imaginary Beings?124

AUTHOR: Yes.

TOTH: And his [Frédéric] Chopin Preludes Revisited (1985–91)?125

AUTHOR: Yes.

TOTH: And, of course, the piece with the ping pong balls and the vibraphone. What is that one called? The solo piece? Do you know what I’m talking about? It has slipped my mind, though it is actually a popular piece.

AUTHOR: No.

TOTH: Have you ever seen Al play this solo vibraphone piece?

AUTHOR: No.

TOTH: It is a vibraphone solo.126 It is a great piece. I’ve never played it, so it is not on my repertoire list, but I’m sure you will come across it when you talk more with Al. It was written for Al, and it involves some standard playing techniques and some very extended techniques— you have to bow the vibes, and you have a little sword fight using the bow in the air. As you bow

124 For a description of Saya’s From the Book of Imaginary Beings, see Appendix B, Transcript of Interviews with Jack Brennan, n. 4; and Chapter 3, 44.

125 For a description of Saya’s Seven Preludes Revisited (1985–89), see Chapter 2, n. 30.

126 Mark Saya, The Murphy Sonata (Champaign, IL: Media Press, 1994).

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certain notes, people in the audience, who are planted there, pick up the pitch and start singing it.

It creates a very cool effect. I can’t believe that I’ve forgotten what it is called. It will come to me later. One of the big climatic moments is when you grab a box of ping pong balls and just drop them on the vibes, and so that is what everyone in the audience remembers. I see it get played a bit, but it was Al that brought it to the public eye when he played it at the Ann Arbor PAS

Convention in 1984 or 1985.127 So, his relationship with Mark goes back at least that far.

So, [From the] Book of Imaginary Beings included a few of movements that existed before I was in the Group. A couple more were composed while I was in the Group. Then, there have been a couple added since I’ve been gone. That project overlapped my time. Saya wrote the

Chopin Preludes Revisited, and I don’t know if they still play them very often.128 They are for mallet trio, and I think Al also played a little piano on them. Mark wrote that while I was in the

Group. That was actually during my last season there, and it was one of the last things I played with the Group. I then left the Group in June 1992, and Rusty stepped in.

There is a piece we played once called Blue Temptation Tango (1987) by [Charles]

Sepos. We played it while I was there, and I think it was written for the Group, but you can ask

Al for more information about him.129

AUTHOR: We haven’t spoken about him yet.

127 Otte performed The Murphy Sonata along with the Group’s performances of Kagel’s Dressur and Novotney’s Intentions on 3 November 1984 at the Ann Arbor, Michigan, PAS convention.

128 The Group last performed Preludes Revisited on 24 April 1992 when Toth was still in the Group. For a discussion of the rare performances of this composition, see Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 318–20.

129 Allen Otte, e-mail to author, 12 October 2008. While performances of Sepos’s music never appeared in the Group’s programs, Otte confirmed that on one occasion, probably a Cincinnati Composer’s Guild concert, the Group performed his Blue Temptation Tango. Sepos was a CCM graduate student at the time of composition.

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TOTH: I don’t think we did any [John Luther] Adams stuff while I was in the Group. It was a year or two after I left that they actually went up to Alaska.130

Here is the program from my last concert in the Group. I remember Rusty played on a couple pieces as well, so it was a kind of transition concert. We played Third Construction, and

Rusty joined us on that. We did “at loose ends: [sic], and Rusty and Frank Weinstock joined us for that. There was also the piece by Qu Xiao-Song [Làm Môt] on the concert.

TOTH: Here is the program for the [Frederic] Rzewski piece called I Read in the News Today,

Oh Boy!131 It wasn’t really his piece, since it was his students who actually came up with the idea in response to his assignment. It is interesting to see some of the students involved were Mark

Saya and Eugene Novotney.

Now, we actually did a little collaboration—a couple concerts—with [William] Albright.

I don’t know what the collaboration was like when he wrote Take That, but we did a couple concerts where he [Albright] played ragtime piano, and Percy Danforth played the bones.132 By the way, Jennifer Stasack also played on another piece by Albright called Daydream (1975), which was another sort of meditation piece.133 I don’t know the history of that piece. I have it marked that it was written for the Group.134

130 The Group did not perform any of Adams’s music during Toth’s time in the Group. The Group’s trip to Alaska came in April 1993.

131 In programs, the Group attributes this composition to “collective” composition.

132 Danforth and Albright performed with the Group in September and October 1987. Albright composed Take That for Blackearth, not the Group, but for information on this collaboration, see Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 293.

133 According to the program data, Stasack played the keyboard part during the 6 October 1987 performance, and Alright played the part during the 19 September 1987 performance.

134 Albright composed Daydream for Blackearth, and not the Group.

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We played a concert with Joseph Celli, but he never wrote anything for us.135 We played his Snaredrum for Camus (1980), which is this pattern piece—a minimalist, process piece.136 We actually shared the concert with him. It was interesting to see him play a wide variety of reed instruments: he was very into timbral exploration, which is what the snare drum piece was all about. But, we never collaborated with him to create new repertoire.

We played a piece by Stacey Bowers, who was a former Blackearth member, called

Listen to the Rolling Thunder (1982). I don’t know if it was written for the Group or for

Blackearth, but it was a [Terry] Riley In C (1964) kind of piece, like a minimalist, mallet instrument piece.137

We worked with Rupert Kettle once. I believe we played his Dining Room Music (1983) on a concert, but we were never involved in his compositional process.138 And those are all the names I have. Hopefully that tells you which composers we were most connected to while I was in the Group.

AUTHOR: That does, but let me follow up on a few items, beginning with Cage. Of all the composers who will come up in this thesis, Cage is the one with most secondary literature. Along with all of that scholarly analysis of Cage and his music, there are countless little stories from the performers and composers who spent time with him. It seems like anyone who spent time with

135 The Group performed in a 10 November 1989 concert, “Music on the Edge: Composer/Performer Joseph Celli,” in the Emery Theater, Cincinnati, Ohio.

136 Joseph Celli, Snaredrum for Camus (n.p.: O. O. Production, 1980).

137 Though performed by the Group, Bowers did not compose Listen to the Rolling Thunder for either ensemble.

138 Toth’s performance of Dining Room Music is not represented in the program data; however, the work was part of the Group’s repertory at the time he joined. In the season prior to the start of Toth’s tenure, the Group performed Dining Room Music as part of a suite they called “The Household Suite,” along with Cage’s Living Room Music, and Earle Brown’s 4 Systems.

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him has their own Cage anecdote. Are there any of those types of stories, even if they’re not directly related to the music, from your time with Cage?

TOTH: Not really from my experience. I interacted with him just that one day at the Philadelphia

PAS convention, and we spoke for maybe a minute or two.139 He sat with Al through a few concerts that day, and the two of them were conversing a little bit, but I didn’t have a chance to get into anything of real substance with Cage.

AUTHOR: You mentioned that if I was interested, you would explain your opinion on how Cage and Brün had a huge influence on all percussion composers to come after them. By all means, please explain. Also, I am interested to know if you think the Group had/has any role in how the percussion music of Cage was/is received in the percussion community.

TOTH: I think that the Group’s significance, as it relates to Cage, is that they’re one of the few ensembles that plays his music properly. Whether it is a more abstract piece, such as Branches or

Music for Three, or a groovy piece, such as Third Construction, their performances are absolutely definitive—very thorough preparation and insightful interpretations. Needless to say, their Cage performances are extremely accurate, and in many cases, informed by direct contact with Cage. One obvious example of how their performances are different is in Third

Construction. If you go and see that piece with almost anyone else, the tempos are too fast. The focus is so centered on the half-note pulse that you see the whole group bouncing up and down like bobble heads just trying to stay together. That sort of thing tells you that they are not really listening to each other; instead, they are just feeling a pulse and looking for the pulse in each

139 See n. 48.

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other. Playing that piece faster is, in a sense, easier. In a faster performance the polyrhythms can be cheated here or there. When the Group plays Third Construction, they actually tend to play it a little under the marked tempo. In their performance you can hear the polyrhythms more clearly.

But there is also their dynamic balance, instrument selection, score reading, and chamber music skills that they bring to the piece; it is just performed at a much higher level. I believe that over time, by just presenting something with integrity, it makes a difference. That is what they do.

You know, people would play Third Construction regardless of whether the Group ever performed the piece, but I think that all of those people who have had a chance to hear the Group play it have hopefully had some of that quality and integrity rub off on them. There are plenty of performances of all those early rhythmic pieces by Cage that are just not clean, not careful, and not balanced, so I think one of the ways that the Group has been important has been in disseminating quality performance of his music.

Now, there are also less accessible and less popular Cage pieces that the Group has played that you just don’t hear other people play. And, just the fact that you can still say that they are the only full-time, professional percussion ensemble in the country is something special.140

That was obviously the case when I was in the Group and prior to then, but I think it is still true even today. There are a few groups in New York and here or there, but they are not really full- time ensembles, who only perform as an ensemble. The Group plays a fair number of concerts for a variety of people. While I was there I think every concert we played off campus had a piece by Cage. So, over time, that type of record of performances helps to disseminate the music in a way that collegiate percussion ensembles playing for each other at conventions are unable to do.

140 Due to the large number of professional percussion chamber ensembles, and the various financial models they employ, it is difficult to argue the qualification of the Group as the only full-time ensemble.

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You cannot disseminate music to the broader society unless you get out of the university setting and play for real audiences at concert series and the like, and the Group does that all the time.

In terms of Cage’s importance, I think he influenced the repertoire percussionists play and the instruments we use; for example, found objects and the like. I think the way Cage influenced the Group is a microcosm of how he influenced the whole percussion community. In terms of instrument options and the integration of different cultures or hybrid music, I think he helped make the actual repertoire itself popular and that influenced other composers. To a lesser extent, I think he influenced how we play, since in a sense his was one of the first percussion ensembles in history. Cage’s group in the 1930s and 1940s and the music that they cultivated led the way for Blackearth to then show people that you can have a percussion chamber group without a conductor and really function like a string quartet—you can solve musical problems in different ways. Performing Cage’s music properly requires careful listening and highly developed chamber music skills.

In contrast, I think Brün also had an important influence, but a very different one. With

Brün it is not so much influence on the repertoire, because his music isn’t played as often. His music is so hard, and it requires some quirky instruments, like the quarter-tone marimba and all of these crazy almglocken in “at loose ends: [sic]. I think Brün really looked at that “Preferences in Percussion” article, then saw that Blackearth had these almglocken, and said, “I’m going to write for these instruments played by those guys.” The Group had a quarter-tone marimba that Al had Youhass tune up. Herbert used that instrument in a really ingenious way. How can you play those pieces unless you have all that stuff? Even though I think they are some of the greatest pieces ever written for percussion, they are not easy to play. So, Herbert’s influence isn’t so much about his music as it is about interacting with percussionists at [the University of] Illinois

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over all of those years: from [Michael] Colgrass to [Tom] Siwe, to Allan O’Connor, to Fred

Wickstrom, to Michael Udow, Michael Rosen, Michael Ranta, Bill Youhass, Larry Snider, Allen

Otte, me, Blackearth, the Group, and many others. These are people who were students at Illinois who eventually went on to be college teachers and performers all over the country. They were all influenced by Brün. Herbert’s influence is more about how you play then about what you play.

The way I look at it, if you play Plot, you see that it illustrates his interest in timbre and how you can alter timbre and control timbre. If you play Touch and Go, you see that it is about mallets and strokes, and he makes percussionists think about mallet choices and how you move your arms, since all of that makes a difference in the sound. If you play Stalks and Trees and Drops and Clouds you see it is all about duration and how percussionists can control and layer long sounds and short sounds. In that piece you have to solve problems of controlling sustained sounds. Those three pieces, specifically, require percussionist to think about timbre, duration, strokes, mallets, among other things, but even if you never play those pieces, just being around

Herbert made you think about those issues and about what sound you create, how you create it, how you control it, and how you manipulate it. Then, for those of us who have played his music,

I think it requires the highest degree of chamber sensitivity of any repertoire I’ve played, including Cage’s music. To play “at loose ends: [sic], Infraudibles [with Percussion], or More

Dust [with Percussion], you really have to listen at a deeper level. The chamber music challenges in these pieces are significant, and although not everyone has played that music, those of us who have learned from those experiences have tried to share that information with our students. So, if you think about all of the people that went to Illinois, who were influenced by Herbert, and then became teachers, and then think about all of the people that Michael Udow or Allen Otte have taught over the years, well, just those two guys alone have had a huge impact, and they were

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both very influenced by Herbert. Brün, for example, is where Udow got the idea for the timbrack.141 So, I really think Herbert Brün and John Cage can stand right next to each other as the two most significant composers in terms of influencing percussion chamber music.

AUTHOR: There is a large distinction between Al, the educator he is today, and Al, the educator of the late 1970s, when he arrived at CCM. He shared with me that when he arrived at CCM, and particularly during those years when he was trying everything possible to keep Blackearth together, even though he was accepting of and interested in being a teacher, he was still willing to try to shift around and minimize the teaching aspect of the job in order to give time to supporting the ensemble’s rehearsal and performance schedule.142 Now, in more recent decades, he has been thinking about the importance of teaching, and he is very interested in working with students as the primary part of what he does. Now, he is quite interested in passing things on, but

I’m not sure if cares more about passing on specific pieces or simply the Group’s model of chamber music creation. Do you find, in your teaching, that there is any special desire to pass this material on?

TOTH: Absolutely. More than just passing on some of the Group’s repertoire, I am very committed to passing on the chamber music skills, percussion skills, and knowledge of percussion history and repertoire that I experienced while working with Jim and Al. I’m sure

Al’s focus on teaching has gradually changed from those initial seasons. Early on, the focus of the Group was entirely about the Group’s activities and making sure it survived and was playing

141 A timbrack, short for “timbre rack,” is a collection of pitched sounds usually arranged in ascending order, but with the pitch material coming from diverse objects. So, for example, a timbrack of seven pitches may be made up of a woodblock that sounds C, a woodblock that sounds D, a break drum that sounds E, a coffee can that sounds F, and aluminum pipes for pitches G, A, and B.

142 Appendix E, Transcript of Interviews with Allen Otte, 244.

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great music. I suppose that my own approach to teaching shifts in different ways at different times, but there is always interest in passing on good pieces, chamber music know-how, and the ability to make good sounds, such as we were just talking about in relation to Brün.

AUTHOR: Al has also commented that originally being in the Group was a one hundred percent commitment; while today, the commitment to the Group is still extraordinarily strong, but the guys also do other projects.

TOTH: Right. That trend was underway even back in the late-1980’s when I joined the Group.

In addition, I always felt that we never took advantage of the three different musicians that were teaching percussion at CCM. That is why I started the masterclasses, and started sharing students for a quarter, like I mentioned earlier. Those things worked for a few years and then when I left, I believe they just faded. I just couldn’t understand why students went to a school with three teachers and after four years they only got to study with Jim, or Al, or me. At that time, I also felt like the students didn’t learn as much as I expected they would have learned about how to play chamber music. They learned that when Jim was coaching them, because he was the primary percussion ensemble guy. I would also do one or two pieces on the concerts, and Al would do one or maybe none. But I always thought that we could have shared more about playing chamber music. The first thing I did when I came here [to the University of Hartford] was start a graduate percussion trio. That ensemble is exactly modeled after the Group. From what they play to how they play, the whole thing is modeled on the Group. Even my percussion ensemble, which includes all of my students is completely influenced by my time in the Percussion Group. We play mostly chamber music without a conductor. Occasionally, we put on a big piece, like

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Ionisation (1929–31), but the repertoire I like to play is directly influence by the Group.143 We don’t play transcriptions or light repertoire. The goal I have with my students is to teach them how to play without a conductor, to read from a score, to solve problems alone, to interact with each other and work out logistical and musical issues, to do it objectively, and not to take it personally when someone says, “You’re too loud.” All of this reflects my experience in

Cincinnati.

AUTHOR: Some percussionists have approached chamber music as a means of justifying the field. In such as argument, one could say that having composers other than just fellow percussionists writing sizable works would bring the field of percussion more interest, more respect. Was that ever a part of what you were doing? Perhaps, string quartets had their respectable repertoire and you wanted percussion chamber groups to have the same billing and aficionados, and excitement?

TOTH: This is definitely a subject that I first thought about while playing in the Group. At the time, I was young and just excited to be there. For a good two years I would go into that studio and just sort of stand there and think that I just couldn’t believe that I was there. Having grown up in Ohio, I had known about Blackearth and the Group since I was in high school. Those groups were certainly a big part of the lectures from my undergraduate and graduate schooling, so I knew about Blackearth and the Group. I don’t know if I was looking at what we were doing, in terms of generating repertoire, that broadly, but I had read “Preferences in Percussion,” and I knew what Al thought percussion music could be. My first year there I also took Al’s percussion literature class, and one of the things I value the most from my experience in the Group—in

143 Edgard Varèse, Ionisation (New York: Colfranc Music, 1934).

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addition to learning how to really play chamber music—were the road trips before Al started flying everywhere, and he had to sit in the van with us. There were several years, when he climbed in the van with Jim and I, and I could always get him talking about percussion history and composers. It was like having private tutoring on all those road trips. When it was Jim’s turn to sit in the back, I would bring up a topic or a composer, and Al would just go off. So, I was aware that what we were doing, in terms of advancing the repertoire, was unique and I had some sense of its historical significance, but I always thought of it more as we were defining quality performance for percussion—accurate, consistent, performance. Part of that is because that is what Siwe used to tell me, “No one can play as cleanly as the Group.” Nexus, for example, has a different profile: the ragtime revival, the world music influence, improvisation, and the Reich collaborations, all at an extremely high level, but the Group is about unrivaled accuracy of playing. I took great pride in that. I suppose the Group benefits from the fact that they can rehearse daily, more or less year round. I felt that we were raising the bar for percussion chamber music playing, just by letting people see what we were doing. And I still think that’s true. One of our very mediocre performances of Les Moutons de Panurge was far better than the recording that Blackearth guys made.144 I’ve heard recordings of those guys playing a lot of the things that we played, and even our less than stellar run-throughs were better than most of their best takes, because Blackearth changed personnel every single year. I learned how important continuity of personnel could be. Of course, we all owe a great debt to Blackearth for making the personal sacrifices and blazing the musical trail. I learned that even on my tenth time of performing

Marimba Spiritual, I still was learning the piece, in a sense, and it wasn’t until I played it twenty

144 Frederic Rzewski, Les Moutons de Panurge (Tokyo: Zen-On Music, 1980); and Attica, Les Moutons de Panurge, and Coming Together, Blackearth Percussion Group, Opus One 20, LP, 1973.

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or thirty times that I felt like I knew what was possible and was really playing it the way I wanted to play it.

AUTHOR: If we could, let’s jump backward a little bit, how would you define the mission of the

Group?

TOTH: When I tell my students about the Group, I say that their mission is to champion the music of American composers, primarily young, lesser-known composers. Their mission also includes rehearsing every day, which they may not do anymore, and playing at the level of a great string quartet. So, they strive to play percussion music with the same level of integrity, care, and thoroughness that a great string quartet puts into preparing its music, or to take the same care as an orchestral percussionist playing one triangle note exactly perfectly. They take that and apply it to a John Cage piece or whatever they are playing. Those are the three things that are significant. When I was in the Group we rehearsed five days a week for three hours— from 10:15 to 1:15—then we would walk up the hill and get a sandwich together. We spent a lot of time together. We rehearsed every single day with one exception, when they were on sabbatical, and that type of rehearsal schedule had always been a part of the Group’s plan, from the very beginning. You set up the piece and then you hit it every day.

AUTHOR: Early on today, you mentioned that the Group will probably never get the credit it deserves. Could you expand on that?

TOTH: Well, in your thesis proposal you mentioned that this project would “allow for a better understanding of why so little has been written about the Percussion Group Cincinnati.” I think there are two reasons. One reason is their refusal to have any commercial ties. I think it is

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possible to have a tie to a company, particularly if you are using their instrument already, and still keep your integrity intact, to not, in any way, sell out. This is one way that people get their name out there, so that the younger musicians and people outside your region know who you are.

Also, the truth is, to play at a PAS convention, which is another way you spread your name in our field, you have to have corporate backing. The Group, without corporate backing, has had a hard time getting PAS performances. They have usually been delegated to the New Music Day sessions, which are somewhat less influenced by corporate sponsors. The other thing is that, there has always been some sort of mystique surrounding the Group. Do you know what I mean?

AUTHOR: Yes.

TOTH: Anyhow, my perspective as a member of the Group, and particularly as the young guy, was that our inter-personal skills sometimes seemed a bit lacking, or at least people didn’t always understand where we were coming from. The Group refuses to compromise any aspect of their art, which I guess is part of what makes them so special, but also part of what makes them a little isolated. But I think it’s worth the trade off. I have always had immense respect for the members of the Group and I still do. When I did that Cage day, for the 1999 PASIC, I wasn’t really going to agree to do it, unless I knew Al was going to contribute in some way, because, in the whole world, he may be the most qualified person to deal with Cage’s percussion music. I would definitely put Jan Williams in that league, but that’s it. There are other aspects of our field where

I think he is also the best source. Jim, on the other hand, is the most accurate and consistent musician I have ever worked with. It’s uncanny how precisely and consistently he plays. He was the perfect template for me to work with as a young member of the Group. So, there is a small cadre of people who are really in awe of the Group and really respect and appreciate what the

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members do and know, collectively and individually, and there is probably a small cadre of people who they have pissed off over the years, and then there are a whole lot of people in the middle who just don’t know enough about the Group.

One other thing Al used to say, and I think, to some degree, is true, is that as long as the

Group does what it does with integrity then people will know about it. Well, it is great that they do what they do with such integrity—that is what makes them so special, but only some people know about them. Maybe the people who matter to them, know about them, but even at CCM I met a singer that had no idea who the Percussion Group Cincinnati was. She was a graduate student in voice at CCM, and she had never heard of the Group. They do their own thing, behind their door, and having been a part of it, I appreciate that privacy, but the compromise is that not enough people appreciate what you have accomplished and how important it is.

AUTHOR: In order to have a thesis built on existing literature or new primary material, I am now and will continue to sort through a large body of material including programs, correspondence, concert reviews, and so forth. I still also have to conduct the rest of my full interviews with all of the other members. Between the transcripts of all of the interviews, the program data, the discography, etc., there should be a basis from which I can then offer my claims. I hope that it will also help any future researchers who want to look at the Group or any of these composers. Once this is all done, I’ll provide you with copies of as much of this as you would like.

TOTH: I would like a copy of everything - everything that you are willing to share.

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AUTHOR: That is not a problem at all—it will be my pleasure. Are there any other topics that you thought we would cover, that I did not ask about?

TOTH: In your proposal, you wrote about “shared musical and non-musical values.” We brought different musical interests to the Group; for example, the piece I brought to the Group [Marimba

Spiritual] was the rockin’ addition to the repertoire. Al’s musical aesthetic was completely different. I think I was influenced by Al’s musical aesthetic, and I think that is true for a lot of the younger guys who have been in the Group. In terms of the non-musical values, I think that is also true. They are very politically astute people, they are very well read people, they are very intelligent people, and Jim and Al definitely influenced my extra-musical interests and points of view at that time.

AUTHOR: I was also implying and this will be explicitly stated in the thesis that the Group’s extra-musical decisions, such as whether to apply for grants, relates to their musical outcomes— the repertoire they’ve built, the recordings, the performances.

TOTH: Those things were always decided together. When I was in the Group, that was never a problem. If it was time to buy a new van, we’d say, “Let’s buy a new van.” Or if we were wondering about where to play, we’d all agree, “Let’s play here.” It always felt like the logical person was making the logical proposal. Al brought in a lot of new music. Jim spearheaded the purchase of the van. We were not much for grant writing, and of course the Group does not pay commissions for new pieces. I guess the main thing from your proposal that I wanted to comment on was that it is not surprising to me that the Group is not more recognized and more famous. My perspective on career building and marketing expanded when I began playing with

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Nebojsa Zivkovic. We’ve been very close friends for a long time now. I don’t play with him as often as I played with the Group, but whenever I do it is always really cool. We play on

European tours and appear on various concert series, not just percussion conventions or university residencies. We rarely do those things. It is typically concert series at castles and concert halls. So, I have gotten a broader view of the music world and it has brought into greater relief how the Group fits in or doesn’t fit into that. They may be, unfortunately, the Midwest’s best kept secret. I’ve now seen what it takes to have performances at major venues—the planning, the marketing. In any case, I feel fortunate to have played with Jim and Al, and working with Nebojsa has been a great way to bring my Percussion Group knowledge to a different ensemble, with different repertoire. It does occur to me that the Group deserves to play in the biggest, most prestigious venues, but as of yet, they simply don’t garner the recognition that they deserve.

AUTHOR: I’ve already seen that, but I am interested in documenting that and documenting the juxtaposition: how it is that the Group has had a vast body of music composed expressly for it, yet remains under the radar. Or, how it is that the members have taught many students, yet they pride themselves more in passing along a model for performance than a specific collection of works. That is what I’ll try to show and discuss. Thank you very much for all of your help and all of the programs. They will be very helpful.

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Appendix G

Percussion Group Cincinnati Repertoire

* = composed specifically for the Group

COMPOSERS COMPOSITIONS Adams, John Luther (b. 1953) Five Perc. Quartets from Coyote Builds North America (1990) songbirdsongs (1974–79) Strange and Sacred Noise (1998)* Three Drum Quartets from Earth and the Great Weather (1993)

Albright, William (1944–98) Daydream (1975) Take That (1972)

Alexander, Alonzo (1956–2008) Mbira Music, Book One (1996)*

Antheil, George (1900–59) Ballet mécanique (1924, rev. 1953)

Argento, Dominick (b. 1927) I Hate, I Love: A Cycle for Mixed Chorus and Percussion (1982)

Austin, Larry (b. 1930) accidental sevens for g. s. (1994)

Bach, Johann Sebastian (1685–1750) Contrapunctus XIII w/ Inversion, Die Kunst der Fuge (1740–49) adapted by William DeFotis Prelude and Fugue in C-sharp major, WTC (1722, arr. 1994)* arr. Alfred Reed Jesu, Meine Freude (pre-1735, arr. 1981)

Barnhart, Michael (b. 1971) Breathing Drum (1991, rev. 2003)* Singing Bridge (2000, rev. 2007)* Variations of “Haiku” (1994)

Bartók, Béla (1881–1945) Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (1937)

Bernstein, Leonard (1918–90) “Sanctus” from Mass (1971) “Sanctus” from Missa Brevis (1988)

Beukes, Jahn (b. ca. 1975) Three Mbiras (1992)* Umculo Wa Bathatho (1992)*

Bianchi, Frederick (b. 1954) Max Roach Variations (1988)*

Body, Jack (b. 1944) Suara (1978)

Boone, Charles (b. 1939) Weft (1982)

Bowers, Stacey (b. 1952) Listening to the Rolling Thunder (1982)

Brant, Henry (1913–2008) “70” (1994)

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Brown, Earle (1926–2002) 4 Systems (1954)

Brün, Herbert (1918–2000) “at loose ends: [sic] (1974) Infraudibles with Percussion (1968–84) “Just Seven for Drum” from The Noble Snare (1988)* More Dust with Percussion (1977) Plot (1967) arr. the Group Rauber Polka (1958)

Buchtel, Forrest (1899–1996) Polka Dots (1935)

Burge, David (b. 1930) Moku (Island) (1998)*

Cage, John (1912–92)1 7’27.408” for Three Percussionists (1956) Amores (1943) Branches (1976) But What About the Noise of Crumpling Paper … (1985) Cartridge Music (1960) cȻomposed Imprv. for One-Sided Drums w/, w/o Jangles (1990) cȻomposed Improvisation for Snare Drum Alone (1990) Child of Tree (1975) Composition for Three Voices (1934) Credo in US (1942) Dreams that Money Can Buy (music from the film) (1947) A Flower (1950) Four3 (Beach Birds) (1991) Gemini (1947) Haikai (1986) Imaginary Landscape No. 1 (1939) Imaginary Landscape No. 2 (1942) Imaginary Landscape No. 4 (1951) Imaginary Landscape No. 5 (1952) Inlets (1977) Living Room Music (1940) MUSHROOMS et Variationes (1983) Music for Marcel Duchamp (1947) Music for Three (1984)* or Music for Three with Renga (1984)* Quartet (1935) Song Books (1970) Suite for Toy Piano (1948) Third Construction (1941) Three2 (1991) Trio (1936) The Unavailable Memory of (1944)

1 The Group frequently performed Cage’s music in the context of musicircuses or in a format Otte conceived called “from … through … to,” in which the members selected several works and moved from portions of one into portions of the next seamlessly. In a sense, the latter is a musicircus, but instead of presenting the material simultaneously (or horizontally in a score), it is performed linearly.

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Variations I (1958) Variations II (1961) Water Music (1952)

Callahan, Moiya (b. 1974) here it is (2005)*

Cardew Cornelius (1936–81) The Great Learning, Paragraph 2 (1969)

Carlsen, Phillip (b. 1951) Nimbus (1978)

Carter, Elliott (b. 1908) Canon for 3 (1971, rev. 1988)

Celli, Joseph (b. 1944) Snaredrum for Camus (1980)

Chandra, Arun (b. 1954) Crocker (1997)*

Chapela, Enrico (b. 1974) Encrypted Poetry for Percussion and Orchestra (2006)*

Childs, Barney (1926–2000) “Blazer” from The Noble Snare (1988)* For Three on a Bass Drum (1964)

Chin, Kyu-yung (b. 1948) Myung-Sang (1984)

Chou Wen-chung (b. 1923) Echoes from the Gorge (1989)

Clendenen, Bob (b. 1961) Textures II (1989)*

Coleman, Randolph (b. 1937) dig.it (1993–95)* Sweet William (1977)*

Colgrass, Michael (b. 1932) Déjà vu (1977, rev. 1987)

“collective” compositions I Read in the News Today, Oh Boy! (1987)*2 This (1987)*3

Dallapiccola, Luigi (1904–75) Canti di Prigionia (1938–41)

Dargel, Corey (b. 1977) Perpetual (1998)

DeFotis, William (1953–2003) Continuous Showing (1978)* Percussion and String Octet (1985)*

Farren, Martin (b. 1942) Musica Tridentina (1974)

2 At various points, the following names appeared in programs under the attribution “collective” for I Read in the News Today, Oh Boy!: Brennan, Culley, Novotney, Otte, Rowberry, Rzewski, Saya, and Smith.

3 At various points, the following names appeared in programs under the attribution “collective” for This: Bianchi, Bogen, Culley, Otte, and Toth.

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Fiday, Michael (b. 1961) Automotive Passacaglia (1988, rev. 2003)

Finney, Ross Lee (1906–97) Three Easy Percussion Pieces (1974)

Gann, Kyle (b. 1955) Snake Dance No. 2 (1995)

Garland, Peter (b. 1952) Apple Blossom (1972) Frieze (Dance of Huitzilopochtli) (1978, rev. 1992) Three Songs of Mad Coyote (1973)

Gershwin, George (1898–1937) arr. Russell Burge “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess (1935)

Goeyvaerts, Karel (1923–93) Instant 0 x 0 (1982)* Litanie II (1980)*

Green, George Hamilton (1893–1970) Jovial Jasper (1926) Log Cabin Blues (1923)

Guo Wenjing (b. 1956) Drama (1995)*

Hachimura, Yoshio (1938–85) Ahania (1971–77)

Handel, Darrell (b. 1933) Poems of Our Climate (1977, rev. 1982)

Harrison, Lou (1917–2003) Canticle and Round for Gerhard Samuel’s Birthday (1993)* Concerto for Violin and Percussion (1940–59, rev. 1974) In Praise of Johnny Appleseed (1942) Suite for Percussion (1972) Tributes to Charon (1939, rev. 1982)

Helmuth, Mara (b. 1957) Abandoned Lake in Maine (1996–99)* Loonspace (2000)*

Hirt, James (b. 1955) Ars Nova Mensurabilis (1983)

Ho, Chee-Kong (b. 1963) Rainseeker (1996)*

Hoffman, Joel (b. 1953) 26 x 3 for 3 (and E. C. at 80) (1988)* Metasmo (1992)*

Hogan, Paul (b. 1976) Drum and Grain (2001–03)*

Husa, Karel (b. 1921) Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble (1971)

Ishii, Maki (1936–2003) Marimbastück mit zwei Schlagzeugern (1969)

Ives, Charles (1874–1954) realization, Larry Austin “Life Pulse Prelude” from The Universe Symphony realization, Larry Austin The Universe Symphony (1911–51, realized 1974–94)

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Johnson, Charles (1876–1950) Dill Pickles (1906)

Kagel, Mauricio (1931–2008) Dressur (1977) arr. Allen Otte Pas de Trois (1965, arr. 1988)4 Rrrrrrr … (1982)

Kettle, Rupert (1940–2005) Dining Room Music (1983)

Kowalski, Michael (b. 1950) Gringo Blaster (1988–89)* Rebus (1980)*

Kramer, Jonathan (1942–2004) Five Studies on Six Notes (1980)* Notta Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (1993)*

Lai Deh-Ho (b. 1943) untitled percussion trio (1999)*

Lipp, Charles (b. 1945) Composition for Marimba Six Hands (1992)*

May, Theodore (1943–2009) para-DIDDLE (1979)*

Medley, Steven C. (?) Shadow Chaser (1983)*

Messiaen, Olivier (1908–92) arr. Allen Otte “La buse variable” from Catalogue d’Oiseaux (1958, arr. 1981)

Miki, Minoru (b. 1930) Marimba Spiritual (1984)

Mosko, Stephen (1947–2005) Cosmology of Easy Listening (1978)*

Novotney, Eugene (b. 1960) Intentions (1983)*

O’Brien, Eugene (b. 1945) Allures (1979)*

Oliveros, Pauline (b. 1932) Single-Stroke Roll Meditation (1973)

Orff, Carl (1895–1982) arr. Constance DeFotis Carmina Burana (1937, arr. 2007)

Otte, Allen (b. 1950) As an Algebra; Following Don Bogen, and the Shona (1995)* H. R.’s 2978 & 2788 (1989)* after the works of John Cage PERMUREAU (1986)* after the works of John Cage Sonata as Interlude: Rolling with John (1985)* “What the Snare Drum Tells Me” from The Noble Snare (1988)*

Peck, Russell (1945–2009) The Glory and the Grandeur (1988)* Lift-Off! (1966) Mozart Escapes the Museum (1997)

4 Based on Kagel’s Pas de Cinq: Walking Scene for Five Actors.

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arr. Percussion Group Cincinnati Chilean Songs “La Fiesta de la Tirana” [Festival of Tirana] “Managua que reedifica” [Rebuilding Managua] “El Pueblo Unido” [The People United] “Vamos Mujer” [Come Along, Wife] “El Vuelo de la Parina” [Flight of the Flamingo]

Proto, Frank (b. 1941) Three Movements for Brass Choir and Percussion (1983)

Qu Xiao-Song (b. 1952) Cursive (2000)* Fang Yan Kou (1996)* Four Poems from Shijing (2000) Ji No. 6 (“flowing sands …”) (1999) Làm Môt (1991)* Mirage (1998)* Mist 2 (1991–95) The Stone (2002)* Xi (1991)

Ravel, Maurice (1875–1937) arr. Allen Otte Ma mère l’oye (1911, arr. 2002)

Reich, Steve (b. 1936) Clapping Music (1972) Drumming, Part I (1971)

Rosenboom, David (b. 1947) Continental Divide (1964)

Russell, William (1905–92) Made in America (1936)

Rzewski, Frederic (b. 1938) Coming Together (1972) Force (1985) Les Moutons de Panurge (1969) Spoils (2005)

Samuel, Gerhard (1924–2008) As Imperceptibly as Grief, for Orch. and Perc. Soloists (1987)* Circles (1979)* Emperor and the Nightingale (1980) What of My Music! (1978)

Sapp, Allen (1922–99) Taylor’s Nine (1981)*

Saya, Mark (b. 1954) Bachanons (1996)* From the Book of Imaginary Being (1985–94)* Murphy Sonata (1979) Seven Preludes Revisited (1985–91)* Snowtime (1982)

Scelsi, Giacinto (1905–88) Trio for Vibraphone, Marimba, and Percussion (1950)

467

Schoenberg, Arnold (1874–1951) Two Canons (1926 and 1949)5

Senn, Daniel (b. 1951) “Peeping Tom” from The Noble Snare (1988)*

Sentman, Alan (b. 1968) Book between Bookends (1999)*

Sepos, Charles (b. 1950) Blue Temptation Tango (1987)*

Simon, Paul (b. 1941) arr. the Group “Late in the Evening” (1980)

Smith, Stuart Saunders (b. 1948) Links No. 5: Sitting on the Edge of Nothing (1986)* Return and Recall (1976) Songs I–IX for Percussionist-Actors (1981)

Snyder, James (?) Repercussions (1978)

Stasack, Jennifer (b. 1960) This Unsought Dominion (1988)*

Stockhausen, Karlheinz (1928–2007) Kreuzspiel (1951) Tierkreis (1975)

Stravinsky, Igor (1882–1971) Les Noces (1917) arr. Allen Otte Le Sacre du printemps (1912, arr. 2002)

Subotnick, Morton (b. 1933) The Key to Song (1985)

Sweidel, Martin (b. 1955) Bucky’s View (1983)* IX (1991)

Takemitsu, Toru (1930–96) Rain Tree (1981)

Tan Dun (b. 1957) Elegy: Snow in June (1991) Water Music (2004) Water Passion after St. Matthew (2000)

Udow, Michael (b. 1949) Four Movements for Percussion Trio (1975, rev. 1979)*

Vees, Jack (b. 1955) Consonant Music (1985)

Wolff, Christian (b. 1934) Fall (2000) For 1, 2, or 3 people (1964)

Wuorinen, Charles (b. 1938) Percussion Quartet (1994)*

Yoshioka, Takayoshi (b. 1955) Paradox III (1978)*

5 Four-part canon “Von meinen Steinen,” 1926; and four-part canon “Gravitationszentrum eigenen Sonnensystems,” 1949.

468

Reflection (1982)*

Zappa, Frank (1940–93) Envelopes (1982)

469

Appendix H

Percussion Group Cincinnati Discography

This discography contains all publically available audio and video recordings of the Percussion Group Cincinnati.1

1. The Percussion Group Cincinnati: Music of Herbert Brün, Theodore May, Stephen Mosko, Takayoshi Yoshioka, William DeFotis, Jonathan Kramer, Russell Peck, Christian Wolff, and Michael Udow RELEASE: 1981 LABEL: Opus One NUMBER: 80 & 81 (a two-disc album) MEDIUM: two LPs RECORDING: Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)2 11–18 June 1981 Jerry Studenka, recording engineer

Herbert Brün (1918–2000): More Dust with Percussion (1977) Theodore May (1943–2009): para-DIDDLE (1979) Stephen Mosko (1947–2005): The Cosmology of Easy Listening (1978) Takayoshi Yoshioka (b. 1955): Paradox III (1978) William DeFotis (1953–2003): Continuous Showing (1978) Jonathan D. Kramer (1942–2004): Five Studies on Six Notes (1980) Russell Peck (1945–2009): Lift-Off! (1966)3 Christian Wolff (b. 1934): For 1, 2 or 3 People (1964) Michael Udow (b. 1949): “Strike” from Four Movements for Perc. Trio (1975, rev. 1979) Percussion Group Cincinnati (James Culley, Allen Otte, & William Youhass)

2. On Record RELEASE: 1981

1 Incomplete recording projects in various stages are not included in this discography. The Group recorded John Luther Adams’s Five Percussion Quartets from Coyote Builds North America (1990), but it awaits final editing and release. The Group’s contributions to Mode Records’ Complete John Cage Edition also await completion.

2 Those familiar with the Group’s 1981 LP, and its extensive booklet of liner notes, may recognize that all of the photographs of the apparent recording session are from CCM’s Patricia Corbett Theater. Allen Otte clarified this issue in a 9 August 2008 e-mail to this author. The recording was made in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium; however, the photographer was not available to shoot that session, so it was later re-staged for photography purposes only. During this re-stage photo shoot only Patricia Corbett Theater was available, and thus the discrepancy between the location of the recording and the accompanying images of the apparent recording session.

3 Lift-Off! (1966) appears in the liner notes as Lift Off (1966/75). Multiple publications of the work explain the date and title format discrepancies. Peck preferred presenting the composition as Lift-Off! (1966).

470

LABEL: Cincinnati Composers’ Guild & Cincinnati Artists’ Group Effort (C.C.G./C.A.G.E.) Records NUMBER: 106017x MEDIUM: LP RECORDING: Cincinnati, OH Martin Sweidel, technical producer

Gerhard Samuel (1924–2008): Circles (1979)4 Percussion Group Cincinnati (James Culley, Allen Otte, & William Youhass)

3. American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Composers Award: O’Brien & Peyton RELEASE: 1982 LABEL: Composers Recordings, Inc. (CRI) NUMBER: SD 466 MEDIUM: LP RECORDING: Cleveland, OH March 1981 David Peelle, recording engineer

Eugene O’Brien (b. 1945): Allures (1979) Percussion Group Cincinnati (James Culley, Allen Otte, & William Youhass)

4. Percussive Arts Society International Convention RELEASE: unreleased, but available to the public at the PAS Museum LABEL: N/A NUMBER: N/A MEDIUM: audio cassette RECORDING: Hill Auditorium, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) 1 November 1984

John Cage (1912–92): Music for Three with Renga (1984) Percussion Group Cincinnati (James Culley, Allen Otte, & William Youhass)

5. Stefan Wolpe’s An die Armee der Künstler, Joelle Wallach’s Of Honey and of Vinegar, and Darrell Handel’s The Poems of Our Climate & Rondeaux with Oboe RELEASE: 1988 LABEL: Opus One NUMBER: 127 stereo MEDIUM: LP

4 The liner notes mistakenly identify Circles as a 1980 composition.

471

RECORDING: Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 3 May 1986 Brett Reider, recording engineer

Darrell Handel (b. 1933): The Poems of Our Climate (1977, rev. 1982) Sheryl Woods, soprano Pamela Watson, flute Brian Delay, guitar Anton Nel, piano Val Griffen, violoncello Percussion Group Cincinnati (Jack Brennan, James Culley, & Allen Otte) Gerhard Samuel, conductor

6. The Virtuoso in the Computer Age—II, Vol. 12 RELEASE: 1992 LABEL: Centaur Records, Inc. NUMBER: 2133 MEDIUM: CD RECORDING: unidentified

Charles Ives (1874–1954), realized by Larry Austin: “Life Pulse Prelude” from The Universe Symphony (1911–51, realized 1974–94) Percussion Group Cincinnati (James Culley, Allen Otte, & Benjamin Toth) Ron Fink, percussion Robert Schietroma, percussion

7. Charles Ives: Universe Symphony, Orchestral Set. No. 2, and The Unanswered Question RELEASE: 1994 LABEL: Centaur Records, Inc. NUMBER: CRC 2205 MEDIUM: CD RECORDING: Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 29 January 1994 Bruce Ellis, recording engineer

Charles Ives (1874–1954), realized by Larry Austin: Universe Symphony (1911–51, realized 1974–94) CCM Philharmonia Orchestra CCM Percussion Ensemble (Russell Burge, James Culley, & Allen Otte)5

5 The recording names the CCM Percussion Ensemble and not the Group as having performed on the Universe Symphony, but Burge, Culley, and Otte actually performed the integral percussion parts with the assistance of their students. In the linear notes, Larry Austin writes, “I deeply appreciate and thank Maestro Gerhard Samuel and Professor Allen Otte for their unswerving support of my work and their dedicated musical leadership of CCM’s 472

Gerhard Samuel, music director

8. Gringo Blaster: Selected Instrumental Works by Michael Kowalski RELEASE: 1994 LABEL: Einstein Records NUMBER: EIN0008 MEDIUM: CD RECORDING: Corbett Studio of WGUC-FM (Cincinnati, OH) May 1994 Tom Haines, recording engineer

Michael Kowalski (b. 1950): Gringo Blaster (1988–89) Percussion Group Cincinnati (Russell Burge, James Culley, & Allen Otte) Mark Holen, Latin drums Michael Kowalski, keyboards Jim Staley, trombone Andy Drelles, woodwinds

9. Darrell Handel: The Poems of Our Climate RELEASE: 1996 LABEL: Vienna Modern Masters (VMM) NUMBER: 2019 MEDIUM: CD RECORDING: Bruce Ellis & Brent Reider, recording engineers

Darrell Handel (b. 1933): The Poems of Our Climate (1977, rev. 1982)6 Sheryl Woods, soprano Pamela Watson, flute Brian Delay, guitar Anton Nel, piano Val Griffen, violoncello Percussion Group Cincinnati (Jack Brennan, James Culley, & Allen Otte) Gerhard Samuel, conductor Darrell Handel (b. 1933): Barge Music (1994)7

Philharmonia Orchestra and Percussion Ensemble in the production of this first performance and subsequent digital recording of Ives’s Universe Symphony.”

6 This recording of The Poems of Our Climate first appeared on the 1988 Opus One LP: Stefan Wolpe’s An die Armee der Künstler, Joelle Wallach’s Of Honey and of Vinegar, and Darrell Handel’s The Poems of Our Climate & Rondeaux with Oboe.

7 This track is not credited to the Group, since only two of the three members performed; however, it is on a recording with another composition performed by the Group. Comparably, the Group, from time to time, performs live concerts with works for only one or two members, such as Allen Otte’s performances of Mark Saya’s Murphy Sonata, and James Culley and Allen Otte’s performances of Béla Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion.

473

Bradley Garner, alto flute Rodney Stucky, guitar Jon Pascolini, double bass Allen Otte & Russell Burge, percussion

10. Herbert Brün: Wayfaring Sounds: Compositions for Instruments with Tape RELEASE: 1998 LABEL: Electronic Music Foundation (EMF) NUMBER: 00624 MEDIUM: CD RECORDING: recorded between 1992 and 1998

Herbert Brün (1918–2000): Infraudibles with Percussion (1968–84) Percussion Group Cincinnati (Russell Burge, James Culley, & Allen Otte)

11. Herbert Brün: Sawdust Computer Music Project RELEASE: 1998 LABEL: Electronic Music Foundation (EMF) NUMBER: 00644 MEDIUM: CD RECORDING: Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)8 11–18 June 1981 Jerry Studenka, recording engineer

Herbert Brün (1918–2000): More Dust with Percussion (1977) Percussion Group Cincinnati (James Culley, Allen Otte, & William Youhass)

12. Percussion Group Cincinnati: Percussion Group Cincinnati RELEASE: 1999 LABEL: Ars Moderno9 NUMBER: 01 MEDIUM: CD RECORDING: Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) June and August 1996, except for dig.it, which was recorded in October 1995 Tom Haines, recording engineer

John Cage (1912–92): Amores (1943) Jahn Beukes (b. ca. 1975): Umculo Wa Bathatho (1992)

8 The Group included the same recording of More Dust with Percussion on its 1981 Opus One LP.

9 Ars Moderno is the Group’s own label.

474

Russell Peck (1945–2009): Lift-Off! (1966)10 Qu Xiao-Song (b. 1952): Làm Môt (1991) Randolph Coleman (b. 1937): dig.it (1993–95) Four Chilean Songs (arranged by the Percussion Group Cincinnati) “Vamos Mujer” [Come Along, Wife] “El Vuelo de la Parina” [Flight of the Flamingo] “Managua que reedifica” [Rebuilding Managua] “La Fiesta de la Tirana” [Festival of Tirana] John Cage (1912–92): Living Room Music (1940) Percussion Group Cincinnati (Russell Burge, James Culley, & Allen Otte)

13. Rusty Burge: Contrast RELEASE: 2004 LABEL: self produced NUMBER: N/A MEDIUM: CD RECORDING: CCM E-media Studio, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) Tom Haines, recording engineer

Guo Wen-Jing (b. 1956): Movement 6 from Drama (1995) Percussion Group Cincinnati (Russell Burge, James Culley, Allen Otte)

14. When Music Resists Meaning: The Major Writings of Herbert Brün, edited by Arun Chandra RELEASE: 2004 LABEL: Wesleyan University Press NUMBER: N/A MEDIUM: CD included with a book RECORDING: Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)11 14 April 1992

Herbert Brün (1918–2000): “at loose ends: [sic] (1974) Frank Weinstock, piano Percussion Group Cincinnati (Russell Burge, James Culley, Allen Otte, Benjamin Toth)12

10 For information on the dating and title discrepancies with Lift-Off! (1966), see n. 3.

11 Thought the book does not provide recording details, Otte confirmed that he asked Chandra to use the Group’s recording, and not the more widely know Blackearth recording. Allen Otte, e-mail to author, 13 August 2008.

12 The Group’s transition concert at the time Burge was entering and Toth was leaving provided the live recording included on this album.

475

15. John Luther Adams: Winter Music: Composing the North RELEASE: 2004 LABEL: Wesleyan University Press NUMBER: N/A MEDIUM: CD included with a book RECORDING: Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 13 November 1998 Paul Zinman, recording engineer

John Luther Adams (b. 1953): “velocities crossing in phase-space” from Strange and Sacred Noise (1997)13 Percussion Group Cincinnati (Russell Burge, James Culley, & Allen Otte) Stuart Gerber, percussion

16. John Luther Adams: Strange and Sacred Noise RELEASE: 2005 LABEL: Mode NUMBER: 153-DVD MEDIUM: CD/DVD RECORDING: Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 12–15 November 1998 Paul Zinman, recording engineer

John Luther Adams (b. 1953): Strange and Sacred Noise (1997) Percussion Group Cincinnati (Russell Burge, James Culley, & Allen Otte) Stuart Gerber, percussion Brady Harrison, percussion Matt McClung, percussion

17. The Revenge of the Dead Indians: In Memoriam John Cage RELEASE: 2008 LABEL: Mode NUMBER: mode 197 MEDIUM: DVD RECORDING: Symphony Space (New York, NY) 1 November 1992 Henning Lohner, film director and producer

John Cage (1912–92): Musicircus including Amores, Branches, Credo in US, and Water Music Percussion Group Cincinnati (Russell Burge, James Culley, & Allen Otte)

13 This track is the same as the one included on the 2005 CD of the complete Strange and Sacred Noise.

476

Appendix I

Percussion Group Cincinnati Program Data

To glean information about the repertoire and performances of the Group, I gathered the following program data; when possible, verified it in multiple sources; and organized it chronologically. Due to the diversity of sources required to piece together the Group’s performance history, this data is best considered as appropriately representative, but incomplete. I have included all available and verifiable information, and in instances where portions of a performance’s program data remains unknown, a question mark [?] denotes the absences. The abbreviations I used for the member and source information are as follows.

Members: AO Allen Otte BT Benjamin Toth JB Jack Brennan JC James Culley RB Russell Burge WY William Youhass

Sources: AG Alan Green, Allen Sapp: A Bio-bibliography (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996).

AO Allen Otte, private collection of Percussion Group Cincinnati programs.

AW Asia Wind, “The 2004 Chinese New Year Concert,” http://www.asiawind.com/culturenet/events/2004/2004_concert.htm (accessed 2 May 2009).

BT Benjamin Toth, private collection of Percussion Group Cincinnati programs.

BTI Appendix F, Transcript of Interview with Benjamin Toth.

CB Casey Brown, letter to author, 21 August 2008.

CCM CCM Scheduling Office, program archive for campus performances.

CMS Greater Cincinnati Chinese Music Society, “Songs of Poetry,” http://www.cincinnatichinesemusicsociety.org/2004gccmsconcert.pdf (accessed 2 May 2009).

CP Chris Phelps (WGUC), e-mail to author, 22 July 2008.

CT University of Connecticut Choral Ensemble Website, “2007–08 Schedule,” http://chorus.uconn.edu/ (accessed 21 September 2008).

477

JC James Culley, tax records of the Percussion Group Cincinnati.

JCI Appendix D, Transcript of Interview with James Culley.

JSC James Scott Cameron, “Trends and Developments in Percussion Ensemble Literature, 1976–92: An Examination of Selected Works Premiered at the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions” (DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 1996).

MB Marilyn Bower (Dearborn Highland Arts Council), e-mail to author, 12 August 2008.

NH Nicole Hamilton, “Vocal Arts Ensemble Blends with Percussion Group’s Beat,” Cincinnati Enquirer, 6 May 2002.

OLLI University of Cincinnati Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, “September 2007 E- newsletter,” http://www.uc.edu/ace/olli/LifeTimeHappenings9142007.pdf (accessed 11 August 2008).

OPW Oberlin Conservatory Percussion Website, “Past Guests and Events,” http://www.oberlin.edu/percussn/events/pastguest.html accessed (accessed 31 July 2008).

PAS Percussive Arts Society Publication Database, accessible by members.

PS Peggy Schmidt (WGUC), letter to Benjamin Toth, 4 October 1990.

RB Russell Burge, private collection of Percussion Group Cincinnati programs.

RBI Appendix C, Transcript of Interviews with Russell Burge.

SD Scott Deal, “University of Alaska Press Release: Percussion Group Cincinnati to Perform Saturday,” 14 October 2004.

TK Thomas Kernan, private collection of Percussion Group Cincinnati programs.

UNT University of North Texas News Service, “Percussion Group Cincinnati brings unique music to UNT,” 8 January 2007.

CONCERT TITLE, DATE VENUE (LOCATION) COMPOSER COMPOSITION MEMBERS NOTES SOURCE 10/9/79 Percussion Group Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, Corbett with WY Auditorium, University of Percussion Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

478

10/9/79 Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, Corbett WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/9/79 Percussion Group Samuel, Circles AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati, Corbett Gerhard WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/9/79 Percussion Group Schoenberg, Two Canons AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, Corbett Arnold WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/9/79 Percussion Group Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati, Corbett Takayoshi WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/16/80 New Directions, Warner O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, premiere AO Concert Hall, Oberlin Eugene WY College (Oberlin, OH) 1/16/80 New Directions, Warner Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO Concert Hall, Oberlin Stephen Easy Listening WY College (Oberlin, OH) 1/16/80 New Directions, Warner Udow, Four AO, JC, premiere AO Concert Hall, Oberlin Michael Movements for WY College Percussion (Oberlin, OH) Trio 1/16/80 New Directions, Warner Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Concert Hall, Oberlin WY College (Oberlin, OH) 1/16/80 New Directions, Warner Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Concert Hall, Oberlin with WY College Percussion (Oberlin, OH) 1/16/80 New Directions, Warner Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Concert Hall, Oberlin Takayoshi WY College (Oberlin, OH) 1/19/80 Percussion Group O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, The Eugene WY Concert Hall of the Abraham Goodman House (New York, NY) 1/19/80 Percussion Group Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, The Stephen Easy Listening WY Concert Hall of the Abraham Goodman House (New York, NY)

479

1/19/80 Percussion Group Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, The Michael Movements for WY Concert Hall of the Percussion Abraham Goodman House Trio (New York, NY) 1/19/80 Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, The WY Concert Hall of the Abraham Goodman House (New York, NY) 1/19/80 Percussion Group Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, The with WY Concert Hall of the Percussion Abraham Goodman House (New York, NY) 1/19/80 Percussion Group Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, The Takayoshi WY Concert Hall of the Abraham Goodman House (New York, NY) 1/19/80 Percussion Group Snyder, Repercussions AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, The James WY Concert Hall of the Abraham Goodman House (New York, NY) 1/29/80 Percussion Group O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, Corbett Eugene WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/29/80 Percussion Group Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, Corbett Stephen Easy Listening WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/29/80 Percussion Group Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, Corbett Michael Movements for WY Auditorium, University of Percussion Cincinnati Trio (Cincinnati, OH) 1/29/80 Percussion Group Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, Corbett Frederic de Panurge WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/16/80 Bowling Green State Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO University presents the Stephen Easy Listening WY Ohio Chapter Percussive Arts Society Day of Percussion, Kobacker Hall (Bowling Green, OH)

480

2/16/80 Bowling Green State Udow, Four AO, JC, AO University presents the Michael Movements for WY Ohio Chapter Percussive Percussion Arts Society Day of Trio Percussion, Kobacker Hall (Bowling Green, OH) 2/16/80 Bowling Green State Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO University presents the Frederic de Panurge WY Ohio Chapter Percussive Arts Society Day of Percussion, Kobacker Hall (Bowling Green, OH) 2/16/80 Bowling Green State Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO University presents the with WY Ohio Chapter Percussive Percussion Arts Society Day of Percussion, Kobacker Hall (Bowling Green, OH) 2/16/80 Bowling Green State Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO University presents the Takayoshi WY Ohio Chapter Percussive Arts Society Day of Percussion, Kobacker Hall (Bowling Green, OH) 2/25/80 Delta State University Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO Department of Music Stephen Easy Listening WY Guest Artists Series, J. M. Ewing Hall (Cleveland, MS) 2/25/80 Delta State University Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Department of Music Michael Movements for WY Guest Artists Series, J. M. Percussion Ewing Hall Trio (Cleveland, MS) 2/25/80 Delta State University Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Department of Music Frederic de Panurge WY Guest Artists Series, J. M. Ewing Hall (Cleveland, MS) 2/25/80 Delta State University Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Department of Music WY Guest Artists Series, J. M. Ewing Hall (Cleveland, MS) 2/25/80 Delta State University Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Department of Music with WY Guest Artists Series, J. M. Percussion Ewing Hall (Cleveland, MS) 2/25/80 Delta State University Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Department of Music Takayoshi WY Guest Artists Series, J. M. Ewing Hall (Cleveland, MS)

481

2/28/80 Memphis State University Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO Department of Music Stephen Easy Listening WY Presents the Percussion Group, Harris Music Auditorium (Memphis, TN) 2/28/80 Memphis State University Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Department of Music Michael Movements for WY Presents the Percussion Percussion Group, Harris Music Trio Auditorium (Memphis, TN) 2/28/80 Memphis State University Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Department of Music Frederic de Panurge WY Presents the Percussion Group, Harris Music Auditorium (Memphis, TN) 2/28/80 Memphis State University Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Department of Music WY Presents the Percussion Group, Harris Music Auditorium (Memphis, TN) 2/28/80 Memphis State University Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Department of Music with WY Presents the Percussion Percussion Group, Harris Music Auditorium (Memphis, TN) 2/28/80 Memphis State University Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Department of Music Takayoshi WY Presents the Percussion Group, Harris Music Auditorium (Memphis, TN) 3/1/80 Baylor University School Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO of Music Lyceum Series, Stephen Easy Listening WY Roxy Grove Hall (Waco, TX) 3/1/80 Baylor University School Udow, Four AO, JC, AO of Music Lyceum Series, Michael Movements for WY Roxy Grove Hall Percussion (Waco, TX) Trio 3/1/80 Baylor University School Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO of Music Lyceum Series, Frederic de Panurge WY Roxy Grove Hall (Waco, TX) 3/1/80 Baylor University School Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO of Music Lyceum Series, with WY Roxy Grove Hall Percussion (Waco, TX)

482

3/1/80 Baylor University School May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, premiere AO of Music Lyceum Series, Theodore WY Roxy Grove Hall (Waco, TX) 3/1/80 Baylor University School Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO of Music Lyceum Series, Takayoshi WY Roxy Grove Hall (Waco, TX) 3/1/80 Baylor University School Schoenberg, Two Canons AO, JC, AO of Music Lyceum Series, Arnold WY Roxy Grove Hall (Waco, TX) 3/9/80 Revenge of the Big Green Samuel, What of My AO, JC, Barry Green AO Machine, Corbett Gerhard Music! WY and Jon Auditorium, University of Deak, double Cincinnati bass; IU & (Cincinnati, OH) CCM Double Bass Ensembles; Nelga Lynn, soprano 3/10/80 Indiana University School Samuel, What of My AO, JC, Barry Green AO of Music 1979–80 Concert Gerhard Music! WY and Jon Series, Recital Hall Deak, double (Bloomington, IN) bass; IU & CCM Double Bass Ensembles; Nelga Lynn, soprano 4/4/80 Wichita State University Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO College of Fine Arts Stephen Easy Listening WY Presents the Percussion Group, Duerksen Fine Arts Center (Wichita, KS) 4/4/80 Wichita State University Udow, Four AO, JC, AO College of Fine Arts Michael Movements for WY Presents the Percussion Percussion Group, Duerksen Fine Arts Trio Center (Wichita, KS) 4/4/80 Wichita State University Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO College of Fine Arts Frederic de Panurge WY Presents the Percussion Group, Duerksen Fine Arts Center (Wichita, KS) 4/4/80 Wichita State University Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO College of Fine Arts with WY Presents the Percussion Percussion Group, Duerksen Fine Arts Center (Wichita, KS)

483

4/4/80 Wichita State University May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO College of Fine Arts Theodore WY Presents the Percussion Group, Duerksen Fine Arts Center (Wichita, KS) 4/4/80 Wichita State University Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO College of Fine Arts Takayoshi WY Presents the Percussion Group, Duerksen Fine Arts Center (Wichita, KS) 4/4/80 Wichita State University Schoenberg, Two Canons AO, JC, AO College of Fine Arts Arnold WY Presents the Percussion Group, Duerksen Fine Arts Center (Wichita, KS) 4/9/80 The University of Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO Missouri-Kansas City Stephen Easy Listening WY Presents the Percussion Group, White Recital Hall (Kansas City, MO) 4/9/80 The University of Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Missouri-Kansas City Michael Movements for WY Presents the Percussion Percussion Group, White Recital Hall Trio (Kansas City, MO) 4/9/80 The University of Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Missouri-Kansas City Frederic de Panurge WY Presents the Percussion Group, White Recital Hall (Kansas City, MO) 4/9/80 The University of Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Missouri-Kansas City with WY Presents the Percussion Percussion Group, White Recital Hall (Kansas City, MO) 4/9/80 The University of May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Missouri-Kansas City Theodore WY Presents the Percussion Group, White Recital Hall (Kansas City, MO) 4/9/80 The University of Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Missouri-Kansas City Takayoshi WY Presents the Percussion Group, White Recital Hall (Kansas City, MO) 4/9/80 The University of Schoenberg, Two Canons AO, JC, AO Missouri-Kansas City Arnold WY Presents the Percussion Group, White Recital Hall (Kansas City, MO)

484

4/12/80 The Contemporary Arts Samuel, Circles AO, JC, AO Center Presents the Gerhard WY Percussion Group in Concert (Cincinnati, OH) 4/12/80 The Contemporary Arts Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Center Presents the Michael Movements for WY Percussion Group in Percussion Concert Trio (Cincinnati, OH) 4/12/80 The Contemporary Arts Goeyvaerts, Litanie II AO, JC, premiere AO Center Presents the Karel WY Percussion Group in Concert (Cincinnati, OH) 4/12/80 The Contemporary Arts May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Center Presents the Theodore WY Percussion Group in Concert (Cincinnati, OH) 4/12/80 The Contemporary Arts Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Center Presents the Takayoshi WY Percussion Group in Concert (Cincinnati, OH) 4/13/80 The Contemporary Arts Samuel, Circles AO, JC, AO Center Presents the Gerhard WY Percussion Group in Concert (Cincinnati, OH) 4/13/80 The Contemporary Arts Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Center Presents the Michael Movements for WY Percussion Group in Percussion Concert Trio (Cincinnati, OH) 4/13/80 The Contemporary Arts Goeyvaerts, Litanie II AO, JC, AO Center Presents the Karel WY Percussion Group in Concert (Cincinnati, OH) 4/13/80 The Contemporary Arts May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Center Presents the Theodore WY Percussion Group in Concert (Cincinnati, OH) 4/13/80 The Contemporary Arts Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Center Presents the Takayoshi WY Percussion Group in Concert (Cincinnati, OH) 4/30/80 IPEM-concerten, Studio 3 Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO Concertzaal Stephen Easy Listening WY (East Flanders, Belgium)

485

4/30/80 IPEM-concerten, Studio 3 Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Concertzaal Michael Movements for WY (East Flanders, Belgium) Percussion Trio: “Strike” 4/30/80 IPEM-concerten, Studio 3 Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Concertzaal Frederic de Panurge WY (East Flanders, Belgium) 4/30/80 IPEM-concerten, Studio 3 Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Concertzaal WY (East Flanders, Belgium) 4/30/80 IPEM-concerten, Studio 3 Goeyvaerts, Litanie II AO, JC, AO Concertzaal Karel WY (East Flanders, Belgium) 4/30/80 IPEM-concerten, Studio 3 Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Concertzaal with WY (East Flanders, Belgium) Percussion 4/30/80 IPEM-concerten, Studio 3 Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Concertzaal Takayoshi WY (East Flanders, Belgium) 5/7/80 Vereinigung der Freunde Samuel, Circles AO, JC, AO und Förderer der Gerhard WY Fachakademie für Musik, Konservatorium der Stadt Nürnberg (Nuremburg, Germany) 5/7/80 Vereinigung der Freunde Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO und Förderer der Frederic de Panurge WY Fachakademie für Musik, Konservatorium der Stadt Nürnberg (Nuremburg, Germany) 5/7/80 Vereinigung der Freunde Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO und Förderer der WY Fachakademie für Musik, Konservatorium der Stadt Nürnberg (Nuremburg, Germany) 5/7/80 Vereinigung der Freunde Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO und Förderer der with WY Fachakademie für Musik, Percussion Konservatorium der Stadt Nürnberg (Nuremburg, Germany) 5/7/80 Vereinigung der Freunde Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO und Förderer der Takayoshi WY Fachakademie für Musik, Konservatorium der Stadt Nürnberg (Nuremburg, Germany) 5/10/80 Achtluik van hedendaagse Goeyvaerts, Litanie II AO, JC, AO muziek, Koninklijk Karel WY Conservatorium (The Hague, The Netherlands)

486

5/14/80 Percussion Group Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, Stephen Easy Listening WY Städtischen Galerie Lenbachhaus (Munich, Germany) 5/14/80 Percussion Group Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, Michael Movements for WY Städtischen Galerie Percussion Lenbachhaus Trio (Munich, Germany) 5/14/80 Percussion Group Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, Frederic de Panurge WY Städtischen Galerie Lenbachhaus (Munich, Germany) 5/14/80 Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, WY Städtischen Galerie Lenbachhaus (Munich, Germany) 5/14/80 Percussion Group Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, with WY Städtischen Galerie Percussion Lenbachhaus (Munich, Germany) 5/14/80 Percussion Group Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, Takayoshi WY Städtischen Galerie Lenbachhaus (Munich, Germany) 5/16/80 Musik im 20. Jahrhundert, DeFotis, Continuous AO, JC, AO Musikhochschule William Showing WY Saarbrücken (Saarbrücken, Germany) 5/16/80 Musik im 20. Jahrhundert, Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO Musikhochschule Stephen Easy Listening WY Saarbrücken (Saarbrücken, Germany) 5/16/80 Musik im 20. Jahrhundert, Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Musikhochschule Michael Movements for WY Saarbrücken Percussion (Saarbrücken, Germany) Trio: “Strike” 5/16/80 Musik im 20. Jahrhundert, Goeyvaerts, Litanie II AO, JC, AO Musikhochschule Karel WY Saarbrücken (Saarbrücken, Germany) 5/16/80 Musik im 20. Jahrhundert, Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Musikhochschule with WY Saarbrücken Percussion (Saarbrücken, Germany) 5/16/80 Musik im 20. Jahrhundert, Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Musikhochschule Takayoshi WY Saarbrücken (Saarbrücken, Germany)

487

9/5/80 Statewide Visual Arts ? ? AO, JC, AO Conference, Weigel Hall WY Auditorium, The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) 9/24/80 Cincinnati Composers’ Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Guild Presents New Music WY by Cincinnati Composers, Federal Reserve Plaza (Cincinnati, OH) 10/10/80 Percussion Group DeFotis, Continuous AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, Corbett William Showing WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/10/80 Percussion Group Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati, Corbett Jonathan on Six Notes WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/10/80 Percussion Group May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, Corbett Theodore WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/10/80 Percussion Group Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati, Corbett Michael WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/10/80 Percussion Group Finney, Ross Three Easy AO, JC, AO Cincinnati, Corbett Lee Percussion WY Auditorium, University of Pieces Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/21/80 University of Illinois at DeFotis, Continuous AO, JC, AO Urbana-Champaign William Showing WY Presents the Percussion Group, Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (Urbana, IL) 10/21/80 University of Illinois at Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO Urbana-Champaign Stephen Easy Listening WY Presents the Percussion Group, Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (Urbana, IL)

488

10/21/80 University of Illinois at Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Urbana-Champaign Jonathan on Six Notes WY Presents the Percussion Group, Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (Urbana, IL) 10/21/80 University of Illinois at Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Urbana-Champaign with WY Presents the Percussion Percussion Group, Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (Urbana, IL) 10/21/80 University of Illinois at May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Urbana-Champaign Theodore WY Presents the Percussion Group, Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (Urbana, IL) 10/21/80 University of Illinois at Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Urbana-Champaign Takayoshi WY Presents the Percussion Group, Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (Urbana, IL) 10/21/80 University of Illinois at Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Urbana-Champaign Michael WY Presents the Percussion Group, Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (Urbana, IL) 10/25/80 Cincinnati Composers’ Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Guild Presents New Music WY for Children, Band Room, Ebon C. Hill Elementary School (Bethel, OH) 10/25/80 Cincinnati Composers’ Kowalski, Rebus: Mvt. I AO, JC, AO Guild Presents New Music Michael WY for Children, Band Room, Ebon C. Hill Elementary School (Bethel, OH) 11/16/80 American Society of O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO University Composers Eugene WY Region Five Conference, Hughes Hall Auditorium, The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH)

489

11/16/80 American Society of Samuel, Circles AO, JC, AO University Composers Gerhard WY Region Five Conference, Hughes Hall Auditorium, The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) 11/16/80 American Society of Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO University Composers Jonathan on Six Notes WY Region Five Conference, Hughes Hall Auditorium, The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) 11/16/80 American Society of Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO University Composers with WY Region Five Conference, Percussion Hughes Hall Auditorium, The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) 11/16/80 American Society of May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO University Composers Theodore WY Region Five Conference, Hughes Hall Auditorium, The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) 11/16/80 American Society of Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO University Composers Michael WY Region Five Conference, Hughes Hall Auditorium, The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) 11/21/80 Children’s Concert, ? African music AO, JC, AO Immaculate Heart Grade [?] WY School (Cincinnati, OH) 11/21/80 Children’s Concert, arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO Immaculate Heart Grade Percussion WY School Group (Cincinnati, OH) Cincinnati 11/21/80 Children’s Concert, ? Hi Ho AO, JC, AO Immaculate Heart Grade WY School (Cincinnati, OH) 11/21/80 Children’s Concert, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Immaculate Heart Grade WY School (Cincinnati, OH) 11/21/80 Children’s Concert, Kowalski, Rebus: Mvt. I AO, JC, AO Immaculate Heart Grade Michael WY School (Cincinnati, OH) 11/21/80 Children’s Concert, Finney, Ross Three Easy AO, JC, AO Immaculate Heart Grade Lee Percussion WY School Pieces: Mvt. I (Cincinnati, OH)

490

12/13/80 Virginia-Washington, DC DeFotis, Continuous AO, JC, AO Chapter of the Percussive William Showing WY Arts Society, Hartke Theatre, Catholic University of America (Washington, DC) 12/13/80 Virginia-Washington, DC Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Chapter of the Percussive Jonathan on Six Notes WY Arts Society, Hartke Theatre, Catholic University of America (Washington, DC) 12/13/80 Virginia-Washington, DC Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Chapter of the Percussive WY Arts Society, Hartke Theatre, Catholic University of America (Washington, DC) 12/13/80 Virginia-Washington, DC May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Chapter of the Percussive Theodore WY Arts Society, Hartke Theatre, Catholic University of America (Washington, DC) 12/13/80 Virginia-Washington, DC Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Chapter of the Percussive Takayoshi WY Arts Society, Hartke Theatre, Catholic University of America (Washington, DC) 12/13/80 Virginia-Washington, DC Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Chapter of the Percussive Michael WY Arts Society, Hartke Theatre, Catholic University of America (Washington, DC) 12/14/80 Music at VCU Guest Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO Artists Series, VCU Music Stephen Easy Listening WY Center Auditorium, Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA) 12/14/80 Music at VCU Guest Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Artists Series, VCU Music Jonathan on Six Notes WY Center Auditorium, Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA) 12/14/80 Music at VCU Guest Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Artists Series, VCU Music WY Center Auditorium, Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA)

491

12/14/80 Music at VCU Guest May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Artists Series, VCU Music Theodore WY Center Auditorium, Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA) 12/14/80 Music at VCU Guest Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Artists Series, VCU Music Takayoshi WY Center Auditorium, Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA) 12/14/80 Music at VCU Guest Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Artists Series, VCU Music Michael WY Center Auditorium, Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA) 12/15/80 Monthly Concert Series, Bach, Johann Die Kunst der AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and Sebastian Fuge: WY Performing Arts, Contrapunctus Christopher Newport XIII with College Inversion (Newport News, VA) 12/15/80 Monthly Concert Series, Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and Jonathan on Six Notes WY Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 12/15/80 Monthly Concert Series, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and WY Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 12/15/80 Monthly Concert Series, May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and Theodore WY Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 12/15/80 Monthly Concert Series, Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and Takayoshi WY Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 12/15/80 Monthly Concert Series, Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and Michael WY Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA)

492

1/13/81 Percussion Group Hachimura, Ahania AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Yoshio WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/13/81 Percussion Group Cage, John Amores AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/13/81 Percussion Group Bach, Johann Die Kunst der AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Sebastian Fuge: WY Auditorium, University of Contrapunctus Cincinnati XIII with (Cincinnati, OH) Inversion 1/13/81 Percussion Group Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Christian People WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/13/81 Percussion Group Goeyvaerts, Litanie II AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Karel WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/27/81 Cameron University O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO Lectures and Concerts Eugene WY Series Presents The Percussion Group from Cincinnati, Ohio, Cameron University Theater (Lawton, OK) 2/27/81 Cameron University Bach, Johann Die Kunst der AO, JC, AO Lectures and Concerts Sebastian Fuge: WY Series Presents The Contrapunctus Percussion Group from XIII with Cincinnati, Ohio, Cameron Inversion University Theater (Lawton, OK) 2/27/81 Cameron University Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Lectures and Concerts Jonathan on Six Notes WY Series Presents The Percussion Group from Cincinnati, Ohio, Cameron University Theater (Lawton, OK) 2/27/81 Cameron University Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Lectures and Concerts Christian People WY Series Presents The Percussion Group from Cincinnati, Ohio, Cameron University Theater (Lawton, OK)

493

2/27/81 Cameron University May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Lectures and Concerts Theodore WY Series Presents The Percussion Group from Cincinnati, Ohio, Cameron University Theater (Lawton, OK) 2/27/81 Cameron University Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Lectures and Concerts Michael WY Series Presents The Percussion Group from Cincinnati, Ohio, Cameron University Theater (Lawton, OK) 3/14/81 Percussion Group Recital, O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO Harper Hall, University of Eugene WY Iowa School of Music (Iowa City, IA) 3/14/81 Percussion Group Recital, DeFotis, Continuous AO, JC, AO Harper Hall, University of William Showing WY Iowa School of Music (Iowa City, IA) 3/14/81 Percussion Group Recital, Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Harper Hall, University of Jonathan on Six Notes WY Iowa School of Music (Iowa City, IA) 3/14/81 Percussion Group Recital, Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Harper Hall, University of Christian People WY Iowa School of Music (Iowa City, IA) 3/14/81 Percussion Group Recital, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Harper Hall, University of WY Iowa School of Music (Iowa City, IA) 3/14/81 Percussion Group Recital, Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Harper Hall, University of Michael WY Iowa School of Music (Iowa City, IA) 4/5/81 Voices of the Big Green Samuel, Emperor and AO, JC Angela AO Machine, Corbett Gerhard the Brown, Auditorium, University of Nightingale soprano; Cincinnati Randolph (Cincinnati, OH) Messing, baritone; Barry Green, double bass 4/11/81 American Society of Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO University Composers Stephen Easy Listening WY Sixteenth Annual Festival/Conference, Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

494

4/11/81 American Society of Udow, Four AO, JC, AO University Composers Michael Movements for WY Sixteenth Annual Percussion Festival/Conference, Trio Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/11/81 American Society of Saya, Mark Murphy AO AO University Composers Sonata Sixteenth Annual Festival/Conference, Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/11/81 American Society of Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO University Composers Michael WY Sixteenth Annual Festival/Conference, Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/11/81 American Society of Coleman, Sweet William AO, JC, AO University Composers Randolph WY Sixteenth Annual Festival/Conference, Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/11/81 American Society of Mosko, Cosmology of AO, JC, AO University Composers Stephen Easy Listening WY Sixteenth Annual Festival/Conference, Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/21/81 Music at Hamilton, O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO Hamilton College Chapel Eugene WY (Clinton, NY) 4/21/81 Music at Hamilton, Bach, Johann Die Kunst der AO, JC, AO Hamilton College Chapel Sebastian Fuge: WY (Clinton, NY) Contrapunctus XIII with Inversion 4/21/81 Music at Hamilton, DeFotis, Continuous AO, JC, AO Hamilton College Chapel William Showing WY (Clinton, NY) 4/21/81 Music at Hamilton, Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Hamilton College Chapel Christian People WY (Clinton, NY) 4/21/81 Music at Hamilton, Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Hamilton College Chapel Michael Movements for WY (Clinton, NY) Percussion Trio

495

4/21/81 Music at Hamilton, May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Hamilton College Chapel Theodore WY (Clinton, NY) 4/21/81 Music at Hamilton, Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Hamilton College Chapel Michael WY (Clinton, NY) 4/27/81 DMA Recital of Eugene O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO O’Brien, Kulas Hall, Eugene WY Cleveland Institute of Music (Cleveland, OH) 9/5/81 Toledo Festival: A arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO Celebration of the Arts, Percussion WY Courthouse Stage Group (Toledo, OH) Cincinnati 9/5/81 Toledo Festival: A Green, Jovial Jasper AO, JC, AO Celebration of the Arts, George WY Courthouse Stage Hamilton (Toledo, OH) 9/5/81 Toledo Festival: A Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Celebration of the Arts, Frederic de Panurge WY Courthouse Stage (Toledo, OH) 9/5/81 Toledo Festival: A Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Celebration of the Arts, WY Courthouse Stage (Toledo, OH) 9/5/81 Toledo Festival: A Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, JC, AO Celebration of the Arts, WY Courthouse Stage (Toledo, OH) 9/9/81 Visiting Artist Series, Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Wabash College Christian People WY (Crawfordsville, IN) 9/9/81 Visiting Artist Series, Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Wabash College Frederic de Panurge WY (Crawfordsville, IN) 9/9/81 Visiting Artist Series, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Wabash College WY (Crawfordsville, IN) 9/9/81 Visiting Artist Series, Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, JC, AO Wabash College WY (Crawfordsville, IN) 9/9/81 Visiting Artist Series, Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Wabash College with WY (Crawfordsville, IN) Percussion 9/9/81 Visiting Artist Series, May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Wabash College Theodore WY (Crawfordsville, IN) 10/13/81 Percussion Group Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, JC, Cincinnati Concert, Corbett WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

496

10/13/81 Percussion Group May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Theodore WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/13/81 Percussion Group Cage, John Quartet AO, JC, Cincinnati Concert, Corbett WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/13/81 Percussion Group Sapp, Allen Taylor’s Nine AO, JB, Peggy AG, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett JC, WY Richards, Auditorium, University of Mark Dayton, Cincinnati Eugene (Cincinnati, OH) Novotney, and Tracy Davis, percussion 10/16/81 Rossmoor Music Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Association Concert Series Christian People WY (Rossmoor, NJ) 10/16/81 Rossmoor Music Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Association Concert Series Michael Movements for WY (Rossmoor, NJ) Percussion Trio 10/16/81 Rossmoor Music Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Association Concert Series Frederic de Panurge WY (Rossmoor, NJ) 10/16/81 Rossmoor Music Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Association Concert Series WY (Rossmoor, NJ) 10/16/81 Rossmoor Music Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, JC, AO Association Concert Series WY (Rossmoor, NJ) 10/16/81 Rossmoor Music May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Association Concert Series Theodore WY (Rossmoor, NJ) 10/17/81 Percussion Group Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Christian People WY Glassboro State Teachers College (Glassboro, NJ) 10/17/81 Percussion Group Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Michael Movements for WY Glassboro State Teachers Percussion College Trio (Glassboro, NJ) 10/17/81 Percussion Group Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Frederic de Panurge WY Glassboro State Teachers College (Glassboro, NJ)

497

10/17/81 Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, WY Glassboro State Teachers College (Glassboro, NJ) 10/17/81 Percussion Group Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, WY Glassboro State Teachers College (Glassboro, NJ) 10/17/81 Percussion Group May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Theodore WY Glassboro State Teachers College (Glassboro, NJ) 11/8/81 A Day of Percussion, ? ? AO, JC, AO Reading High School WY (Reading, OH) 11/14/81 1981 Percussive Arts Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Society International Christian People WY Convention, Indianapolis Convention Center (Indianapolis, IN) 11/14/81 1981 Percussive Arts Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Society International WY Convention, Indianapolis Convention Center (Indianapolis, IN) 11/14/81 1981 Percussive Arts Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Society International with WY Convention, Indianapolis Percussion Convention Center (Indianapolis, IN) 11/14/81 1981 Percussive Arts Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Society International Takayoshi WY Convention, Indianapolis Convention Center (Indianapolis, IN) 11/14/81 1981 Percussive Arts Kowalski, Rebus: Mvt. I AO, JC, AO Society International Michael WY Convention, Indianapolis Convention Center (Indianapolis, IN) 12/8/81 Music Hall Artist Series, Messiaen, Catalogue AO, JC, AO University of West Florida Olivier; arr. d’Oiseaux: WY (Pensacola, FL) Allen Otte “La buse variable” 12/8/81 Music Hall Artist Series, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO University of West Florida WY (Pensacola, FL) 12/8/81 Music Hall Artist Series, Cage, John Quartet AO, JC, AO University of West Florida WY (Pensacola, FL)

498

12/8/81 Music Hall Artist Series, Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO University of West Florida Michael WY (Pensacola, FL) 12/8/81 Music Hall Artist Series, Coleman, Sweet William AO, JC, AO University of West Florida Randolph WY (Pensacola, FL) 1/12/82 Percussion Group Cage, John Branches AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/12/82 Percussion Group Messiaen, Catalogue AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Olivier; arr. d’Oiseaux: WY Auditorium, University of Allen Otte “La buse Cincinnati variable” (Cincinnati, OH) 1/12/82 Percussion Group Cage, John Credo in US AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/12/82 Percussion Group Saya, Mark Murphy AO AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Sonata Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/12/82 Percussion Group Coleman, Sweet William AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Randolph WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/21/82 Musical Arts Series Messiaen, Catalogue AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion Olivier; arr. d’Oiseaux: WY Group, Fine Arts Little Allen Otte “La buse Theater, Southeastern variable” Oklahoma State University (Durant, OK) 1/21/82 Musical Arts Series Cage, John Credo in US AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion WY Group, Fine Arts Little Theater, Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Durant, OK) 1/21/82 Musical Arts Series Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion Michael Movements for WY Group, Fine Arts Little Percussion Theater, Southeastern Trio: “Strike” Oklahoma State University (Durant, OK) 1/21/82 Musical Arts Series Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion WY Group, Fine Arts Little Theater, Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Durant, OK)

499

1/21/82 Musical Arts Series Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion Michael WY Group, Fine Arts Little Theater, Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Durant, OK) 1/21/82 Musical Arts Series Coleman, Sweet William AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion Randolph WY Group, Fine Arts Little Theater, Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Durant, OK) 2/8/82 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Snowhill Elementary WY (Springfield, OH) 2/8/82 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO South Vienna School WY (South Vienna, OH) 2/8/82 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO St. Teresa School WY (Springfield, OH) 2/9/82 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Kenton Ridge High School WY (Springfield, OH) 2/9/82 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Possum School WY (Springfield, OH) 2/9/82 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Roosevelt Jr. High School WY (Springfield, OH) 2/10/82 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Perrin Woods Elementary WY (Springfield, OH) 2/10/82 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Rolling Hills School WY (Springfield, OH) 2/10/82 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Simon Kenton Elementary WY (Springfield, OH) 2/11/82 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Donnelsville Elementary WY (Donnelsville, OH) 2/11/82 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Indian Valley WY (Enon, OH) 2/11/82 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Park Layne School WY (New Carlisle, OH) 2/12/82 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Northridge School WY (Springfield, OH) 2/12/82 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Oesterlen Services for WY Youth (Springfield, OH)

500

3/11/82 Holland Community Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Chorale March Festival, Christian People WY Dimnent Chapel, Hope College (Holland, MI) 3/11/82 Holland Community Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Chorale March Festival, WY Dimnent Chapel, Hope College (Holland, MI) 3/11/82 Holland Community Carlsen, Nimbus AO, JC, AO Chorale March Festival, Phillip WY Dimnent Chapel, Hope College (Holland, MI) 3/11/82 Holland Community May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Chorale March Festival, Theodore WY Dimnent Chapel, Hope College (Holland, MI) 3/11/82 Holland Community Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Chorale March Festival, Michael WY Dimnent Chapel, Hope College (Holland, MI) 3/12/82 Lunchbreak Series, Grand ? ? AO, JC, AO Valley State College WY (Allendale, MI) 3/15/82 Spotlight 1982 Presents the Cage, John Credo in US AO, JC, AO Percussion Group WY Cincinnati, Webster City High School (Webster City, IA) 3/15/82 Spotlight 1982 Presents the Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Percussion Group Christian People WY Cincinnati, Webster City High School (Webster City, IA) 3/15/82 Spotlight 1982 Presents the Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Percussion Group WY Cincinnati, Webster City High School (Webster City, IA) 3/15/82 Spotlight 1982 Presents the Carlsen, Nimbus AO, JC, AO Percussion Group Phillip WY Cincinnati, Webster City High School (Webster City, IA) 3/15/82 Spotlight 1982 Presents the Cage, John Quartet AO, JC, AO Percussion Group WY Cincinnati, Webster City High School (Webster City, IA)

501

3/15/82 Spotlight 1982 Presents the Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Percussion Group Michael WY Cincinnati, Webster City High School (Webster City, IA) 3/24/82 University of Illinois at Brün, Herbert “at loose ends: AO, JC, Jeff AO Urbana-Champaign WY Cornelius, Presents the Percussion percussion; Group, Smith Recital Hall, Frank Illinois Weinstock, (Urbana, IL) piano 3/24/82 University of Illinois at Messiaen, Catalogue AO, JC, AO Urbana-Champaign Olivier; arr. d’Oiseaux: WY Presents the Percussion Allen Otte “La buse Group, Smith Recital Hall, variable” Illinois (Urbana, IL) 3/24/82 University of Illinois at Cage, John Credo in US AO, JC, AO Urbana-Champaign WY Presents the Percussion Group, Smith Recital Hall, Illinois (Urbana, IL) 3/24/82 University of Illinois at Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Urbana-Champaign Christian People WY Presents the Percussion Group, Smith Recital Hall, Illinois (Urbana, IL) 3/24/82 University of Illinois at Cage, John Quartet AO, JC, AO Urbana-Champaign WY Presents the Percussion Group, Smith Recital Hall, Illinois (Urbana, IL) 4/1/82 Concerts at the arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO Williamsburg of Cincinnati Percussion and the Music WY (Cincinnati, OH) Group of Vaudeville Cincinnati 4/1/82 Concerts at the Cage, John Credo in US AO, JC, AO Williamsburg of Cincinnati WY (Cincinnati, OH) 4/1/82 Concerts at the Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Williamsburg of Cincinnati Michael Movements for WY (Cincinnati, OH) Percussion Trio 4/1/82 Concerts at the Carlsen, Nimbus AO, JC, AO Williamsburg of Cincinnati Phillip WY (Cincinnati, OH) 4/1/82 Concerts at the Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Williamsburg of Cincinnati Michael WY (Cincinnati, OH) 4/1/82 Concerts at the Cage, John Trio AO, JC, AO Williamsburg of Cincinnati WY (Cincinnati, OH)

502

4/6/82 Percussion Group Brün, Herbert “at loose ends: AO, JC, Jeff AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett WY Cornelius, Auditorium, University of percussion; Cincinnati Frank (Cincinnati, OH) Weinstock, piano 4/6/82 Percussion Group Cage, John Composition AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett for Three WY Auditorium, University of Voices Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/6/82 Percussion Group Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Christian People WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/6/82 Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/6/82 Percussion Group Cage, John Living Room AO, JB, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Music JC, WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/6/82 Percussion Group Carlsen, Nimbus AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Phillip WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/24/82 Wittener Tage für neue Cage, John Amores AO, JC, AO Kammermusik 1982 WY (Witten, Germany) 4/24/82 Wittener Tage für neue Cage, John Credo in US AO, JC, AO Kammermusik 1982 WY (Witten, Germany) 4/24/82 Wittener Tage für neue Cage, John Quartet AO, JC, AO Kammermusik 1982 WY (Witten, Germany) 4/27/82 Nieuwe Muziek: Cage, John Credo in US AO, JC, AO Percussion Group WY (Antwerp, Belgium) 4/27/82 Nieuwe Muziek: Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Percussion Group Jonathan on Six Notes WY (Antwerp, Belgium) 4/27/82 Nieuwe Muziek: Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Percussion Group Christian People WY (Antwerp, Belgium) 4/27/82 Nieuwe Muziek: May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Percussion Group Theodore WY (Antwerp, Belgium) 4/27/82 Nieuwe Muziek: Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Percussion Group Michael WY (Antwerp, Belgium)

503

4/30/82 Percussion Group Master ? ? AO, JC, AO Class and Performance, WY Sweelinck Conservatorium (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) 5/1/82 Percussion Group- Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Performs, Jonathan on Six Notes WY Stedlijk Museum (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) 5/1/82 Percussion Group- Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Performs, Christian People WY Stedlijk Museum (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) 5/1/82 Percussion Group- Goeyvaerts, Litanie II AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Performs, Karel WY Stedlijk Museum (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) 5/1/82 Percussion Group- May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Performs, Theodore WY Stedlijk Museum (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) 5/1/82 Percussion Group- Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Performs, Michael WY Stedlijk Museum (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) 5/1/82 Percussion Group- Scelsi, Trio for AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Performs, Giacinto Vibraphone, WY Stedlijk Museum Marimba, and (Amsterdam, The Percussion Netherlands) 5/3/82 Studio neuer Musik: The Cage, John Amores AO, JC, AO Percussion Group of WY Cincinnati (Würzburg, Germany) 5/3/82 Studio neuer Musik: The Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Percussion Group of Jonathan on Six Notes WY Cincinnati (Würzburg, Germany) 5/3/82 Studio neuer Musik: The Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Percussion Group of Christian People WY Cincinnati (Würzburg, Germany) 5/3/82 Studio neuer Musik: The Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, JC, AO Percussion Group of WY Cincinnati (Würzburg, Germany) 5/3/82 Studio neuer Musik: The May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Percussion Group of Theodore WY Cincinnati (Würzburg, Germany)

504

5/3/82 Studio neuer Musik: The Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Percussion Group of Michael WY Cincinnati (Würzburg, Germany) 5/7/82 Société Philharmonic de Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Bruxelles, Salle du Conseil Jonathan on Six Notes WY Raadzaal (Brussels, Belgium) 5/7/82 Société Philharmonic de Wolff, For 1, 2, or 3 AO, JC, AO Bruxelles, Salle du Conseil Christian People WY Raadzaal (Brussels, Belgium) 5/7/82 Société Philharmonic de May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO Bruxelles, Salle du Conseil Theodore WY Raadzaal (Brussels, Belgium) 5/7/82 Société Philharmonic de Cage, John Quartet AO, JC, AO Bruxelles, Salle du Conseil WY Raadzaal (Brussels, Belgium) 5/7/82 Société Philharmonic de Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Bruxelles, Salle du Conseil Michael WY Raadzaal (Brussels, Belgium) 5/21/82 Percussion Group Cage, John Amores AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Recital, WY Christ Church Chapel (Cincinnati, OH) 5/21/82 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Recital, Percussion WY Christ Church Chapel Group (Cincinnati, OH) Cincinnati 5/21/82 Percussion Group Green, Jovial Jasper AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Recital, George WY Christ Church Chapel Hamilton (Cincinnati, OH) 5/21/82 Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Recital, WY Christ Church Chapel (Cincinnati, OH) 5/21/82 Percussion Group Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Recital, Michael WY Christ Church Chapel (Cincinnati, OH) 10/2/82 MiddFest 1982: ? ? AO, JC, AO “International WY Celebration,” The Stage at One City Centre Plaza (Middletown, OH) 10/12/82 Percussion Group Cage, John 7'27.408" for AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Three WY Auditorium, University of Percussionists Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

505

10/12/82 Percussion Group Cage, John Amores AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/12/82 Percussion Group Cage, John Branches AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/12/82 Percussion Group Cage, John Cartridge AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Music WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/12/82 Percussion Group Cage, John Composition AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett for Three WY Auditorium, University of Voices Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/12/82 Percussion Group Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Landscape No. WY Auditorium, University of 2 Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/12/82 Percussion Group Cage, John Quartet AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 11/2/82 Music Now! CCM Faculty Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Composers in Concert, Jonathan on Six Notes WY Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 11/2/82 Music Now! CCM Faculty Handel, Poems of Our AO, JC, Pamela AO Composers in Concert, Darrell Climate WY Watson, flute; Patricia Corbett Theater, Richard University of Cincinnati Goering, (Cincinnati, OH) guitar; Joseph Hasten, cello; Heather MacPhaill, piano 11/13/82 Forum82, Symphony Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Space Jonathan on Six Notes WY (New York, NY)

506

11/13/82 Forum82, Symphony Handel, Poems of Our AO, JC, Pamela AO Space Darrell Climate WY Watson, flute; (New York, NY) Richard Goering, guitar; Joseph Hasten, cello; Heather MacPhaill, piano 11/13/82 Forum82, Symphony Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Space Michael WY (New York, NY) 11/15/82 The 1982 Post-Corbett ? ? AO, JC, AO Awards, Cincinnati WY Playhouse in the Park (Cincinnati, OH) 1/11/83 Percussion Group Rosenboom, Continental AO, JC, Tracy Davis, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett David Divide WY David Auditorium, University of Hardman, and Cincinnati Scott Stirling, (Cincinnati, OH) percussion; Frank Weinstock, piano 1/11/83 Percussion Group Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Jonathan on Six Notes WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/11/83 Percussion Group Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Landscape No. WY Auditorium, University of 2 Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/11/83 Percussion Group Harrison, Lou Suite for AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Percussion WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/11/83 Percussion Group Garland, Three Songs of AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Peter Mad Coyote WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/15/83 Percussion and Low Brass ? ? AO, JC, AO Fiesta WY (?) 2/5/83 1982–83 Sylvania Lively Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Arts Series, Franciscan Landscape No. WY Life Center, Lourdes 2 College (Sylvania, OH)

507

2/5/83 1982–83 Sylvania Lively Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, JC, AO Arts Series, Franciscan WY Life Center, Lourdes College (Sylvania, OH) 2/5/83 1982–83 Sylvania Lively Carlsen, Nimbus AO, JC, AO Arts Series, Franciscan Phillip WY Life Center, Lourdes College (Sylvania, OH) 2/5/83 1982–83 Sylvania Lively Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Arts Series, Franciscan Michael WY Life Center, Lourdes College (Sylvania, OH) 2/5/83 1982–83 Sylvania Lively Harrison, Lou Suite for AO, JC, AO Arts Series, Franciscan Percussion WY Life Center, Lourdes College (Sylvania, OH) 2/5/83 1982–83 Sylvania Lively Albright, Take That AO, JC, AO Arts Series, Franciscan William WY Life Center, Lourdes College (Sylvania, OH) 2/6/83 Fayette Community Fine Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Arts Council Presents the Landscape No. WY Percussion Group, Fayette 2 Opera House (Fayette, OH) 2/6/83 Fayette Community Fine Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, JC, AO Arts Council Presents the WY Percussion Group, Fayette Opera House (Fayette, OH) 2/6/83 Fayette Community Fine Carlsen, Nimbus AO, JC, AO Arts Council Presents the Phillip WY Percussion Group, Fayette Opera House (Fayette, OH) 2/6/83 Fayette Community Fine Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Arts Council Presents the Michael WY Percussion Group, Fayette Opera House (Fayette, OH) 2/6/83 Fayette Community Fine Harrison, Lou Suite for AO, JC, AO Arts Council Presents the Percussion WY Percussion Group, Fayette Opera House (Fayette, OH) 2/6/83 Fayette Community Fine Albright, Take That AO, JC, AO Arts Council Presents the William WY Percussion Group, Fayette Opera House (Fayette, OH)

508

2/9/83 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Northridge Elementary WY (Springfield, OH) 2/9/83 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Northwestern Elementary WY (Springfield, OH) 2/9/83 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Oesterlen Services for WY Youth (Springfield, OH) 2/10/83 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Donnelsville Elementary WY (Donnelsville, OH) 2/10/83 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Indian Valley School WY (Enon, OH) 2/10/83 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Westlake Elementary WY (New Carlisle, OH) 2/11/83 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Horace Mann Elementary WY (Springfield, OH)

2/11/83 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Lincoln Elementary WY (Springfield, OH) 2/11/83 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Perrin Woods Elementary WY (Springfield, OH) 3/14/83 Percussion Group Recital, O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO Eastman School of Music Eugene WY (Rochester, NY) 3/14/83 Percussion Group Recital, Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Eastman School of Music Michael Movements for WY (Rochester, NY) Percussion Trio 3/14/83 Percussion Group Recital, Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Eastman School of Music Landscape No. WY (Rochester, NY) 2 3/14/83 Percussion Group Recital, Farren, Musica AO, JC, AO Eastman School of Music Martin Tridentina WY (Rochester, NY) 3/14/83 Percussion Group Recital, Carlsen, Nimbus AO, JC, AO Eastman School of Music Phillip WY (Rochester, NY) 3/14/83 Percussion Group Recital, Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Eastman School of Music Michael WY (Rochester, NY) 3/14/83 Percussion Group Recital, Albright, Take That AO, JC, AO Eastman School of Music William WY (Rochester, NY)

509

3/18/83 Monthly Concert Series, O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and Eugene WY Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 3/18/83 Monthly Concert Series, Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and Michael Movements for WY Performing Arts, Percussion Christopher Newport Trio College (Newport News, VA) 3/18/83 Monthly Concert Series, Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and Landscape No. WY Performing Arts, 2 Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 3/18/83 Monthly Concert Series, Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and Frederic de Panurge WY Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 3/18/83 Monthly Concert Series, Harrison, Lou Suite for AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and Percussion WY Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 3/18/83 Monthly Concert Series, Albright, Take That AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and William WY Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 3/21/83 East Carolina University O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO School of Music Presents Eugene WY the Percussion Group, A. J. Fletcher Recital Hall (Greenville, NC) 3/21/83 East Carolina University Udow, Four AO, JC, AO School of Music Presents Michael Movements for WY the Percussion Group, A. J. Percussion Fletcher Recital Hall Trio (Greenville, NC) 3/21/83 East Carolina University Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO School of Music Presents Landscape No. WY the Percussion Group, A. J. 2 Fletcher Recital Hall (Greenville, NC)

510

3/21/83 East Carolina University Farren, Musica AO, JC, AO School of Music Presents Martin Tridentina WY the Percussion Group, A. J. Fletcher Recital Hall (Greenville, NC) 3/21/83 East Carolina University Carlsen, Nimbus AO, JC, AO School of Music Presents Phillip WY the Percussion Group, A. J. Fletcher Recital Hall (Greenville, NC) 3/21/83 East Carolina University Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO School of Music Presents Michael WY the Percussion Group, A. J. Fletcher Recital Hall (Greenville, NC) 3/21/83 East Carolina University Albright, Take That AO, JC, AO School of Music Presents William WY the Percussion Group, A. J. Fletcher Recital Hall (Greenville, NC) 3/23/83 Music UMBC, Department O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO of Music, University of Eugene WY Maryland-Baltimore County (Baltimore, MD) 3/23/83 Music UMBC, Department Messiaen, Catalogue AO, JC, AO of Music, University of Olivier; arr. d’Oiseaux: WY Maryland-Baltimore Allen Otte “La buse County variable” (Baltimore, MD) 3/23/83 Music UMBC, Department Udow, Four AO, JC, AO of Music, University of Michael Movements for WY Maryland-Baltimore Percussion County Trio (Baltimore, MD) 3/23/83 Music UMBC, Department Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO of Music, University of Landscape No. WY Maryland-Baltimore 2 County (Baltimore, MD) 3/23/83 Music UMBC, Department Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO of Music, University of Michael WY Maryland-Baltimore County (Baltimore, MD) 3/23/83 Music UMBC, Department Albright, Take That AO, JC, AO of Music, University of William WY Maryland-Baltimore County (Baltimore, MD)

511

3/27/83 University of North O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO Carolina at Wilmington Eugene WY and Wilmington Pro Musica Present the Percussion Group Cincinnati, New University Union Building (Wilmington, NC) 3/27/83 University of North Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Carolina at Wilmington Michael Movements for WY and Wilmington Pro Percussion Musica Present the Trio Percussion Group Cincinnati, New University Union Building (Wilmington, NC) 3/27/83 University of North Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Carolina at Wilmington Landscape No. WY and Wilmington Pro 2 Musica Present the Percussion Group Cincinnati, New University Union Building (Wilmington, NC) 3/27/83 University of North Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Carolina at Wilmington Frederic de Panurge WY and Wilmington Pro Musica Present the Percussion Group Cincinnati, New University Union Building (Wilmington, NC) 3/27/83 University of North Farren, Musica AO, JC, AO Carolina at Wilmington Martin Tridentina WY and Wilmington Pro Musica Present the Percussion Group Cincinnati, New University Union Building (Wilmington, NC) 3/27/83 University of North Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Carolina at Wilmington Michael WY and Wilmington Pro Musica Present the Percussion Group Cincinnati, New University Union Building (Wilmington, NC) 3/27/83 University of North Albright, Take That AO, JC, AO Carolina at Wilmington William WY and Wilmington Pro Musica Present the Percussion Group Cincinnati, New University Union Building (Wilmington, NC) 512

3/29/83 Campbell University O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO Concert Series, Turner Eugene WY Auditorium (Buies Creek, NC) 3/29/83 Campbell University Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Concert Series, Turner Michael Movements for WY Auditorium Percussion (Buies Creek, NC) Trio 3/29/83 Campbell University Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Concert Series, Turner Landscape No. WY Auditorium 2 (Buies Creek, NC) 3/29/83 Campbell University Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Concert Series, Turner Frederic de Panurge WY Auditorium (Buies Creek, NC) 3/29/83 Campbell University Harrison, Lou Suite for AO, JC, AO Concert Series, Turner Percussion WY Auditorium (Buies Creek, NC) 3/29/83 Campbell University Albright, Take That AO, JC, AO Concert Series, Turner William WY Auditorium (Buies Creek, NC) 4/5/83 Percussion Group O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Eugene WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/5/83 Percussion Group Goeyvaerts, Instant 0 x 0 AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Karel WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/5/83 Percussion Group Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Frederic de Panurge WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/5/83 Percussion Group Farren, Musica AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Martin Tridentina WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/5/83 Percussion Group Albright, Take That AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett William WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

513

4/23/83 WGUC, American Public O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO Radio, and the Swedish Eugene WY Broadcasting Corporation Present from Cincinnati to Sweden: A Live Transatlantic Broadcast, Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/23/83 WGUC, American Public Proto, Frank Three ? premiere; if AO Radio, and the Swedish Movements for members of Broadcasting Corporation Brass Choir the Group Present from Cincinnati to and performed Sweden: A Live Percussion this piece, it Transatlantic Broadcast, was with the Corbett Auditorium, CCM Brass University of Cincinnati Choir and (Cincinnati, OH) Betty S. Glover, conductor 4/30/83 Percussion Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Group/Cincinnati in an Michael Movements for WY Opus One Showcase, Percussion Merkin Concert Hall Trio (New York, NY) 4/30/83 Percussion Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Group/Cincinnati in an Landscape No. WY Opus One Showcase, 2 Merkin Concert Hall (New York, NY) 4/30/83 Percussion Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Group/Cincinnati in an Frederic de Panurge WY Opus One Showcase, Merkin Concert Hall (New York, NY) 4/30/83 Percussion Adams, John songbirdsongs: AO, JC, Susan Deaver AO Group/Cincinnati in an Luther “Morningfield WY and Stefani Opus One Showcase, Song” and Starin, Merkin Concert Hall “Mourning piccolo (New York, NY) Dove” 4/30/83 Percussion Albright, Take That AO, JC, AO Group/Cincinnati in an William WY Opus One Showcase, Merkin Concert Hall (New York, NY) 6/?/83 1982–83 Convocation arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO Series, Indiana State Percussion WY University Group (Terre Haute, IN) Cincinnati 6/?/83 1982–83 Convocation Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Series, Indiana State Michael Movements for WY University Percussion (Terre Haute, IN) Trio

514

6/?/83 1982–83 Convocation Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Series, Indiana State Landscape No. WY University 2 (Terre Haute, IN) 6/?/83 1982–83 Convocation Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Series, Indiana State Frederic de Panurge WY University (Terre Haute, IN) 6/?/83 1982–83 Convocation Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Series, Indiana State WY University (Terre Haute, IN) 6/?/83 1982–83 Convocation Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, JC, AO Series, Indiana State WY University (Terre Haute, IN) 6/?/83 1982–83 Convocation ? ragtime and AO, JC, AO Series, Indiana State vaudeville WY University xylophone (Terre Haute, IN) selections 6/7/83 Blue Ash Recreation ? ? AO, JC, AO Department Presents WY Concerts in the Park, Blue Ash Civic Center Amphitheater (Blue Ash, OH) 7/12/83 Summer Arts Festival arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO 1983, St. John’s Lutheran Percussion WY Church Group (Springfield, OH) Cincinnati 7/12/83 Summer Arts Festival Udow, Four AO, JC, AO 1983, St. John’s Lutheran Michael Movements for WY Church Percussion (Springfield, OH) Trio 7/12/83 Summer Arts Festival Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO 1983, St. John’s Lutheran WY Church (Springfield, OH) 7/12/83 Summer Arts Festival Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, JC, AO 1983, St. John’s Lutheran WY Church (Springfield, OH) 7/12/83 Summer Arts Festival ? ragtime and AO, JC, AO 1983, St. John’s Lutheran vaudeville WY Church xylophone (Springfield, OH) selections 9/30/83 Cincinnati Composers’ Sweidel, Bucky’s View AO, JC, James AO Guild presents Computer Martin WY Rosenberger Music and other Electronic and Kate Music, Contemporary Arts Hackett, Center narrators (Cincinnati, OH) 10/1/83 Middfest 1983, the Stage at ? ? AO, JC, AO, CB One City Centre Plaza WY (Middletown, OH)

515

10/12/83 Percussion Group Sweidel, Bucky’s View AO, JC, James AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Martin WY Rosenberger Auditorium, University of and Kate Cincinnati Hackett, (Cincinnati, OH) narrators

10/12/83 Percussion Group Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Michael Movements for WY Auditorium, University of Percussion Cincinnati Trio (Cincinnati, OH) 10/12/83 Percussion Group Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett with WY Auditorium, University of Percussion Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/12/83 Percussion Group Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Toru WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/12/83 Percussion Group Cage, John Third AO, JC, Mike Kingan, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Construction WY percussion Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 11/19/83 Ohio Music Education ? ? AO, JC, AO Association District XIV, WY Sycamore High School (Cincinnati, OH) 11/29/83 Neue musik im Stäbel, Cage, John Branches AO, JC, AO Städtische Galerie im WY Städelschen Kunstinstitut (Frankfurt, Germany) 11/29/83 Neue musik im Stäbel, Cage, John Credo in US AO, JC, AO Städtische Galerie im WY Städelschen Kunstinstitut (Frankfurt, Germany) 11/29/83 Neue musik im Stäbel, Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Städtische Galerie im Michael Movements for WY Städelschen Kunstinstitut Percussion (Frankfurt, Germany) Trio 11/29/83 Neue musik im Stäbel, Goeyvaerts, Instant 0 x 0 AO, JC, AO Städtische Galerie im Karel WY Städelschen Kunstinstitut (Frankfurt, Germany) 11/29/83 Neue musik im Stäbel, Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Städtische Galerie im with WY Städelschen Kunstinstitut Percussion (Frankfurt, Germany) 11/29/83 Neue musik im Stäbel, Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JC, AO Städtische Galerie im Toru WY Städelschen Kunstinstitut (Frankfurt, Germany)

516

12/1/83 Südwestfunk, Hans- Cage, John Branches AO, JC, AO Rosbaud-Studio WY (Baden-Baden, Germany) 12/1/83 Südwestfunk, Hans- Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Rosbaud-Studio Michael Movements for WY (Baden-Baden, Germany) Percussion Trio 12/1/83 Südwestfunk, Hans- Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Rosbaud-Studio Landscape No. WY (Baden-Baden, Germany) 2 12/1/83 Südwestfunk, Hans- Goeyvaerts, Instant 0 x 0 AO, JC, AO Rosbaud-Studio Karel WY (Baden-Baden, Germany) 12/1/83 Südwestfunk, Hans- Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Rosbaud-Studio with WY (Baden-Baden, Germany) Percussion 12/1/83 Südwestfunk, Hans- Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JC, AO Rosbaud-Studio Toru WY (Baden-Baden, Germany) 12/1/83 Südwestfunk, Hans- Harrison, Lou Tributes to AO, JC, AO Rosbaud-Studio Charon WY (Baden-Baden, Germany) 12/4/83 3eme Forum de la Création O’Brien, Allures AO, JC, AO Musicale Eugene WY (Ville d’Avray, France) 12/4/83 3eme Forum de la Création Cage, John Branches AO, JC, AO Musicale WY (Ville d’Avray, France) 12/4/83 3eme Forum de la Création Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Musicale Landscape No. WY (Ville d’Avray, France) 2 12/4/83 3eme Forum de la Création Goeyvaerts, Instant 0 x 0 AO, JC, AO Musicale Karel WY (Ville d’Avray, France) 12/4/83 3eme Forum de la Création Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JC, AO Musicale Toru WY (Ville d’Avray, France) 12/4/83 3eme Forum de la Création Smith, Stuart Return and AO, JC, AO Musicale Saunders Recall WY (Ville d’Avray, France) 1/18/84 Percussion Group Samuel, Circles AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Gerhard WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/18/84 Percussion Group Cage, John Credo in US AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/18/84 Percussion Group Yoshioka, Paradox III AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Takayoshi WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

517

1/18/84 Percussion Group Yoshioka, Reflection AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Takayoshi WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/18/84 Percussion Group Medley, Shadow AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Steven C. Chaser WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/18/84 Percussion Group Harrison, Lou Tributes to AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Charon WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 3/4/84 Pittsburgh New Music Cage, John Amores AO, JC, AO Ensemble Presents the WY Percussion Group Cincinnati, Eddy Theatre, Chatham College (Pittsburgh, PA) 3/4/84 Pittsburgh New Music Hirt, James Ars Nova AO, JC, premiere AO Ensemble Presents the Mensurabilis WY Percussion Group Cincinnati, Eddy Theatre, Chatham College (Pittsburgh, PA) 3/4/84 Pittsburgh New Music Sweidel, Bucky’s View AO, JC, Ceci AO Ensemble Presents the Martin WY Sommers and Percussion Group James Cincinnati, Eddy Theatre, Cunningham, Chatham College narrators (Pittsburgh, PA) 3/4/84 Pittsburgh New Music Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Ensemble Presents the Jonathan on Six Notes WY Percussion Group Cincinnati, Eddy Theatre, Chatham College (Pittsburgh, PA) 3/4/84 Pittsburgh New Music Novotney, Intentions AO, JC, AO Ensemble Presents the Eugene WY Percussion Group Cincinnati, Eddy Theatre, Chatham College (Pittsburgh, PA) 3/4/84 Pittsburgh New Music Medley, Shadow AO, JC, AO Ensemble Presents the Steven C. Chaser WY Percussion Group Cincinnati, Eddy Theatre, Chatham College (Pittsburgh, PA)

518

3/6/84 Contemporary Music Cage, John Amores AO, JC, AO Forum Presents the WY Percussion Group, Francis and Armand Hammer Auditorium (Washington, DC) 3/6/84 Contemporary Music Hirt, James Ars Nova AO, JC, AO Forum Presents the Mensurabilis WY Percussion Group, Francis and Armand Hammer Auditorium (Washington, DC) 3/6/84 Contemporary Music Sweidel, Bucky’s View AO, JC, John Harpold AO Forum Presents the Martin WY and Robin Percussion Group, Francis Phillips, and Armand Hammer narrators Auditorium (Washington, DC) 3/6/84 Contemporary Music Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Forum Presents the Jonathan on Six Notes WY Percussion Group, Francis and Armand Hammer Auditorium (Washington, DC) 3/6/84 Contemporary Music Novotney, Intentions AO, JC, AO Forum Presents the Eugene WY Percussion Group, Francis and Armand Hammer Auditorium (Washington, DC) 3/6/84 Contemporary Music Medley, Shadow AO, JC, AO Forum Presents the Steven C. Chaser WY Percussion Group, Francis and Armand Hammer Auditorium (Washington, DC) 3/9/84 16th Festival of Cage, John Amores AO, JC, AO Contemporary Music, WY Barnes Hall, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) 3/9/84 16th Festival of Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Contemporary Music, Jonathan on Six Notes WY Barnes Hall, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) 3/9/84 16th Festival of Novotney, Intentions AO, JC, AO Contemporary Music, Eugene WY Barnes Hall, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)

519

3/9/84 16th Festival of Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Contemporary Music, WY Barnes Hall, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) 3/9/84 16th Festival of Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, JC, AO Contemporary Music, WY Barnes Hall, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) 3/9/84 16th Festival of Farren, Musica AO, JC, AO Contemporary Music, Martin Tridentina WY Barnes Hall, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) 4/18/84 Percussion Group Bartók, Béla Sonata for AO, JC Elizabeth and AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Two Pianos Eugene Auditorium, University of and Pridonoff, Cincinnati Percussion pianos (Cincinnati, OH) 4/18/84 Percussion Group Brün, Herbert Infraudibles AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett with WY Auditorium, University of Percussion Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/18/84 Percussion Group Novotney, Intentions AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Eugene WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 5/8/84 Spring Concert, Buchtel, Polka Dots AO, JC, AO Amelia High School Forrest WY (Batavia, OH) 5/15/85 John Cage a Torino e Ivrea, Cage, John Amores AO, JC, AO Discoteca Big WY (Turin, Italy) 5/15/85 John Cage a Torino e Ivrea, Cage, John Branches AO, JC, AO Discoteca Big WY (Turin, Italy) 5/15/85 John Cage a Torino e Ivrea, Cage, John Credo in US AO, JC, AO Discoteca Big WY (Turin, Italy) 5/15/85 John Cage a Torino e Ivrea, Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Discoteca Big Landscape No. WY (Turin, Italy) 2 5/15/85 John Cage a Torino e Ivrea, Brün, Herbert Infraudibles AO, JC, AO Discoteca Big with WY (Turin, Italy) Percussion 5/15/85 John Cage a Torino e Ivrea, Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Discoteca Big Frederic de Panurge WY (Turin, Italy) 5/16/84 John Cage a Torino e Ivrea, Cage, John Amores AO, JC, AO Teatro G. Giacosa WY (Ivrea, Italy)

520

5/16/84 John Cage a Torino e Ivrea, Cage, John Branches AO, JC, AO Teatro G. Giacosa WY (Ivrea, Italy) 5/16/84 John Cage a Torino e Ivrea, Cage, John Credo in US AO, JC, AO Teatro G. Giacosa WY (Ivrea, Italy) 5/16/84 John Cage a Torino e Ivrea, Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Teatro G. Giacosa Landscape No. WY (Ivrea, Italy) 2 5/16/84 John Cage a Torino e Ivrea, Brün, Herbert Infraudibles AO, JC, AO Teatro G. Giacosa with WY (Ivrea, Italy) Percussion 5/16/84 John Cage a Torino e Ivrea, Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Teatro G. Giacosa Frederic de Panurge WY (Ivrea, Italy) 5/25/84 Cincinnati Composers’ Sweidel, Bucky’s View AO, JC, John Birge AO Guild Spring Concert Martin WY and Linda Series, Contemporary Arts Pender, Center narrators (Cincinnati, OH) 5/25/84 Cincinnati Composers’ Samuel, Circles AO, JC, AO Guild Spring Concert Gerhard WY Series, Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) 5/25/84 Cincinnati Composers’ Kramer, Five Studies AO, JC, AO Guild Spring Concert Jonathan on Six Notes WY Series, Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) 5/25/84 Cincinnati Composers’ Novotney, Intentions AO, JC, AO Guild Spring Concert Eugene WY Series, Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) 5/25/84 Cincinnati Composers’ Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Guild Spring Concert WY Series, Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) 5/25/84 Cincinnati Composers’ Medley, Shadow AO, JC, AO Guild Spring Concert Steven C. Chaser WY Series, Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) 5/25/84 Cincinnati Composers’ Harrison, Lou Tributes to AO, JC, AO Guild Spring Concert Charon WY Series, Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) 6/13/84 Spotlight Series, Beck arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO Center Percussion and Ragtime WY (Cleveland, OH) Group Xylophone Cincinnati Music

521

6/13/84 Spotlight Series, Beck Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Center Landscape No. WY (Cleveland, OH) 2 6/13/84 Spotlight Series, Beck Brün, Herbert Infraudibles AO, JC, AO Center with WY (Cleveland, OH) Percussion 6/13/84 Spotlight Series, Beck Novotney, Intentions AO, JC, AO Center Eugene WY (Cleveland, OH) 6/13/84 Spotlight Series, Beck Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Center WY (Cleveland, OH) 6/13/84 Spotlight Series, Beck Medley, Shadow AO, JC, AO Center Steven C. Chaser WY (Cleveland, OH) 7/22/84 Third Blossom Serenade, ? ? AO, JC, AO The Pavilion at Blossom WY Music Center (Cuyahoga Falls, OH) 10/2/84 Special Events Board of Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, AO Hiram College Presents the Mauricio WY Percussion Group, Hayden Auditorium (Hiram, OH) 10/2/84 Special Events Board of Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Hiram College Presents the Landscape No. WY Percussion Group, Hayden 2 Auditorium (Hiram, OH) 10/2/84 Special Events Board of Novotney, Intentions AO, JC, AO Hiram College Presents the Eugene WY Percussion Group, Hayden Auditorium (Hiram, OH) 10/2/84 Special Events Board of Saya, Mark Murphy AO AO Hiram College Presents the Sonata Percussion Group, Hayden Auditorium (Hiram, OH) 10/2/84 Special Events Board of Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Hiram College Presents the Michael WY Percussion Group, Hayden Auditorium (Hiram, OH) 10/9/84 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Percussion “Vamos WY Auditorium, University of Group Mujer” and Cincinnati Cincinnati “El Vuelo de (Cincinnati, OH) la Parina” 10/9/84 Percussion Group Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Mauricio WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

522

10/9/84 Percussion Group Saya, Mark Murphy AO AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Sonata Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/9/84 Percussion Group Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Michael WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/21/84 Music of the Modern ? percussion AO, JC, AO Church, Cincinnati Choral selection WY Society, First Unitarian Church (Cincinnati, OH) 11/1/84 1984 Percussive Arts Cage, John Music for AO, JC, premiere; AO Society International Three with WY University of Convention, Hill Renga Michigan Auditorium, University of Symphony Michigan Band (Ann Arbor, MI) 11/3/84 1984 Percussive Arts Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, JSC Society International Mauricio WY Convention, ? (Ann Arbor, MI) 11/3/84 1984 Percussive Arts Novotney, Intentions AO, JC, JSC Society International Eugene WY Convention, ? (Ann Arbor, MI) 11/3/84 1984 Percussive Arts Saya, Mark Murphy AO JSC Society International Sonata Convention, ? (Ann Arbor, MI) 11/16/84 Cincinnati Composers’ Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, AO Guild and CAC Art Mauricio WY Instruments Exhibit, Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) 11/16/84 Cincinnati Composers’ N/A improvisation AO, JC, improvisation AO Guild and CAC Art WY with Ron Instruments Exhibit, George on Contemporary Arts Center various “Art (Cincinnati, OH) Instruments” 11/16/84 Cincinnati Composers’ Saya, Mark Murphy AO AO Guild and CAC Art Sonata Instruments Exhibit, Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) 11/27/84 Fine Arts Association of arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO Southeastern Kentucky, Percussion WY Sue Bennett College Group (London, KY) Cincinnati

523

11/27/84 Fine Arts Association of Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Southeastern Kentucky, Michael Movements for WY Sue Bennett College Percussion (London, KY) Trio 11/27/84 Fine Arts Association of Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Southeastern Kentucky, Landscape No. WY Sue Bennett College 2 (London, KY) 11/27/84 Fine Arts Association of Novotney, Intentions AO, JC, AO Southeastern Kentucky, Eugene WY Sue Bennett College (London, KY) 11/27/84 Fine Arts Association of Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Southeastern Kentucky, WY Sue Bennett College (London, KY) 11/27/84 Fine Arts Association of Saya, Mark Murphy AO AO Southeastern Kentucky, Sonata Sue Bennett College (London, KY) 11/27/84 Fine Arts Association of Medley, Shadow AO, JC, AO Southeastern Kentucky, Steven C. Chaser WY Sue Bennett College (London, KY) 2/7/85 Percussion Group Cage, John Music for AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Three WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/7/85 Percussion Group Otte, Allen Sonata as AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Interlude: WY Auditorium, University of Rolling with Cincinnati John (Cincinnati, OH) 2/11/85 Newberry Productions arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion Percussion WY Group Cincinnati, Group Wiles Chapel, Newberry Cincinnati College (Newberry, SC) 2/11/85 Newberry Productions Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion Mauricio WY Group Cincinnati, Wiles Chapel, Newberry College (Newberry, SC) 2/11/85 Newberry Productions Novotney, Intentions AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion Eugene WY Group Cincinnati, Wiles Chapel, Newberry College (Newberry, SC)

524

2/11/85 Newberry Productions Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion WY Group Cincinnati, Wiles Chapel, Newberry College (Newberry, SC) 2/11/85 Newberry Productions ? ragtime and AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion vaudeville WY Group Cincinnati, xylophone Wiles Chapel, Newberry selections College (Newberry, SC) 2/11/85 Newberry Productions Medley, Shadow AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion Steven C. Chaser WY Group Cincinnati, Wiles Chapel, Newberry College (Newberry, SC) 2/16/85 Monthly Concert Series, arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and Percussion WY Performing Arts, Group Christopher Newport Cincinnati College (Newport News, VA) 2/16/85 Monthly Concert Series, Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and Mauricio WY Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 2/16/85 Monthly Concert Series, Novotney, Intentions AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and Eugene WY Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 2/16/85 Monthly Concert Series, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and WY Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 2/16/85 Monthly Concert Series, ? ragtime AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and xylophone WY Performing Arts, selections Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 2/16/85 Monthly Concert Series, Medley, Shadow AO, JC, AO Department of Fine and Steven C. Chaser WY Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA)

525

4/2/85 Society for New Music Brün, Herbert “at loose ends: AO, JC, Jeff AO Presents the Percussion WY Cornelius, Group Cincinnati, Everson percussion; Museum Auditorium Frank (Syracuse, NY) Weinstock, piano

4/2/85 Society for New Music arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion Percussion “Vamos WY Group Cincinnati, Everson Group Mujer” and Museum Auditorium Cincinnati “El Vuelo de (Syracuse, NY) la Parina” 4/2/85 Society for New Music Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion Mauricio WY Group Cincinnati, Everson Museum Auditorium (Syracuse, NY) 4/2/85 Society for New Music Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion Landscape No. WY Group Cincinnati, Everson 2 Museum Auditorium (Syracuse, NY) 4/2/85 Society for New Music Kowalski, Rebus AO, JC, AO Presents the Percussion Michael WY Group Cincinnati, Everson Museum Auditorium (Syracuse, NY) 4/9/85 The Percussion Group and Brün, Herbert “at loose ends: AO, JC, Jeff AO Friends, Corbett WY Cornelius, Auditorium, University of percussion; Cincinnati Frank (Cincinnati, OH) Weinstock, piano 4/9/85 The Percussion Group and Harrison, Lou Concerto for AO, JC, Steve AO Friends, Corbett Violin and WY Dawson, Auditorium, University of Percussion Doug Cincinnati Herrington, (Cincinnati, OH) and Scott Lang, percussion; Phillip Ruder, violin 4/9/85 The Percussion Group and Boone, Weft AO, JC, AO Friends, Corbett Charles WY Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/17/85 Warren Civic Music ? ? AO, JC, AO Association, Packard WY Music Hall (Warren, OH) 4/18/85 Ohio Northern University arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO Artists Series, Presser Hall Percussion WY (Ada, OH) Group Cincinnati

526

4/18/85 Ohio Northern University Udow, Four AO, JC, AO Artists Series, Presser Hall Michael Movements for WY (Ada, OH) Percussion Trio 4/18/85 Ohio Northern University Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Artists Series, Presser Hall Landscape No. WY (Ada, OH) 2 4/18/85 Ohio Northern University Novotney, Intentions AO, JC, AO Artists Series, Presser Hall Eugene WY (Ada, OH) 4/18/85 Ohio Northern University Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Artists Series, Presser Hall Frederic de Panurge WY (Ada, OH) 4/18/85 Ohio Northern University Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Artists Series, Presser Hall WY (Ada, OH) 4/18/85 Ohio Northern University Medley, Shadow AO, JC, AO Artists Series, Presser Hall Steven C. Chaser WY (Ada, OH) 9/6/85 Showcase Performance, ? arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JB, AO (?) Percussion “The Flight of JC Group the Flamingo” Cincinnati 9/6/85 Showcase Performance, ? Green, Log Cabin AO, JB, AO (?) George Blues JC Hamilton 9/6/85 Showcase Performance, ? Albright, Take That AO, JB, AO (?) William JC 9/17/85 Contemporary Music Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, Youhass’s AO Festival, University Landscape No. JC name Auditorium, Indiana State 2 appeared in University program, but (Terre Haute, IN) Brennan played the concert. 9/17/85 Contemporary Music Brün, Herbert Infraudibles AO, JB, Youhass’s AO Festival, University with JC name Auditorium, Indiana State Percussion appeared in University program, but (Terre Haute, IN) Brennan played the concert. 9/17/85 Contemporary Music Novotney, Intentions AO, JB, Youhass’s AO Festival, University Eugene JC name Auditorium, Indiana State appeared in University program, but (Terre Haute, IN) Brennan played the concert.

527

9/17/85 Contemporary Music May, para-DIDDLE AO, JB, Youhass’s AO Festival, University Theodore JC name Auditorium, Indiana State appeared in University program, but (Terre Haute, IN) Brennan played the concert. 9/17/85 Contemporary Music Coleman, Sweet William AO, JB, Youhass’s AO Festival, University Randolph JC name Auditorium, Indiana State appeared in University program, but (Terre Haute, IN) Brennan played the concert. 9/17/85 Contemporary Music Boone, Weft AO, JB, Youhass’s AO Festival, University Charles JC name Auditorium, Indiana State appeared in University program, but (Terre Haute, IN) Brennan played the concert. 9/20/85 University Music Cage, John Branches AO, JB, AO Performances 1985–86, JC Music Hall, Wright Music Building, Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN) 9/20/85 University Music arr. Chilean Songs AO, JB, AO Performances 1985–86, Percussion JC Music Hall, Wright Music Group Building, Middle Cincinnati Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN) 9/20/85 University Music Novotney, Intentions AO, JB, AO Performances 1985–86, Eugene JC Music Hall, Wright Music Building, Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN) 9/20/85 University Music Coleman, Sweet William AO, JB, AO Performances 1985–86, Randolph JC Music Hall, Wright Music Building, Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN) 9/20/85 University Music Albright, Take That AO, JB, AO Performances 1985–86, William JC Music Hall, Wright Music Building, Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN)

528

9/20/85 University Music Boone, Weft AO, JB, AO Performances 1985–86, Charles JC Music Hall, Wright Music Building, Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN) 10/1/85 Contemporary Focus Cage, John Branches AO, JB, AO, Presents the Percussion JC OPW Group of Cincinnati, Warner Concert Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 10/1/85 Contemporary Focus Novotney, Intentions AO, JB, AO, Presents the Percussion Eugene JC OPW Group of Cincinnati, Warner Concert Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 10/1/85 Contemporary Focus Otte, Allen Sonata as AO, JB, AO, Presents the Percussion Interlude: JC OPW Group of Cincinnati, Rolling with Warner Concert Hall, John Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 10/1/85 Contemporary Focus Coleman, Sweet William AO, JB, AO, Presents the Percussion Randolph JC OPW Group of Cincinnati, Warner Concert Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 10/1/85 Contemporary Focus Boone, Weft AO, JB, AO, Presents the Percussion Charles JC OPW Group of Cincinnati, Warner Concert Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 10/8/85 Percussion Group Garland, Apple Blossom AO, JB, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Peter JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/8/85 Percussion Group Brown, Earle 4 Systems AO, JB, Jeff AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett (performed as JC Cornelius, Auditorium, University of part of percussion Cincinnati “Household (Cincinnati, OH) Suite”) 10/8/85 Percussion Group Kettle, Dining Room AO, JB, Jeff AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Rupert Music JC Cornelius, Auditorium, University of (performed as percussion Cincinnati part of (Cincinnati, OH) “Household Suite”)

529

10/8/85 Percussion Group Cage, John Living Room AO, JB, Jeff AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Music JC Cornelius, Auditorium, University of (performed as percussion Cincinnati part of (Cincinnati, OH) “Household Suite”) 10/8/85 Percussion Group Coleman, Sweet William AO, JB, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Randolph JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/8/85 Percussion Group Albright, Take That AO, JB, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett William JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/8/85 Percussion Group Boone, Weft AO, JB, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Charles JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/27/85 Concert for the Friends of Albright, Take That AO, JB, AO CCM, Corbett Auditorium, William JC University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 11/8/85 New Music Festival VI, Sweidel, Bucky’s View AO, JB, Elizabeth AO Moore Musical Arts Martin JC Shirk and Center, Bowling Green Aaron Smith, State University narrators (Bowling Green, OH) 11/8/85 New Music Festival VI, Udow, Four AO, JB, AO Moore Musical Arts Michael Movements for JC Center, Bowling Green Percussion State University Trio (Bowling Green, OH) 11/8/85 New Music Festival VI, Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, premiere AO Moore Musical Arts of Imaginary JC Center, Bowling Green Beings: State University “Bahamut” (Bowling Green, OH) and “A Bao A Qu” 11/8/85 New Music Festival VI, Otte, Allen Sonata as AO, JB, AO Moore Musical Arts Interlude: JC Center, Bowling Green Rolling with State University John (Bowling Green, OH) 11/8/85 New Music Festival VI, Coleman, Sweet William AO, JB, AO Moore Musical Arts Randolph JC Center, Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, OH)

530

11/8/85 New Music Festival VI, Boone, Weft AO, JB, AO Moore Musical Arts Charles JC Center, Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, OH) 11/12/85 Music Now! CCM Faculty Sweidel, Bucky’s View AO, JB, Ann Santen AO Composers in Concert, Martin JC and Myron Patricia Corbett Theater, Bennett, University of Cincinnati narrators (Cincinnati, OH) 11/12/85 Music Now! CCM Faculty Otte, Allen Sonata as AO, JB, AO Composers in Concert, Interlude: JC Patricia Corbett Theater, Rolling with University of Cincinnati John (Cincinnati, OH) 11/15/85 City of Kettering Parks and Garland, Apple Blossom AO, JB, AO Recreation Department and Peter JC the Kettering Arts Council Present the Percussion Group Cincinnati, Kettering Fairmont High School (Kettering, OH) 11/15/85 City of Kettering Parks and Cage, John Branches AO, JB, AO Recreation Department and JC the Kettering Arts Council Present the Percussion Group Cincinnati, Kettering Fairmont High School (Kettering, OH) 11/15/85 City of Kettering Parks and arr. Chilean Songs AO, JB, AO Recreation Department and Percussion JC the Kettering Arts Council Group Present the Percussion Cincinnati Group Cincinnati, Kettering Fairmont High School (Kettering, OH) 11/15/85 City of Kettering Parks and Udow, Four AO, JB, AO Recreation Department and Michael Movements for JC the Kettering Arts Council Percussion Present the Percussion Trio Group Cincinnati, Kettering Fairmont High School (Kettering, OH) 11/15/85 City of Kettering Parks and Coleman, Sweet William AO, JB, AO Recreation Department and Randolph JC the Kettering Arts Council Present the Percussion Group Cincinnati, Kettering Fairmont High School (Kettering, OH)

531

11/15/85 City of Kettering Parks and Albright, Take That AO, JB, AO Recreation Department and William JC the Kettering Arts Council Present the Percussion Group Cincinnati, Kettering Fairmont High School (Kettering, OH) 11/15/85 City of Kettering Parks and Boone, Weft AO, JB, AO Recreation Department and Charles JC the Kettering Arts Council Present the Percussion Group Cincinnati, Kettering Fairmont High School (Kettering, OH) 1/21/86 Percussion Group Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett of Imaginary JC Auditorium, University of Beings: Cincinnati “Bahamut,” (Cincinnati, OH) “The Lamed Wufniks,” and “A Bao A Qu” 1/21/86 Percussion Group Stockhausen, Kreuzspiel AO, JB, Stefan AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Karlheinz JC Litwin, piano; Auditorium, University of Sara Bloom, Cincinnati oboe; Tom (Cincinnati, OH) Apple, bass clarinet 1/21/86 Percussion Group Saya, Mark Snowtime AO, JB, CCM AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett JC Percussion Auditorium, University of Ensemble; Cincinnati Mark Saya, (Cincinnati, OH) piano; Kathie Stewart, Cindy Tenney, Sara Pflueger, and Jacquelin Bender, flutes; Laurence Dutt and Chris Roberts, double basses 1/21/86 Percussion Group Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, JB, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Karlheinz JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/28/86 Music Now! CCM Faculty Brown, Earle 4 Systems AO, JB, AO Composers in Concert, JC Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 532

3/3/86 University of Illinois at Kagel, Dressur AO, JB, AO Urbana-Champaign Mauricio JC Presents the Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Smith Music Hall (Urbana, IL) 3/3/86 University of Illinois at Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO Urbana-Champaign of Imaginary JC Presents the Percussion Beings: Group/Cincinnati, Smith “Bahamut,” Music Hall “The Lamed (Urbana, IL) Wufniks,” “A Bao A Qu,” and “The Fauna of Mirrors” 3/3/86 University of Illinois at Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, AO Urbana-Champaign Landscape No. JC Presents the Percussion 2 Group/Cincinnati, Smith Music Hall (Urbana, IL) 3/3/86 University of Illinois at Brün, Herbert Infraudibles AO, JB, AO Urbana-Champaign with JC Presents the Percussion Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Smith Music Hall (Urbana, IL) 3/3/86 University of Illinois at Otte, Allen Sonata as AO, JB, AO Urbana-Champaign Interlude: JC Presents the Percussion Rolling with Group/Cincinnati, Smith John Music Hall (Urbana, IL) 3/11/86 Faculty Recital: Pridonoff Bartók, Béla Sonata for AO, JC Elizabeth and AO Duo and Percussion Group Two Pianos Eugene Cincinnati, Corbett and Pridonoff, Auditorium, University of Percussion pianos Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 3/11/86 Faculty Recital: Pridonoff Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO Duo and Percussion Group of Imaginary JC Cincinnati, Corbett Beings: Auditorium, University of “Bahamut,” Cincinnati “The Lamed (Cincinnati, OH) Wufniks,” “A Bao A Qu,” and “The Fauna of Mirrors”

533

3/11/86 Faculty Recital: Pridonoff Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, AO Duo and Percussion Group Landscape No. JC Cincinnati, Corbett 2 Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 3/13/86 Atlanta Chamber Players Sweidel, Bucky’s View AO, JB, AO Present the Percussion Martin JC Group/Cincinnati, Cannon Chapel, Emory University (Atlanta, GA) 3/13/86 Atlanta Chamber Players Kagel, Dressur AO, JB, AO Present the Percussion Mauricio JC Group/Cincinnati, Cannon Chapel, Emory University (Atlanta, GA) 3/13/86 Atlanta Chamber Players Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO Present the Percussion of Imaginary JC Group/Cincinnati, Cannon Beings: Chapel, Emory University “Bahamut,” (Atlanta, GA) “The Lamed Wufniks,” “A Bao A Qu,” and “The Fauna of Mirrors” 3/13/86 Atlanta Chamber Players Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, AO Present the Percussion Landscape No. JC Group/Cincinnati, Cannon 2 Chapel, Emory University (Atlanta, GA) 3/13/86 Atlanta Chamber Players Brün, Herbert Infraudibles AO, JB, AO Present the Percussion with JC Group/Cincinnati, Cannon Percussion Chapel, Emory University (Atlanta, GA) 3/21/86 College of Fine Arts of Kagel, Dressur AO, JB, AO Indiana University of Mauricio JC Pennsylvania Presents the Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Orendorff Auditorium (Indiana, PA) 3/21/86 College of Fine Arts of Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO Indiana University of of Imaginary JC Pennsylvania Presents the Beings: Percussion “Bahamut,” Group/Cincinnati, “The Lamed Orendorff Auditorium Wufniks,” “A (Indiana, PA) Bao A Qu,” and “The Fauna of Mirrors”

534

3/21/86 College of Fine Arts of Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, AO Indiana University of Landscape No. JC Pennsylvania Presents the 2 Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Orendorff Auditorium (Indiana, PA) 3/21/86 College of Fine Arts of Albright, Take That AO, JB, AO Indiana University of William JC Pennsylvania Presents the Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Orendorff Auditorium (Indiana, PA) 3/24/86 Pittsburgh New Music Kagel, Dressur AO, JB, AO Ensemble Presents the Mauricio JC Percussion Group Cincinnati, Campbell Memorial Chapel, Chatham College (Pittsburgh, PA) 3/24/86 Pittsburgh New Music Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO Ensemble Presents the of Imaginary JC Percussion Group Beings: Cincinnati, Campbell “Bahamut,” Memorial Chapel, “The Lamed Chatham College Wufniks,” “A (Pittsburgh, PA) Bao A Qu,” and “The Fauna of Mirrors” 3/24/86 Pittsburgh New Music Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, AO Ensemble Presents the Landscape No. JC Percussion Group 2 Cincinnati, Campbell Memorial Chapel, Chatham College (Pittsburgh, PA) 3/24/86 Pittsburgh New Music Otte, Allen Sonata as AO, JB, AO Ensemble Presents the Interlude: JC Percussion Group Rolling with Cincinnati, Campbell John Memorial Chapel, Chatham College (Pittsburgh, PA) 3/26/86 University of Kentucky Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO Presents the Pridonoff of Imaginary JC Piano Duo and the Beings: Percussion “Bahamut,” Group/Cincinnati, “The Lamed U. K. Center for the Arts Wufniks,” “A (Lexington, KY) Bao A Qu,” and “The Fauna of Mirrors”

535

3/26/86 University of Kentucky Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, AO Presents the Pridonoff Landscape No. JC Piano Duo and the 2 Percussion Group/Cincinnati, U. K. Center for the Arts (Lexington, KY) 3/26/86 University of Kentucky Bartók, Béla Sonata for AO, JC Elizabeth and AO Presents the Pridonoff Two Pianos Eugene Piano Duo and the and Pridonoff, Percussion Percussion pianos Group/Cincinnati, U. K. Center for the Arts (Lexington, KY) 4/3/86 Pridonoff Piano Duo and Bartók, Béla Sonata for AO, JC Elizabeth and AO the Percussion Group of Two Pianos Eugene Cincinnati, Alice Tully and Pridonoff, Hall at Lincoln Center Percussion pianos (New York, NY) 4/3/86 Pridonoff Piano Duo and Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO the Percussion Group of of Imaginary JC Cincinnati, Alice Tully Beings: Hall at Lincoln Center “Bahamut,” (New York, NY) “The Lamed Wufniks,” “A Bao A Qu,” and “The Fauna of Mirrors” 4/3/86 Pridonoff Piano Duo and Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, AO the Percussion Group of Landscape No. JC Cincinnati, Alice Tully 2 Hall at Lincoln Center (New York, NY) 4/6/86 Colgate University Concert Kagel, Dressur AO, JB, AO Series, Colgate Memorial Mauricio JC Chapel (Hamilton, NY) 4/6/86 Colgate University Concert Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO Series, Colgate Memorial of Imaginary JC Chapel Beings: (Hamilton, NY) “Bahamut,” “The Lamed Wufniks,” “A Bao A Qu,” and “The Fauna of Mirrors” 4/6/86 Colgate University Concert Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, AO Series, Colgate Memorial Landscape No. JC Chapel 2 (Hamilton, NY)

536

4/6/86 Colgate University Concert Albright, Take That AO, JB, AO Series, Colgate Memorial William JC Chapel (Hamilton, NY) 4/11/86 North American New Cage, John Branches AO, JB, AO Music Festival, Slee JC Concert Hall, State University of New York at Buffalo (Buffalo, NY) 4/11/86 North American New Kagel, Dressur AO, JB, AO Music Festival, Slee Mauricio JC Concert Hall, State University of New York at Buffalo (Buffalo, NY) 4/11/86 North American New Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO Music Festival, Slee of Imaginary JC Concert Hall, State Beings: University of New York at “Bahamut,” Buffalo “The Fauna of (Buffalo, NY) Mirrors,” “A Bao A Qu,” “The Lamed Wufniks,” and “Bestiary: Tigre Capiangos Basilisks and the Zaratan” 4/11/86 North American New Brün, Herbert Infraudibles AO, JB, AO Music Festival, Slee with JC Concert Hall, State Percussion University of New York at Buffalo (Buffalo, NY) 4/12/86 Society for New Music Cage, John Branches AO, JB, AO Presents the Percussion JC Group Cincinnati, Crouse College Auditorium, Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY) 4/12/86 Society for New Music Sweidel, Bucky’s View AO, JB, AO Presents the Percussion Martin JC Group Cincinnati, Crouse College Auditorium, Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY)

537

4/12/86 Society for New Music Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO Presents the Percussion of Imaginary JC Group Cincinnati, Crouse Beings: College Auditorium, “Bahamut,” Syracuse University “The Lamed (Syracuse, NY) Wufniks,” “A Bao A Qu,” “The Fauna of Mirrors” 4/12/86 Society for New Music Otte, Allen Sonata as AO, JB, AO Presents the Percussion Interlude: JC Group Cincinnati, Crouse Rolling with College Auditorium, John Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY) 4/12/86 Society for New Music Albright, Take That AO, JB, AO Presents the Percussion William JC Group Cincinnati, Crouse College Auditorium, Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY) 4/13/86 University Percussion Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, AO Ensemble Concert, College Landscape No. JC of Visual and Performing 2 Arts, Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY) 4/22/86 Percussion Group Bartók, Béla Sonata for AO, JC Elizabeth and AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Two Pianos Eugene Auditorium, University of and Pridonoff, Cincinnati Percussion pianos (Cincinnati, OH) 4/22/86 Percussion Group Cage, John Branches AO, JB, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/22/86 Percussion Group Rzewski, Coming AO, JB, Frank AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Frederic Together JC Weinstock, Auditorium, University of piano; Cincinnati Suzanne (Cincinnati, OH) Meyers, clarinet; Cindy Tenney, flute; Wessel Beukes, violoncello; and Kurt Sassmanns- haus, violin 4/22/86 Percussion Group Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Landscape No. JC Auditorium, University of 2 Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

538

5/10/86 Cincinnati Composers’ Rzewski, Coming AO, JB, Frank AO Guild Presents the Frederic Together JC Weinstock, Percussion piano; Group/Cincinnati, Suzanne Contemporary Arts Center Meyers, (Cincinnati, OH) clarinet; Cindy Tenney, flute; Wessel Beukes, violoncello; and Kurt Sassmanns- haus, violin 5/10/86 Cincinnati Composers’ Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO Guild Presents the of Imaginary JC Percussion Beings: Group/Cincinnati, “Bahamut,” Contemporary Arts Center “The Lamed (Cincinnati, OH) Wufniks,” “A Bao A Qu,” and “The Fauna of Mirrors” 5/10/86 Cincinnati Composers’ Otte, Allen Sonata as AO, JB, AO Guild Presents the Interlude: JC Percussion Rolling with Group/Cincinnati, John Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) 5/30/86 New York Philharmonic Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JB, AO Horizons ‘86: Music as Toru JC Theater, Avery Fisher Hall (New York, NY) 8/4/86 Arcady Music Festival: Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JB, AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo JC and The Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Somesville Meeting House (Somesville, ME) 8/4/86 Arcady Music Festival: Bartók, Béla Sonata for AO, JC Elizabeth and AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo Two Pianos Eugene and The Percussion and Pridonoff, Group/Cincinnati, Percussion pianos Somesville Meeting House (Somesville, ME) 8/4/86 Arcady Music Festival: arr. Chilean Songs AO, JB, AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo Percussion JC and The Percussion Group Group/Cincinnati, Cincinnati Somesville Meeting House (Somesville, ME)

539

8/4/86 Arcady Music Festival: Udow, Four AO, JB, AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo Michael Movements for JC and The Percussion Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Trio Somesville Meeting House (Somesville, ME) 8/5/86 Arcady Music Festival: Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JB, AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo JC and The Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Orono United Methodist Church (Orono, ME) 8/5/86 Arcady Music Festival: Bartók, Béla Sonata for AO, JC Elizabeth and AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo Two Pianos Eugene and The Percussion and Pridonoff, Group/Cincinnati, Orono Percussion pianos United Methodist Church (Orono, ME) 8/5/86 Arcady Music Festival: arr. Chilean Songs AO, JB, AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo Percussion JC and The Percussion Group Group/Cincinnati, Orono Cincinnati United Methodist Church (Orono, ME) 8/5/86 Arcady Music Festival: Udow, Four AO, JB, AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo Michael Movements for JC and The Percussion Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Orono Trio United Methodist Church (Orono, ME) 8/6/86 Arcady Music Festival: Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JB, AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo JC and The Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Dover- Foxcroft Congregational Church (Dover-Foxcroft, ME) 8/6/86 Arcady Music Festival: Bartók, Béla Sonata for AO, JC Elizabeth and AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo Two Pianos Eugene and The Percussion and Pridonoff, Group/Cincinnati, Dover- Percussion pianos Foxcroft Congregational Church (Dover-Foxcroft, ME) 8/6/86 Arcady Music Festival: arr. Chilean Songs AO, JB, AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo Percussion JC and The Percussion Group Group/Cincinnati, Dover- Cincinnati Foxcroft Congregational Church (Dover-Foxcroft, ME)

540

8/6/86 Arcady Music Festival: Udow, Four AO, JB, AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo Michael Movements for JC and The Percussion Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Dover- Trio Foxcroft Congregational Church (Dover-Foxcroft, ME) 8/7/86 Arcady Music Festival: Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JB, AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo JC and The Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Holy Redeemer Church (Bar Harbor, ME) 8/7/86 Arcady Music Festival: Bartók, Béla Sonata for AO, JC Elizabeth and AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo Two Pianos Eugene and The Percussion and Pridonoff, Group/Cincinnati, Holy Percussion pianos Redeemer Church (Bar Harbor, ME) 8/7/86 Arcady Music Festival: arr. Chilean Songs AO, JB, AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo Percussion JC and The Percussion Group Group/Cincinnati, Holy Cincinnati Redeemer Church (Bar Harbor, ME) 8/7/86 Arcady Music Festival: Udow, Four AO, JB, AO The Pridonoff Piano Duo Michael Movements for JC and The Percussion Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Holy Trio Redeemer Church (Bar Harbor, ME) 9/21/86 Dearborn Highlands Arts Cage, John Branches AO, JB, AO, MB Council Sampler Series, JC Greendale Middle School (Lawrenceburg, IN) 9/21/86 Dearborn Highlands Arts arr. Chilean Songs AO, JB, AO, MB Council Sampler Series, Percussion JC Greendale Middle School Group (Lawrenceburg, IN) Cincinnati 9/21/86 Dearborn Highlands Arts Udow, Four AO, JB, AO, MB Council Sampler Series, Michael Movements for JC Greendale Middle School Percussion (Lawrenceburg, IN) Trio 9/21/86 Dearborn Highlands Arts Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, AO, MB Council Sampler Series, Landscape No. JC Greendale Middle School 2 (Lawrenceburg, IN) 9/21/86 Dearborn Highlands Arts Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JB, AO, MB Council Sampler Series, JC Greendale Middle School (Lawrenceburg, IN) 9/21/86 Dearborn Highlands Arts Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JB, AO, MB Council Sampler Series, Toru JC Greendale Middle School (Lawrenceburg, IN)

541

10/7/86 Percussion Group Cage, John Amores AO, JB, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/7/86 Percussion Group Cage, John But What AO, JB, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett About the JC Auditorium, University of Noise of Cincinnati Crumpling (Cincinnati, OH) Paper … 10/7/86 Percussion Group Cage, John Music for AO, JB, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Marcel JC Auditorium, University of Duchamp Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/7/86 Percussion Group Cage, John Music for AO, JB, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Three JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/7/86 Percussion Group Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, JB, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett after the JC Auditorium, University of works of Cincinnati John Cage (Cincinnati, OH) 10/17/86 New Music Festival VII, Cage, John Mushrooms et AO, JB, John Cage, AO Moore Musical Arts Variationes as JC reader Center, Bowling Green performed State University with But What (Bowling Green, OH) About the Noise of Crumpling Paper… 10/17/86 New Music Festival VII, Cage, John Music for AO, JB, AO Moore Musical Arts Three JC Center, Bowling Green State University (Bowling Green, OH) 10/23/86 A Private Benefit Concert ? ? AO, JB, AO for the Cincinnati JC Composers’ Guild, The Michael Lowe Gallery (Cincinnati, OH) 11/3/86 1986 Percussive Arts Bartók, Béla Sonata for AO, JC Elizabeth and AO Society International Two Pianos Eugene Convention Presents the and Pridonoff, Percussion Group Percussion pianos Cincinnati with The Pridonoff Piano Duo, The Kennedy Center Terrace Theater (Washington, DC)

542

11/3/86 1986 Percussive Arts Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO Society International of Imaginary JC Convention Presents the Beings: Percussion Group “Bahamut,” Cincinnati with The “The Lamed Pridonoff Piano Duo, The Wufniks,” “A Kennedy Center Bao A Qu,” (Washington, DC) and “The Fauna of Mirrors” 11/3/86 1986 Percussive Arts Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, JB, AO Society International after the JC Convention Presents the works of Percussion Group John Cage Cincinnati with The Pridonoff Piano Duo, The Kennedy Center (Washington, DC) 11/3/86 1986 Percussive Arts Coleman, Sweet William AO, JB, AO Society International Randolph JC Convention Presents the Percussion Group Cincinnati with The Pridonoff Piano Duo, The Kennedy Center (Washington, DC) 11/30/86 Painted Bride ’86, Painted Cage, John Amores AO, JB, AO Bride Art Center JC (Cincinnati, OH) 11/30/86 Painted Bride ’86, Painted Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO Bride Art Center of Imaginary JC (Cincinnati, OH) Beings: “Bahamut,” “The Lamed Wufniks,” “A Bao A Qu,” and “The Fauna of Mirrors” 11/30/86 Painted Bride ’86, Painted Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, JB, AO Bride Art Center after the JC (Cincinnati, OH) works of John Cage 11/30/86 Painted Bride ’86, Painted Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JB, AO Bride Art Center Toru JC (Cincinnati, OH) 11/30/86 Painted Bride ’86, Painted Coleman, Sweet William AO, JB, AO Bride Art Center Randolph JC (Cincinnati, OH) 12/2/86 Elk County Concert Cage, John Amores AO, JB, AO Association Presents the JC Percussion Group Cincinnati, Ridgway Area High School Auditorium (Ridgway, PA)

543

12/2/86 Elk County Concert Cage, John Branches AO, JB, AO Association Presents the JC Percussion Group Cincinnati, Ridgway Area High School Auditorium (Ridgway, PA) 12/2/86 Elk County Concert arr. Chilean Songs AO, JB, AO Association Presents the Percussion JC Percussion Group Group Cincinnati, Ridgway Area Cincinnati High School Auditorium (Ridgway, PA) 12/2/86 Elk County Concert Udow, Four AO, JB, AO Association Presents the Michael Movements for JC Percussion Group Percussion Cincinnati, Ridgway Area Trio High School Auditorium (Ridgway, PA) 12/2/86 Elk County Concert Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JB, AO Association Presents the JC Percussion Group Cincinnati, Ridgway Area High School Auditorium (Ridgway, PA) 12/2/86 Elk County Concert Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JB, AO Association Presents the Toru JC Percussion Group Cincinnati, Ridgway Area High School Auditorium (Ridgway, PA) 12/12/86 Footlights Performing Arts arr. Chilean Songs AO, JB, AO Subscription Series, John Percussion JC Michael Kohler Arts Group Center Cincinnati (Sheboygan, WI) 12/12/86 Footlights Performing Arts Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO Subscription Series, John of Imaginary JC Michael Kohler Arts Beings: Center “Bahamut,” (Sheboygan, WI) “The Lamed Wufniks,” “A Bao A Qu,” and “The Fauna of Mirrors” 12/12/86 Footlights Performing Arts Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, AO Subscription Series, John Landscape No. JC Michael Kohler Arts 2 Center (Sheboygan, WI) 12/12/86 Footlights Performing Arts Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JB, AO Subscription Series, John JC Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI)

544

12/12/86 Footlights Performing Arts Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, JB, AO Subscription Series, John after the JC Michael Kohler Arts works of Center John Cage (Sheboygan, WI) 12/12/86 Footlights Performing Arts Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JB, AO Subscription Series, John Toru JC Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) 12/13/86 Footlights Performing Arts arr. Chilean Songs AO, JB, AO Subscription Series, John Percussion JC Michael Kohler Arts Group Center Cincinnati (Sheboygan, WI) 12/13/86 Footlights Performing Arts Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JB, AO Subscription Series, John of Imaginary JC Michael Kohler Arts Beings: Center “Bahamut,” (Sheboygan, WI) “The Lamed Wufniks,” “A Bao A Qu,” and “The Fauna of Mirrors” 12/13/86 Footlights Performing Arts Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, AO Subscription Series, John Landscape No. JC Michael Kohler Arts 2 Center (Sheboygan, WI) 12/13/86 Footlights Performing Arts Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JB, AO Subscription Series, John JC Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) 12/13/86 Footlights Performing Arts Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, JB, AO Subscription Series, John after the JC Michael Kohler Arts works of Center John Cage (Sheboygan, WI) 12/13/86 Footlights Performing Arts Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JB, AO Subscription Series, John Toru JC Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) 1/4/87 Van Wert Variety Series, ? arr. Chilean Songs AO, JB, AO (Van Wert, OH) Percussion JC Group Cincinnati 1/4/87 Van Wert Variety Series, ? Udow, Four AO, JB, AO (Van Wert, OH) Michael Movements for JC Percussion Trio

545

1/4/87 Van Wert Variety Series, ? Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, AO (Van Wert, OH) Landscape No. JC 2 1/4/87 Van Wert Variety Series, ? Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JB, AO (Van Wert, OH) JC 1/4/87 Van Wert Variety Series, ? Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, JB, AO (Van Wert, OH) after the JC works of John Cage 1/4/87 Van Wert Variety Series, ? Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JB, AO (Van Wert, OH) Toru JC 1/13/87 Percussion Group collective I Read in the AO, JB, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett News Today, JC Auditorium, University of Oh Boy! Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/13/87 Percussion Group Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JB, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Toru JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/13/87 Percussion Group Cardew, The Great AO, JB, CCM AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Cornelius Learning: JC Percussion Auditorium, University of Paragraph 2 Ensemble; Cincinnati Chamber (Cincinnati, OH) Choir; Men’s and Women’s Glee Clubs 1/24/87 Lima Symphony Orchestra arr. Chilean Songs AO, JB, AO Concert Series, Crouse Percussion JC Performing Arts Hall, Group Veteran’s Memorial Civic Cincinnati Center (Lima, OH) 1/24/87 Lima Symphony Orchestra Udow, Four AO, JB, AO Concert Series, Crouse Michael Movements for JC Performing Arts Hall, Percussion Veteran’s Memorial Civic Trio Center (Lima, OH) 1/24/87 Lima Symphony Orchestra Cage, John Imaginary AO, JB, AO Concert Series, Crouse Landscape No. JC Performing Arts Hall, 2 Veteran’s Memorial Civic Center (Lima, OH) 1/24/87 Lima Symphony Orchestra Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JB, AO Concert Series, Crouse JC Performing Arts Hall, Veteran’s Memorial Civic Center (Lima, OH)

546

1/24/87 Lima Symphony Orchestra Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, JB, AO Concert Series, Crouse after the JC Performing Arts Hall, works of Veteran’s Memorial Civic John Cage Center (Lima, OH) 1/24/87 Lima Symphony Orchestra Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JB, AO Concert Series, Crouse Toru JC Performing Arts Hall, Veteran’s Memorial Civic Center (Lima, OH) 2/15/87 Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cage, John Amores AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati, Corbett JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/15/87 Vocal Arts Ensemble of Stravinsky, Les Noces AO, BT, Mikael AO, BT Cincinnati, Corbett Igor JC, RB Ericson, Auditorium, University of Kelly Lucas, Cincinnati and David (Cincinnati, OH) Kirkendall, percussion; Michael Chertock, Timothy Lovelace, and Jane Heinrichs, pianos; and the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati 3/?/87 Cincinnati Composers’ Rzewski, Force AO, BT, AO Guild Presents the Frederic JC Percussion Group, ? (Cincinnati, OH) 3/?/87 Cincinnati Composers’ collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO Guild Presents the News Today, JC Percussion Group, ? Oh Boy! (Cincinnati, OH) 3/?/87 Cincinnati Composers’ Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, BT, AO Guild Presents the after the JC Percussion Group, ? works of (Cincinnati, OH) John Cage 3/?/87 Cincinnati Composers’ collective This AO, BT, premiere; AO Guild Presents the JC text by Don Percussion Group, ? Bogen; (Cincinnati, OH) electronic tape by Frederic Bianchi

547

3/26/87 17th Annual Festival of Cage, John Amores AO, BT, AO, BT New Music, Pruis Hall, JC Ball State University (Muncie, IN) 3/26/87 17th Annual Festival of Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT New Music, Pruis Hall, JC Ball State University (Muncie, IN) 3/26/87 17th Annual Festival of Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT New Music, Pruis Hall, Spiritual JC Ball State University (Muncie, IN) 3/26/87 17th Annual Festival of Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, BT, AO, BT New Music, Pruis Hall, after the JC Ball State University works of (Muncie, IN) John Cage 3/26/87 17th Annual Festival of Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, BT, AO, BT New Music, Pruis Hall, Toru JC Ball State University (Muncie, IN) 3/26/87 17th Annual Festival of collective This AO, BT, text by Don AO, BT New Music, Pruis Hall, JC Bogen; Ball State University electronic (Muncie, IN) tape by Frederic Bianchi 4/?/87 Performing Arts Series, Cage, John Amores AO, BT, AO University of Wisconsin- JC Stevens Point (Stevens Point, WI) 4/?/87 Performing Arts Series, arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO University of Wisconsin- Percussion JC Stevens Point Group (Stevens Point, WI) Cincinnati 4/?/87 Performing Arts Series, collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO University of Wisconsin- News Today, JC Stevens Point Oh Boy! (Stevens Point, WI) 4/?/87 Performing Arts Series, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO University of Wisconsin- JC Stevens Point (Stevens Point, WI) 4/?/87 Performing Arts Series, Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO University of Wisconsin- Spiritual JC Stevens Point (Stevens Point, WI) 4/?/87 Performing Arts Series, Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, BT, AO University of Wisconsin- after the JC Stevens Point works of (Stevens Point, WI) John Cage 4/?/87 Performing Arts Series, Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, BT, AO University of Wisconsin- Toru JC Stevens Point (Stevens Point, WI)

548

4/7/87 Percussion Group Rzewski, Force AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Frederic JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/7/87 Percussion Group Udow, Four AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Michael Movements for JC Auditorium, University of Percussion Cincinnati Trio (Cincinnati, OH) 4/7/87 Percussion Group Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Frederic de Panurge JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/7/87 Percussion Group Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Spiritual JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 5/15/87 Monthly Concert Series, Cage, John Amores AO, BT, AO, BT Department of Fine and JC Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 5/15/87 Monthly Concert Series, collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO, BT Department of Fine and News Today, JC Performing Arts, Oh Boy! Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 5/15/87 Monthly Concert Series, Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, BT Department of Fine and Frederic de Panurge JC Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 5/15/87 Monthly Concert Series, Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Department of Fine and Spiritual JC Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 5/15/87 Monthly Concert Series, Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, BT, AO, BT Department of Fine and after the JC Performing Arts, works of Christopher Newport John Cage College (Newport News, VA)

549

5/15/87 Monthly Concert Series, Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, BT, AO, BT Department of Fine and Toru JC Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA) 5/24/87 Service of Music by Dr. Albright, Take That AO, BT, AO William Albright, First William JC Unitarian Church (Cincinnati, OH) 7/17/87 Oberlin Percussion Cage, John Amores AO, BT, AO, BT Institute, Warner Concert JC Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/17/87 Oberlin Percussion arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT Institute, Warner Concert Percussion JC Hall, Oberlin College Group (Oberlin, OH) Cincinnati 7/17/87 Oberlin Percussion collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO, BT Institute, Warner Concert News Today, JC Hall, Oberlin College Oh Boy! (Oberlin, OH) 7/17/87 Oberlin Percussion Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Institute, Warner Concert Spiritual JC Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/17/87 Oberlin Percussion Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, BT, AO, BT Institute, Warner Concert after the JC Hall, Oberlin College works of (Oberlin, OH) John Cage 7/17/87 Oberlin Percussion Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, BT, AO, BT Institute, Warner Concert Toru JC Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/17/87 Oberlin Percussion Albright, Take That AO, BT, AO, BT Institute, Warner Concert William JC Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/24/87 Lancaster Festival, Zane ? ? AO, BT, AO Square Bandstand JC (Lancaster, OH) 8/26/87 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, BT, AO Student Union, ? (?) JC 9/18/87 Detroit Institute of Arts collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO, BT 20th-Century Retrospective: News Today, JC The Relationship between Oh Boy! Composer and Performer, Recital Hall, Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI)

550

9/18/87 Detroit Institute of Arts Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT 20th-Century Retrospective: Music JC The Relationship between Composer and Performer, Recital Hall, Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI) 9/18/87 Detroit Institute of Arts Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT 20th-Century Retrospective: Spiritual JC The Relationship between Composer and Performer, Recital Hall, Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI) 9/18/87 Detroit Institute of Arts Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, BT, AO, BT 20th-Century Retrospective: after the JC The Relationship between works of Composer and Performer, John Cage Recital Hall, Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI) 9/18/87 Detroit Institute of Arts Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, BT, AO, BT 20th-Century Retrospective: Toru JC The Relationship between Composer and Performer, Recital Hall, Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI) 9/18/87 Detroit Institute of Arts Albright, Take That AO, BT, AO, BT 20th-Century Retrospective: William JC The Relationship between Composer and Performer, Recital Hall, Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI) 9/19/87 Fallfare ’87, arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT Kerrytown Concert House Percussion JC (Ann Arbor, MI) Group Cincinnati 9/19/87 Fallfare ’87, Albright, Daydream AO, BT, William AO, BT Kerrytown Concert House William JC Albright, (Ann Arbor, MI) piano

9/19/87 Fallfare ’87, Udow, Four AO, BT, AO, BT Kerrytown Concert House Michael Movements for JC (Ann Arbor, MI) Percussion Trio 9/19/87 Fallfare ’87, collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO, BT Kerrytown Concert House News Today, JC (Ann Arbor, MI) Oh Boy! 9/19/87 Fallfare ’87, Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Kerrytown Concert House Spiritual JC (Ann Arbor, MI)

551

9/19/87 Fallfare ’87, Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, BT, AO, BT Kerrytown Concert House after the JC (Ann Arbor, MI) works of John Cage 9/19/87 Fallfare ’87, Albright, Take That AO, BT, AO, BT Kerrytown Concert House William JC (Ann Arbor, MI) 9/19/87 Fallfare ’87, Green, Two AO, BT, Percy AO, BT Kerrytown Concert House George Xylophone JC Danforth, (Ann Arbor, MI) Hamilton Rags bones

9/25/87 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO Cincinnati Recital, Percussion JC Krasl Art Center Group (St. Joseph, MI) Cincinnati 9/25/87 Percussion Group Udow, Four AO, BT, AO Cincinnati Recital, Michael Movements for JC Krasl Art Center Percussion (St. Joseph, MI) Trio 9/25/87 Percussion Group collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO Cincinnati Recital, News Today, JC Krasl Art Center Oh Boy! (St. Joseph, MI) 9/25/87 Percussion Group Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO Cincinnati Recital, Frederic de Panurge JC Krasl Art Center (St. Joseph, MI) 9/25/87 Percussion Group Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO Cincinnati Recital, Spiritual JC Krasl Art Center (St. Joseph, MI) 9/25/87 Percussion Group Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, BT, AO Cincinnati Recital, JC Krasl Art Center (St. Joseph, MI) 9/25/87 Percussion Group Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, BT, AO Cincinnati Recital, after the JC Krasl Art Center works of (St. Joseph, MI) John Cage 9/26/87 Fine Arts Series 1987–88, arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO Moench Hall Auditorium, Percussion JC Rose-Hulman Institute of Group Technology Cincinnati (Terre Haute, IN) 9/26/87 Fine Arts Series 1987–88, collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO Moench Hall Auditorium, News Today, JC Rose-Hulman Institute of Oh Boy! Technology (Terre Haute, IN) 9/26/87 Fine Arts Series 1987–88, Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO Moench Hall Auditorium, Spiritual JC Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, IN)

552

9/26/87 Fine Arts Series 1987–88, Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, BT, AO Moench Hall Auditorium, JC Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, IN) 9/26/87 Fine Arts Series 1987–88, Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, BT, AO Moench Hall Auditorium, after the JC Rose-Hulman Institute of works of Technology John Cage (Terre Haute, IN) 9/26/87 Fine Arts Series 1987–88, ? Ragtime AO, BT, AO Moench Hall Auditorium, Xylophone JC Rose-Hulman Institute of Selections Technology (Terre Haute, IN) 9/26/87 Fine Arts Series 1987–88, Albright, Take That AO, BT, AO Moench Hall Auditorium, William JC Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, IN) 9/28/87 ?, Music Building collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO Auditorium, ? News Today, JC (?) Oh Boy!

9/28/87 ?, Music Building Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO Auditorium, ? Music JC (?) 9/28/87 ?, Music Building Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO Auditorium, ? Spiritual JC (?) 9/28/87 ?, Music Building Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, BT, AO Auditorium, ? after the JC (?) works of John Cage 9/29/87 Continental Illinois ? ? AO, BT, AO Concert, WFMT Studio JC (Chicago, IL) 10/6/87 Percussion Group Albright, Daydream AO, BT, Jennifer AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett William JC Stasack, Auditorium, University of piano Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/6/87 Percussion Group Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Music JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/6/87 Percussion Group Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Spiritual JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

553

10/6/87 Percussion Group Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/6/87 Percussion Group ? Ragtime and AO, BT, Percy AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Vaudeville JC Danforth, Auditorium, University of Xylophone bones Cincinnati Selections (Cincinnati, OH) 10/6/87 Percussion Group Garland, Three Songs of AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Peter Mad Coyote JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/19/87 Cultural Arts Series, SIC arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO Auditorium, Southeastern Percussion JC Illinois College Group (Harrisburg, IL) Cincinnati 10/19/87 Cultural Arts Series, SIC Udow, Four AO, BT, AO Auditorium, Southeastern Michael Movements for JC Illinois College Percussion (Harrisburg, IL) Trio 10/19/87 Cultural Arts Series, SIC collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO Auditorium, Southeastern News Today, JC Illinois College Oh Boy! (Harrisburg, IL) 10/19/87 Cultural Arts Series, SIC Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO Auditorium, Southeastern Music JC Illinois College (Harrisburg, IL) 10/19/87 Cultural Arts Series, SIC Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO Auditorium, Southeastern Spiritual JC Illinois College (Harrisburg, IL) 10/19/87 Cultural Arts Series, SIC Ishii, Maki Marimbastück AO, BT, AO Auditorium, Southeastern JC Illinois College (Harrisburg, IL) 10/19/87 Cultural Arts Series, SIC ? Ragtime AO, BT, AO Auditorium, Southeastern Xylophone JC Illinois College Selections (Harrisburg, IL) 10/19/87 Cultural Arts Series, SIC Albright, Take That AO, BT, AO Auditorium, Southeastern William JC Illinois College (Harrisburg, IL) 10/28/87 1987 Percussive Arts Brün, Herbert “at loose ends: AO, BT, Frank AO Society International JC, RB Weinstock, Convention, Adam’s Mark piano Hotel (St. Louis, MO) 12/31/87 Countdown to 1988, ? ? AO, BT, AO Fountain Square JC (Cincinnati, OH)

554

1/2/88 Memorial Service for Garland, Apple Blossom AO, BT, AO Susan C. Hamilton, St. Peter JC John’s Unitarian Church (Cincinnati, OH) 1/2/88 Memorial Service for Kramer, Five Studies AO, BT, AO Susan C. Hamilton, St. Jonathan on Six Notes JC John’s Unitarian Church (Cincinnati, OH) 1/12/88 Percussion Music of Brün, Herbert “at loose ends: AO, BT, Frank AO, BT Herbert Brün, in JC, RB Weinstock, Anticipation of his 70th piano Birthday, Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/12/88 Percussion Music of Brün, Herbert “Just Seven for JC AO, BT Herbert Brün, in Drum” from Anticipation of his 70th The Noble Birthday, Corbett Snare Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/12/88 Percussion Music of Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, BT, AO, BT Herbert Brün, in with JC Anticipation of his 70th Percussion Birthday, Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/12/88 Percussion Music of Kagel, Pas de Trois AO, BT, AO, BT Herbert Brün, in Mauricio; arr. JC Anticipation of his 70th Allen Otte Birthday, Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/12/88 Percussion Music of Brün, Herbert Plot for AO AO, BT Herbert Brün, in Percussion Anticipation of his 70th Birthday, Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/1/88 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, BT, AO Lakeview Middle School JC (Cortland, OH) 2/2/88 Music from Scratch, H. C. ? ? AO, BT, AO Mines Elementary School JC (Warren, OH) 2/2/88 Music from Scratch, St. ? ? AO, BT, AO Charles Elementary School JC (Boardman, OH) 2/2/88 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, BT, AO Warren Public Library JC (Warren, OH)

555

2/3/88 Music from Scratch, E. J. ? ? AO, BT, AO Blott Elementary JC (Youngstown, OH) 2/3/88 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, BT, AO Mineral Ridge High School JC (Mineral Ridge, OH) 2/3/88 Music from Scratch, North ? ? AO, BT, AO Road Elementary JC (Warren, OH) 2/4/88 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, BT, AO Lordstown Elementary JC School (Warren, OH) 2/4/88 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, BT, AO Lordstown High School JC (Warren, OH) 2/4/88 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, BT, AO Seaborn Elementary JC School (Mineral Ridge, OH) 2/4/88 Music at Uncle Willy’s ? ? AO, BT, AO Pub, in coordination with JC the Kent State University Trumbull Campus Student Affairs Office (Warren, OH) 2/5/88 Music from Scratch, St. ? ? AO, BT, AO James Elementary School JC (Warren, OH) 2/5/88 Music from Scratch, St. ? ? AO, BT, AO Mary's Middle School JC (Warren, OH) 2/20/88 CCM Philharmonia Samuel, As AO, BT, premiere AO, BT Orchestra, Corbett Gerhard Imperceptibly JC Auditorium, University of as Grief, for Cincinnati Small (Cincinnati, OH) Orchestra and Percussion Soloists 2/26/88 Music and Lecture Series, arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO Science Hall Octorium, Percussion JC Bethel College Group (Mishawaka, IN) Cincinnati 2/26/88 Music and Lecture Series, collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO Science Hall Octorium, News Today, JC Bethel College Oh Boy! (Mishawaka, IN) 2/26/88 Music and Lecture Series, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO Science Hall Octorium, JC Bethel College (Mishawaka, IN) 2/26/88 Music and Lecture Series, Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO Science Hall Octorium, Music JC Bethel College (Mishawaka, IN)

556

2/26/88 Music and Lecture Series, Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO Science Hall Octorium, Spiritual JC Bethel College (Mishawaka, IN) 2/26/88 Music and Lecture Series, ? ragtime and AO, BT, AO Science Hall Octorium, vaudeville JC Bethel College xylophone (Mishawaka, IN) selections 2/?/88 CCM Presents the Wind Colgrass, Déjà vu AO, BT, Greg Secor, BT Symphony, Corbett Michael JC percussion Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/?/88 CCM Presents the Wind Cage, John Third AO, BT, Christopher BT Symphony, Corbett Construction JC Deane, Auditorium, University of percussion Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 3/3/88 University of Akron arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT School of Music Presents Percussion JC the Percussion Group, Group Guzzetta Recital Hall, Cincinnati University of Akron (Akron, OH) 3/3/88 University of Akron Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT School of Music Presents of Imaginary JC the Percussion Group, Beings: “The Guzzetta Recital Hall, Fauna of University of Akron Mirrors” (Akron, OH) 3/3/88 University of Akron Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, BT School of Music Presents Frederic de Panurge JC the Percussion Group, Guzzetta Recital Hall, University of Akron (Akron, OH) 3/3/88 University of Akron Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT School of Music Presents Music JC the Percussion Group, Guzzetta Recital Hall, University of Akron (Akron, OH) 3/3/88 University of Akron Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT School of Music Presents Spiritual JC the Percussion Group, Guzzetta Recital Hall, University of Akron (Akron, OH) 3/3/88 University of Akron Kagel, Pas de Trois AO, BT, AO, BT School of Music Presents Mauricio; arr. JC the Percussion Group, Allen Otte Guzzetta Recital Hall, University of Akron (Akron, OH)

557

3/13/88 Bray Concert Series, Flint arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, Percy AO, BT Institute of Arts Percussion JC Danforth (Flint, MI) Group listed in Cincinnati program as “guest artist.” Ragtime pieces may have appeared in place of Chilean Songs. 3/13/88 Bray Concert Series, Flint Udow, Four AO, BT, AO, BT Institute of Arts Michael Movements for JC (Flint, MI) Percussion Trio 3/13/88 Bray Concert Series, Flint Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT Institute of Arts of Imaginary JC (Flint, MI) Beings: “The Fauna of Mirrors” 3/13/88 Bray Concert Series, Flint collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO, BT Institute of Arts News Today, JC (Flint, MI) Oh Boy! 3/13/88 Bray Concert Series, Flint Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT Institute of Arts Music JC (Flint, MI) 3/13/88 Bray Concert Series, Flint Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Institute of Arts Spiritual JC (Flint, MI) 3/18/88 The Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati in Concert, Percussion JC Prairie Performing Arts Group Center Cincinnati (Racine, WI) 3/18/88 The Percussion Group Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati in Concert, of Imaginary JC Prairie Performing Arts Beings: “The Center Fauna of (Racine, WI) Mirrors” 3/18/88 The Percussion Group Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati in Concert, Music JC Prairie Performing Arts Center (Racine, WI) 3/18/88 The Percussion Group Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati in Concert, Spiritual JC Prairie Performing Arts Center (Racine, WI) 3/18/88 The Percussion Group ? Ragtime and AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati in Concert, Vaudeville JC Prairie Performing Arts Xylophone Center Selections (Racine, WI)

558

3/18/88 The Percussion Group Kowalski, Rebus AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati in Concert, Michael JC Prairie Performing Arts Center (Racine, WI) 3/24/88 Minnesota Public Radio’s arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO Live from Landmark, Percussion JC Landmark Center Group (Saint Paul, MN) Cincinnati 3/24/88 Minnesota Public Radio’s Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO Live from Landmark, of Imaginary JC Landmark Center Beings: “The (Saint Paul, MN) Fauna of Mirrors” 3/24/88 Minnesota Public Radio’s Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO Live from Landmark, Music JC Landmark Center (Saint Paul, MN) 3/26/88 Music from Scratch as part ? ? AO, BT, AO, BT of the Walker Young Artist JC Series, Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN) 3/26/88 Walker Arts Center arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion Percussion JC Group/Cincinnati, Group Walker Art Center Cincinnati Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 3/26/88 Walker Arts Center Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion of Imaginary JC Group/Cincinnati, Beings: “The Walker Art Center Fauna of Auditorium Mirrors” (Minneapolis, MN) 3/26/88 Walker Arts Center Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion Music JC Group/Cincinnati, Walker Art Center Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 3/26/88 Walker Arts Center Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion Spiritual JC Group/Cincinnati, Walker Art Center Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 3/26/88 Walker Arts Center Kagel, Pas de Trois AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion Mauricio; arr. JC Group/Cincinnati, Allen Otte Walker Art Center Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN)

559

3/26/88 Walker Arts Center Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion after the JC Group/Cincinnati, works of Walker Art Center John Cage Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 3/26/88 Walker Arts Center Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion Toru JC Group/Cincinnati, Walker Art Center Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 3/27/88 Walker Arts Center arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion Percussion JC Group/Cincinnati, Group Walker Art Center Cincinnati Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 3/27/88 Walker Arts Center Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion of Imaginary JC Group/Cincinnati, Beings: “The Walker Art Center Fauna of Auditorium Mirrors” (Minneapolis, MN) 3/27/88 Walker Arts Center Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion Music JC Group/Cincinnati, Walker Art Center Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 3/27/88 Walker Arts Center Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion Spiritual JC Group/Cincinnati, Walker Art Center Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 3/27/88 Walker Arts Center Kagel, Pas de Trois AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion Mauricio; arr. JC Group/Cincinnati, Allen Otte Walker Art Center Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 3/27/88 Walker Arts Center Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion after the JC Group/Cincinnati, works of Walker Art Center John Cage Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 3/27/88 Walker Arts Center Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion Toru JC Group/Cincinnati, Walker Art Center Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN)

560

3/31/88 Eleventh Annual Big Stasack, This Unsought AO, BT, Constance AO Green Machine, Patricia Jennifer Dominion JC DeFotis, Corbett Theater, University mezzo- of Cincinnati soprano; (Cincinnati, OH) Barry Green, double bass 4/7/88 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Percussion JC Auditorium, University of Group Cincinnati Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/7/88 Percussion Group DeFotis, Continuous AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett William Showing JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/7/88 Percussion Group Cage, John Credo in US AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/7/88 Percussion Group Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett of Imaginary JC Auditorium, University of Beings: “The Cincinnati Fauna of (Cincinnati, OH) Mirrors” 4/7/88 Percussion Group Kowalski, Rebus AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Michael JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/7/88 Percussion Group Stasack, This Unsought AO, BT, Constance AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Jennifer Dominion JC DeFotis, Auditorium, University of mezzo- Cincinnati soprano; (Cincinnati, OH) Barry Green, string bass 4/16/88 Thompson Concert Series, arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT Brooks-Rogers Recital Percussion JC Hall, Bernhard Music Group Center, Williams College Cincinnati (Williamstown, MA) 4/16/88 Thompson Concert Series, Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT Brooks-Rogers Recital of Imaginary JC Hall, Bernhard Music Beings: “The Center, Williams College Fauna of (Williamstown, MA) Mirrors” 4/16/88 Thompson Concert Series, Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT Brooks-Rogers Recital Music JC Hall, Bernhard Music Center, Williams College (Williamstown, MA)

561

4/16/88 Thompson Concert Series, Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Brooks-Rogers Recital Spiritual JC Hall, Bernhard Music Center, Williams College (Williamstown, MA) 4/16/88 Thompson Concert Series, Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, BT, AO, BT Brooks-Rogers Recital Toru JC Hall, Bernhard Music Center, Williams College (Williamstown, MA) 4/16/88 Thompson Concert Series, Kowalski, Rebus AO, BT, AO, BT Brooks-Rogers Recital Michael JC Hall, Bernhard Music Center, Williams College (Williamstown, MA) 5/5/88 For and By Herbert Brün, Brün, Herbert “at loose ends: AO, BT, Frank AO Krannert Center for the JC, RB Weinstock, Performing Arts, piano University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Urbana, IL) 5/5/88 For and By Herbert Brün, Brün, Herbert Plot for AO AO Krannert Center for the Percussion Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Urbana, IL) 5/7/88 Cincinnati Composers’ Sweidel, Bucky’s View AO, BT, Jennifer AO, BT Guild Presents “A Martin JC Stasack and Retrospective: Our First James Ten Years,” Contemporary Rosenberger, Arts Center narrators (Cincinnati, OH) 5/7/88 Cincinnati Composers’ Saya, Mark Murphy AO AO, BT Guild Presents “A Sonata Retrospective: Our First Ten Years,” Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) 6/15/88 Summerdance ’88, Ordway Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO Music Theater of Imaginary JC (Saint Paul, MN) Beings: “The Fauna of Mirrors” 6/16/88 Summerdance ’88, Ordway Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO Music Theater of Imaginary JC (Saint Paul, MN) Beings: “The Fauna of Mirrors” 7/15/88 Oberlin Percussion Brün, Herbert “at loose ends: AO, BT, Frank AO Institute, Warner Concert JC, RB Weinstock, Hall, Oberlin College piano (Oberlin, OH)

562

7/15/88 Oberlin Percussion arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO Institute, Warner Concert Percussion JC Hall, Oberlin College Group (Oberlin, OH) Cincinnati 7/15/88 Oberlin Percussion Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO Institute, Warner Concert of Imaginary JC Hall, Oberlin College Beings: “The (Oberlin, OH) Fauna of Mirrors” 7/15/88 Oberlin Percussion Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO Institute, Warner Concert Frederic de Panurge JC Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/15/88 Oberlin Percussion Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO Institute, Warner Concert Music JC Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/15/88 Oberlin Percussion Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO Institute, Warner Concert Spiritual JC Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/30/88 Fermilab Arts Series Johnson, Dill Pickles AO, BT, AO, BT Presents “Fascinatin’ Charles JC Rhythms: A Showcase of Percussion Ensembles,” Wilson Hall (Batavia, IL) 7/30/88 Fermilab Arts Series Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT Presents “Fascinatin’ of Imaginary JC Rhythms: A Showcase of Beings: “The Percussion Ensembles,” Fauna of Wilson Hall Mirrors” (Batavia, IL) 7/30/88 Fermilab Arts Series Green, Jovial Jasper AO, BT, AO, BT Presents “Fascinatin’ George JC Rhythms: A Showcase of Hamilton Percussion Ensembles,” Wilson Hall (Batavia, IL) 7/30/88 Fermilab Arts Series Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT Presents “Fascinatin’ Music JC Rhythms: A Showcase of Percussion Ensembles,” Wilson Hall (Batavia, IL) 7/30/88 Fermilab Arts Series Green, Log Cabin AO, BT, AO, BT Presents “Fascinatin’ George Blues JC Rhythms: A Showcase of Hamilton Percussion Ensembles,” Wilson Hall (Batavia, IL)

563

7/30/88 Fermilab Arts Series Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Presents “Fascinatin’ Spiritual JC Rhythms: A Showcase of Percussion Ensembles,” Wilson Hall (Batavia, IL) 7/30/88 Fermilab Arts Series Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, BT, AO, BT Presents “Fascinatin’ Toru JC Rhythms: A Showcase of Percussion Ensembles,” Wilson Hall (Batavia, IL) 7/30/88 Ravinia ’88 Young ? ? AO, BT, AO People’s Program, Pavilion JC at Ravinia (Highland Park, IL) 9/11/88 The Percussion Group Cage, John Credo in US AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati, John Michael JC Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) 9/11/88 The Percussion Group Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati, John Michael of Imaginary JC Kohler Arts Center Beings: “The (Sheboygan, WI) Fauna of Mirrors” 9/11/88 The Percussion Group collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati, John Michael News Today, JC Kohler Arts Center Oh Boy! (Sheboygan, WI) 9/11/88 The Percussion Group Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati, John Michael Frederic de Panurge JC Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) 9/11/88 The Percussion Group Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati, John Michael Music JC Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) 9/11/88 The Percussion Group Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati, John Michael after the JC Kohler Arts Center works of (Sheboygan, WI) John Cage 10/3/88 The Noble Snare Concert, Brün, Herbert “Just Seven for JC AO, BT Marymount Manhattan Drum” from Theater The Noble (New York, NY) Snare 10/3/88 The Noble Snare Concert, Childs, “Blazer” from BT AO, BT Marymount Manhattan Barney The Noble Theater Snare (New York, NY) 10/3/88 The Noble Snare Concert, Otte, Allen “What the AO AO, BT Marymount Manhattan Snare Drum Theater Tells Me” (New York, NY) from The Noble Snare

564

10/3/88 The Noble Snare Concert, Senn, Daniel “Peeping JC AO, BT Marymount Manhattan Tom” from Theater The Noble (New York, NY) Snare 10/9/88 Time Arts Performance Childs, “Blazer” from BT AO, BT Series and the Ball State Barney The Noble University School of Music Snare Present the University of Cincinnati Percussion Group, First Presbyterian Church (Muncie, IN) 10/9/88 Time Arts Performance Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT Series and the Ball State of Imaginary JC University School of Music Beings: “The Present the University of Fauna of Cincinnati Percussion Mirrors” Group, First Presbyterian Church (Muncie, IN) 10/9/88 Time Arts Performance Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT Series and the Ball State Landscape No. JC University School of Music 2 Present the University of Cincinnati Percussion Group, First Presbyterian Church (Muncie, IN) 10/9/88 Time Arts Performance Brün, Herbert “Just Seven for JC AO, BT Series and the Ball State Drum” from University School of Music The Noble Present the University of Snare Cincinnati Percussion Group, First Presbyterian Church (Muncie, IN) 10/9/88 Time Arts Performance Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, BT Series and the Ball State Frederic de Panurge JC University School of Music Present the University of Cincinnati Percussion Group, First Presbyterian Church (Muncie, IN) 10/9/88 Time Arts Performance Smith, Stuart Links No. 5: AO, BT, AO, BT Series and the Ball State Saunders Sitting on the JC University School of Music Edge of Present the University of Nothing Cincinnati Percussion Group, First Presbyterian Church (Muncie, IN)

565

10/9/88 Time Arts Performance Senn, Daniel “Peeping JC AO, BT Series and the Ball State Tom” from University School of Music The Noble Present the University of Snare Cincinnati Percussion Group, First Presbyterian Church (Muncie, IN) 10/9/88 Time Arts Performance Smith, Stuart Return and AO, BT, AO, BT Series and the Ball State Saunders Recall with JC University School of Music some of Songs Present the University of I–IX Cincinnati Percussion Group, First Presbyterian Church (Muncie, IN) 10/9/88 Time Arts Performance Otte, Allen “What the AO AO, BT Series and the Ball State Snare Drum University School of Music Tells Me” Present the University of from The Cincinnati Percussion Noble Snare Group, First Presbyterian Church (Muncie, IN) 10/11/88 Percussion Group Hoffman, 26 x 3 for 3 AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Joel (and E. C. at JC Auditorium, University of 80) Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/11/88 Percussion Group Childs, “Blazer” from BT AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Barney The Noble Auditorium, University of Snare Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/11/88 Percussion Group Carter, Elliott Canon For 3 AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/11/88 Percussion Group Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Landscape No. JC Auditorium, University of 2 Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/11/88 Percussion Group Brün, Herbert “Just Seven for JC AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Drum” from Auditorium, University of The Noble Cincinnati Snare (Cincinnati, OH) 10/11/88 Percussion Group Smith, Stuart Links No. 5: AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Saunders Sitting on the JC Auditorium, University of Edge of Cincinnati Nothing (Cincinnati, OH)

566

10/11/88 Percussion Group Senn, Daniel “Peeping JC AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Tom” from Auditorium, University of The Noble Cincinnati Snare (Cincinnati, OH) 10/11/88 Percussion Group Smith, Stuart Return and AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Saunders Recall with JC Auditorium, University of some of Songs Cincinnati I–IX (Cincinnati, OH) 10/11/88 Percussion Group Otte, Allen “What the AO AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Snare Drum Auditorium, University of Tells Me” Cincinnati from The (Cincinnati, OH) Noble Snare 10/18/88 Greensboro Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, BT, premiere; AO, BT Orchestra, War Memorial the Grandeur JC GSO; Paul Auditorium Anthony (Greensboro, NC) McRae, conductor 10/21/88 Music of the Spheres arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion Percussion JC Group/Cincinnati, St. Group Mark’s Church Cincinnati (Washington, DC) 10/21/88 Music of the Spheres Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion of Imaginary JC Group/Cincinnati, St. Beings: “The Mark’s Church Fauna of (Washington, DC) Mirrors” 10/21/88 Music of the Spheres Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion Frederic de Panurge JC Group/Cincinnati, St. Mark’s Church (Washington, DC) 10/21/88 Music of the Spheres Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion Music JC Group/Cincinnati, St. Mark’s Church (Washington, DC) 10/21/88 Music of the Spheres Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion Spiritual JC Group/Cincinnati, St. Mark’s Church (Washington, DC) 10/21/88 Music of the Spheres Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion after the JC Group/Cincinnati, St. works of Mark’s Church John Cage (Washington, DC) 10/21/88 Music of the Spheres Smith, Stuart Return and AO, BT, AO, BT Presents the Percussion Saunders Recall JC Group/Cincinnati, St. Mark’s Church (Washington, DC)

567

11/6/88 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati, Ruth and Percussion JC Wellman Bowman Group Auditorium, Ohio Cincinnati University Southern Campus (Ironton, OH) 11/6/88 Percussion Group Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati, Ruth and of Imaginary JC Wellman Bowman Beings: “The Auditorium, Ohio Fauna of University Southern Mirrors” Campus (Ironton, OH) 11/6/88 Percussion Group Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati, Ruth and Landscape No. JC Wellman Bowman 2 Auditorium, Ohio University Southern Campus (Ironton, OH) 11/6/88 Percussion Group Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati, Ruth and Music JC Wellman Bowman Auditorium, Ohio University Southern Campus (Ironton, OH) 11/6/88 Percussion Group Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati, Ruth and Spiritual JC Wellman Bowman Auditorium, Ohio University Southern Campus (Ironton, OH) 11/6/88 Percussion Group ? ragtime and AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati, Ruth and vaudeville JC Wellman Bowman xylophone Auditorium, Ohio selections University Southern Campus (Ironton, OH) 11/6/88 Percussion Group Medley, Shadow AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati, Ruth and Steven C. Chaser JC Wellman Bowman Auditorium, Ohio University Southern Campus (Ironton, OH)

568

11/11/88 Kenyon College and the arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO George Gund Foundation Percussion JC Present the Percussion Group Group/Cincinnati, Rosse Cincinnati Hall Auditorium, Kenyon College (Gambier, OH) 11/11/88 Kenyon College and the Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO George Gund Foundation of Imaginary JC Present the Percussion Beings: “The Group/Cincinnati, Rosse Fauna of Hall Auditorium, Kenyon Mirrors” College (Gambier, OH) 11/11/88 Kenyon College and the Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO George Gund Foundation Landscape No. JC Present the Percussion 2 Group/Cincinnati, Rosse Hall Auditorium, Kenyon College (Gambier, OH) 11/11/88 Kenyon College and the Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO George Gund Foundation Frederic de Panurge JC Present the Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Rosse Hall Auditorium, Kenyon College (Gambier, OH) 11/11/88 Kenyon College and the Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO George Gund Foundation Music JC Present the Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Rosse Hall Auditorium, Kenyon College (Gambier, OH) 11/11/88 Kenyon College and the Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO George Gund Foundation Spiritual JC Present the Percussion Group/Cincinnati, Rosse Hall Auditorium, Kenyon College (Gambier, OH) 11/13/88 West Liberty Concert Bartók, Béla Sonata for AO, JC Elizabeth and AO Series Presents the Two Pianos Eugene Pridonoff Duo and the and Pridonoff, Percussion Group Percussion pianos Cincinnati, College Hall, West Liberty State College (West Liberty, WV)

569

11/13/88 West Liberty Concert Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO Series Presents the Music JC Pridonoff Duo and the Percussion Group Cincinnati, College Hall, West Liberty State College (West Liberty, WV) 11/13/88 West Liberty Concert Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO Series Presents the Spiritual JC Pridonoff Duo and the Percussion Group Cincinnati, College Hall, West Liberty State College (West Liberty, WV) 11/19/88 Cincinnati Composers’ Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO Guild Presents “Strange of Imaginary JC Bedfellows,” Beings: “The Contemporary Arts Center Fauna of (Cincinnati, OH) Mirrors” 11/19/88 Cincinnati Composers’ Chin, Kyu- Myung-Sang AO, BT, Keri Walters, AO Guild Presents “Strange yung JC soprano Bedfellows,” Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) 11/19/88 Cincinnati Composers’ Medley, Shadow AO, BT, AO Guild Presents “Strange Steven C. Chaser JC Bedfellows,” Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) 12/31/88 Countdown to 1989, Dixie ? ? AO, BT, AO Terminal at 4th and Walnut JC Streets (Cincinnati, OH) 1/17/89 Percussion Group Vees, Jack Consonant AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Music JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/17/89 Percussion Group Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Part I JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/17/89 Percussion Group Bowers, Listen to the AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Stacey Rolling JC Auditorium, University of Thunder Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/17/89 Percussion Group Bianchi, Max Roach AO, BT, premiere AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Frederick Variations JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

570

1/17/89 Percussion Group Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Karlheinz JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/20/89 Cincinnati Celebrates Elliot Hoffman, 26 x 3 for 3 AO, BT, AO Carter's Eightieth, Corbett Joel (and E. C. at JC Auditorium, University of 80) Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/20/89 Cincinnati Celebrates Elliot Carter, Elliott Canon For 3 AO, BT, AO Carter's Eightieth, Corbett JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/8/89 ?, ? ? ? AO, BT, JC (Terre Haute, IN) JC 2/12/89 ?, Contemporary Arts ? ? AO, BT, JC Center JC (Cincinnati, OH) 2/25/89 Unity Temple Concert arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT, Series Percussion JC JC (Oak Park, IL) Group Cincinnati 2/25/89 Unity Temple Concert Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT, Series Landscape No. JC JC (Oak Park, IL) 2 2/25/89 Unity Temple Concert Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT, Series JC JC (Oak Park, IL) 2/25/89 Unity Temple Concert Bowers, Listen to the AO, BT, AO, BT, Series Stacey Rolling JC JC (Oak Park, IL) Thunder 2/25/89 Unity Temple Concert Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT, Series Music JC JC (Oak Park, IL) 2/25/89 Unity Temple Concert Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT, Series Spiritual JC JC (Oak Park, IL) 3/14/89 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, BT, JC (Dayton, OH) JC 3/15/89 University of Dayton Arts arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT Series, Boll Theatre Percussion JC (Dayton, OH) Group Cincinnati 3/15/89 University of Dayton Arts Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT Series, Boll Theatre Landscape No. JC (Dayton, OH) 2 3/15/89 University of Dayton Arts Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT Series, Boll Theatre JC (Dayton, OH) 3/15/89 University of Dayton Arts Bowers, Listen to the AO, BT, AO, BT Series, Boll Theatre Stacey Rolling JC (Dayton, OH) Thunder

571

3/15/89 University of Dayton Arts Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT Series, Boll Theatre Music JC (Dayton, OH) 3/15/89 University of Dayton Arts Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Series, Boll Theatre Spiritual JC (Dayton, OH) 3/31/89 College of William and arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, JC Mary Concert Series, Phi Percussion JC Beta Kappa Memorial Hall Group (Williamsburg, VA) Cincinnati 3/31/89 College of William and DeFotis, Continuous AO, BT, AO, JC Mary Concert Series, Phi William Showing JC Beta Kappa Memorial Hall (Williamsburg, VA) 3/31/89 College of William and Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, BT, AO, JC Mary Concert Series, Phi Part I JC Beta Kappa Memorial Hall (Williamsburg, VA) 3/31/89 College of William and Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, JC Mary Concert Series, Phi Landscape No. JC Beta Kappa Memorial Hall 2 (Williamsburg, VA) 3/31/89 College of William and Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, JC Mary Concert Series, Phi Frederic de Panurge JC Beta Kappa Memorial Hall (Williamsburg, VA) 3/31/89 College of William and Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, JC Mary Concert Series, Phi Music JC Beta Kappa Memorial Hall (Williamsburg, VA) 3/31/89 College of William and Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, JC Mary Concert Series, Phi Spiritual JC Beta Kappa Memorial Hall (Williamsburg, VA) 4/4/89 ?, Croswell Opera House ? ? AO, BT, JC (Adrian, MI) JC 4/5/89 Musical Events Series, arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT, Rudolph Ganz Memorial Percussion JC JC Hall, Roosevelt University Group (Roosevelt University) Cincinnati 4/5/89 Musical Events Series, Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, BT, AO, BT, Rudolph Ganz Memorial Part I JC JC Hall, Roosevelt University (Roosevelt University) 4/5/89 Musical Events Series, Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT, Rudolph Ganz Memorial Music JC JC Hall, Roosevelt University (Roosevelt University) 4/5/89 Musical Events Series, Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT, Rudolph Ganz Memorial Spiritual JC JC Hall, Roosevelt University (Roosevelt University)

572

4/6/89 Student Activities Concert arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, JC Series, Room P205, Harper Percussion JC College Group (Palatine, IL) Cincinnati 4/6/89 Student Activities Concert Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, BT, AO, JC Series, Room P205, Harper Part I JC College (Palatine, IL) 4/6/89 Student Activities Concert Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, JC Series, Room P205, Harper Music JC College (Palatine, IL) 4/6/89 Student Activities Concert Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, JC Series, Room P205, Harper Spiritual JC College (Palatine, IL) 4/7/89 Springfare ’89, Kerrytown arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert House Percussion JC JC (Ann Arbor, MI) Group Cincinnati 4/7/89 Springfare ’89, Kerrytown Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert House Part I JC JC (Ann Arbor, MI) 4/7/89 Springfare ’89, Kerrytown Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert House Landscape No. JC JC (Ann Arbor, MI) 2 4/7/89 Springfare ’89, Kerrytown Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert House Frederic de Panurge JC JC (Ann Arbor, MI) 4/7/89 Springfare ’89, Kerrytown Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert House Music JC JC (Ann Arbor, MI) 4/7/89 Springfare ’89, Kerrytown Smith, Stuart Return and AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert House Saunders Recall with JC JC (Ann Arbor, MI) some of Songs I–IX 4/9/89 Schomburg Series, arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, BT, JC Schomburg Auditorium, Percussion JC Defiance College Group (Defiance, OH) Cincinnati 4/9/89 Schomburg Series, Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, BT, JC Schomburg Auditorium, of Imaginary JC Defiance College Beings: “The (Defiance, OH) Fauna of Mirrors” 4/9/89 Schomburg Series, Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, BT, JC Schomburg Auditorium, Landscape No. JC Defiance College 2 (Defiance, OH) 4/9/89 Schomburg Series, Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, BT, JC Schomburg Auditorium, Frederic de Panurge JC Defiance College (Defiance, OH)

573

4/9/89 Schomburg Series, Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, BT, JC Schomburg Auditorium, Music JC Defiance College (Defiance, OH) 4/9/89 Schomburg Series, Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, BT, JC Schomburg Auditorium, Spiritual JC Defiance College (Defiance, OH) 4/9/89 Schomburg Series, ? Ragtime and AO, BT, BT, JC Schomburg Auditorium, Vaudeville JC Defiance College Xylophone (Defiance, OH) Selections 4/11/89 Percussion Group, arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, JC William Abbott Concert Percussion JC Hall, University of Group Wisconsin-River Falls Cincinnati (River Falls, WI) 4/11/89 Percussion Group, Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, BT, AO, JC William Abbott Concert Part I JC Hall, University of Wisconsin-River Falls (River Falls, WI) 4/11/89 Percussion Group, Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, JC William Abbott Concert Landscape No. JC Hall, University of 2 Wisconsin-River Falls (River Falls, WI) 4/11/89 Percussion Group, Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, JC William Abbott Concert Frederic de Panurge JC Hall, University of Wisconsin-River Falls (River Falls, WI) 4/11/89 Percussion Group, Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, JC William Abbott Concert Spiritual JC Hall, University of Wisconsin-River Falls (River Falls, WI) 4/11/89 Percussion Group, Smith, Stuart Return and AO, BT, AO, JC William Abbott Concert Saunders Recall with JC Hall, University of some of Songs Wisconsin-River Falls I–IX (River Falls, WI) 4/12/89 ?, University of Wisconsin- ? ? AO, BT, JC River Falls JC (River Falls, WI) 4/13/89 Percussion arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT, Group/Cincinnati Recital, Percussion JC JC Ferguson Recital Hall, Group University of Minnesota Cincinnati (Minneapolis, MN) 4/13/89 Percussion Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, BT, AO, BT, Group/Cincinnati Recital, Part I JC JC Ferguson Recital Hall, University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN)

574

4/13/89 Percussion Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT, Group/Cincinnati Recital, Landscape No. JC JC Ferguson Recital Hall, 2 University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN) 4/13/89 Percussion Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, BT, Group/Cincinnati Recital, Frederic de Panurge JC JC Ferguson Recital Hall, University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN) 4/13/89 Percussion Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT, Group/Cincinnati Recital, Music JC JC Ferguson Recital Hall, University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN) 4/14/89 Saint Paul Radio, ? ? ? AO, BT, JC (Saint Paul, MN) JC 4/15/89 Percussion Group Recital, Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, BT, AO, JC Walker Art Center Part I JC Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 4/15/89 Percussion Group Recital, Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, JC Walker Art Center Landscape No. JC Auditorium 2 (Minneapolis, MN) 4/15/89 Percussion Group Recital, Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, JC Walker Art Center Frederic de Panurge JC Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 4/15/89 Percussion Group Recital, Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, JC Walker Art Center Spiritual JC Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 4/15/89 Percussion Group Recital, Smith, Stuart Return and AO, BT, AO, JC Walker Art Center Saunders Recall with JC Auditorium some of Songs (Minneapolis, MN) I-IX 4/15/89 Percussion Group Recital, Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, JC Walker Art Center Karlheinz JC Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 4/16/89 Percussion Group Recital, Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, BT, AO, JC Walker Art Center Part I JC Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 4/16/89 Percussion Group Recital, Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, JC Walker Art Center Landscape No. JC Auditorium 2 (Minneapolis, MN) 4/16/89 Percussion Group Recital, Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, JC Walker Art Center Frederic de Panurge JC Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN)

575

4/16/89 Percussion Group Recital, Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, JC Walker Art Center Spiritual JC Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 4/16/89 Percussion Group Recital, Smith, Stuart Return and AO, BT, AO, JC Walker Art Center Saunders Recall with JC Auditorium some of Songs (Minneapolis, MN) I–IX 4/16/89 Percussion Group Recital, Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, JC Walker Art Center Karlheinz JC Auditorium (Minneapolis, MN) 4/22/89 New Music Festival XVII, arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert V, Harris Percussion JC JC Auditorium, Memphis Group State University Cincinnati (Memphis, TN) 4/22/89 New Music Festival XVII, Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert V, Harris of Imaginary JC JC Auditorium, Memphis Beings: “The State University Fauna of (Memphis, TN) Mirrors” 4/22/89 New Music Festival XVII, Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert V, Harris Landscape No. JC JC Auditorium, Memphis 2 State University (Memphis, TN) 4/22/89 New Music Festival XVII, Otte, Allen; PERMUREAU AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert V, Harris after the JC JC Auditorium, Memphis works of State University John Cage (Memphis, TN) 4/22/89 New Music Festival XVII, Kowalski, Rebus AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert V, Harris Michael JC JC Auditorium, Memphis State University (Memphis, TN) 4/22/89 New Music Festival XVII, Smith, Stuart Return and AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert V, Harris Saunders Recall with JC JC Auditorium, Memphis some of Songs State University I-IX (Memphis, TN) 4/22/89 New Music Festival XVII, Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert V, Harris Karlheinz JC JC Auditorium, Memphis State University (Memphis, TN) 4/27/89 PreSENT Music: Music ? ? AO, BT, JC from Scratch, ? JC (Milwaukee, WI)

576

4/28/89 PreSENT Music: Antheil, Ballet AO, BT, PreSENT AO, BT, Percussion Group, George mécanique JC Music JC Vogel Hall, Performing Ensemble; Arts Center film by (Milwaukee, WI) Fernand Leger and Dudley Murphy 4/28/89 PreSENT Music: arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT, Percussion Group, Percussion JC JC Vogel Hall, Performing Group Arts Center Cincinnati (Milwaukee, WI) 4/28/89 PreSENT Music: Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, BT, AO, BT, Percussion Group, Part I JC JC Vogel Hall, Performing Arts Center (Milwaukee, WI) 4/28/89 PreSENT Music: Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT, Percussion Group, Landscape No. JC JC Vogel Hall, Performing 2 Arts Center (Milwaukee, WI) 4/28/89 PreSENT Music: Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT, Percussion Group, Spiritual JC JC Vogel Hall, Performing Arts Center (Milwaukee, WI) 4/29/89 ?, Carroll University ? ? AO, BT, JC (Waukesha, WI) JC 5/11/89 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, BT, JC (Springfield, OH) JC 5/12/89 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, BT, JC (Springfield, OH) JC 5/13/89 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, BT, JC (Springfield, OH) JC 5/14/89 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, BT, JC (Springfield, OH) JC 5/15/89 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, BT, JC (Springfield, OH) JC 5/16/89 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, BT, JC (Springfield, OH) JC

577

5/23/89 Percussion Group Antheil, Ballet AO, BT, CCM AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett George mécanique JC Percussion Auditorium, University of Ensemble; Cincinnati Michael (Cincinnati, OH) Chertock, Tim Lovelace, Karol Sue Reddington, and Nancy Larsen, pianos; film by Fernand Leger and Dudley Murphy 5/23/89 Percussion Group Cage, John Third AO, BT, Christopher AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Construction JC Deane, Auditorium, University of percussion Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 5/24/89 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, BT, JC Hopewell Elementary JC School (Mason, OH) 6/17/89 Oberlin Percussion arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, JC Institute, Warner Concert Percussion JC Hall, Oberlin College Group (Oberlin, OH) Cincinnati 6/17/89 Oberlin Percussion Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, BT, AO, JC Institute, Warner Concert Part I JC Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 6/17/89 Oberlin Percussion Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, JC Institute, Warner Concert JC Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 6/17/89 Oberlin Percussion Smith, Stuart Return and AO, BT, AO, JC Institute, Warner Concert Saunders Recall with JC Hall, Oberlin College some of Songs (Oberlin, OH) I–IX 6/17/89 Oberlin Percussion Cage, John Third AO, BT, Christopher AO, JC Institute, Warner Concert Construction JC Deane, Hall, Oberlin College percussion (Oberlin, OH) 6/17/89 Oberlin Percussion Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, JC Institute, Warner Concert Karlheinz JC Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 6/19/89 Ohio Music Teachers arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, JC Association, Corbett Percussion JC Auditorium, University of Group Cincinnati Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

578

6/19/89 Ohio Music Teachers Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, JC Association, Corbett JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 6/19/89 Ohio Music Teachers Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, JC Association, Corbett Music JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 6/19/89 Ohio Music Teachers Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, JC Association, Corbett Spiritual JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 6/19/89 Ohio Music Teachers Cage, John Third AO, BT, Christopher AO, JC Association, Corbett Construction JC Deane, Auditorium, University of percussion Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 6/19/89 Ohio Music Teachers Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, JC Association, Corbett Karlheinz JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 7/14/89 Percussion Group: arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lakeside Percussion JC Center for the Arts Group (Lakeside, MI) Cincinnati 7/14/89 Percussion Group: Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lakeside Landscape No. JC Center for the Arts 2 (Lakeside, MI) 7/14/89 Percussion Group: Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lakeside Frederic de Panurge JC Center for the Arts (Lakeside, MI) 7/14/89 Percussion Group: Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lakeside JC Center for the Arts (Lakeside, MI) 7/14/89 Percussion Group: Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lakeside Music JC Center for the Arts (Lakeside, MI) 7/15/89 Percussion Group: arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lakeside Percussion JC Center for the Arts Group (Lakeside, MI) Cincinnati 7/15/89 Percussion Group: Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lakeside Landscape No. JC Center for the Arts 2 (Lakeside, MI)

579

7/15/89 Percussion Group: Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lakeside Frederic de Panurge JC Center for the Arts (Lakeside, MI) 7/15/89 Percussion Group: Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lakeside JC Center for the Arts (Lakeside, MI) 7/15/89 Percussion Group: Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lakeside Music JC Center for the Arts (Lakeside, MI) 7/23/89 Firefly Festival ? ? AO, BT, JC (South Bend, IN) JC 7/30/89 Bix Beiderbecke Memorial ? ? AO, BT, JC Festival JC (Quad Cities, IA) 9/30/89 Swanton Arts Council arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, JC Presents the Percussion Percussion JC Group, Swanton High Group School Auditorium Cincinnati (Swanton, OH) 9/30/89 Swanton Arts Council Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, JC Presents the Percussion Landscape No. JC Group, Swanton High 2 School Auditorium (Swanton, OH) 9/30/89 Swanton Arts Council Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, JC Presents the Percussion JC Group, Swanton High School Auditorium (Swanton, OH) 9/30/89 Swanton Arts Council Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, JC Presents the Percussion Music JC Group, Swanton High School Auditorium (Swanton, OH) 9/30/89 Swanton Arts Council May, para-DIDDLE AO, BT, AO, JC Presents the Percussion Theodore JC Group, Swanton High School Auditorium (Swanton, OH) 9/30/89 Swanton Arts Council Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, BT, AO, JC Presents the Percussion Toru JC Group, Swanton High School Auditorium (Swanton, OH)

580

10/17/89 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Percussion “Come Along JC Auditorium, University of Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati Cincinnati of the (Cincinnati, OH) Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 10/17/89 Percussion Group Otte, Allen H. R.’s 2978 & AO, BT, premiere AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett 2788 JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/17/89 Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/17/89 Percussion Group May, para-DIDDLE AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Theodore JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/17/89 Percussion Group Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Toru JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/17/89 Percussion Group Kagel, Rrrrrrr… AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Mauricio JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/17/89 Percussion Group Cage, John What AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Mushroom? JC Auditorium, University of What Leaf? A Cincinnati 50-Year (Cincinnati, OH) Retrospective Musicircus of the Percussion Music of John Cage 10/30/89 Music Now! CCM Faculty Otte, Allen H. R.’s 2978 & AO, BT, AO Composers in Concert, 2788 JC Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 11/3/89 All Over the Map: The ? ? AO, BT, AO Mid-America College Art JC Association 53rd Annual Conference, Carnegie Arts Center (Leavenworth, KS)

581

11/4/89 ?, ? ? ? AO, BT, JC (Ft. Wayne, IN) JC 11/5/89 Guest Recital, Valparaiso arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, BT, University Percussion “Come Along JC JC (Valparaiso, IN) Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 11/5/89 Guest Recital, Valparaiso Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT, University Landscape No. JC JC (Valparaiso, IN) 2 11/5/89 Guest Recital, Valparaiso Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT, University JC JC (Valparaiso, IN) 11/5/89 Guest Recital, Valparaiso Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO, BT, University Music JC JC (Valparaiso, IN) 11/5/89 Guest Recital, Valparaiso Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT, University Spiritual JC JC (Valparaiso, IN) 11/5/89 Guest Recital, Valparaiso Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, BT, AO, BT, University Toru JC JC (Valparaiso, IN) 11/6/89 Adventures in the Musical arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO Arts Presents The Percussion “Come Along JC Percussion Group Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati, First Wayne Cincinnati of the Street United Methodist Flamingos,” Church “Rebuilding (Fort Wayne, IN) Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 11/6/89 Adventures in the Musical Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO Arts Presents The Landscape No. JC Percussion Group 2 Cincinnati, First Wayne Street United Methodist Church (Fort Wayne, IN) 11/6/89 Adventures in the Musical Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO Arts Presents The JC Percussion Group Cincinnati, First Wayne Street United Methodist Church (Fort Wayne, IN)

582

11/6/89 Adventures in the Musical Cage, John Living Room AO, BT, AO Arts Presents The Music JC Percussion Group Cincinnati, First Wayne Street United Methodist Church (Fort Wayne, IN) 11/6/89 Adventures in the Musical Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO Arts Presents The Spiritual JC Percussion Group Cincinnati, First Wayne Street United Methodist Church (Fort Wayne, IN) 11/6/89 Adventures in the Musical Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, BT, AO Arts Presents The Toru JC Percussion Group Cincinnati, First Wayne Street United Methodist Church (Fort Wayne, IN) 11/10/89 Music on the Edge Presents Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, JC Composer/Performer Camus JC Joseph Celli, Emery Theater (Cincinnati, OH) 11/19/89 Chamber Music Society of arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, JC Central Kentucky, Otis A. Percussion JC Singletary Center for the Group Arts Recital Hall, Cincinnati University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY) 11/19/89 Chamber Music Society of Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, JC Central Kentucky, Otis A. Landscape No. JC Singletary Center for the 2 Arts Recital Hall, University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY) 11/19/89 Chamber Music Society of Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, JC Central Kentucky, Otis A. JC Singletary Center for the Arts Recital Hall, University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY) 11/19/89 Chamber Music Society of Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, JC Central Kentucky, Otis A. Spiritual JC Singletary Center for the Arts Recital Hall, University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY)

583

11/19/89 Chamber Music Society of Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, BT, AO, JC Central Kentucky, Otis A. Toru JC Singletary Center for the Arts Recital Hall, University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY) 11/19/89 Chamber Music Society of Smith, Stuart Return and AO, BT, AO, JC Central Kentucky, Otis A. Saunders Recall with JC Singletary Center for the some of Songs Arts Recital Hall, I–IX University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY) 11/21/89 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, BT, JC (Lexington, KY) JC 12/9/89 ?, University of Cincinnati ? ? AO, BT, JC Clermont College JC (Batavia, OH) 1/21/90 Bray Concert Series, Flint Garland, Apple Blossom AO, BT, AO, BT Institute of Arts Peter JC (Flint, MI) 1/21/90 Bray Concert Series, Flint arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, BT Institute of Arts Percussion “Come Along JC (Flint, MI) Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 1/21/90 Bray Concert Series, Flint Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT Institute of Arts Landscape No. JC (Flint, MI) 2 1/21/90 Bray Concert Series, Flint Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT Institute of Arts JC (Flint, MI) 1/21/90 Bray Concert Series, Flint May, para-DIDDLE AO, BT, AO, BT Institute of Arts Theodore JC (Flint, MI) 1/21/90 Bray Concert Series, Flint Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, BT Institute of Arts Camus JC (Flint, MI) 1/23/90 Percussion Group Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett of Imaginary JC Auditorium, University of Beings: Cincinnati “Bahamut,” (Cincinnati, OH) “The Lamed Wufniks,” “A Bao A Qu,” and “The Fauna of Mirrors”

584

1/23/90 Percussion Group Cage, John Music for 7 AO, BT, Evelien AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett JC Hoogstraten, Auditorium, University of flute; Miriam Cincinnati Shires, (Cincinnati, OH) clarinet; Ben Jew, oboe; and William Cochran, horn 1/23/90 Percussion Group DeFotis, Percussion AO, BT, premiere; AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett William and String JC Susan Jensen Auditorium, University of Octet and Eva Cincinnati Rosenberg, (Cincinnati, OH) violins; Mark Newkirk, viola; Mary Davis, cello; and Stephen Phillips, piano 1/23/90 Percussion Group Saya, Mark Seven AO, BT, premiere AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Preludes JC Auditorium, University of Revisited Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/23/90 Percussion Group Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Camus JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/24/90 Cincinnati Composers’ Cage, John What AO, BT, AO, BT Guild Presents The Mushroom? JC Percussion Group, What Leaf? A Contemporary Arts Center 50-Year (Cincinnati, OH) Retrospective Musicircus of the Percussion Music of John Cage 3/9/90 Dance CCM Winter Dallapiccola, Canti di AO, BT, CCM AO Concert, Corbett Luigi Prigionia JC Percussion Auditorium, University of Ensemble; Cincinnati CCM (Cincinnati, OH) Chamber Choir; Ulli Brinkmeier and Jacquie Davis, harps; Kirsten Hegeland and Stephen Phillips, pianos; and Earl Rivers, conductor

585

3/9/90 Dance CCM Winter Stravinsky, Les Noces AO, BT, CCM AO Concert, Corbett Igor JC Percussion Auditorium, University of Ensemble; Cincinnati CCM (Cincinnati, OH) Chamber Choir; William Black, Elizabeth Pridonoff, Eugene Pridonoff, and Frank Weinstock, pianos; and Earl Rivers, conductor 3/10/90 Dance CCM Winter Dallapiccola, Canti di AO, BT, CCM AO Concert, Corbett Luigi Prigionia JC Percussion Auditorium, University of Ensemble; Cincinnati CCM (Cincinnati, OH) Chamber Choir; Ulli Brinkmeier and Jacquie Davis, harps; Kirsten Hegeland and Stephen Phillips, pianos; and Earl Rivers, conductor 3/10/90 Dance CCM Winter Stravinsky, Les Noces AO, BT, CCM AO Concert, Corbett Igor JC Percussion Auditorium, University of Ensemble; Cincinnati CCM (Cincinnati, OH) Chamber Choir; William Black, Elizabeth Pridonoff, Eugene Pridonoff, and Frank Weinstock, pianos; and Earl Rivers, conductor 4/3/90 Peoria Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, BT, PSO; and AO, BT Orchestra, Foster Arts the Grandeur JC William Center Wilson, (Peoria, IL) conductor

586

4/3/90 Peoria Symphony Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, BT, AO, BT Orchestra, Foster Arts Toru JC Center (Peoria, IL) 5/15/90 Percussion Group Kowalski, Gringo Blaster AO, BT, Premiere AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Michael JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 5/15/90 Percussion Group Clendenen, Textures II AO, BT, Premiere AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Bob JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 5/15/90 Percussion Group Stasack, This Unsought AO, BT, Susan Kane, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Jennifer Dominion JC soprano; Bob Auditorium, University of Kurz, double Cincinnati bass (Cincinnati, OH) 6/29/90 Oberlin Percussion Cage, John Amores AO, BT, AO, BT Institute, Warner Concert JC Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 6/29/90 Oberlin Percussion arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, BT Institute, Warner Concert Percussion “Come Along JC Hall, Oberlin College Group Wife,” “Flight (Oberlin, OH) Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 6/29/90 Oberlin Percussion Cage, John Credo in US AO, BT, AO, BT Institute, Warner Concert JC Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 6/29/90 Oberlin Percussion Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Institute, Warner Concert Spiritual JC Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 6/29/90 Oberlin Percussion May, para-DIDDLE AO, BT, AO, BT Institute, Warner Concert Theodore JC Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 6/29/90 Oberlin Percussion Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, BT Institute, Warner Concert Camus JC Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 9/23/90 WGUC’s 30th Anniversary arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, aired on BT, CP, Concert, Corbett Percussion JC WGUC, PS Auditorium, University of Group 10/9/90 at Cincinnati Cincinnati 6:30 pm (Cincinnati, OH)

587

9/23/90 WGUC’s 30th Anniversary Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, aired on BT, CP, Concert, Corbett JC WGUC, PS Auditorium, University of 10/9/90 at Cincinnati 6:30 pm (Cincinnati, OH) 10/16/90 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Percussion “Come Along JC Auditorium, University of Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati Cincinnati of the (Cincinnati, OH) Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 10/16/90 Percussion Group Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett of Imaginary JC Auditorium, University of Beings: “The Cincinnati Lamed (Cincinnati, OH) Wufniks” 10/16/90 Percussion Group Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Landscape No. JC Auditorium, University of 2 Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/16/90 Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/16/90 Percussion Group Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Spiritual JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/16/90 Percussion Group Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Camus JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/16/90 Percussion Group Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Karlheinz JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/24/90 Musical Events Series, arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO Rudolph Ganz Memorial Percussion “Come Along JC Hall, Roosevelt University Group Wife,” “Flight (Chicago, IL) Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana”

588

10/24/90 Musical Events Series, Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO Rudolph Ganz Memorial of Imaginary JC Hall, Roosevelt University Beings: “The (Chicago, IL) Lamed Wufniks” 10/24/90 Musical Events Series, Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO Rudolph Ganz Memorial Landscape No. JC Hall, Roosevelt University 2 (Chicago, IL) 10/24/90 Musical Events Series, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO Rudolph Ganz Memorial JC Hall, Roosevelt University (Chicago, IL) 10/24/90 Musical Events Series, Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO Rudolph Ganz Memorial Camus JC Hall, Roosevelt University (Chicago, IL) 10/24/90 Musical Events Series, Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO Rudolph Ganz Memorial Karlheinz JC Hall, Roosevelt University (Chicago, IL) 10/26/90 Arts & Letters Series arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO Northland College Percussion “Come Along JC (Ashland, WI) Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 10/26/90 Arts & Letters Series Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO Northland College of Imaginary JC (Ashland, WI) Beings: “The Lamed Wufniks” 10/26/90 Arts & Letters Series Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO Northland College Landscape No. JC (Ashland, WI) 2 10/26/90 Arts & Letters Series Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO Northland College JC (Ashland, WI) 10/26/90 Arts & Letters Series Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO Northland College Spiritual JC (Ashland, WI) 10/26/90 Arts & Letters Series Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO Northland College Camus JC (Ashland, WI) 10/26/90 Arts & Letters Series Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO Northland College Karlheinz JC (Ashland, WI)

589

11/2/90 Dalton Series, Dalton arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, BT Center Recital Hall, Percussion “Come Along JC Western Michigan Group Wife,” “Flight University Cincinnati of the (Kalamazoo, MI) Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 11/2/90 Dalton Series, Dalton Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT Center Recital Hall, of Imaginary JC Western Michigan Beings: “The University Lamed (Kalamazoo, MI) Wufniks” 11/2/90 Dalton Series, Dalton Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT Center Recital Hall, Landscape No. JC Western Michigan 2 University (Kalamazoo, MI) 11/2/90 Dalton Series, Dalton Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT Center Recital Hall, JC Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI) 11/2/90 Dalton Series, Dalton Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Center Recital Hall, Spiritual JC Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI) 11/2/90 Dalton Series, Dalton Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, BT Center Recital Hall, Camus JC Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI) 11/2/90 Dalton Series, Dalton Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, BT Center Recital Hall, Karlheinz JC Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI) 11/7/90 1990 Percussive Arts Cage, John What AO, BT, AO, BT Society International Mushroom? JC Convention, Adam’s Mark What Leaf? A Hotel 50-Year (Philadelphia, PA) Retrospective Musicircus of the Percussion Music of John Cage 1/26/91 Artrageous Saturdays: ? ? AO, BT, BT, JC Music from Scratch, JC Raymond Walters College (Blue Ash, OH)

590

1/31/91 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, BT, JC Midland Center for the JC Arts (Midland, MI) 2/2/91 Midland Symphony arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT Orchestra, Midland Center Percussion JC for the Arts Group (Midland, MI) Cincinnati 2/2/91 Midland Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, BT, MSO; Leon AO, BT Orchestra, Midland Center the Grandeur JC Gregorian, for the Arts conductor (Midland, MI) 2/2/91 Midland Symphony Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT Orchestra, Midland Center Spiritual JC for the Arts (Midland, MI) 4/20/91 Percussive Arts Society Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO Ohio Day of Percussion, JC University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/20/91 Percussive Arts Society Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO Ohio Day of Percussion, Spiritual JC University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/20/91 Percussive Arts Society Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO Ohio Day of Percussion, Camus JC University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/20/91 Percussive Arts Society Cage, John ? AO, BT, AO Ohio Day of Percussion, JC University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/24/91 International Chamber arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, BT, Music Series, Daniel Percussion “Come Along JC JC Recital Hall, Furman Group Wife,” “Flight University Cincinnati of the (Greenville, SC) Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/24/91 International Chamber Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT, Music Series, Daniel of Imaginary JC JC Recital Hall, Furman Beings: “The University Lamed (Greenville, SC) Wufniks” 4/24/91 International Chamber Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT, Music Series, Daniel Landscape No. JC JC Recital Hall, Furman 2 University (Greenville, SC)

591

4/24/91 International Chamber Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT, Music Series, Daniel JC JC Recital Hall, Furman University (Greenville, SC) 4/24/91 International Chamber Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT, Music Series, Daniel Spiritual JC JC Recital Hall, Furman University (Greenville, SC) 4/24/91 International Chamber Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, BT, Music Series, Daniel Camus JC JC Recital Hall, Furman University (Greenville, SC) 4/24/91 International Chamber Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, BT, Music Series, Daniel Karlheinz JC JC Recital Hall, Furman University (Greenville, SC) 4/25/91 Koger Presents the arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, BT, Percussion Group Percussion “Come Along JC JC Cincinnati, Koger Center Group Wife,” “Flight for the Arts, University of Cincinnati of the South Carolina Flamingos,” (Columbia, SC) “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/25/91 Koger Presents the Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT, Percussion Group of Imaginary JC JC Cincinnati, Koger Center Beings: “The for the Arts, University of Lamed South Carolina Wufniks” (Columbia, SC) 4/25/91 Koger Presents the Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT, Percussion Group Landscape No. JC JC Cincinnati, Koger Center 2 for the Arts, University of South Carolina (Columbia, SC) 4/25/91 Koger Presents the Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT, Percussion Group JC JC Cincinnati, Koger Center for the Arts, University of South Carolina (Columbia, SC) 4/25/91 Koger Presents the Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT, Percussion Group Spiritual JC JC Cincinnati, Koger Center for the Arts, University of South Carolina (Columbia, SC)

592

4/25/91 Koger Presents the Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, BT, Percussion Group Camus JC JC Cincinnati, Koger Center for the Arts, University of South Carolina (Columbia, SC) 4/25/91 Koger Presents the Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, BT, Percussion Group Karlheinz JC JC Cincinnati, Koger Center for the Arts, University of South Carolina (Columbia, SC) 4/26/91 Music from Scratch, Koger ? ? AO, BT, JC Center for the Arts, JC University of South Carolina (Columbia, SC) 4/27/91 Music from Scratch, Tawes ? ? AO, BT, AO, JC Theatre, Washington JC College (Chestertown, MD) 4/27/91 Washington College arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert Series, Tawes Percussion “Come Along JC JC Theatre, Washington Group Wife,” “Flight College Cincinnati of the (Chestertown, MD) Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/27/91 Washington College Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert Series, Tawes of Imaginary JC JC Theatre, Washington Beings: “The College Lamed (Chestertown, MD) Wufniks” 4/27/91 Washington College Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert Series, Tawes Landscape No. JC JC Theatre, Washington 2 College (Chestertown, MD) 4/27/91 Washington College Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert Series, Tawes JC JC Theatre, Washington College (Chestertown, MD) 4/27/91 Washington College Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert Series, Tawes Spiritual JC JC Theatre, Washington College (Chestertown, MD) 4/27/91 Washington College Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert Series, Tawes Camus JC JC Theatre, Washington College (Chestertown, MD)

593

4/27/91 Washington College Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, BT, Concert Series, Tawes Karlheinz JC JC Theatre, Washington College (Chestertown, MD) 4/29/91 Rocky River Chamber arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, JC Music Society Monday Percussion “Come Along JC Evening Concert, West Group Wife,” “Flight Shore Unitarian Cincinnati of the Universalist Church Flamingos,” (Rocky River, OH) “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/29/91 Rocky River Chamber Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, JC Music Society Monday of Imaginary JC Evening Concert, West Beings: “The Shore Unitarian Lamed Universalist Church Wufniks” (Rocky River, OH) 4/29/91 Rocky River Chamber Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, JC Music Society Monday Landscape No. JC Evening Concert, West 2 Shore Unitarian Universalist Church (Rocky River, OH) 4/29/91 Rocky River Chamber Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, JC Music Society Monday JC Evening Concert, West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church (Rocky River, OH) 4/29/91 Rocky River Chamber Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, JC Music Society Monday Spiritual JC Evening Concert, West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church (Rocky River, OH) 4/29/91 Rocky River Chamber Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, JC Music Society Monday Camus JC Evening Concert, West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church (Rocky River, OH) 4/29/91 Rocky River Chamber Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, JC Music Society Monday Karlheinz JC Evening Concert, West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church (Rocky River, OH)

594

4/30/91 Artist Series, Founders arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, JC Hall, Bluffton College Percussion “Come Along JC (Bluffton, OH) Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/30/91 Artist Series, Founders Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, JC Hall, Bluffton College of Imaginary JC (Bluffton, OH) Beings: “The Lamed Wufniks” 4/30/91 Artist Series, Founders Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, JC Hall, Bluffton College Landscape No. JC (Bluffton, OH) 2 4/30/91 Artist Series, Founders Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, JC Hall, Bluffton College JC (Bluffton, OH) 4/30/91 Artist Series, Founders Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, JC Hall, Bluffton College Spiritual JC (Bluffton, OH) 4/30/91 Artist Series, Founders Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, JC Hall, Bluffton College Camus JC (Bluffton, OH) 4/30/91 Artist Series, Founders Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, JC Hall, Bluffton College Karlheinz JC (Bluffton, OH) 5/2/91 The Jazz & Pop Series, ? ? AO, BT, AO, BT, Pella Opera House JC JC (Pella, IA) 5/3/91 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, BT, JC (Quad Cities, IA) JC 5/4/91 South Adams Arts Council, arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, JC South Adams Auditorium Percussion “Come Along JC (Berne, IN) Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 5/4/91 South Adams Arts Council, Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, JC South Adams Auditorium of Imaginary JC (Berne, IN) Beings: “The Lamed Wufniks” 5/4/91 South Adams Arts Council, Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, JC South Adams Auditorium Landscape No. JC (Berne, IN) 2 5/4/91 South Adams Arts Council, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, JC South Adams Auditorium JC (Berne, IN)

595

5/4/91 South Adams Arts Council, Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, JC South Adams Auditorium Spiritual JC (Berne, IN) 5/4/91 South Adams Arts Council, Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, JC South Adams Auditorium Camus JC (Berne, IN) 5/4/91 South Adams Arts Council, Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, JC South Adams Auditorium Karlheinz JC (Berne, IN) 5/5/91 Fair Lane Music Guild, arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, BT University of Michigan- Percussion “Come Along JC Dearborn Group Wife,” “Flight (Dearborn, MI) Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 5/5/91 Fair Lane Music Guild, Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT University of Michigan- of Imaginary JC Dearborn Beings: “The (Dearborn, MI) Lamed Wufniks” 5/5/91 Fair Lane Music Guild, Cage, John Imaginary AO, BT, AO, BT University of Michigan- Landscape No. JC Dearborn 2 (Dearborn, MI) 5/5/91 Fair Lane Music Guild, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT University of Michigan- JC Dearborn (Dearborn, MI) 5/5/91 Fair Lane Music Guild, Miki, Minoru Marimba AO, BT, AO, BT University of Michigan- Spiritual JC Dearborn (Dearborn, MI) 5/5/91 Fair Lane Music Guild, Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, BT University of Michigan- Camus JC Dearborn (Dearborn, MI) 5/5/91 Fair Lane Music Guild, Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, BT University of Michigan- Karlheinz JC Dearborn (Dearborn, MI) 5/5/91 Music from Scratch, Ford ? ? AO, BT, JC Museum JC (Dearborn, MI) 5/15/91 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, BT, JC (?, KY) JC 5/25/91 Blue Ash Festival, ? ? ? AO, BT, JC (Blue Ash, OH) JC 6/8/91 Riverbend Concerts with Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, BT, CSO; Gabriel AO, BT, the Cincinnati Symphony the Grandeur JC Chmura, JC Orchestra, Riverbend conductor Music Center (Cincinnati, OH)

596

6/13/91 American Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, BT, Lake Forest AO, BT, Orchestra League 1991 the Grandeur JC Symphony; JC National Conference, Paul Anthony Chicago Hilton McRae, (Chicago, IL) conductor 6/21/91 Oberlin Percussion arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, BT, Institute, Warner Concert Percussion “Rebuilding JC JC, Hall, Oberlin College Group Managua” OPW (Oberlin, OH) Cincinnati 6/21/91 Oberlin Percussion Cage, John from AO, BT, AO, BT, Institute, Warner Concert Imaginary JC JC, Hall, Oberlin College Landscape No. OPW (Oberlin, OH) 2, through But What About the Noise of Crumpling Paper …, to The Unavailable Memory of and some of Suite for Toy Piano 6/21/91 Oberlin Percussion Saya, Mark From the Book AO, BT, AO, BT, Institute, Warner Concert of Imaginary JC JC, Hall, Oberlin College Beings: “The OPW (Oberlin, OH) Lamed Wufniks” 6/21/91 Oberlin Percussion Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, BT, Institute, Warner Concert Frederic de Panurge JC JC, Hall, Oberlin College OPW (Oberlin, OH) 6/21/91 Oberlin Percussion Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT, Institute, Warner Concert JC JC, Hall, Oberlin College OPW (Oberlin, OH) 6/21/91 Oberlin Percussion Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, BT, Institute, Warner Concert Karlheinz JC JC, Hall, Oberlin College OPW (Oberlin, OH) 7/12/91 Percussive Arts Society arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT International Percussion Percussion JC Workshop, ? Group (Bydgoszcz, Poland) Cincinnati 7/12/91 Percussive Arts Society Cage, John Credo in US AO, BT, AO, BT International Percussion JC Workshop, ? (Bydgoszcz, Poland) 7/12/91 Percussive Arts Society collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO, BT International Percussion News Today, JC Workshop, ? Oh Boy! (Bydgoszcz, Poland) 7/12/91 Percussive Arts Society Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, BT, AO, BT International Percussion Frederic de Panurge JC Workshop, ? (Bydgoszcz, Poland)

597

7/12/91 Percussive Arts Society Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT International Percussion JC Workshop, ? (Bydgoszcz, Poland) 7/12/91 Percussive Arts Society Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, BT International Percussion Camus JC Workshop, ? (Bydgoszcz, Poland) 9/19/91 Ewell Concert Series, arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, BT, JC Ewell Recital Hall, College Percussion “Come Along JC of William and Mary Group Wife,” “Flight (Williamsburg, VA) Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 9/19/91 Ewell Concert Series, Cage, John from The AO, BT, BT, JC Ewell Recital Hall, College Unavailable JC of William and Mary Memory of and (Williamsburg, VA) some of Suite for Toy Piano, through But What About the Noise of Crumpling Paper …, to Imaginary Landscape No. 2 9/19/91 Ewell Concert Series, collective I Read in the AO, BT, BT, JC Ewell Recital Hall, College News Today, JC of William and Mary Oh Boy! (Williamsburg, VA) 9/19/91 Ewell Concert Series, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, BT, JC Ewell Recital Hall, College JC of William and Mary (Williamsburg, VA) 9/19/91 Ewell Concert Series, Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, BT, JC Ewell Recital Hall, College Camus JC of William and Mary (Williamsburg, VA) 9/19/91 Ewell Concert Series, Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, BT, JC Ewell Recital Hall, College Karlheinz JC of William and Mary (Williamsburg, VA) 9/20/91 Monthly Concert Series, ? ? AO, BT, JC Department of Fine and JC Performing Arts, Christopher Newport College (Newport News, VA)

598

10/16/91 Music at Noon, The arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, BT, Wintergarden, Penn State Percussion “Rebuilding JC JC Erie, The Behrend College Group Managua” (Erie, PA) Cincinnati 10/16/91 Music at Noon, The Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT, Wintergarden, Penn State JC JC Erie, The Behrend College (Erie, PA) 10/16/91 Music at Noon, The Russell, Made in AO, BT, AO, BT, Wintergarden, Penn State William America JC JC Erie, The Behrend College (Erie, PA) 10/16/91 Music at Noon, The Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, BT, Wintergarden, Penn State Karlheinz JC JC Erie, The Behrend College (Erie, PA) 10/31/91 Percussion Group Cage, John Amores with AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Branches JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/31/91 Percussion Group Kowalski, Gringo AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Michael Blaster: JC Auditorium, University of “Chorinho do Cincinnati Gringo” (Cincinnati, OH) 10/31/91 Percussion Group collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett News Today, JC Auditorium, University of Oh Boy! Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/31/91 Percussion Group Russell, Made in AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett William America JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/31/91 Percussion Group Saya, Mark Preludes AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Revisited JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 11/12/91 Greensboro Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, BT, GSO; ?, JC Orchestra, ? the Grandeur JC conductor (Greensboro, NC) 11/19/91 Cincinnati Symphony arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, BT Orchestra Area Artist Percussion “Come Along JC Series Presents The Group Wife,” “Flight Percussion Group, Cincinnati of the Connersville High School Flamingos,” Auditorium “Rebuilding (Connersville, IN) Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana”

599

11/19/91 Cincinnati Symphony Kowalski, Gringo AO, BT, AO, BT Orchestra Area Artist Michael Blaster: JC Series Presents The “Chorinho do Percussion Group, Gringo” Connersville High School Auditorium (Connersville, IN) 11/19/91 Cincinnati Symphony collective I Read in the AO, BT, AO, BT Orchestra Area Artist News Today, JC Series Presents The Oh Boy! Percussion Group, Connersville High School Auditorium (Connersville, IN) 11/19/91 Cincinnati Symphony Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT Orchestra Area Artist JC Series Presents The Percussion Group, Connersville High School Auditorium (Connersville, IN) 11/19/91 Cincinnati Symphony Russell, Made in AO, BT, AO, BT Orchestra Area Artist William America JC Series Presents The Percussion Group, Connersville High School Auditorium (Connersville, IN) 11/19/91 Cincinnati Symphony Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, BT Orchestra Area Artist Camus JC Series Presents The Percussion Group, Connersville High School Auditorium (Connersville, IN) 11/19/91 Cincinnati Symphony Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, BT Orchestra Area Artist Karlheinz JC Series Presents The Percussion Group, Connersville High School Auditorium (Connersville, IN) ?/?/91 Percussion Group Cage, John Credo in US AO, BT, AO Cincinnati Concert, ? JC (Cincinnati, OH) ?/?/91 Percussion Group Sweidel, IX AO, BT, performed AO Cincinnati Concert, ? Martin JC with video by (Cincinnati, OH) Don Pasquella ?/?/91 Percussion Group Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO Cincinnati Concert, ? Camus JC (Cincinnati, OH)

600

1/14/92 Cage Musicircus, Corbett Cage, John What AO, BT, AO, BT Auditorium, University of Mushroom? JC Cincinnati What Leaf? A (Cincinnati, OH) 57-Year Retrospective Musicircus in 94' 33" of the Percussion Music of John Cage 2/13/92 Perspectives: Sweidel, Bucky’s View AO, BT, Linda AO, BT, Contemporary Music Martin JC Anderson JC Series, Caruth Auditorium, Baer and Southern Methodist Lloyd University Pfautsch, (Dallas, TX) narrators 2/13/92 Perspectives: arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, BT, Contemporary Music Percussion “Come Along JC JC Series, Caruth Auditorium, Group Wife,” “Flight Southern Methodist Cincinnati of the University Flamingos,” (Dallas, TX) “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 2/13/92 Perspectives: Cage, John from AO, BT, AO, BT, Contemporary Music Imaginary JC JC Series, Caruth Auditorium, Landscape No. Southern Methodist 2, through But University What About (Dallas, TX) the Noise of Crumpling Paper …, to The Unavailable Memory of and some of Suite for Toy Piano 2/13/92 Perspectives: Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT, Contemporary Music JC JC Series, Caruth Auditorium, Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX) 2/13/92 Perspectives: Saya, Mark Preludes AO, BT, AO, BT, Contemporary Music Revisited JC JC Series, Caruth Auditorium, Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX) 2/17/92 College of Music CEMI arr. Chilean Songs AO, BT, AO, BT, Event Series, Merrill Ellis Percussion JC JC Intermedia Theater, Group University of North Texas Cincinnati (Denton, TX)

601

2/17/92 College of Music CEMI Cage, John from AO, BT, AO, BT, Event Series, Merrill Ellis Imaginary JC JC Intermedia Theater, Landscape No. University of North Texas 2, through But (Denton, TX) What About the Noise of Crumpling Paper …, to The Unavailable Memory of and some of Suite for Toy Piano 2/17/92 College of Music CEMI Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, BT, Event Series, Merrill Ellis JC JC Intermedia Theater, University of North Texas (Denton, TX) 2/17/92 College of Music CEMI Saya, Mark Preludes AO, BT, AO, BT, Event Series, Merrill Ellis Revisited JC JC Intermedia Theater, University of North Texas (Denton, TX) 2/17/92 College of Music CEMI Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, BT, AO, BT, Event Series, Merrill Ellis Camus JC JC Intermedia Theater, University of North Texas (Denton, TX) 2/28/92 Friday Happy Hours, Foyer ? ? AO, BT, BT, JC of the Hong Kong Cultural JC Center (Hong Kong)

3/6/92 Rite of Spring, Concert Qu Xiao- Làm Môt AO, BT, premiere BT, JC Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Song JC Center (Hong Kong) 3/6/92 Rite of Spring, Concert Cage, John Musicircus: AO, BT, BT, JC Hall, Hong Kong Cultural from, through, JC Center to (Hong Kong) 3/7/92 Rite of Spring, Concert Qu Xiao- Làm Môt AO, BT, BT Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Song JC Center (Hong Kong) 3/7/92 Rite of Spring, Concert Cage, John Musicircus: AO, BT, BT Hall, Hong Kong Cultural from, through, JC Center to (Hong Kong) 3/8/92 Rite of Spring, Concert Qu Xiao- Làm Môt AO, BT, BT Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Song JC Center (Hong Kong)

602

3/8/92 Rite of Spring, Concert Cage, John Musicircus: AO, BT, BT Hall, Hong Kong Cultural from, through, JC Center to (Hong Kong) 3/14/92 Ohio Day of Percussion, ? ? ? AO, BT, JC (?, OH) JC 3/21/92 Cincinnati Composers’ arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, BT, Guild Presents The Percussion “Rebuilding JC JC Percussion Group, Group Managua” and Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati “Festival of (Cincinnati, OH) Tirana” 3/21/92 Cincinnati Composers’ Qu Xiao- Làm Môt AO, BT, AO, BT, Guild Presents The Song JC JC Percussion Group, Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) 3/21/92 Cincinnati Composers’ Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, BT, AO, BT, Guild Presents The JC JC Percussion Group, Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) 3/21/92 Cincinnati Composers’ Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, BT, AO, BT, Guild Presents The Karlheinz JC JC Percussion Group, Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) 3/28/92 Twenty-First Century of Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, BT, Ashland AO, BT, Symphonic Music, Hugo the Grandeur JC Symphony JC Young Theatre Orchestra; (Ashland, OH) Albert- George Schram, conductor 3/29/92 ?, Kenyon College ? ? AO, BT, JC (Gambier, OH) JC 4/14/92 Percussion Group Brün, Herbert “at loose ends: AO, BT, Frank AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett JC, RB Weinstock, Auditorium, University of piano Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/14/92 Percussion Group Qu Xiao- Làm Môt AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Song JC Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/14/92 Percussion Group Cage, John Third AO, BT, AO, BT Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Construction JC, RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/24/92 Southern Ohio Museum Cage, John Branches and AO, BT, AO, JC Series, Hopkins Theatre Third JC, RB (Portsmouth, OH) Construction

603

4/24/92 Southern Ohio Museum arr. Chilean Songs: AO, BT, AO, JC Series, Hopkins Theatre Percussion “Come Along JC (Portsmouth, OH) Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/24/92 Southern Ohio Museum Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, BT, AO, JC Series, Hopkins Theatre JC (Portsmouth, OH) 4/24/92 Southern Ohio Museum Saya, Mark Preludes AO, BT, AO, JC Series, Hopkins Theatre Revisited JC (Portsmouth, OH) 5/2/92 Kentucky Day of ? ? AO, JC, ? JC Percussion, Northern Kentucky University (Highland Heights, KY) 6/19/92 Oberlin Percussion arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, JC, RB Institute, Warner Concert Percussion RB Hall, Oberlin College Group (Oberlin, OH) Cincinnati 6/19/92 Oberlin Percussion Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, JC, RB Institute, Warner Concert Part I RB Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 6/19/92 Oberlin Percussion Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, JC, RB Institute, Warner Concert RB Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 6/19/92 Oberlin Percussion Cage, John Musicircus: AO, JC, JC, RB Institute, Warner Concert from, through, RB Hall, Oberlin College to (Oberlin, OH) 6/19/92 Oberlin Percussion Bartók, Béla Sonata for AO, JC Elizabeth and JC, RB Institute, Warner Concert Two Pianos Eugene Hall, Oberlin College and Pridonoff, (Oberlin, OH) Percussion pianos

7/4/92 Roarchestra! The Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, LO; Albert- AO, JC Louisville Orchestra at the the Grandeur RB George Zoo, Louisville Zoo Schram, (Louisville, KY) conductor 7/15/92 Indianapolis Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, ISO; Alfred AO, JC Orchestra: “Symphony on the Grandeur RB Savia, the Prairie,” Conner Prairie conductor (Indianapolis, IN) 7/16/92 Indianapolis Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, ISO; Alfred AO, JC Orchestra: “Symphony on the Grandeur RB Savia, the Prairie,” Conner Prairie conductor (Indianapolis, IN)

604

7/18/92 Indianapolis Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, ISO; Alfred AO, JC Orchestra: “Symphony on the Grandeur RB Savia, the Prairie,” Conner Prairie conductor (Indianapolis, IN) 8/25/92 Van Cliburn Series, Van ? ? AO, JC, JC Cliburn Hall RB (Fort Worth, TX) 9/4/92 Ravinia Festival, Bennett arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Hall Percussion “Come Along RB (Highland Park, IL) Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 9/4/92 Ravinia Festival, Bennett Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, AO, JC Hall Part I RB (Highland Park, IL) 9/4/92 Ravinia Festival, Bennett Qu Xiao- Làm Môt AO, JC, AO, JC Hall Song RB (Highland Park, IL) 9/4/92 Ravinia Festival, Bennett Cage, John Retrospective AO, JC, danced by AO, JC Hall Tribute (from RB Jennifer (Highland Park, IL) some of the Handel; Suite for Toy Cynthia Piano and Riesterer, music from the choreography film Dreams that Money Can Buy with Variations II, through Composed Improvisation for Snare Drum, Bass Drum, and Single-Headed Frame Drums with or without Jangles plus part of Living Room Music, to Branches and a little of Third Construction) 9/4/92 Ravinia Festival, Bennett Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC Hall RB (Highland Park, IL) 9/18/92 First Pops Series Program, Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, CSO; Albert- AO, JC Columbus Symphony the Grandeur RB George Orchestra, Ohio Theater Schram, (Columbus, OH) conductor

605

9/19/92 First Pops Series Program, Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, CSO; Albert- AO, JC Columbus Symphony the Grandeur RB George Orchestra, Ohio Theater Schram, (Columbus, OH) conductor 9/29/92 Percussion Group Cage, John Retrospective AO, JC, RB Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Tribute (from RB Auditorium, University of some of Suite Cincinnati for Toy Piano (Cincinnati, OH) and music from the film Dreams that Money Can Buy with Variations II, through Branches and part of Living Room Music, to a little of Third Construction) 9/29/92 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, RB Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Percussion RB Auditorium, University of Group Cincinnati Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 9/29/92 Percussion Group Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, RB Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Part I RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 9/29/92 Percussion Group Bartók, Béla Sonata for AO, JC Elizabeth and RB Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Two Pianos Eugene Auditorium, University of and Pridonoff, Cincinnati Percussion pianos (Cincinnati, OH) 9/29/92 Percussion Group Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, RB Cincinnati Concert, Corbett RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/10/92 Corning-Painted Post Civic arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Music Association Presents Percussion “Come Along RB the Pridonoff Piano Duo Group Wife,” “Flight and the Percussion Group Cincinnati of the Cincinnati, Corning Glass Flamingos,” Center Auditorium “Rebuilding (Corning, NY) Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana”

606

10/10/92 Corning-Painted Post Civic Qu Xiao- Làm Môt AO, JC, AO, JC Music Association Presents Song RB the Pridonoff Piano Duo and the Percussion Group Cincinnati, Corning Glass Center Auditorium (Corning, NY) 10/10/92 Corning-Painted Post Civic Bartók, Béla Sonata for AO, JC Elizabeth and AO, JC Music Association Presents Two Pianos Eugene the Pridonoff Piano Duo and Pridonoff, and the Percussion Group Percussion pianos Cincinnati, Corning Glass Center Auditorium (Corning, NY) 10/16/92 Hilton Head Symphony, ? Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, HHS; ?, JC (Hilton Head, SC) the Grandeur RB conductor 10/22/92 ?, Grand Valley State ? ? AO, JC, JC University RB (Allendale, MI) 10/23/92 West Shore Symphony ? ? AO, JC, AO Orchestra Children's RB Concert, Frauenthal Theater (Muskegon, WI) 10/24/92 West Shore Symphony arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO, JC Orchestra, Beardsley Percussion RB Theater Group (Muskegon, WI) Cincinnati 10/24/92 West Shore Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, WSSO; ?, AO, JC Orchestra, Beardsley the Grandeur RB conductor Theater (Muskegon, WI) 10/25/92 West Shore Symphony arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO, JC Orchestra, Beardsley Percussion RB Theater Group (Muskegon, WI) Cincinnati 10/25/92 West Shore Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, WSSO; ?, AO, JC Orchestra, Beardsley the Grandeur RB conductor Theater (Muskegon, WI) 10/28/92 ?, Denison University ? ? AO, JC, JC (Granville, OH) RB

607

10/30/92 Council for the Performing Cage, John Retrospective AO, JC, AO, JC Arts Presents The Tribute (from RB Percussion Group, Amores Mvts. Jefferson Performing Arts I, II, & III, Center through (Jefferson, WI) Branches and some of Living Room Music, to Variations II with Amores Mvt. IV and What About the Noise of Crumpling Paper …) 10/30/92 Council for the Performing arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Arts Presents The Percussion “Come Along RB Percussion Group, Group Wife,” “Flight Jefferson Performing Arts Cincinnati of the Center Flamingos,” (Jefferson, WI) “Rebuilding Managua,” “Festival of Tirana” 10/30/92 Council for the Performing Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, AO, JC Arts Presents The Part I RB Percussion Group, Jefferson Performing Arts Center (Jefferson, WI) 10/30/92 Council for the Performing Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Arts Presents The RB Percussion Group, Jefferson Performing Arts Center (Jefferson, WI) 10/30/92 Council for the Performing Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC Arts Presents The RB Percussion Group, Jefferson Performing Arts Center (Jefferson, WI) 11/1/92 Cage Memorial, Symphony Cage, John Musicircus AO, JC, AO, JC Space RB (New York, NY) 11/13/92 Lexington Symphony arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO, JC Orchestra, Singletary Percussion RB Center for the Arts Group (Lexington, KY) Cincinnati 11/13/92 Lexington Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, LSO; ?, AO, JC Orchestra, Singletary the Grandeur RB conductor Center for the Arts (Lexington, KY)

608

11/17/92 Percussion Group Cage, John Retrospective AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, Troy Hayner Tribute RB Cultural Center, Troy High School Auditorium (Troy, OH) 11/17/92 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, Troy Hayner Percussion “Come Along RB Cultural Center, Troy High Group Wife,” “Flight School Auditorium Cincinnati of the (Troy, OH) Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 11/17/92 Percussion Group Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, Troy Hayner Part I RB Cultural Center, Troy High School Auditorium (Troy, OH) 11/17/92 Percussion Group collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, Troy Hayner News Today, RB Cultural Center, Troy High Oh Boy! School Auditorium (Troy, OH) 11/17/92 Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, Troy Hayner RB Cultural Center, Troy High School Auditorium (Troy, OH) 11/17/92 Percussion Group Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, Troy Hayner RB Cultural Center, Troy High School Auditorium (Troy, OH) 11/23/92 Zionsville Pro Musica with Cage, John Retrospective AO, JC, AO, JC the Orlovsky’s, United Tribute RB Methodist Church (Zionsville, IN) 11/23/92 Zionsville Pro Musica with arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO, JC the Orlovsky’s, United Percussion RB Methodist Church Group (Zionsville, IN) Cincinnati 11/23/92 Zionsville Pro Musica with Lipp, Charles Composition AO, JC, AO, JC the Orlovsky’s, United for Marimba, RB Methodist Church Six Hands (Zionsville, IN) 11/23/92 Zionsville Pro Musica with Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC the Orlovsky’s, United RB Methodist Church (Zionsville, IN) 11/23/92 Zionsville Pro Musica with Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, JC, AO, JC the Orlovsky’s, United Camus RB Methodist Church (Zionsville, IN)

609

11/23/92 Zionsville Pro Musica with Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC the Orlovsky’s, United RB Methodist Church (Zionsville, IN) 12/8/92 ?, Davidson College ? ? AO, JC, JC (Davidson, NC) RB 12/12/92 Charlotte Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, CSO; ?, JC Orchestra, ? the Grandeur RB conductor (Charlotte, NC) 1/16/93 Evansville Courier Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, Evansville AO, JC Company Concert, the Grandeur RB Philharmonic Vanderburgh Auditorium Orchestra; (Evansville, IN) Alfred Savia, conductor 1/23/93 Owensboro Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, OSO; AO, JC Orchestra, Cannon Hall the Grandeur RB Michael (Owensboro, KY) Luxner, conductor 1/29/93 Music from Scratch, St. ? ? AO, JC, JC Antoninus School RB (Cincinnati, OH) 1/30/93 Unity Temple Concert Cage, John Retrospective AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Unity Temple Tribute (from RB (Chicago, IL) Branches, through some of Living Room Music, to Variations II with Music for Marcel Duchamp and What about the Noise of Crumpling Paper …) 1/30/93 Unity Temple Concert arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Unity Temple Percussion “Come Along RB (Chicago, IL) Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 1/30/93 Unity Temple Concert Lipp, Charles Composition AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Unity Temple for Marimba, RB (Chicago, IL) Six Hands 1/30/93 Unity Temple Concert Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Unity Temple Part I RB (Chicago, IL) 1/30/93 Unity Temple Concert collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Unity Temple News Today, RB (Chicago, IL) Oh Boy!

610

1/30/93 Unity Temple Concert Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Unity Temple RB (Chicago, IL) 1/30/93 Unity Temple Concert Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Unity Temple RB (Chicago, IL) 2/1/93 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (Ft. Worth, TX) RB 2/2/93 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (Ft. Worth, TX) RB 2/4/93 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (Ft. Worth, TX) RB 2/5/93 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (Ft. Worth, TX) RB 2/21/93 Wisconsin State Zappa, Frank Envelopes AO, JC, AO, JC Conference of the RB Percussive Arts Society, Carroll University (Waukesha, WI) 2/21/93 Wisconsin State Bach, Johann Jesu, meine AO, JC, Doug Wolf, AO, JC Conference of the Sebastian; Freude RB percussion Percussive Arts Society, arr. Alfred Carroll University Reed (Waukesha, WI) 3/7/93 Greeley Symphony, Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, GS; ?, JC University of Northern the Grandeur RB conductor Colorado (Greeley, CO) 3/11/93 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, JC Doherty School RB (Cincinnati, OH) 3/18/93 New World Symphony, ? Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, NWS; ?, JC (Miami Beach, FL) the Grandeur RB conductor 3/24/93 Beaumont Symphony, ? Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, BS; ?, JC (Beaumont, TX) the Grandeur RB conductor 4/1/93 Percussion Group Cage, John Retrospective AO, JC, AO Cincinnati in Recital, Tribute (from RB Hering Auditorium, some of Third University of Alaska- Construction, Fairbanks through (Fairbanks, AK) Variations II with What About the Noise of Crumpling Paper … and Music for Marcel Duchamp, to Trio, Branches, and some of Living Room Music)

611

4/1/93 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO Cincinnati in Recital, Percussion “Come Along RB Hering Auditorium, Group Wife,” “Flight University of Alaska- Cincinnati of the Fairbanks Flamingos,” (Fairbanks, AK) “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/1/93 Percussion Group Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, AO Cincinnati in Recital, Part I RB Hering Auditorium, University of Alaska- Fairbanks (Fairbanks, AK) 4/1/93 Percussion Group collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO Cincinnati in Recital, News Today, RB Hering Auditorium, Oh Boy! University of Alaska- Fairbanks (Fairbanks, AK) 4/1/93 Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO Cincinnati in Recital, RB Hering Auditorium, University of Alaska- Fairbanks (Fairbanks, AK) 4/1/93 Percussion Group Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO Cincinnati in Recital, RB Hering Auditorium, University of Alaska- Fairbanks (Fairbanks, AK) 4/4/93 Fairbanks Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, FSO; AO, JC Orchestra, Charles W. the Grandeur RB Madeline Davis Concert Hall Schatz, (Fairbanks, AK) conductor 4/14/93 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (Chillicothe, OH) RB 4/26/93 A Concert in Honor of Sapp, Allen Taylor’s Nine AO, JC, Mark AO, AG Allen Sapp’s Retirement, RB Nicolas, Patricia Corbett Theater, Harvey University of Cincinnati Warner, (Cincinnati, OH) Steve Dawson, John Piskora, and Mari Wilson, percussion 10/1/93 Lake Forest Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, LFS; Paul AO, JC Plays the Music of Russell the Grandeur RB Anthony Peck, Rhoades Auditorium McRae, (Lake Forest, IL) conductor

612

10/2/93 Lake Forest Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, LFS; Paul AO, JC Plays the Music of Russell the Grandeur RB Anthony Peck, Rhoades Auditorium McRae, (Lake Forest, IL) conductor 10/9/93 Billings Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, BS; Uri AO, JC Presents the Albert M. Bair the Grandeur RB Barnea, Annual Youth Concert, conductor Alberta Bair Theater (Billings, MT) 10/15/93 ?, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (St. Cloud, MN) RB 11/2/93 Percussion Group Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Mauricio RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 11/2/93 Percussion Group Adams, John Three Drum AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Luther Quartets from RB Auditorium, University of Earth and the Cincinnati Great Weather (Cincinnati, OH) 11/11/93 1993 Percussive Arts arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Society International Percussion “Come Along RB Convention, Columbus Group Wife,” “Flight Convention Center Cincinnati of the (Columbus, OH) Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 11/11/93 1993 Percussive Arts collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Society International News Today, RB Convention, Columbus Oh Boy! Convention Center (Columbus, OH) 11/11/93 1993 Percussive Arts Adams, John Three Drum AO, JC, AO, JC Society International Luther Quartets from RB Convention, Columbus Earth and the Convention Center Great Weather (Columbus, OH) 11/20/93 Terre Haute Symphony: arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO, JC The Classics Series, Tilson Percussion RB Auditorium Group (Terre Haute, IN) Cincinnati 11/20/93 Terre Haute Symphony: Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, THSO; AO, JC The Classics Series, Tilson the Grandeur RB Ramon E. Auditorium Meyer, (Terre Haute, IN) conductor 11/23/93 Great Falls Symphony arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO Association, Civic Center Percussion RB Theater Group (Great Falls, MT) Cincinnati

613

11/23/93 Great Falls Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, GFS; Gordon AO Association, Civic Center the Grandeur RB J. Johnson, Theater conductor (Great Falls, MT) 12/4/93 Ewell Concert Series, arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Ewell Recital Hall, College Percussion “Rebuilding RB of William and Mary Group Managua” and (Williamsburg, VA) Cincinnati “Nearer to the Gods/The People United” 12/4/93 Ewell Concert Series, Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, AO, JC Ewell Recital Hall, College Mauricio RB of William and Mary (Williamsburg, VA) 12/4/93 Ewell Concert Series, collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Ewell Recital Hall, College News Today, RB of William and Mary Oh Boy! (Williamsburg, VA) 12/4/93 Ewell Concert Series, Adams, John Three Drum AO, JC, AO, JC Ewell Recital Hall, College Luther Quartets from RB of William and Mary Earth and the (Williamsburg, VA) Great Weather 12/12/93 ?, Carroll University ? ? AO, JC, JC (Waukesha, WI) RB 1/11/94 Percussion Group Ives, Charles; “Life Pulse AO, JC, CCM AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett realized by Prelude” from RB Percussion Auditorium, University of Larry Austin the Universe Ensemble; Cincinnati Symphony Alison (Cincinnati, OH) Brown, piccolo; and Alonzo Alexander, piano 1/11/94 Percussion Group Hoffman, Metasmo AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Joel RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/11/94 Percussion Group Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Toru RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/22/94 Great Falls Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, GFS; ?, JC Association, Civic Center the Grandeur RB conductor Theater (Great Falls, MT)

614

1/28/94 CCM Philharmonia Ives, Charles; Universe AO, JC, premiere; AO Orchestra in Concert with realized by Symphony RB CCM the CCM Percussion Larry Austin Percussion Ensemble, Corbett Ensemble; Auditorium, University of CCM Cincinnati Philharmonia (Cincinnati, OH) Orchestra; Gerhard Samuel, conductor 2/11/94 Columbus Symphony, ? Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, JC (Columbus, GA) the Grandeur RB 2/14/94 Dothan Symphony, ? Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, JC (Dothan, AL) the Grandeur RB 2/19/94 Savannah Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, SSO; Philip AO, JC Orchestra Masterworks the Grandeur RB Greenberg, Concert, Johnny Mercer conductor Theatre, Savannah Civic Center (Savannah, GA) 3/1/94 Crooked Tree Arts Council arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO, JC, 1993–94 Concert Series, Percussion RB RB Virginia M. McCune Group Community Arts Center Cincinnati (Petoskey, MI) 3/1/94 Crooked Tree Arts Council Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC, 1993–94 Concert Series, RB RB Virginia M. McCune Community Arts Center (Petoskey, MI) 3/1/94 Crooked Tree Arts Council Cage, John Living Room AO, JC, AO, JC, 1993–94 Concert Series, Music RB RB Virginia M. McCune Community Arts Center (Petoskey, MI) 3/1/94 Crooked Tree Arts Council Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JC, AO, JC, 1993–94 Concert Series, Toru RB RB Virginia M. McCune Community Arts Center (Petoskey, MI) 3/1/94 Crooked Tree Arts Council Adams, John Three Drum AO, JC, AO, JC, 1993–94 Concert Series, Luther Quartets from RB RB Virginia M. McCune Earth and the Community Arts Center Great (Petoskey, MI) Weather: “Drums of Winter” and “Deep and Distant Thunder” 3/1/94 Crooked Tree Arts Council Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC, 1993–94 Concert Series, RB RB Virginia M. McCune Community Arts Center (Petoskey, MI)

615

3/3/94 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, JC Pontiac Township High RB School (Pontiac, IL) 3/8/94 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lipscomb Percussion “Come Along RB University Group Wife,” “Flight (Nashville, TN) Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 3/8/94 Percussion Group Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lipscomb Part I RB University (Nashville, TN) 3/8/94 Percussion Group Cage, John Living Room AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lipscomb Music RB University (Nashville, TN) 3/8/94 Percussion Group Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lipscomb Toru RB University (Nashville, TN) 3/8/94 Percussion Group Adams, John Three Drum AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lipscomb Luther Quartets from RB University Earth and the (Nashville, TN) Great Weather: “Drums of Winter” and “Deep and Distant Thunder” 3/8/94 Percussion Group Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, Lipscomb RB University (Nashville, TN) 3/11/94 Tahoe Arts Project, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (Lake Tahoe, CA) RB 4/5/94 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Percussion “Come Along RB Auditorium, University of Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati Cincinnati of the (Cincinnati, OH) Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/5/94 Percussion Group Cage, John Living Room AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Music RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

616

4/5/94 Percussion Group Kramer, Notta Sonata AO, JC, premiere; AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Jonathan for Two RB Frank Auditorium, University of Pianos and Weinstock Cincinnati Percussion and Michael (Cincinnati, OH) Chertock, pianos 4/5/94 Percussion Group Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Toru RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/5/94 Percussion Group Adams, John Three Drum AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Luther Quartets from RB Auditorium, University of Earth and the Cincinnati Great (Cincinnati, OH) Weather: “Drums of Winter” and “Deep and Distant Thunder” 4/5/94 Percussion Group Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/12/94 CCM Artist Ensembles, arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Merkin Concert Hall Percussion “Come Along RB (New York, NY) Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/12/94 CCM Artist Ensembles, Cage, John Living Room AO, JC, AO, JC Merkin Concert Hall Music RB (New York, NY) 4/12/94 CCM Artist Ensembles, Kramer, Notta Sonata AO, JC, Frank AO, JC Merkin Concert Hall Jonathan for Two RB Weinstock (New York, NY) Pianos and and Michael Percussion Chertock, pianos 4/12/94 CCM Artist Ensembles, Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JC, AO, JC Merkin Concert Hall Toru RB (New York, NY)

617

4/12/94 CCM Artist Ensembles, Adams, John Three Drum AO, JC, AO, JC Merkin Concert Hall Luther Quartets from RB (New York, NY) Earth and the Great Weather: “Drums of Winter” and “Deep and Distant Thunder” 4/12/94 CCM Artist Ensembles, Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC Merkin Concert Hall RB (New York, NY) 4/14/94 CCM Artists Present: Subotnick, The Key to AO, JC, Frank AO Morton Subotnick Trilogy, Morton Songs RB Weinstock, Merkin Concert Hall piano; (New York, NY) Malcolm Johnston, viola; and Javier Arias- Flores, violoncello 4/25/94 For and By Gerhard Brant, Henry “70” AO, JC, premiere AO Samuel: A Seventieth RB Birthday Celebration, Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/25/94 For and By Gerhard Austin, Larry accidental AO, JC, premiere AO Samuel: A Seventieth sevens for g. s. RB Birthday Celebration, Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/25/94 For and By Gerhard Harrison, Lou Canticle and AO, JC, premiere AO Samuel: A Seventieth Round for RB Birthday Celebration, Gerhard Corbett Auditorium, Samuel’s University of Cincinnati Birthday (Cincinnati, OH) 4/25/94 For and By Gerhard Samuel, Circles AO, JC, AO Samuel: A Seventieth Gerhard RB Birthday Celebration, Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/25/94 For and By Gerhard Barnhart, Variations of AO, JC, premiere AO Samuel: A Seventieth Michael “Haiku” RB Birthday Celebration, Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

618

10/28/94 CCM Philharmonia Bach, Johann Das AO, JC, premiere; AO Orchestra, Corbett Sebastian; Wohltemperier RB CCM Auditorium, University of arr. William te Klavier II: Philharmonia Cincinnati DeFotis Prelude and Orchestra; (Cincinnati, OH) Fugue in C- Gerhard sharp major Samuel, conductor 10/30/94 Faculty and Guest Concert Cage, John Retrospective AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Warner Concert Tribute (from RB Hall, Oberlin College some of Suite (Oberlin, OH) for Toy Piano and music from the film Dreams that Money Can Buy with Variations II, through Branches and part of Living Room Music, to a little of Third Construction) 10/30/94 Faculty and Guest Concert arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Warner Concert Percussion “Come Along RB Hall, Oberlin College Group Wife,” “Flight (Oberlin, OH) Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 10/30/94 Faculty and Guest Concert collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Warner Concert News Today, RB Hall, Oberlin College Oh Boy! (Oberlin, OH) 10/30/94 Faculty and Guest Concert Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Warner Concert RB Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 10/30/94 Faculty and Guest Concert Kramer, Notta Sonata AO, JC, Frank AO, JC Series, Warner Concert Jonathan for Two RB Weinstock Hall, Oberlin College Pianos and and Michael (Oberlin, OH) Percussion Chertock, pianos 10/30/94 Faculty and Guest Concert Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Warner Concert RB Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH)

619

11/1/94 Visiting Artist Recital arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Weigel Hall Percussion “Come Along RB Auditorium, The Ohio Group Wife,” “Flight State University Cincinnati of the (Columbus, OH) Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 11/1/94 Visiting Artist Recital Cage, John from some of AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Weigel Hall Beach Birds RB Auditorium, The Ohio and music for State University the film (Columbus, OH) Dreams that Money Can Buy with Variations II, through Branches and part of Living Room Music, to Imaginary Landscape No. 2 11/1/94 Visiting Artist Recital collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Weigel Hall News Today, RB Auditorium, The Ohio Oh Boy! State University (Columbus, OH) 11/1/94 Visiting Artist Recital Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Weigel Hall Frederic de Panurge RB Auditorium, The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) 11/1/94 Visiting Artist Recital Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Weigel Hall RB Auditorium, The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) 11/1/94 Visiting Artist Recital Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Weigel Hall RB Auditorium, The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) 1/21/95 ?, Saginaw Valley State ? ? AO, JC, JC University RB (University Center, MI)

620

2/12/95 Chamber Concert Series, Cage, John Retrospective AO, JC, AO, JC Thornhill Education Tribute (from RB Center, Morton Arboretum some of Suite (Lisle, IL) for Toy Piano and music from the film Dreams that Money Can Buy with Variations II, through Beach Birds with part of Living Room Music and Branches, to a little of Third Construction) 2/12/95 Chamber Concert Series, arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Thornhill Education Percussion “Come Along RB Center, Morton Arboretum Group Wife,” “Flight (Lisle, IL) Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 2/12/95 Chamber Concert Series, collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Thornhill Education News Today, RB Center, Morton Arboretum Oh Boy! (Lisle, IL) 2/12/95 Chamber Concert Series, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Thornhill Education RB Center, Morton Arboretum (Lisle, IL) 2/12/95 Chamber Concert Series, Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JC, AO, JC Thornhill Education Toru RB Center, Morton Arboretum (Lisle, IL) 2/12/95 Chamber Concert Series, Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, JC, AO, JC Thornhill Education Camus RB Center, Morton Arboretum (Lisle, IL) 2/12/95 Chamber Concert Series, Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC Thornhill Education RB Center, Morton Arboretum (Lisle, IL)

621

2/14/95 The Percussion Group Cage, John Retrospective AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Tribute (from RB Kohler Arts Center some of Suite (Sheboygan, WI) for Toy Piano and music from the film Dreams that Money Can Buy with Variations II, through Branches and part of Living Room Music, to a little of Third Construction) 2/14/95 The Percussion Group Otte, Allen As An AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Algebra; RB Kohler Arts Center Following Don (Sheboygan, WI) Bogen, and the Shona 2/14/95 The Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Percussion “Come Along RB Kohler Arts Center Group Wife,” “Flight (Sheboygan, WI) Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 2/14/95 The Percussion Group collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael News Today, RB Kohler Arts Center Oh Boy! (Sheboygan, WI) 2/14/95 The Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael RB Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) 2/14/95 The Percussion Group Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Camus RB Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) 2/14/95 The Percussion Group Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael RB Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI)

622

2/15/95 The Percussion Group Cage, John Retrospective AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Tribute (from RB Kohler Arts Center some of Suite (Sheboygan, WI) for Toy Piano and music from the film Dreams that Money Can Buy with Variations II, through Branches and part of Living Room Music, to a little of Third Construction) 2/15/95 The Percussion Group Otte, Allen As An AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Algebra; RB Kohler Arts Center Following Don (Sheboygan, WI) Bogen, and the Shona 2/15/95 The Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Percussion “Come Along RB Kohler Arts Center Group Wife,” “Flight (Sheboygan, WI) Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 2/15/95 The Percussion Group collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael News Today, RB Kohler Arts Center Oh Boy! (Sheboygan, WI) 2/15/95 The Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael RB Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) 2/15/95 The Percussion Group Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Camus RB Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) 2/15/95 The Percussion Group Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael RB Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI)

623

2/16/95 The Percussion Group Cage, John Retrospective AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Tribute (from RB Kohler Arts Center some of Suite (Sheboygan, WI) for Toy Piano and music from the film Dreams that Money Can Buy with Variations II, through Branches and part of Living Room Music, to a little of Third Construction) 2/16/95 The Percussion Group Otte, Allen As An AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Algebra; RB Kohler Arts Center Following Don (Sheboygan, WI) Bogen, and the Shona 2/16/95 The Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Percussion “Come Along RB Kohler Arts Center Group Wife,” “Flight (Sheboygan, WI) Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 2/16/95 The Percussion Group collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael News Today, RB Kohler Arts Center Oh Boy! (Sheboygan, WI) 2/16/95 The Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael RB Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) 2/16/95 The Percussion Group Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Camus RB Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) 2/16/95 The Percussion Group Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael RB Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI)

624

2/17/95 The Percussion Group Cage, John Retrospective AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Tribute (from RB Kohler Arts Center some of Suite (Sheboygan, WI) for Toy Piano and music from the film Dreams that Money Can Buy with Variations II, through Branches and part of Living Room Music, to a little of Third Construction) 2/17/95 The Percussion Group Otte, Allen As An AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Algebra; RB Kohler Arts Center Following Don (Sheboygan, WI) Bogen, and the Shona 2/17/95 The Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Percussion “Come Along RB Kohler Arts Center Group Wife,” “Flight (Sheboygan, WI) Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 2/17/95 The Percussion Group collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael News Today, RB Kohler Arts Center Oh Boy! (Sheboygan, WI) 2/17/95 The Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael RB Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) 2/17/95 The Percussion Group Celli, Joseph Snaredrum for AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael Camus RB Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) 2/17/95 The Percussion Group Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC Cincinnati, John Michael RB Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI)

625

3/4/95 Brattleboro Music Center Cage, John Retrospective AO, JC, AO, JC 1994–95 Season, First Tribute (from RB Baptist Church some of Suite (Brattleboro, VT) for Toy Piano and music from the film Dreams that Money Can Buy with Variations II, through Beach Birds with part of Living Room Music and Branches, to a little of Third Construction) 3/4/95 Brattleboro Music Center arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC 1994–95 Season, First Percussion “Come Along RB Baptist Church Group Wife,” “Flight (Brattleboro, VT) Cincinnati of the Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 3/4/95 Brattleboro Music Center collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC 1994–95 Season, First News Today, RB Baptist Church Oh Boy! (Brattleboro, VT) 3/4/95 Brattleboro Music Center Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC 1994–95 Season, First RB Baptist Church (Brattleboro, VT) 3/4/95 Brattleboro Music Center Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JC, AO, JC 1994–95 Season, First Toru RB Baptist Church (Brattleboro, VT) 3/4/95 Brattleboro Music Center Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC 1994–95 Season, First RB Baptist Church (Brattleboro, VT) 3/6/95 Washington College arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Concert Series, Tawes Percussion “Come Along RB Theatre, Gibson Group Wife,” “Flight Performing Arts Center, Cincinnati of the Washington College Flamingos,” (Chestertown, MD) “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana”

626

3/6/95 Washington College collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Concert Series, Tawes News Today, RB Theatre, Gibson Oh Boy! Performing Arts Center, Washington College (Chestertown, MD) 3/6/95 Washington College Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Concert Series, Tawes RB Theatre, Gibson Performing Arts Center, Washington College (Chestertown, MD) 3/6/95 Washington College Takemitsu, Rain Tree AO, JC, AO, JC Concert Series, Tawes Toru RB Theatre, Gibson Performing Arts Center, Washington College (Chestertown, MD) 3/6/95 Washington College Beukes, Jahn Three Mbiras AO, JC, AO, JC Concert Series, Tawes RB Theatre, Gibson Performing Arts Center, Washington College (Chestertown, MD) 3/6/95 Washington College Cage, John Retrospective AO, JC, AO, JC Concert Series, Tawes Tribute (from RB Theatre, Gibson some of Suite Performing Arts Center, for Toy Piano Washington College and music (Chestertown, MD) from the film Dreams that Money Can Buy with Variations II, through Beach Birds with part of Living Room Music and Branches, to a little of Third Construction) 4/4/95 Percussion Group Harrison, Lou Canticle and AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Round for RB Auditorium, University of Gerhard Cincinnati Samuel’s (Cincinnati, OH) Birthday 4/4/95 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Percussion “The People RB Auditorium, University of Group United” Cincinnati Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

627

4/4/95 Percussion Group Cage, John from AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Imaginary RB Auditorium, University of Landscape No. Cincinnati 2, through (Cincinnati, OH) Music for Three and Beach Birds, to some of Third Construction 4/4/95 Percussion Group Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Frederic de Panurge RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/4/95 Percussion Group Beukes, Jahn Umculo Wa AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Bathatho RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/29/95 Memorial Union Board Harrison, Lou Canticle and AO, JC, AO, JC Tech Arts Festival, Fisher Round for RB Hall, Michigan Gerhard Technological University Samuel’s (Houghton, MI) Birthday 4/29/95 Memorial Union Board arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Tech Arts Festival, Fisher Percussion “Come Along RB Hall, Michigan Group Wife,” “Flight Technological University Cincinnati of the (Houghton, MI) Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/29/95 Memorial Union Board Cage, John from some of AO, JC, AO, JC Tech Arts Festival, Fisher Suite for Toy RB Hall, Michigan Piano with Technological University Child of Tree (Houghton, MI) and Music for One, through part of Living Room Music, to Imaginary Landscape No. 2 4/29/95 Memorial Union Board collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Tech Arts Festival, Fisher News Today, RB Hall, Michigan Oh Boy! Technological University (Houghton, MI) 4/29/95 Memorial Union Board Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO, JC Tech Arts Festival, Fisher Frederic de Panurge RB Hall, Michigan Technological University (Houghton, MI)

628

4/29/95 Memorial Union Board Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Tech Arts Festival, Fisher RB Hall, Michigan Technological University (Houghton, MI) 4/29/95 Memorial Union Board Beukes, Jahn Umculo Wa AO, JC, AO, JC Tech Arts Festival, Fisher Bathatho RB Hall, Michigan Technological University (Houghton, MI) 5/12/95 ?, University of Cincinnati ? ? AO, JC, JC Clermont College RB (Batavia, OH) 6/24/95 Espinho Percussion ? ? AO, JC, JC Institute, ? RB (Espinho, Portugal) 9/24/95 Ashland University Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, AUS; ?, JC Symphony, Ashland the Grandeur RB conductor University (Ashland, OH) 10/7/95 Krueger Fine Arts Series, Coleman, dig.it AO, JC, AO Bradley Building, Randolph RB Lakeland College (Sheboygan, WI) 10/7/95 Krueger Fine Arts Series, Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, AO Bradley Building, Part I RB Lakeland College (Sheboygan, WI) 10/7/95 Krueger Fine Arts Series, arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO Bradley Building, Percussion “The People RB Lakeland College Group United” (Sheboygan, WI) Cincinnati 10/7/95 Krueger Fine Arts Series, Cage, John from But What AO, JC, AO Bradley Building, about the RB Lakeland College Noise of (Sheboygan, WI) Crumpling Paper …, through Amores and some of Living Room Music, to Imaginary Landscape No. 2 10/7/95 Krueger Fine Arts Series, Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JC, AO Bradley Building, of Imaginary RB Lakeland College Beings: “Tigre (Sheboygan, WI) Capiangos” 10/7/95 Krueger Fine Arts Series, Beukes, Jahn Umculo Wa AO, JC, AO Bradley Building, Bathatho RB Lakeland College (Sheboygan, WI)

629

10/13/95 Percussion Group Russell, Made in AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, William America RB Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/13/95 Percussion Group Wuorinen, Percussion AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Charles Quartet RB Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/13/95 Percussion Group Coleman, dig.it AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Randolph RB Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/24/95 Lunchbreak Series, Cook- Coleman, dig.it AO, JC, AO, JC Dewitt Center, Grand Randolph RB Valley State University (Allendale, MI) 10/24/95 Lunchbreak Series, Cook- Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, AO, JC Dewitt Center, Grand Part I RB Valley State University (Allendale, MI) 10/24/95 Lunchbreak Series, Cook- Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JC, AO, JC Dewitt Center, Grand of Imaginary RB Valley State University Beings: “Tigre (Allendale, MI) Capiangos” 10/24/95 Lunchbreak Series, Cook- collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Dewitt Center, Grand News Today, RB Valley State University Oh Boy! (Allendale, MI) 10/24/95 Lunchbreak Series, Cook- Beukes, Jahn Umculo Wa AO, JC, AO, JC Dewitt Center, Grand Bathatho RB Valley State University (Allendale, MI) 10/25/95 Guest Recital, Rudolph Coleman, dig.it AO, JC, AO, JC Ganz Memorial Hall, Randolph RB Roosevelt University (Chicago, IL) 10/25/95 Guest Recital, Rudolph Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, AO, JC Ganz Memorial Hall, Part I RB Roosevelt University (Chicago, IL) 10/25/95 Guest Recital, Rudolph Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JC, AO, JC Ganz Memorial Hall, of Imaginary RB Roosevelt University Beings: “Tigre (Chicago, IL) Capiangos” 10/25/95 Guest Recital, Rudolph collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Ganz Memorial Hall, News Today, RB Roosevelt University Oh Boy! (Chicago, IL) 10/25/95 Guest Recital, Rudolph Beukes, Jahn Umculo Wa AO, JC, AO, JC Ganz Memorial Hall, Bathatho RB Roosevelt University (Chicago, IL)

630

11/18/95 Binghamton Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, BSO; John JC, RB Orchestra, Forum Theater the Grandeur RB Covelli, (Binghamton, NY) conductor 11/19/95 Binghamton Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, BSO; John JC, RB Orchestra, Forum Theater the Grandeur RB Covelli, (Binghamton, NY) conductor 12/8/95 Jazz, Art, Dance, Poetry, ? ? AO, JC, RB Music, Dieterle Vocal Arts RB Center, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/14/96 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, AO Dieterle Vocal Arts Center, RB University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/20/96 ?, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (Terre Haute, IN) RB 1/24/96 ?, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (Eagle River, WI) RB 2/10/96 Ft. Collins Symphony arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO, JC Orchestra, Classics III, Percussion RB Lincoln Center Group (Ft. Collins, CO) Cincinnati 2/10/96 Ft. Collins Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, FCSO; AO, JC Orchestra, Classics III, the Grandeur RB Sybille Lincoln Center Werner, (Ft. Collins, CO) conductor 2/25/96 Chamber Music Society of arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Central Kentucky, Percussion “Come Along RB Singletary Center for the Group Wife,” “Flight Arts Cincinnati of the (Lexington, KY) Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 2/25/96 Chamber Music Society of Cage, John from some of AO, JC, AO, JC Central Kentucky, the Suite for RB Singletary Center for the Toy Piano Arts with But What (Lexington, KY) About the Noise of Crumpling Paper …, through Amores, to part of Living Room Music 2/25/96 Chamber Music Society of collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Central Kentucky, News Today, RB Singletary Center for the Oh Boy! Arts (Lexington, KY)

631

2/25/96 Chamber Music Society of Qu Xiao- Làm Môt AO, JC, AO, JC Central Kentucky, Song RB Singletary Center for the Arts (Lexington, KY) 2/25/96 Chamber Music Society of Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Central Kentucky, RB Singletary Center for the Arts (Lexington, KY) 3/8/96 Thunder Bay Arts Council arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Presents the Percussion Percussion “Come Along RB Group Cincinnati, Stanley Group Wife,” “Flight C. Beck Auditorium, Cincinnati of the Alpena High School Flamingos,” (Alpena, MI) “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 3/8/96 Thunder Bay Arts Council Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, AO, JC Presents the Percussion Part I RB Group Cincinnati, Stanley C. Beck Auditorium, Alpena High School (Alpena, MI) 3/8/96 Thunder Bay Arts Council Cage, John from some of AO, JC, AO, JC Presents the Percussion the Suite for RB Group Cincinnati, Stanley Toy Piano C. Beck Auditorium, with But What Alpena High School About the (Alpena, MI) Noise of Crumpling Paper …, through Amores, to part of Living Room Music 3/8/96 Thunder Bay Arts Council collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Presents the Percussion News Today, RB Group Cincinnati, Stanley Oh Boy! C. Beck Auditorium, Alpena High School (Alpena, MI) 3/8/96 Thunder Bay Arts Council Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Presents the Percussion RB Group Cincinnati, Stanley C. Beck Auditorium, Alpena High School (Alpena, MI) 3/8/96 Thunder Bay Arts Council Beukes, Jahn Umculo Wa AO, JC, AO, JC Presents the Percussion Bathatho RB Group Cincinnati, Stanley C. Beck Auditorium, Alpena High School (Alpena, MI)

632

3/31/96 Percussion Group Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 3/31/96 Percussion Group Qu Xiao- Làm Môt AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Song RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/13/96 Thompson Concert Series, ? ? AO, JC, JC Brooks-Rogers Recital RB Hall, Bernhard Music Center, Williams College (Williamstown, MA) 4/21/96 Student Activities Concert ? ? AO, JC, JC Series, Harper College RB (Palatine, IL) 7/5/96 Oberlin Percussion Harrison, Lou Canticle and AO, JC, JC, Institute, Warner Concert Round for RB OPW Hall, Oberlin College Gerhard (Oberlin, OH) Samuel’s Birthday 7/5/96 Oberlin Percussion arr. Chilean Song: AO, JC, JC, Institute, Warner Concert Percussion “The People RB OPW Hall, Oberlin College Group United” (Oberlin, OH) Cincinnati 7/5/96 Oberlin Percussion Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, JC, Institute, Warner Concert RB OPW Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/5/96 Oberlin Percussion collective I Read in the AO, JC, JC, Institute, Warner Concert News Today, RB OPW Hall, Oberlin College Oh Boy! (Oberlin, OH) 7/5/96 Oberlin Percussion Qu Xiao- Làm Môt AO, JC, JC, Institute, Warner Concert Song RB OPW Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/5/96 Oberlin Percussion Beukes, Jahn Umculo Wa AO, JC, JC, Institute, Warner Concert Bathatho RB OPW Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 9/10/96 ?, ? Ives, Charles; “Life Pulse AO, JC, JC (New York, NY) realized by Prelude” from RB Larry Austin the Universe Symphony 10/6/96 ?, Notre Dame University ? ? AO, JC, JC (South Bend, IN) RB 10/22/96 Quincy Symphony, Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, QS; ?, JC Morrison Theater the Grandeur RB conductor (Quincy, IL) 11/14/96 DAAP Dedication, ? ? AO, JC, JC University of Cincinnati RB (Cincinnati, OH)

633

11/17/96 Kerrytown Concert House ? ? AO, JC, JC (Ann Arbor, MI) RB 12/5/96 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (Peoria, IL) RB 12/5/96 Peoria Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, PSO; ?, JC Orchestra, ? the Grandeur RB conductor (Peoria, IL) 1/21/97 Percussion Group Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, RB Cincinnati Concert, RB Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/21/97 Percussion Group arr. Five Pan- AO, JC, RB Cincinnati Concert, Percussion American RB Patricia Corbett Theater, Group Dances: University of Cincinnati Cincinnati “desvelda,” (Cincinnati, OH) “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess, Tango” from Gringo Blaster, “Dance” from The Glory and the Grandeur, and a Chilean Song 1/21/97 Percussion Group Ives, Charles; “Life Pulse AO, JC, RB Cincinnati Concert, realized by Prelude” from RB Patricia Corbett Theater, Larry Austin the Universe University of Cincinnati Symphony (Cincinnati, OH) 10/10/97 Center Stage Series, Luther ? ? AO, JC, RB College RB (Decorah, IA) 1/16/98 ?, Southeast Oklahoma ? ? AO, JC, JC State University RB (Durant, OK) 1/17/98 ?, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (McAlester, OK) RB 1/30/98 Percussion Group Adams, John Strange and AO, JC, premiere; AO Cincinnati Concert, Luther Sacred Noise RB Stuart Gerber, Patricia Corbett Theater, Brady University of Cincinnati Harrison, and (Cincinnati, OH) Matt McClung, percussion 3/7/98 Chamber Concert Series, ? ? AO, JC, JC Thornhill Education RB Center, Morton Arboretum (Lisle, IL)

634

3/15/98 Herbert Brün Festival, ? ? AO, JC, JC Krannert Center for the RB Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Urbana, IL) 4/11/98 Rhea Miller Concert Saya, Mark Bachanons AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Rhea Miller Recital RB Hall, Saginaw Valley State University (University Center, MI) 4/11/98 Rhea Miller Concert arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Rhea Miller Recital Percussion “Come Along RB Hall, Saginaw Valley State Group Wife,” “Flight University Cincinnati of the (University Center, MI) Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/11/98 Rhea Miller Concert Guo Wenjing Drama Series, Rhea Miller Recital Hall, Saginaw Valley State University (University Center, MI) 4/11/98 Rhea Miller Concert Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Rhea Miller Recital of Imaginary RB Hall, Saginaw Valley State Beings: “Tigre University Capiangos” (University Center, MI) 4/11/98 Rhea Miller Concert collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Rhea Miller Recital News Today, RB Hall, Saginaw Valley State Oh Boy! University (University Center, MI) 4/11/98 Rhea Miller Concert Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Rhea Miller Recital RB Hall, Saginaw Valley State University (University Center, MI) 4/11/98 Rhea Miller Concert Beukes, Jahn Umculo Wa AO, JC, AO, JC Series, Rhea Miller Recital Bathatho RB Hall, Saginaw Valley State University (University Center, MI) 4/14/98 Percussion Group Saya, Mark Bachanons AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/14/98 Percussion Group Chandra, Crocker AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Arun RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

635

4/14/98 Percussion Group Saya, Mark From the Book AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett of Imaginary RB Auditorium, University of Beings: “Tigre Cincinnati Capiangos” (Cincinnati, OH) 4/14/98 Percussion Group Brün, Herbert Infraudibles AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett with RB Auditorium, University of Percussion Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/18/98 SEAMUS Convention, Chandra, Crocker AO, JC, JC Dartmouth College Arun RB (Hanover, NH)

7/17/98 Oberlin Percussion Cage, John Amores AO, JC, OPW, Institute, Warner Concert RB RB Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/17/98 Oberlin Percussion Saya, Mark Bachanons AO, JC, OPW, Institute, Warner Concert RB RB Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/17/98 Oberlin Percussion arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, OPW, Institute, Warner Concert Percussion RB RB Hall, Oberlin College Group (Oberlin, OH) Cincinnati 7/17/98 Oberlin Percussion Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, OPW, Institute, Warner Concert RB RB Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/17/98 Oberlin Percussion collective I Read in the AO, JC, OPW, Institute, Warner Concert News Today, RB RB Hall, Oberlin College Oh Boy! (Oberlin, OH) 7/17/98 Oberlin Percussion Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, OPW, Institute, Warner Concert RB RB Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/17/98 Oberlin Percussion Gershwin, Porgy and AO, JC, OPW, Institute, Warner Concert George; arr. Bess: RB RB Hall, Oberlin College Russell “Summertime” (Oberlin, OH) Burge 7/17/98 Oberlin Percussion Beukes, Jahn Umculo Wa AO, JC, OPW, Institute, Warner Concert Bathatho RB RB Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 9/23/98 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (Amarillo, TX) RB 9/26/98 Amarillo Symphony, ? arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, JC (Amarillo, TX) Percussion RB Group Cincinnati 9/26/98 Amarillo Symphony, ? Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, AS; James JC (Amarillo, TX) the Grandeur RB Setapan, conductor

636

10/11/98 ?, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (Menominee, WI) RB 10/16/98 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Percussion “Come Along RB Auditorium, University of Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati Cincinnati of the (Cincinnati, OH) Flamingos,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 10/16/98 Percussion Group Qu Xiao- Mirage AO, JC, premiere; Qu AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Song RB Xiao-Song, Auditorium, University of voice Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/16/98 Percussion Group Burge, David Moku (Island) AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/16/98 Percussion Group Oliveros, Single Stroke AO, JC, CCM AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Pauline Roll RB Percussion Auditorium, University of Meditation Ensemble Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/16/98 Percussion Group Lai Deh-Ho untitled AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett percussion trio RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 11/21/98 Guest Artist Series, Warner Adams, John Strange and AO, JC, Stuart Gerber, JC, Hall, Oberlin College Luther Sacred Noise RB Brady OPW (Oberlin, OH) Harrison, and Matt McClung, percussion 2/26/99 Percussion Group Cage, John Credo in US AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/26/99 Percussion Group Qu Xiao- Fang Yan Kou AO, JC, premiere; Qu AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Song RB Xiao-Song, Auditorium, University of voice Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/26/99 Percussion Group Cage, John Imaginary AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Landscape No. RB Auditorium, University of 2 Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

637

2/26/99 Percussion Group Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Alonzo Book One RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/26/99 Percussion Group Dargel, Perpetual AO, JC, premiere AO Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Corey RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/11/99 Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, RB Presented by The RB University of Missouri-St. Louis, The Sheldon (St. Louis, MO) 4/11/99 Percussion Group Beukes, Jahn Umculo Wa AO, JC, RB Presented by The Bathatho RB University of Missouri-St. Louis, The Sheldon (St. Louis, MO) 4/11/99 Percussion Group Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, RB Presented by The RB University of Missouri-St. Louis, The Sheldon (St. Louis, MO) 4/11/99 Percussion Group Cage, John Amores with AO, JC, RB Presented by The Branches and RB University of Missouri-St. some of Living Louis, The Sheldon Room Music (St. Louis, MO) 4/11/99 Percussion Group collective I Read in the AO, JC, RB Presented by The News Today, RB University of Missouri-St. Oh Boy! Louis, The Sheldon (St. Louis, MO) 4/11/99 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, RB Presented by The Percussion “Come Along RB University of Missouri-St. Group Wife,” “Flight Louis, The Sheldon Cincinnati of the (St. Louis, MO) Flamingoes,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/22/99 San Diego Ballet, Lyceum arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Theater Percussion “Come Along RB (San Diego, CA) Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati of the Flamingoes,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana”

638

4/22/99 San Diego Ballet, Lyceum Burge, David Moku (Island) AO, JC, AO, JC Theater RB (San Diego, CA) 4/23/99 San Diego Ballet, Lyceum arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Theater Percussion “Come Along RB (San Diego, CA) Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati of the Flamingoes,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/23/99 San Diego Ballet, Lyceum Burge, David Moku (Island) AO, JC, AO, JC Theater RB (San Diego, CA) 4/24/99 San Diego Ballet, Lyceum arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Theater Percussion “Come Along RB (San Diego, CA) Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati of the Flamingoes,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/24/99 San Diego Ballet, Lyceum Burge, David Moku (Island) AO, JC, AO, JC Theater RB (San Diego, CA) 4/25/99 San Diego Ballet, Lyceum arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, AO, JC Theater Percussion “Come Along RB (San Diego, CA) Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati of the Flamingoes,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/25/99 San Diego Ballet, Lyceum Burge, David Moku (Island) AO, JC, AO, JC Theater RB (San Diego, CA) 5/1/99 The Percussion Group ? ? AO, JC, JC Cincinnati, John Michael RB Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI) 6/5/99 Taipei International ? ? AO, JC, JC Percussion Convention, ? RB (Taipei, Taiwan) 7/6/99 Percussion Group ? ? AO, JC, JC Cincinnati Residency RB Performance, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (Green Bay, WI) 9/13/99 ?, Asbury College ? ? AO, JC, JC (Wilmore, KY) RB

639

9/23/99 Dedication of the Vontz ? ? AO, JC, JC Center for Molecular RB Studies, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/7/99 Southwest Michigan Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, SMS; ?, JC Symphony, ? the Grandeur RB conductor (St. Joseph, MI) 10/11/99 Percussion Group ? ? AO, JC, JC Cincinnati Residency RB Performance, ? (Quad Cities, IA) 10/25/99 University Performing Arts Helmuth, Abandoned AO, JC, JC, RB Series, Kresge Auditorium, Mara Lake in Maine RB DePauw University (Greencastle, IN) 10/25/99 University Performing Arts arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, JC, RB Series, Kresge Auditorium, Percussion “Come Along RB DePauw University Group Wife,” “Flight (Greencastle, IN) Cincinnati of the Flamingoes,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 10/25/99 University Performing Arts Cage, John Credo in US AO, JC, JC, RB Series, Kresge Auditorium, RB DePauw University (Greencastle, IN) 10/25/99 University Performing Arts Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, JC, RB Series, Kresge Auditorium, RB DePauw University (Greencastle, IN) 10/25/99 University Performing Arts Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, JC, RB Series, Kresge Auditorium, Part I RB DePauw University (Greencastle, IN) 10/25/99 University Performing Arts collective I Read in the AO, JC, JC, RB Series, Kresge Auditorium, News Today, RB DePauw University Oh Boy! (Greencastle, IN) 10/25/99 University Performing Arts Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, JC, RB Series, Kresge Auditorium, Alonzo Book One RB DePauw University (Greencastle, IN) 11/17/99 ?, Valparaiso University ? ? AO, JC, JC (Valparaiso, IN) RB 11/27/99 1999 Percussive Arts Cage, John Amores AO, JC, JC, RB Society International RB Convention: A John Cage Retrospective, Columbus Convention Center (Columbus, OH)

640

11/27/99 1999 Percussive Arts Cage, John Branches AO, JC, JC, RB Society International RB Convention: A John Cage Retrospective, Columbus Convention Center (Columbus, OH) 11/27/99 1999 Percussive Arts Cage, John Living Room AO, JC, JC, RB Society International Music RB Convention: A John Cage Retrospective, Columbus Convention Center (Columbus, OH) 11/27/99 1999 Percussive Arts Cage, John Music for AO, JC, JC, RB Society International Marcel RB Convention: A John Cage Duchamp Retrospective, Columbus Convention Center (Columbus, OH) 11/27/99 1999 Percussive Arts Cage, John Suite for Toy AO, JC, JC, RB Society International Piano RB Convention: A John Cage Retrospective, Columbus Convention Center (Columbus, OH) 11/27/99 1999 Percussive Arts Cage, John Third AO, BT, JC, RB Society International Construction JC, RB Convention: A John Cage Retrospective, Columbus Convention Center (Columbus, OH) 11/27/99 1999 Percussive Arts Cage, John Variations II AO, JC, JC, RB Society International RB Convention: A John Cage Retrospective, Columbus Convention Center (Columbus, OH)

641

11/27/99 1999 Percussive Arts Cage, John Musicircus: AO, JC, JC, RB Society International including part RB Convention: A John Cage or all of Living Retrospective, Columbus Room Music, Convention Center Third (Columbus, OH) Construction, Credo in US, Suite for Toy Piano, A Flower, Imaginary Landscape No. 5, Water Music, Cartridge Music, Song Books, Branches, Inlets, and Music for Three 1/7/00 Percussion Group Sentman, Book between AO, JC, premiere AO, RB Cincinnati Concert, Cohen Alan Bookends RB Family Studio Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/7/00 Percussion Group Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, AO, RB Cincinnati Concert, Cohen Part I RB Family Studio Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/7/00 Percussion Group Helmuth, Loonspace AO, JC, premiere AO, RB Cincinnati Concert, Cohen Mara RB Family Studio Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/7/00 Percussion Group Gann, Kyle Snake Dance AO, JC, AO, RB Cincinnati Concert, Cohen No. 2 RB Family Studio Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/7/00 Percussion Group Cage, John Third AO, JC, Stuart Gerber, AO, RB Cincinnati Concert, Cohen Construction RB percussion Family Studio Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/2/00 ?, Emory and Henry ? ? AO, JC, JC College RB (Emory, VA) 4/3/00 Lyceum Series, Cole Hall, arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, RB Bridgewater College Percussion RB (Bridgewater, VA) Group Cincinnati

642

4/3/00 Lyceum Series, Cole Hall, collective I Read in the AO, JC, RB Bridgewater College News Today, RB (Bridgewater, VA) Oh Boy! 4/3/00 Lyceum Series, Cole Hall, Cage, John Living Room AO, JC, RB Bridgewater College Music RB (Bridgewater, VA) 4/3/00 Lyceum Series, Cole Hall, Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, RB Bridgewater College Alonzo Book One RB (Bridgewater, VA) 4/3/00 Lyceum Series, Cole Hall, Adams, John Three Drum AO, JC, RB Bridgewater College Luther Quartets from RB (Bridgewater, VA) Earth and the Great Weather: “Drums of Winter” and “Deep and Distant Thunder” 4/3/00 Lyceum Series, Cole Hall, Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, RB Bridgewater College RB (Bridgewater, VA) 4/3/00 Lyceum Series, Cole Hall, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, RB Bridgewater College RB (Bridgewater, VA) 4/20/00 CCM Wind Symphony’s Colgrass, Déjà vu AO, JC, Jeremy RB Tribute to Michael Michael RB Craycraft, Colgrass, Corbett percussion Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 7/7/00 Oberlin Percussion arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, JC, RB Institute, Warner Hall, Percussion RB Oberlin College Group (Oberlin, OH) Cincinnati 7/7/00 Oberlin Percussion Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, JC, RB Institute, Warner Hall, RB Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/7/00 Oberlin Percussion Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, JC, RB Institute, Warner Hall, Part I RB Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/7/00 Oberlin Percussion Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, JC, RB Institute, Warner Hall, Alonzo Book One RB Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/7/00 Oberlin Percussion Barnhart, Singing Bridge AO, JC, JC, RB Institute, Warner Hall, Michael RB Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH)

643

10/13/00 Percussion Group Qu Xiao- Fang Yan Kou AO, JC, Qu Xiao- AO Cincinnati Concert: The Song RB Song, voice Music of Qu Xiao-Song, Cohen Family Studio Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/13/00 Percussion Group Qu Xiao- Ji No. 6 AO, JC, Audrey Luna, AO Cincinnati Concert: The Song (“flowing RB soprano Music of Qu Xiao-Song, sands …”) Cohen Family Studio Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/13/00 Percussion Group Qu Xiao- Mirage AO, JC, Qu Xiao- AO Cincinnati Concert: The Song RB Song, voice Music of Qu Xiao-Song, Cohen Family Studio Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/13/00 Percussion Group Qu Xiao- Mist 2 AO, JC, Audrey Luna, AO Cincinnati Concert: The Song RB soprano Music of Qu Xiao-Song, Cohen Family Studio Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/13/00 Percussion Group Qu Xiao- Xi AO, JC, Stuart Gerber, AO Cincinnati Concert: The Song RB Brian Music of Qu Xiao-Song, Hibbard, and Cohen Family Studio Mark Craig, Theater, University of percussion Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/28/00 Macon Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, MSO; Adrian RB Orchestra Second the Grandeur RB Gnam, Subscription Concert, conductor Grand Opera House (Macon, GA) 12/4/00 Rocky River Arts Series, ? ? AO, JC, JC Rocky River Unitarian RB Universalist Church (Rocky River, OH) 1/19/01 Percussion Group Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, AO Cincinnati Concert, Mauricio RB Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 1/19/01 Percussion Group Kramer, Notta Sonata AO, JC, Michael AO Cincinnati Concert, Jonathan for Two RB Chertock and Patricia Corbett Theater, Pianos and Frank University of Cincinnati Percussion Weinstock, (Cincinnati, OH) piano

644

1/26/01 ?, Furman University ? ? AO, JC, JC (Greenville, SC) RB 2/24/01 Percussion Symposium and arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, JC, RB Iowa Day of Percussion, Percussion “Come Along RB Sebring-Lewis Recital Group Wife,” “Flight Hall, Grinnell College Cincinnati of the (Grinnell, IA) Flamingoes,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 2/24/01 Percussion Symposium and Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, JC, RB Iowa Day of Percussion, RB Sebring-Lewis Recital Hall, Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA) 2/24/01 Percussion Symposium and Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, JC, RB Iowa Day of Percussion, Mauricio RB Sebring-Lewis Recital Hall, Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA) 2/24/01 Percussion Symposium and Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, JC, RB Iowa Day of Percussion, RB Sebring-Lewis Recital Hall, Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA) 2/24/01 Percussion Symposium and Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, JC, RB Iowa Day of Percussion, Alonzo Book One RB Sebring-Lewis Recital Hall, Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA) 3/15/01 Public Program Series, arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, JC, RB Manchester College Percussion RB (North Manchester, IN) Group Cincinnati 3/15/01 Public Program Series, Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, JC, RB Manchester College RB (North Manchester, IN) 3/15/01 Public Program Series, collective I Read in the AO, JC, JC, RB Manchester College News Today, RB (North Manchester, IN) Oh Boy! 3/15/01 Public Program Series, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, JC, RB Manchester College RB (North Manchester, IN) 3/15/01 Public Program Series, Helmuth, Loonspace AO, JC, JC, RB Manchester College Mara RB (North Manchester, IN) 3/15/01 Public Program Series, Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, JC, RB Manchester College Alonzo Book One RB (North Manchester, IN)

645

3/18/01 Maui Symphony Orchestra, arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, Due to budget JC, RB Castle Theater, Maui Arts Percussion RB problems, and Cultural Center Group MSO (Maui, HI) Cincinnati management hired the Group to fill in for the orchestra. 3/18/01 Maui Symphony Orchestra, Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, Due to budget JC, RB Castle Theater, Maui Arts RB problems, and Cultural Center MSO (Maui, HI) management hired the Group to fill in for the orchestra. 3/18/01 Maui Symphony Orchestra, collective I Read in the AO, JC, Due to budget JC, RB Castle Theater, Maui Arts News Today, RB problems, and Cultural Center Oh Boy! MSO (Maui, HI) management hired the Group to fill in for the orchestra. 3/18/01 Maui Symphony Orchestra, Simon, Paul “Late in the AO, JC, Due to budget JC, RB Castle Theater, Maui Arts Evening” RB problems, and Cultural Center MSO (Maui, HI) management hired the Group to fill in for the orchestra. 3/18/01 Maui Symphony Orchestra, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, Due to budget JC, RB Castle Theater, Maui Arts RB problems, and Cultural Center MSO (Maui, HI) management hired the Group to fill in for the orchestra. 3/18/01 Maui Symphony Orchestra, Cage, John Living Room AO, JC, Due to budget JC, RB Castle Theater, Maui Arts Music RB problems, and Cultural Center MSO (Maui, HI) management hired the Group to fill in for the orchestra. 3/18/01 Maui Symphony Orchestra, Helmuth, Loonspace AO, JC, Due to budget JC, RB Castle Theater, Maui Arts Mara RB problems, and Cultural Center MSO (Maui, HI) management hired the Group to fill in for the orchestra. 646

3/18/01 Maui Symphony Orchestra, Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, Due to budget JC, RB Castle Theater, Maui Arts Alonzo Book One RB problems, and Cultural Center MSO (Maui, HI) management hired the Group to fill in for the orchestra. 3/23/01 Kauai Concert Association, arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, JC, RB Kauai Community College Percussion RB Performing Arts Center Group (Kauai, HI) Cincinnati 3/23/01 Kauai Concert Association, Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, JC, RB Kauai Community College RB Performing Arts Center (Kauai, HI) 3/23/01 Kauai Concert Association, collective I Read in the AO, JC, JC, RB Kauai Community College News Today, RB Performing Arts Center Oh Boy! (Kauai, HI) 3/23/01 Kauai Concert Association, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, JC, RB Kauai Community College RB Performing Arts Center (Kauai, HI) 3/23/01 Kauai Concert Association, Helmuth, Loonspace AO, JC, JC, RB Kauai Community College Mara RB Performing Arts Center (Kauai, HI) 3/23/01 Kauai Concert Association, Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, JC, RB Kauai Community College Alonzo Book One RB Performing Arts Center (Kauai, HI) 3/31/01 Southeast Iowa Symphony arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, JC, RB Orchestra 50th Anniversary Percussion RB Spring Concert, ? Group (Mt. Pleasant, IA) Cincinnati 3/31/01 Southeast Iowa Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, SEISO; ?, JC, RB Orchestra 50th Anniversary the Grandeur RB conductor Spring Concert, ? (Mt. Pleasant, IA) 4/1/01 Southeast Iowa Symphony arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, JC, RB Orchestra 50th Anniversary Percussion RB Spring Concert, ? Group (Mt. Pleasant, IA) Cincinnati 4/1/01 Southeast Iowa Symphony Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, SEISO; ?, JC, RB Orchestra 50th Anniversary the Grandeur RB conductor Spring Concert, ? (Mt. Pleasant, IA)

647

4/18/01 Arts Series, Boll Theater, arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, JC, RB University of Dayton Percussion “Come Along RB (Dayton, OH) Group Wife,” “Flight Cincinnati of the Flamingoes,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/18/01 Arts Series, Boll Theater, Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, JC, RB University of Dayton RB (Dayton, OH) 4/18/01 Arts Series, Boll Theater, Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, JC, RB University of Dayton Mauricio RB (Dayton, OH) 4/18/01 Arts Series, Boll Theater, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, JC, RB University of Dayton RB (Dayton, OH) 4/18/01 Arts Series, Boll Theater, Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, JC, RB University of Dayton Alonzo Book One RB (Dayton, OH) 4/29/01 Musart, Gartner arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, JC, RB Auditorium, Cleveland Percussion “Come Along RB Museum of Art Group Wife,” “Flight (Cleveland, OH) Cincinnati of the Flamingoes,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/29/01 Musart, Gartner Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, JC, RB Auditorium, Cleveland RB Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH) 4/29/01 Musart, Gartner Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, JC, RB Auditorium, Cleveland Mauricio RB Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH) 4/29/01 Musart, Gartner Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, JC, RB Auditorium, Cleveland RB Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH) 4/29/01 Musart, Gartner Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, JC, RB Auditorium, Cleveland Alonzo Book One RB Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH) 5/7/01 Concert of the Percussion arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, JC, RB Group Cincinnati, Percussion RB Shanghai Center Theater Group (Shanghai, China) Cincinnati 5/7/01 Concert of the Percussion Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, JC, RB Group Cincinnati, RB Shanghai Center Theater (Shanghai, China)

648

5/7/01 Concert of the Percussion Qu Xiao- Four Poems AO, JC, premiere; JC, RB Group Cincinnati, Song from Shijing RB Audrey Luna, Shanghai Center Theater soprano (Shanghai, China) 5/7/01 Concert of the Percussion collective I Read in the AO, JC, JC, RB Group Cincinnati, News Today, RB Shanghai Center Theater Oh Boy! (Shanghai, China) 5/7/01 Concert of the Percussion Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, JC, RB Group Cincinnati, RB Shanghai Center Theater (Shanghai, China) 5/7/01 Concert of the Percussion Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, JC, RB Group Cincinnati, Alonzo Book One RB Shanghai Center Theater (Shanghai, China) 5/7/01 Concert of the Percussion Qu Xiao- Mist 2 AO, JC, Audrey Luna, JC, RB Group Cincinnati, Song RB soprano Shanghai Center Theater (Shanghai, China) 5/12/01 Fermilab Arts Series, arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, JC, RB Ramsey Auditorium Percussion RB (Batavia, IL) Group Cincinnati 5/12/01 Fermilab Arts Series, Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, JC, RB Ramsey Auditorium RB (Batavia, IL) 5/12/01 Fermilab Arts Series, Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, JC, RB Ramsey Auditorium Mauricio RB (Batavia, IL) 5/12/01 Fermilab Arts Series, collective I Read in the AO, JC, JC, RB Ramsey Auditorium News Today, RB (Batavia, IL) Oh Boy! 5/12/01 Fermilab Arts Series, Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, JC, RB Ramsey Auditorium RB (Batavia, IL) 5/12/01 Fermilab Arts Series, Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, JC, RB Ramsey Auditorium Alonzo Book One RB (Batavia, IL) 6/29/01 Japan World Drum ? ? AO, JC, JC Festival, ? RB (?, Japan) 10/26/01 ?, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (Richmond, IN) RB 11/14/01 2001 Percussive Arts ? ? AO, JC, JC Society International RB Convention, Nashville Convention Center (Nashville, TN) 12/2/01 Faculty and Guest Concert arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, JC, Series, Warner Concert Percussion RB OPW Hall, Oberlin College Group (Oberlin, OH) Cincinnati

649

12/2/01 Faculty and Guest Concert Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, JC, Series, Warner Concert Mauricio RB OPW Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 12/2/01 Faculty and Guest Concert Qu Xiao- Mist 2 AO, JC, Audrey Luna, JC, Series, Warner Concert Song RB soprano OPW Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 12/2/01 Faculty and Guest Concert Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, JC, Series, Warner Concert with RB OPW Hall, Oberlin College Percussion (Oberlin, OH) 1/22/02 Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, JC, RB Cincinnati Concert, Legacy RB Hall at the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts (Columbus, GA) 1/22/02 Percussion Group Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, JC, RB Cincinnati Concert, Legacy Alonzo Book One RB Hall at the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts (Columbus, GA) 1/22/02 Percussion Group Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, JC, RB Cincinnati Concert, Legacy RB Hall at the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts (Columbus, GA) 1/22/02 Percussion Group Cage, John from Music for AO, JC, JC, RB Cincinnati Concert, Legacy Marcel RB Hall at the RiverCenter for Duchamp with the Performing Arts Variations I (Columbus, GA) and some of the Suite for Toy Piano to two parts of Living Room Music, through Branches, to some of Third Construction 1/22/02 Percussion Group collective I Read in the AO, JC, JC, RB Cincinnati Concert, Legacy News Today, RB Hall at the RiverCenter for Oh Boy! the Performing Arts (Columbus, GA) 1/22/02 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, JC, RB Cincinnati Concert, Legacy Percussion “Come Along RB Hall at the RiverCenter for Group Wife,” “Flight the Performing Arts Cincinnati of the (Columbus, GA) Flamingoes,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana”

650

2/5/02 Percussion Group Cage, John Amores AO, JC, CCM Cincinnati and Pridonoff RB Piano Duo in Concert, Robert J. Werner Recital Hall, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/5/02 Percussion Group Ravel, Ma mère l’oye AO, JC, Elizabeth and CCM Cincinnati and Pridonoff Maurice; arr. RB Eugene Piano Duo in Concert, Allen Otte Pridonoff, Robert J. Werner Recital pianos Hall, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/5/02 Percussion Group Bartók, Béla Sonata for AO, JC Elizabeth and CCM Cincinnati and Pridonoff Two Pianos Eugene Piano Duo in Concert, and Pridonoff, Robert J. Werner Recital Percussion pianos Hall, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/22/02 Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s Peck, Russell The Glory and AO, JC, HKS; Tsung JC, RB Percussion Power Concert, the Grandeur RB Yeh, Hong Kong City Hall conductor Concerto Hall (Hong Kong) 2/22/02 Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s Qu Xiao- The Stone AO, JC, premiere; JC, RB Percussion Power Concert, Song RB HKS; Tsung Hong Kong City Hall Yeh, Concerto Hall conductor (Hong Kong) 2/28/02 Percussion Group arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, JC, RB Cincinnati Recital, Herrick Percussion “Come Along RB Auditorium, Southern Group Wife,” “Flight Nazarene University Cincinnati of the (Bethany, OK) Flamingoes,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 2/28/02 Percussion Group Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, JC, RB Cincinnati Recital, Herrick RB Auditorium, Southern Nazarene University (Bethany, OK)

651

2/28/02 Percussion Group Cage, John from Music for AO, JC, JC, RB Cincinnati Recital, Herrick Marcel RB Auditorium, Southern Duchamp with Nazarene University Variations I (Bethany, OK) and some of the Suite for Toy Piano to two parts of Living Room Music, through Branches, to some of Third Construction 2/28/02 Percussion Group collective I Read in the AO, JC, JC, RB Cincinnati Recital, Herrick News Today, RB Auditorium, Southern Oh Boy! Nazarene University (Bethany, OK) 2/28/02 Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, JC, RB Cincinnati Recital, Herrick RB Auditorium, Southern Nazarene University (Bethany, OK) 2/28/02 Percussion Group Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, JC, RB Cincinnati Recital, Herrick Alonzo Book One RB Auditorium, Southern Nazarene University (Bethany, OK) 3/9/02 Percussion Group Stravinsky, Les Noces AO, JC, CCM CCM Cincinnati, CCM Chamber Igor RB Percussion Choir, and CCM Chorale Ensemble; Concert, Corbett CCM Piano Auditorium, University of Faculty; Cincinnati CCM Choirs (Cincinnati, OH) 3/22/02 St. Cloud State University Cage, John Amores AO, JC, AO Program Board Presents RB Percussion Group Cincinnati, Ritsche Auditorium (St. Cloud, MN) 3/22/02 St. Cloud State University arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO Program Board Presents Percussion RB Percussion Group Group Cincinnati, Ritsche Cincinnati Auditorium (St. Cloud, MN) 3/22/02 St. Cloud State University Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, AO Program Board Presents RB Percussion Group Cincinnati, Ritsche Auditorium (St. Cloud, MN)

652

3/22/02 St. Cloud State University Kagel, Dressur AO, JC, AO Program Board Presents Mauricio RB Percussion Group Cincinnati, Ritsche Auditorium (St. Cloud, MN) 3/22/02 St. Cloud State University Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, AO Program Board Presents Part I RB Percussion Group Cincinnati, Ritsche Auditorium (St. Cloud, MN) 3/22/02 St. Cloud State University collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO Program Board Presents News Today, RB Percussion Group Oh Boy! Cincinnati, Ritsche Auditorium (St. Cloud, MN) 3/23/02 2002 David Swenson arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, JC, RB Memorial Day of Percussion RB Percussion, Paramount Group Theatre, St. Cloud State Cincinnati University (St. Cloud, MN) 3/23/02 2002 David Swenson Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, JC, RB Memorial Day of RB Percussion, Paramount Theatre, St. Cloud State University (St. Cloud, MN) 3/23/02 2002 David Swenson Cage, John from Music for AO, JC, JC, RB Memorial Day of Marcel RB Percussion, Paramount Duchamp with Theatre, St. Cloud State Variations I University and some of (St. Cloud, MN) the Suite for Toy Piano to two parts of Living Room Music, through Branches, to some of Third Construction 3/23/02 2002 David Swenson collective I Read in the AO, JC, JC, RB Memorial Day of News Today, RB Percussion, Paramount Oh Boy! Theatre, St. Cloud State University (St. Cloud, MN) 3/23/02 2002 David Swenson Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, JC, RB Memorial Day of RB Percussion, Paramount Theatre, St. Cloud State University (St. Cloud, MN)

653

3/23/02 2002 David Swenson Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, JC, RB Memorial Day of Alonzo Book One RB Percussion, Paramount Theatre, St. Cloud State University (St. Cloud, MN) 4/5/02 Percussion Group collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO Cincinnati and Pridonoff News Today, RB Piano Duo in Concert, Oh Boy! Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/5/02 Percussion Group Stravinsky, Le Sacre du AO, JC, Elizabeth and AO Cincinnati and Pridonoff Igor printemps RB Eugene Piano Duo in Concert, Pridonoff, Patricia Corbett Theater, pianos University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/5/02 Percussion Group Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, AO Cincinnati and Pridonoff Frederic de Panurge RB Piano Duo in Concert, Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/5/02 Percussion Group Brün, Herbert More Dust AO, JC, AO Cincinnati and Pridonoff with RB Piano Duo in Concert, Percussion Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 5/4/02 Vocal Arts Ensemble of Argento, I Hate and I AO, JC, VAE; Earl NH Cincinnati, Plum Street Dominick Love: A Cycle RB Rivers, Temple for Mixed conductor (Cincinnati, OH) Chorus and Percussion 5/4/02 Vocal Arts Ensemble of Bernstein, Mass: AO, JC, VAE; Earl NH Cincinnati, Plum Street Leonard “Sanctus” RB Rivers, Temple conductor (Cincinnati, OH) 5/4/02 Vocal Arts Ensemble of Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, NH Cincinnati, Plum Street Alonzo Book One RB Temple (Cincinnati, OH) 5/4/02 Vocal Arts Ensemble of Bernstein, Missa Brevis: AO, JC, VAE; Earl NH Cincinnati, Plum Street Leonard “Sanctus” RB Rivers, Temple conductor (Cincinnati, OH) 5/7/02 Music from Scratch, ? ? AO, JC, JC Harvard University RB (Cambridge, MA) 5/7/02 Harvard Radcliffe Concert ? ? AO, JC, JC Series, ? RB (Cambridge, MA)

654

7/12/02 Oberlin Percussion Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, JC, RB Institute, Warner Hall, RB Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/12/02 Oberlin Percussion collective I Read in the AO, JC, JC, RB Institute, Warner Hall, News Today, RB Oberlin College Oh Boy! (Oberlin, OH) 7/12/02 Oberlin Percussion Rzewski, Les Moutons AO, JC, JC, RB Institute, Warner Hall, Frederic de Panurge RB Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/12/02 Oberlin Percussion Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, JC, RB Institute, Warner Hall, Alonzo Book One RB Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/12/02 Oberlin Percussion Gershwin, Porgy and AO, JC, JC, RB Institute, Warner Hall, George; arr. Bess: RB Oberlin College Russell “Summertime” (Oberlin, OH) Burge 7/12/02 Oberlin Percussion Cage, John Third AO, JC, Michael JC, RB Institute, Warner Hall, Construction RB Rosen, Oberlin College percussion (Oberlin, OH) 8/3/02 Eagles Mere Summer ? ? AO, JC, JC Series, ? RB (Eagles Mere, PA) 8/4/02 Shelter Island Friends of arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, AO, JC Chamber Music, Shelter Percussion RB Island Presbyterian Church Group (Shelter Island, NY) Cincinnati 8/4/02 Shelter Island Friends of Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, AO, JC Chamber Music, Shelter RB Island Presbyterian Church (Shelter Island, NY) 8/4/02 Shelter Island Friends of collective I Read in the AO, JC, AO, JC Chamber Music, Shelter News Today, RB Island Presbyterian Church Oh Boy! (Shelter Island, NY) 8/4/02 Shelter Island Friends of Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, AO, JC Chamber Music, Shelter RB Island Presbyterian Church (Shelter Island, NY) 8/4/02 Shelter Island Friends of Cage, John Living Room AO, JC, AO, JC Chamber Music, Shelter Music RB Island Presbyterian Church (Shelter Island, NY) 8/4/02 Shelter Island Friends of Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, AO, JC Chamber Music, Shelter Alonzo Book One RB Island Presbyterian Church (Shelter Island, NY) 8/4/02 Shelter Island Friends of Gershwin, Porgy and AO, JC, AO, JC Chamber Music, Shelter George; arr. Bess: RB Island Presbyterian Church Russell “Summertime” (Shelter Island, NY) Burge

655

9/27/02 ?, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (Wheeling, WV) RB 10/23/02 Guest Artist Series, Wright arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, RB Auditorium, East Carolina Percussion “Come Along RB State University Group Wife,” “Flight (Greenville, NC) Cincinnati of the Flamingoes,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 10/23/02 Guest Artist Series, Wright Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, RB Auditorium, East Carolina RB State University (Greenville, NC) 10/23/02 Guest Artist Series, Wright Cage, John from some of AO, JC, RB Auditorium, East Carolina Living Room RB State University Music, through (Greenville, NC) Branches, to Amores 10/23/02 Guest Artist Series, Wright collective I Read in the AO, JC, RB Auditorium, East Carolina News Today, RB State University Oh Boy! (Greenville, NC) 10/23/02 Guest Artist Series, Wright Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, RB Auditorium, East Carolina RB State University (Greenville, NC) 10/23/02 Guest Artist Series, Wright Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, RB Auditorium, East Carolina Alonzo Book One RB State University (Greenville, NC) 11/5/02 Solo and Chamber Music arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, JC, RB Series, McCray Recital Percussion “Come Along RB Hall, Pittsburg State Group Wife,” “Flight University Cincinnati of the (Pittsburg, KS) Flamingoes,” “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 11/5/02 Solo and Chamber Music Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, JC, RB Series, McCray Recital RB Hall, Pittsburg State University (Pittsburg, KS) 11/5/02 Solo and Chamber Music Cage, John from some of AO, JC, JC, RB Series, McCray Recital Living Room RB Hall, Pittsburg State Music, through University Branches, to (Pittsburg, KS) Amores

656

11/5/02 Solo and Chamber Music collective I Read in the AO, JC, JC, RB Series, McCray Recital News Today, RB Hall, Pittsburg State Oh Boy! University (Pittsburg, KS) 11/5/02 Solo and Chamber Music Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, JC, RB Series, McCray Recital RB Hall, Pittsburg State University (Pittsburg, KS) 11/5/02 Solo and Chamber Music Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, JC, RB Series, McCray Recital Alonzo Book One RB Hall, Pittsburg State University (Pittsburg, KS) 2/7/03 ?, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (Jamestown, NY) RB 4/5/03 Percussion Group Cage, John from Gemini, AO, JC, AO, RB Cincinnati Concert, Corbett through Music RB Auditorium, University of for 3 and Cincinnati Thee2, to some (Cincinnati, OH) of Third Construction 4/5/03 Percussion Group May, para-DIDDLE AO, JC, AO, RB Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Theodore RB Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/5/03 Percussion Group Harrison, Lou Tributes to AO, JC, AO, RB Cincinnati Concert, Corbett Charon and RB Auditorium, University of Canticle and Cincinnati Round for (Cincinnati, OH) Gerhard Samuel’s Birthday 4/9/03 CCM Faculty Chamber Fiday, Automotive JC, RB RB Music, Corbett Michael Passacaglia Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/20/03 Music from Scratch, ? ? ? AO, JC, JC (Port Washington, NY) RB 10/20/03 ?, ? ? ? JC (Port Washington, NY) 10/29/03 Percussion Group ? ? AO, JC, JC Cincinnati, Krannert RB Center for the Performing Arts, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Urbana, IL) 11/15/03 Festival of New Music, Cage, John Musicircus AO, JC, JC, RB The Cleveland Museum of RB Art (Cleveland, OH)

657

2/7/04 Greater Cincinnati Chinese Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, CMS Music Society 2004 New RB Year Concert, Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/7/04 Greater Cincinnati Chinese Qu Xiao- Four Poems AO, JC, Audrey Luna, CMS Music Society 2004 New Song from Shijing RB soprano Year Concert, Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 2/8/04 Chinese New Year ? ? AO, JC, AW Concert, Hitchcock Hall, RB The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) 7/16/04 Oberlin Percussion Barnhart, Breathing Institute, Warner Concert Michael Drum Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/16/04 Oberlin Percussion Cage, John from Credo in Institute, Warner Concert US, through Hall, Oberlin College Three2, to (Oberlin, OH) Living Room Music 7/16/04 Oberlin Percussion Peck, Russell Lift-Off! Institute, Warner Concert Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/16/04 Oberlin Percussion Alexander, Mbira Music, Institute, Warner Concert Alonzo Book One Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/16/04 Oberlin Percussion Brün, Rauber Polka Institute, Warner Concert Herbert; arr. Hall, Oberlin College Percussion (Oberlin, OH) Group Cincinnati 10/23/04 Percussion Group Adams, John Five AO, JC, Scott Deal, SD Cincinnati Recital, Charles Luther Percussion RB percussion W. Davis Concert Hall, Quartets from University of Alaska- Coyote Builds Fairbanks North America (Fairbanks, AK) 4/1/05 Percussion Group 25th Garland, Apple Blossom AO, JC, RB Anniversary Concert, Peter RB Cohen Family Studio Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

658

4/1/05 Percussion Group 25th arr. Chilean Songs: AO, JC, RB Anniversary Concert, Percussion “Come Along RB Cohen Family Studio Group Wife,” “Flight Theater, University of Cincinnati of the Cincinnati Flamingoes,” (Cincinnati, OH) “Rebuilding Managua,” and “Festival of Tirana” 4/1/05 Percussion Group 25th Callahan, here it is AO, JC, RB Anniversary Concert, Moiya RB Cohen Family Studio Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/1/05 Percussion Group 25th Cage, John Quartet AO, JC, RB Anniversary Concert, RB Cohen Family Studio Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/9/05 Annual Minnesota Day of Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, RB Percussion, Winona State RB University (Winona, MN) 4/9/05 Annual Minnesota Day of Cage, John But What AO, JC, RB Percussion, Winona State About the RB University Sound of (Winona, MN) Crumpling Paper … with Branches 4/9/05 Annual Minnesota Day of Callahan, here it is AO, JC, RB Percussion, Winona State Moiya RB University (Winona, MN) 4/9/05 Annual Minnesota Day of collective I Read in the AO, JC, RB Percussion, Winona State News Today, RB University Oh Boy! (Winona, MN) 4/12/05 Cheryl Nelson Lossett Barnhart, Breathing AO, JC, RB Performing Arts Series, Michael Drum RB Hansen Theatre, Minnesota State University Moorhead (Moorhead, MN) 4/12/05 Cheryl Nelson Lossett arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, RB Performing Arts Series, Percussion RB Hansen Theatre, Minnesota Group State University Moorhead Cincinnati (Moorhead, MN) 4/12/05 Cheryl Nelson Lossett Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, RB Performing Arts Series, RB Hansen Theatre, Minnesota State University Moorhead (Moorhead, MN)

659

4/12/05 Cheryl Nelson Lossett collective I Read in the AO, JC, RB Performing Arts Series, News Today, RB Hansen Theatre, Minnesota Oh Boy! State University Moorhead (Moorhead, MN) 4/12/05 Cheryl Nelson Lossett Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, RB Performing Arts Series, RB Hansen Theatre, Minnesota State University Moorhead (Moorhead, MN) 4/12/05 Cheryl Nelson Lossett Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, RB Performing Arts Series, Alonzo Book One RB Hansen Theatre, Minnesota State University Moorhead (Moorhead, MN) 4/12/05 Cheryl Nelson Lossett Cage, John ? AO, JC, RB Performing Arts Series, RB Hansen Theatre, Minnesota State University Moorhead (Moorhead, MN) 9/16/05 The Concert Series, St. arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, RB Margaret of York Catholic Percussion RB Church Group (Loveland, OH) Cincinnati 9/16/05 The Concert Series, St. Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, RB Margaret of York Catholic RB Church (Loveland, OH) 9/16/05 The Concert Series, St. collective I Read in the AO, JC, RB Margaret of York Catholic News Today, RB Church Oh Boy! (Loveland, OH) 9/16/05 The Concert Series, St. Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, RB Margaret of York Catholic RB Church (Loveland, OH) 9/16/05 The Concert Series, St. Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, RB Margaret of York Catholic Alonzo Book One RB Church (Loveland, OH) 9/16/05 The Concert Series, St. Cage, John ? AO, JC, RB Margaret of York Catholic RB Church (Loveland, OH) 9/16/05 The Concert Series, St. Johnson, Three AO, JC, RB Margaret of York Catholic Charles; American RB Church George Songs: “Dill (Loveland, OH) Gershwin; Pickles,” Paul Simon; “Summertime” arr. Russell and “Late in Burge the Evening”

660

10/14/05 Drumming Toward Steve Cage, John Amores: AO, JC, RB Reich’s 70th Birthday, “Trio” RB Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/14/05 Drumming Toward Steve Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, RB Reich’s 70th Birthday, Part I RB Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/14/05 Drumming Toward Steve Wolff, Fall AO, JC, RB Reich’s 70th Birthday, Christian RB Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/14/05 Drumming Toward Steve Adams, John Five AO, JC, RB Reich’s 70th Birthday, Luther Percussion RB Patricia Corbett Theater, Quartets from University of Cincinnati Coyote Builds (Cincinnati, OH) North America: “Giving Birth to Thunder” 10/14/05 Drumming Toward Steve Childs, For Three on a AO, JC, RB Reich’s 70th Birthday, Barney Bass Drum RB Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/14/05 Drumming Toward Steve Qu Xiao- Làm Môt: AO, JC, RB Reich’s 70th Birthday, Song drum sections RB Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/14/05 Drumming Toward Steve Rzewski, Spoils: “For AO, JC, premiere RB Reich’s 70th Birthday, Frederic Three RB Patricia Corbett Theater, Drummers” University of Cincinnati and “Exit” (Cincinnati, OH) 10/14/05 Drumming Toward Steve Adams, John Three Drum AO, JC, RB Reich’s 70th Birthday, Luther Quartets from RB Patricia Corbett Theater, Earth and the University of Cincinnati Great (Cincinnati, OH) Weather: “Drums of Winter” 12/3/05 Classic Performances arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, RB Series, Student Union Percussion RB Special Events Center, Group Boise State University Cincinnati (Boise, ID) 12/3/05 Classic Performances Cage, John Credo in US AO, JC, RB Series, Student Union RB Special Events Center, Boise State University (Boise, ID)

661

12/3/05 Classic Performances Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, RB Series, Student Union RB Special Events Center, Boise State University (Boise, ID) 12/3/05 Classic Performances Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, RB Series, Student Union Part I RB Special Events Center, Boise State University (Boise, ID) 12/3/05 Classic Performances collective I Read in the AO, JC, RB Series, Student Union News Today, RB Special Events Center, Oh Boy! Boise State University (Boise, ID) 12/3/05 Classic Performances Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, RB Series, Student Union RB Special Events Center, Boise State University (Boise, ID) 12/3/05 Classic Performances Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, RB Series, Student Union Alonzo Book One RB Special Events Center, Boise State University (Boise, ID) 12/8/05 The 4th World Marimba Barnhart, Breathing AO, JC, RB Competition and 2005 Michael Drum RB Shanghai International Percussion Week, Shanghai Center Theater (Shanghai, China) 12/8/05 The 4th World Marimba arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, RB Competition and 2005 Percussion RB Shanghai International Group Percussion Week, Cincinnati Shanghai Center Theater (Shanghai, China) 12/8/05 The 4th World Marimba Reich, Steve Drumming, AO, JC, RB Competition and 2005 Part I RB Shanghai International Percussion Week, Shanghai Center Theater (Shanghai, China) 12/8/05 The 4th World Marimba Qu Xiao- Làm Môt: AO, JC, RB Competition and 2005 Song drum sections RB Shanghai International Percussion Week, Shanghai Center Theater (Shanghai, China) 12/8/05 The 4th World Marimba Cage, John Living Room AO, JC, RB Competition and 2005 Music with RB Shanghai International Credo in US Percussion Week, Shanghai Center Theater (Shanghai, China)

662

12/8/05 The 4th World Marimba Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, RB Competition and 2005 Alonzo Book One RB Shanghai International Percussion Week, Shanghai Center Theater (Shanghai, China) 12/8/05 The 4th World Marimba Adams, John Three Drum AO, JC, RB Competition and 2005 Luther Quartets from RB Shanghai International Earth and the Percussion Week, Great Shanghai Center Theater Weather: (Shanghai, China) “Drums of Winter” 7/14/06 Oberlin Percussion arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, OPW Institute, Warner Concert Percussion RB Hall, Oberlin College Group (Oberlin, OH) Cincinnati 7/14/06 Oberlin Percussion Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, OPW Institute, Warner Concert RB Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/14/06 Oberlin Percussion Cage, John from some of AO, JC, OPW Institute, Warner Concert Living Room RB Hall, Oberlin College Music, through (Oberlin, OH) Branches and Music for Marcel Duchamp, to Imaginary Landscape No. 2 7/14/06 Oberlin Percussion collective I Read in the AO, JC, OPW Institute, Warner Concert News Today, RB Hall, Oberlin College Oh Boy! (Oberlin, OH) 7/14/06 Oberlin Percussion Harrison, Lou In Praise of AO, JC, OPW Institute, Warner Concert Johnny RB Hall, Oberlin College Appleseed (Oberlin, OH) 7/14/06 Oberlin Percussion Adams, John Three Drum AO, JC, OPW Institute, Warner Concert Luther Quartets from RB Hall, Oberlin College Earth and the (Oberlin, OH) Great Weather: “Drums of Winter” 10/18/06 Happy 85th Birthday to Husa, Karel Concerto for AO, JC, Jeremy TK Karel Husa, Corbett Percussion RB Muller and Auditorium, University of and Wind Brian Ganch, Cincinnati Ensemble percussion; (Cincinnati, OH) CCM Wind Symphony; Rodney Winther, conductor

663

11/6/06 Percussion Group ? ? AO, JC, PAS Cincinnati, Lowman RB Student Center Theater, Sam Houston State University (Huntsville, TX) 11/8/06 2006 Percussive Arts ? ? AO, JC, PAS Society International RB Convention, Austin Convention Center (Austin, TX) 2/1/07 Guest Artist Concert, ? ? AO, JC, UNT Winspear Hall of the RB Murchison Performing Arts Center, University of North Texas (Denton, TX) 4/26/07 American Voices IX, Chapela, Encrypted AO, JC, premiere; RB Corbett Auditorium, Enrico Poetry for RB CCM University of Cincinnati Percussion Philharmonia (Cincinnati, OH) and Orchestra Orchestra; Mark Gibson, conductor 10/6/07 Jean Eggers Memorial arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, OLLI, Concert, Corbett Percussion RB RMI Auditorium, University of Group Cincinnati Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/6/07 Jean Eggers Memorial Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, OLLI, Concert, Corbett RB RMI Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/6/07 Jean Eggers Memorial collective I Read in the AO, JC, OLLI, Concert, Corbett News Today, RB RMI Auditorium, University of Oh Boy! Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/6/07 Jean Eggers Memorial Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, OLLI, Concert, Corbett RB RMI Auditorium, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 10/12/07 Percussion Group Barnhart, Singing Bridge AO, JC, JCI, Cincinnati Concert, Michael RB RBI Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

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10/12/07 Percussion Group Adams, John Three Drum AO, JC, JCI, Cincinnati Concert, Luther Quartets from RB RBI Patricia Corbett Theater, Earth and the University of Cincinnati Great (Cincinnati, OH) Weather: “Deep and Distant Thunder” 10/12/07 Percussion Group Stockhausen, Tierkreis AO, JC, JCI, Cincinnati Concert, Karlheinz RB RBI Patricia Corbett Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 12/7/07 University of Connecticut Orff, Carl; Carmina AO, JC, Neal BTI, CT Choirs, Von Der Mehden arr. Burana RB Larrabee and Recital Hall, University of Constance Allen Connecticut DeFotis Conway, (Storrs, CT) pianos; Constance Rock, soprano; James Ruff, tenor; Anton Belov, bass; Concert Choir; Women’s Chorus; Festival Chorus; Constance DeFotis, conductor 2/13/09 Guest Recital, Warner Qu Xiao- from some of AO, JC, Alex Hurd, OPW Concert Hall, Oberlin Song, Tan Làm Môt, RB voice; College Dun, Guo through Water Michael (Oberlin, OH) Wenjing, and Music, to parts Rosen, John Cage of Drama, percussion from Credo in US, through Imaginary Landscapes No. 1 and No. 4, to Third Construction 4/17/09 Percussion Group Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, TK Cincinnati Concert, Cohen RB Family Studio Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/17/09 Percussion Group Cage, John Amores AO, JC, TK Cincinnati Concert, Cohen RB Family Studio Theater, University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)

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4/17/09 Percussion Group Garland, Frieze, Dance AO, JC, TK Cincinnati Concert, Cohen Peter of RB Family Studio Theater, Huitzilopochtli University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 4/17/09 Percussion Group Messiaen, Catalogue AO, JC, TK Cincinnati Concert, Cohen Olivier; arr. d’Oiseaux: RB Family Studio Theater, Allen Otte “La buse University of Cincinnati variable” (Cincinnati, OH) 4/17/09 Percussion Group Cage, John Third AO, JC, Matthew TK Cincinnati Concert, Cohen Construction RB Hawkins, Family Studio Theater, percussion University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH) 7/24/09 Oberlin Percussion Cage, John Amores AO, JC, OPW Institute, Warner Concert RB Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/24/09 Oberlin Percussion arr. Chilean Songs AO, JC, OPW Institute, Warner Concert Percussion RB Hall, Oberlin College Group (Oberlin, OH) Cincinnati 7/24/09 Oberlin Percussion Guo Wenjing Drama AO, JC, OPW Institute, Warner Concert RB Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/24/09 Oberlin Percussion Garland, Frieze, Dance AO, JC, OPW Institute, Warner Concert Peter of RB Hall, Oberlin College Huitzilopochtli (Oberlin, OH) 7/24/09 Oberlin Percussion Peck, Russell Lift-Off! AO, JC, OPW Institute, Warner Concert RB Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/24/09 Oberlin Percussion Alexander, Mbira Music, AO, JC, OPW Institute, Warner Concert Alonzo Book One RB Hall, Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) 7/24/09 Oberlin Percussion Cage, John Third AO, JC, Michael OPW Institute, Warner Concert Construction RB Rosen, Hall, Oberlin College percussion (Oberlin, OH)

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Bibliography

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______. “The Percussion Ensemble Music of Lou Harrison, 1939–42.” DMA thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1985.

Baker, Jason. “The History and Significance of The Noble Snare.” Percussive Notes 44 (June 2000): 72–77.

Baldwin, John. “Drumming Around.” Percussive Notes 15 (Spring/Summer 1977): 12–15.

______. “Drumming Around.” Percussive Notes 16 (Spring/Summer 1978): 16–18.

Bartlett, Harry R., and Ronald A. Holloway. Guide to Teaching Percussion. 4th ed. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown, 1984.

Blades, James. Percussion Instruments and their History. 3rd ed. London: Faber and Faber, 1984.

Brown, Scott. “Developing a Successful Middle School Percussion Ensemble.” Percussive Notes 44 (October 2006): 38–41.

Brün, Herbert. When Music Resists Meaning: The Major Writings of Herbert Brün. Edited by Arun Chandra. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2004.

Bump, Michael. “A Conversation with Nexus.” Percussive Notes 31 (June 1993): 30–37.

Burkett, Eugenie. “The Glory and the Grandeur: Conversations with Russell Peck and the Philidor Percussion Group on Peck’s Concerto for Percussion Ensemble.” Percussive Notes 35 (December 1997): 50–54.

Buyer, Paul. “Building a Powerhouse Percussion Program.” Percussive Notes 45 (October 2007): 72–73.

Byrne, Gregory. “Musical and Cultural Influences That Contributed to the Evolution of the Percussion Ensemble in Western Art Music.” DMA thesis, University of Alabama, 1999.

Cameron, Catherine. Dialectics in the Arts: The Rise of Experimentalism in American Music. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996.

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Cameron, J. Scott. “PASIC Percussion Ensembles: A Historical Overview.” Percussive Notes 44 (April 2006): 58–64.

______. “Trends and Developments in Percussion Ensemble Literature, 1976–92: An Examination of Selected Works Premiered at the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions.” DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 1996.

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Eyler, David. “The History and Development of the Marimba Ensemble in the United States and Its Current Status in College and University Percussion Programs.” DMA thesis, Louisiana State University, 1985.

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Green, Alan. Allen Sapp: A Bio-bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996.

Gordon, Ingrid Grete. “Drums Along the Pacific: The Influences of Asian Music on the Early Percussion Ensemble Music of Henry Cowell, John Cage, and Lou Harrison.” DMA thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2000.

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Harmon, Daniel. “Blackearth Expands Creativity.” Music Journal 33 (May 1975): 26–27, 49.

Harris, Scott. “Identification and Analyses of Selected Large Percussion Ensemble Works Composed Between 1970–2000.” DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 2003.

“John Cage, Percussionist.” Seattle Times, 20 March 1943.

Keezer, Ronald. “A Study of Selected Percussion Ensemble Music of the Twentieth Century.” The Percussionist 8 (October/December 1970): 11–23, 38–44.

Kramer, Jonathan. “Can Modernism Survive George Rochberg?” Critical Inquiry 11 (1984): 342-54.

______. “The Impact of Technology on Musical Time.” Percussive Notes Research Edition 22 (March 1984): 16–25.

______. Listen to the Music: A Self-Guided Tour Through the Orchestral Repertoire. New York: Schirmer, 1988.

______. The Time of Music: New Meanings, New Temporalities, New Listening Strategies. New York: Schirmer, 1988.

Kramer, Wendell Barlow. “Criteria for the Intentional Community: A Study of the Factors Affecting Success and Failure in the Planned, Purposeful, Cooperative Community. PhD diss., New York University, 1955.

Kvistad, Garry. “A Non-Academic Look at the Perils and Exhilarations of an American Percussion Group of the 1970’s: The Blackearth Experience.” Contemporary Music Review 7 (1992): 15–26.

Latimer, James. Developing Percussion Ensembles. Produced and directed by Richard W. Wolf. 52 min. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Videocassette.

LeVan, Richard Kent. “African Musical Influences in Selected Art Music Works for Percussion Ensemble: 1930–84.” PhD diss., University of Pittsburgh, 1991.

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Masoner, Betty. “Percussion Comes into Its Own.” Music Journal 17 (September 1959): 34, 76– 77.

May, Theodore. Simian Simmerings: The Weblog of Theo May. http://www.theomay.net (accessed 1 April 2009).

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Mellers, Wilfrid. “Percussion in the New-Old World.” The Musical Times 133 (September 1992): 445–47.

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Miller, Leta E. “The Art of Noise: John Cage, Lou Harrison, and the West Coast Percussion Ensemble.” In Perspectives On American Music, 1900–50, edited by Michael Saffle, 215–63. New York: Garland, 2000.

Moore, Daniel Preston. “The Impact of Richard L. ‘Dick’ Schory on the Development of the Contemporary Percussion Ensemble.” DMA thesis, University of Kentucky, 2000.

Nicholls, David, ed. The Cambridge Companion to John Cage. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Otte, Allen. “NewMusicBox Asks: How Much Detail Do You Expect, Want, and Ultimately Get from Composers in the Percussion Scores that You Perform?” NewMusicBox. http://www.newmusicbox.org/page.nmbx?id=60hf08 (accessed 28 April 2004).

______. “Preferences in Percussion - 1973.” Percussionist 11 (March 1974): 89–97.

Payson, Al, and Jack McKenzie. Percussion in the School Music Program. Park Ridge, IL: Payson Percussion Products, 1976.

Peters, Gordon. The Drummer: Man. Rev. ed. Wilmette, IL: Kemper-Peters Publications, 1975.

______. “Why Percussion Ensembles?” The Instrumentalist 16 (April 1962): 55–57.

Powley, Harrison. Review of Double Music: Works by Cage, Foss, Harrison, and Sollberger, by the New Music Consort. American Music 6 (1988): 358–59.

Price, Paul. “The Emancipation of Percussion.” Music Journal 17 (October 1959): 26.

______. “New Trends in Percussion Ensemble Music.” National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors Bulletin 12 (March 1964): 5–7.

______. “Percussion Ensemble Class Gives Training in ‘New Style’ of Music.” The Instrumentalist 7 (March–April 1953): 42–43.

______. “Percussion Up-to-Date.” Music Journal 22 (December 1964): 32–33, 67–68.

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Qu Xiao-Song, and Wun Lan. Yi lu liang qiang. Shanghai: Wenhui Publisher, 2004.

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______. “The History of the Blackearth Percussion Group and Their Influence on Percussion Ensemble Literature, Performance, and Pedagogy.” EdD thesis, University of Houston, 1987.

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Roberts, Bruce E. “The Emergence and Development of Mallet Ensemble Literature in the United States: 1894–2001, with Analysis of Selected Works.” DMA thesis, University of Oklahoma, 2003.

Rochberg, George. “Can the Arts Survive Modernism? Critical Inquiry 11 (1984): 317–39.

Rosen, Michael. “A Survey of Compositions Written for Percussion Ensemble.” The Percussionist 4 (January 1967): 2.

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______. Percussion Ensemble Literature. Champaign, IL.: Media Press, 1998.

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Smith, Jack W. “The Development of the Percussion Ensemble as Influenced by the Symphonic Repertory.” MA thesis, San Jose State University, 1980.

Snider, Larry. “An Interview with Conundrum: David Macbride and Benjamin Toth.” Percussive Notes 37 (April 1999): 65–69.

Spohn, Charles L. The Percussion. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1967.

Sunkett, Mark E. “African Drum and Steel Pan Ensembles.” Teaching Music 8 (August 2000): 32–38.

Toth, Benjamin. “A Conversation with Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic.” Percussive Notes 35 (December 1997): 47–49.

Vanlandingham, Larry Dean. “The Percussion Ensemble, 1930–45.” PhD diss., Florida State University, 1977.

Weiss, Lauren Vogel. “Amadinda in Rare U.S. Performance.” Percussive Notes 38 (October 2000): 70–71.

______. “Nexus.” Percussive Notes 37 (December 1999): 18–21.

______. “The ‘New’ Nexus.” Percussive Notes 40 (October 2002): 49–53.

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Wildman, Louis. “Our American Heritage in Percussion Music.” National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors Bulletin 13 (Summer 1965): 15.

Williams, Barry Michael. “The Early Percussion Music of John Cage, 1935–43.” PhD diss., Michigan State University, 1990.

Yates, Peter. “Lou Harrison.” American Composers Alliance Bulletin 9 (1960): 2–7.

Reviews and Critical Commentary

Ardoin, John. “New Music Horizons Percussion Group Plays Cans and Cactus.” Dallas Morning News, 26 August 1992.

Bellor, Beth. “Using Gourds, Beads, this Cincinnati Group Creates Fun Percussion.” Midland (MI) Daily News, 5 February 1991.

Brennen, Gerald. “Drumming, Part 1: Percussion Group/cincinnati Kicks Off Unusual Weekend.” Ann Arbor News, 4 April 1989.

______. “The Percussion Group/cincinnati Masters at Masterpieces.” Ann Arbor News, 9 April 1989.

“Bringing the Beat from Cincinnati.” Akron (OH) Beacon Journal, 4 March 1988.

“CCM Ensembles Mark Anniversaries.” CCM Communiqué of the Performing and Media Arts, Spring/Summer 2004.

“Concert Series Features Folk, Percussion, and Chamber Music.” Dearborn (MI) County Register, 18 September 1986.

Cooklis, Ray. “CCM Percussion Group to Drum Out Reich Piece.” Cincinnati Enquirer, 15 January 1989.

______. “The Percussion Group Marks 10 Years of Bang-Up Music.” Cincinnati Enquirer, 15 October 1989.

Giankaris, C. J. “Percussion Group Doesn’t Miss a Beat.” Kalamazoo (MI) Gazette, 3 November 1990.

Gray, Andy. “Musical Group Uses Odd Items to Produce Percussion Sounds.” (Warren, OH) Tribune Chronicle, 3 February 1988.

Heeschen, Barbara A. “Percussion Trio Adds Bang to MSO Concerto.” Midland (MI) Daily News, 4 February 1991.

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Hutton, Mary Ellyn. “Arts Groups Reach Out to Community.” Cincinnati Post, 15 February 1990.

______. “Earl Wild, CCM’s Percussion Group to Usher in Riverbend Season.” Cincinnati Post, 6 June 1991.

______. “East Meets West at New Corbett’s Debut.” Cincinnati Post, 1 April 1996.

______. “Group Shake, Rattle, Roll in 10th Year.” Cincinnati Post, 14 October 1989.

______. “Musical Treats Toast WGUC Radio’s 30 Years.” Cincinnati Post, 24 September 1990.

Janes-Brown, Liz. “Percussionists Thrill with Adventures in Sound.” Maui (HI) News, 20 March 2001.

Klein, Jerry. “Concert Unusual, Entertaining.” Peoria (IL) Journal Star, 4 April 1990.

Kortals, Sabine. “Hammering out a Different Chamber Quartet.” Denver Post, 27 October 2006.

Kozinn, Allan. “An Evening of Drums.” New York Times, 6 October 1988.

Krebs, Betty Dietz. “Chmura debuts with Cincinnati Symphony; CSO’s Firebird Excites.” Dayton Daily News, 10 June 1991.

McGovern, Robert. “Spectacular Percussion Work Highlights Symphony Concert.” Ashland (OH) Times Gazette, 30 March 1992.

McGuire, Timothy. “Fair Lane Music Guild Ends 21st Season with Percussion Group.” (Dearborn, MI) Times-Herald, 8 May 1991.

Nicholson, David. “Pots and Pans Trio to Perform at CNC.” (Newport News, VA) Daily Press, 15 May 1987.

O’Rear, Sherrie. “Groovy Drums.” ArtScape: WGUC’s Monthly Arts Magazine, January 1990.

“People and Places: Alaska.” Percussive News, May 2005.

“Percussion Group Celebrates 10th Anniversary.” CCM Communiqué of the Performing and Media Arts, Winter 1990.

Proctor, Grover B. “Percussion Trio Rates an Ovation.” Saginaw News, 4 February 1991.

Raabe, Nancy. “Percussionists Give Riveting Performance.” Milwaukee Sentinel, 29 April 1989.

Ries, Daryl. “Visual Metaphors of Sound.” South China Morning Post, 10 March 1992.

Rockwell, John. “Concert: Pridonoff Duo and Percussion Group.” New York Times, 6 April 1986.

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Rosen, Michael. “Review of Percussion Group Cincinnati, by Percussion Group Cincinnati.” Percussive Notes 40 (December 2002): 81.

Rosenberg, Donald. “Everyday Items Turned Melodic.” (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, 6 December 2000.

Salisbury, Wilma. “Beats to Vibrate the Pews.” (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, 1 May 1991.

Smith, Arthur. “Percussion Group’s Power Punch.” Washington Post, 23 October 1988.

“Spring Music Sampler.” Ear Magazine, May 1989.

Taruskin, Richard. “Away with the Ives Myth: The “Universe” is Here at Last,” New York Times, 23 October 1994.

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