The UW Percussion Ensemble, Steel Drum Ensemble and Gamelan Ensemble present music from a variety of musical traditions.
UW PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE
Tom Collier, director; Memmi Ochi, assistant director
Percussion Concerto (2005) ......................................................................................... Aidan Gold (b. 1997)
Aidan Gold, Percussion; Conney Vernall, Piano
Por una Cabeza (1935) .................................................... Carlos Gardel (1890-1935) / arr. Michiko Noguchi
Janella Kang & Aidan Gold, Marimbas
Bow to Enter (2016) ................................................................................................ Shannon Horst (b. 1996)
Janella Kang, Vibraphone; David Gaskey, Marimba; Aidan Gold, Timpani & Percussion
Episodes for Percussion Trio (1981) ............................................................................... John Beck (b. 1933)
Episode I
Episode II
Episode III
Episode IV
Janella Kang, Aidan Gold, & David Gaskey, Percussion
GAMELAN ENSEMBLE
Christina Sunardi, director
This portion of the program features gamelan music and dance from West Java, Indonesia and in particular, music and dance of the ethnic Sundanese. Gamelan are ensembles largely composed of gongs and keyed percussion instruments. There are many different kinds of gamelan ensembles in Indonesia. Gamelan degung and gamelan salendro are two types found in West Java. The gamelan degung you see tonight includes instruments made from bronze and from iron. Different instruments play different roles in the gamelan degung ensemble. In general, the metal keyed instruments (saron) and V-shaped gong chime (bonang) play melodic elaborations, the large gong (gong) marks the ends of phrases, the large gong chime (jengglong) marks subdivisions of the gong cycle, and the drums (kendang) control the tempo. The bamboo flute (suling) enriches the texture with another layer of melodic ornamentation. The bronze gamelan salendro features similar instruments playing similar musical roles, although the tuning system is different. When gamelan is used to accompany dance, there is an intimate relationship between the dance movements and drumming patterns.
1. “Lutung Bingung”
This isa piece for gamelan degung in what is considereda classical degung style (degung klasik). The title of this instrumental piece means "Confused Monkey," which is perhaps represented by the active melodies played on the bonang.
2. “Ayun Ambing”
This isa traditional Sundanese lullaby referring to the rocking ofa baby or small child to sleep in a sarong. Notice the poetic structure of the Sundanese text in which each line ends in “ing.”
Ayun ayun ambing
(Rocking, rocking, swinging)
Diayun ayun kusamping
(Swung in a sarong)
Deudeuh ulah rungsing
(Sweetheart, do not be confused)
Guera bobo mansing jempling
(Please sleep quietly)
3. Tari Babalen (Babalen Dance)
Dancers: Olivia Kotha, Benjamin Moseley, Tikka Sears, Christina Sunardi, “Senggo” Sunardi
This dance was choreographed by Nurrika to complement Ade Suparman’s original composition “Babalen.” The name “Babalen” has two meanings, “Balinese style” (Ba-bali-an) and “repetition.” Both the dance and the music combine Sundanese and Balinese traditions. For example, while the music is played on Sundanese gamelan degung instruments, Balinese influence can be heard in the type of interlocking patterns played on the bonang, which in Balinese gamelan is traditionally played ona row of pot gongs called the reyong. In the choreography, Nurrika also includes Western styles, which she has experienced through international travel.
4. Tari Kandagan (Kandagan Dance) Dancer: Nurrika
Tari Kandagan portraysa strong, dashing princess character. Performed by female dancers, this dance is a new creation that was developed by Raden Tjetje Somantri in 1960 from an earlier dance that he choreographed in 1958 called Renggarini. The word “kandagan” means container or jewelry box—that is, a place to store jewelry and other valuables. The name of the dance (Kandagan) can thus also refer to the dance beinga “container” (that is,a collection) of dance movements. A gamelan salendro ensemble provides the accompanying music.
Featured Artists
Ade Suparman, a visiting artist in residence at the UW School of Music, is an instrumentalist and composer of Sundanese music. Born in Purwakarta, West Java, he started playing kacapi (Sundanese zither) when he was 10 years old with his father. He then studied music theory and classical Sundanese music at the high school level conservatory (Sekolah Menengah Kesenian Indonesia) in Bandung, West Java and earneda B.A. from the collegelevel arts institute (Institut Seni Indonesia) in Surakarta, Central Java. Ade has beena member of professional folk and classical music groups in Bandung, performing on kacapi and gamelan. He has recorded Sundanese traditional and contemporary music with well- known composers in West Java and has released three CDs, two of which feature his original compositions. His travels abroad have taken him to Australia, India, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, the Netherlands, Canada and the USA. In addition to his activities asa performer and composer, he has createda new learning method for suling (bamboo flute), and has published several method books for suling, gamelan and kacapi.
Nurrika, who goes bya single name, was born in Bandung, West Java, graduated in traditional dance performance from the high school level conservatory (Sekolah Menengah Kesenian Indonesia) in Bandung, and attended the college level arts academy (Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia) in Bandung. Specializing in Sundanese classical dance, folk dances, and jaipongan--which combines movements from folk dance and pencak silat martial arts--Nurrika has performed and taught widely in West Java, Bali, and the U.S. She currently teaches dance at SMP Pasundan6 High School in Bandung. As seen on this evening’s program, Nurrika is alsoa gifted choreographer of new dances.
UW Gamelan Students (Students of Ade Suparman)
Jorge Bayona, Katia Chaterji, Giuliana Conti, Shannon Garcia, Skúli Gestsson, Julia Knox, Mike Kohfeld, Rachel Mahre, Chris Mena, Anja McElvaney, Solmaz Shakerifard, Erica Weisman
***Ade Suparman’s residency has been made possible by the generous support of the University of
Washington School of Music and the University of Washington Southeast Asia Center.
Wednesday Steel Band
Gary Gibson, director
September (1978).......................................Maurice White, Al McKay & Allee Willis (Earth, Wind & Fire) arr. Gary Gibson
Ryan Bartruff, Rachel DeCordoba, Sean Dolan, Toby Hwang, Julia Knox, Lauren Kowalski, Jorge Matsuda, Khadijah Monolka, Kirk Sharma, Malea Saul, Annika Veis
Monday Steel Band
Gary Gibson, director
Pan in A Minor (1987) ............................................... Aldwyn Roberts (Lord Kitchener) arr. Shannon Dudley & Gary Gibson
Acadia Sunset (2012) ...................................................................................................................Gary Gibson
Great Lakes Jump Up (2014) .......................................................................................................Gary Gibson
Thomas Campbell, Leia Facteau, Emily Iversen, Craig Kovatch, Anita Kumar, T. J. Orgovan, Nathan Pillay, Colton Rothaus, Carlo Tortella, Matthew Wells
DIRECTOR BIOS
Tom Collier, Percussion Ensemble
Director of percussion studies at the University of Washington School of Music since 1980, professor Tom Collier has performed and recorded with many important classical, jazz, and popular artists, in addition to recording and performing with his own jazz group. He is a veteran of more than 50 years in music — his first public appearance was at age five, on xylophone, and his first professional performances were made as a nine-year-old marimba virtuoso.
Tom has appeared in concert and on recordings with many important jazz and popular artists including Eddie Daniels, Ry Cooder, Earl "Fatha" Hines, Bill Frisell, Roger Kellaway, Emil Richards, Don Grusin, Frank Zappa, Victor Feldman, Howard Roberts, Ernie Watts, Dave Holland, Cal Tjader, Shelly Manne, Laurindo Almeida, Buddy DeFranco, Diane Schurr, Peggy Lee, Natalie Cole, Morganna King, Herb Ellis, Bill Mays, Bobby Shew, Ernestine Anderson, Mannheim Steamroller, Sammy Davis, Jr., Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Olivia Newton-John, The Beach Boys, The Mills Brothers, Della Reese and many more.
In the classical arena, Collier has appeared as guest soloist with the Seattle Symphony, The Denver Symphony, The Bellevue Philharmonic, The Northwest Chamber Orchestra, The Everett Symphony and The Olympia Symphony. He was timpanist in the Los Angeles Repertoire Orchestra in 1976, vibraphonist in L.A. Contempo Four, 1975-77(a modern music ensemble), and timpanist with the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, 1972-73.
Collier has released several albums as leader or co-leader beginning with Whistling Midgets with electric bassist Dan Dean for Inner City Records in 1981. Other albums include Illusion (1988, T.C. Records), Pacific Aire(1990, Nebula Records) and Mallet Jazz (2004, Origin Records). Collier and Dean's 2005 album, Duets on Origin Records, was nominated for "Album of the Year" by Earshot Magazine. An album of original compositions for vibraphone and marimba, Mallet Fantastique, was released in March, 2010 on the Origin Classical label. Another album for Origin Classical was released in 2012, Tom Collier Plays Haydn, Mozart, Telemann and Others, and featured Collier playing compositions for two violins re-arranged for vibraphone and marimba. In 2014, Collier And Dean released their third album, Sleek Buick, on Origin Records featuring several jazz luminaries including drummers Alex Acuña and Ted Poor, keyboardist Don Grusin, saxophonists Ernie Watts and Gary Herbig and trumpeter Allen Vizzutti.
In addition to the above, he has recorded several educational albums for Music Minus One and Studio 4 Music and has presented over 300 jazz concerts in public schools around Washington State for the Arts In Education Program under the auspices of that state's Arts Commission. In 1980, Collier was presented with an "Outstanding Service To Jazz Education" award by the National Association of Jazz Educators, and over the past thirty years, he has won twenty five ASCAP Popular Panel and ASCAPlus Awards for his various jazz and percussion compositions. In 2011, the prestigious Adelaide D. Currie Cole Endowed Professorship in the University of Washington School of Music was awarded to Professor Collier for the academic years 2011-2013. In 2014, he was awarded a Royalty Research Grant by the University to produce three new recordings in three different settings including a solo vibraphone album, an experimental free improvisation trio album, and a recording of original jazz compositions for quintet featuring vibraphone and guitar.
A UW alumnus, Collier graduated from the School of Music in 1971 with a BA/BM in percussion performance.
Christina Sunardi, Gamelan Ensemble
Christina Sunardi is an associate professor in the Ethnomusicology program in the School of Music at the University of Washington, where she has been teaching since 2008. Her interests include performance, identity, spirituality and ethnography in Indonesia. Her work focuses in particular on the articulation of gender through music, dance, and theater in the cultural region of east Java.
Her publications include articles in Bijdragen Tot de Taal-, Land en Volkenkunde, Asian Music, and Ethnomusicology, as well as reviews in the Journal of Folklore Research Reviews, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, and Indonesia. Dr. Sunardi has been studying and performing Javanese arts since 1997 in Indonesia and the United States, earning her Ph.D. in music from the University of California, Berkeley in 2007. Her book about the negotiation of gender and tradition through dance and music in east Java was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2015. In addition to her academic work, she enjoys playing gamelan music with the Seattle-based ensemble Gamelan Pacifica and performing as an independent dancer.
Featured Artists
Ade Suparman
A visiting artist in residence at the UW School of Music, is an instrumentalist and composer of Sundanese music. Born in Purwakarta, West Java, he started playing kacapi (Sundanese zither) when he was 10 years old with his father. He then studied music theory and classical Sundanese music at the high school level conservatory (Sekolah Menengah Kesenian Indonesia) in Bandung, West Java and earneda B.A. from the collegelevel arts institute (Institut Seni Indonesia) in Surakarta, Central Java. Ade has beena member of professional folk and classical music groups in Bandung, performing on kacapi and gamelan. He has recorded Sundanese traditional and contemporary music with well- known composers in West Java and has released three CDs, two of which feature his original compositions. His travels abroad have taken him to Australia, India, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, the Netherlands, Canada and the USA. In addition to his activities asa performer and composer, he has createda new learning method for suling (bamboo flute), and has published several method books for suling, gamelan and kacapi.
Nurrika
Nurrika, who goes bya single name, was born in Bandung, West Java, graduated in traditional dance performance from the high school level conservatory (Sekolah Menengah Kesenian Indonesia) in Bandung, and attended the college level arts academy (Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia) in Bandung. Specializing in Sundanese classical dance, folk dances, and jaipongan--which combines movements from folk dance and pencak silat martial arts--Nurrika has performed and taught widely in West Java, Bali, and the U.S. She currently teaches dance at SMP Pasundan6 High School in Bandung. As seen on this evening’s program, Nurrika is alsoa gifted choreographer of new dances.