The Ohio State School of Music is hosting its annual Percussion Ensemble Festival this weekend, where more than 200 high school students and a pair of world-class guest artists will join the OSU Percussion Ensemble for two days of learning and performing.
“The festival is designed for the high school students, but the OSU percussion majors are completely in charge of the logistics,” said Susan Powell, director of the OSU Percussion Ensemble. The percussion majors, part of the OSU Percussion Ensemble, will also be performing with the festival’s guest artists.
When asked which instruments will be played during the festival, Powell replied, “Every percussion instrument imaginable.”
Powell created the festival in 2003 with Joe Krygier, her partner in “The Pendulum Duo” and fellow percussion faculty member. This is the same pair that created the annual percussion event “Drums Downtown” that took place Feb. 19 and 20.
Eight high schools are attending the festival this year: Dublin Scioto, Dublin Coffman, Gahanna Lincoln, Pickerington North, Perry, Teays Valley, Moeller (Cincinnati) and Flint School of the Performing Arts (Michigan).
Each high school ensemble will perform two pieces and receive feedback from this year’s guest artists Keith Aleo and Anders Astrand.
“Aleo teaches at the Boston Conservatory and specializes in orchestral percussion and timpani performance, and … Astrand, from Stockholm, Sweden, is a virtuoso jazz vibraphonist,” Powell said.
In other words, Astrand is really good at playing a xylophone-like instrument.
“Each year, I invite guests who bring a blend of performance and teaching skills to participate. Because this festival has an educational focus, it’s important that the guest artists can work well with high school students, yet also be world-class performers,” Powell said.
“We’ve had guests with specialties in pretty much every area of percussion, including drum set, marimba, orchestral, world music and jazz.”
The weekend’s line-up also includes two educational clinics. “Aleo will be focusing on cymbals, and Astrand will discuss improvisation,” Powell said.
Interacting with the guest artists is Powell’s favorite part of the festival.
“It’s always a highlight to have them on campus,” Powell said. “And the percussion students benefit greatly from working with them.”
Powell will also be performing a few jazz tunes this weekend with Krygier and Astrand. Those jazz tunes could be performed on anything, considering Powell has creatively used soup cans as percussive instruments in the past.
“I’m hoping the participating high school students leave campus inspired by the experience. We also hope that they … will consider applying and auditioning for the [OSU] School of Music in the future,” Powell said.
The festival starts Feb. 26 at noon and ends the night of Feb. 27. Performances will take place in Weigel Hall. All events are open to the public.
For more information, visit percussion.osu.edu.
