Ryan Lewis to present faculty percussion recital at Ouachita Jan. 24
January 16, 2012 - Brooke Zimny
Ouachita Baptist University will host Dr. Ryan Lewis, assistant professor of music,
in a faculty percussion recital Tuesday, Jan. 24, at 7:30 p.m. The solo recital will
be held in Mabee Fine Arts Center’s McBeth Recital Hall on Ouachita’s campus and is
free and open to the public.
The concert will open with “Animism for Prepared Timpani and Tape” by Stephen Ridley,
which involves “ironically asking the live performer to produce computer-like sounds,”
Lewis explained, “while the accompanying tape part produces sounds like drums, rattles,
shakers and log drums.”
The recital will also feature two vocal pieces that have been arranged for percussion
solo, including Lewis’ marimba arrangement of “Christ Lay in Death’s Dark Prison”
by J.S. Bach and Gary Werdesheim’s vibraphone arrangements of Gustav Mahler’s “I breathed
a gentle scent” and “I have become lost to the world” from “Two Songs from Ruckertlieder.”
Lewis describes another selection, “Bodhran Dance” by B. Michael Williams, as “a terrific
example of the modern trend of combining multiple musical influences into a new composition.”
The piece, played on an Irish hand drum, makes use of techniques from India, Greece,
Poland and the Middle East as well as contemporary techniques.
Following “Bodhran Dance,” Lewis will perform the percussion standard “Dream of the
Cherry Blossoms” by Keiko Abe, which represents the Japanese school of marimba composition
and performance.
The recital will close with another standard of percussion repertoire, “Cold Pressed”
by American composer David Hollinden. The piece features a multiple percussion set-up
including bass drum, tom toms, snare drum, tambourine, bongos, cowbells, wood blocks,
crotales and cymbals. “The piece is unique for its physical layout of the instruments
on stage such that they look and sound like a piano keyboard,” Lewis noted.
Lewis is a noted performer and scholar with numerous orchestral, chamber and solo
performance as well as publications, guest clinics and lectures to his credit. He
is an active member of the international Percussive Arts Society and the College Music
Society and is an Artist-Educator for Innovative Percussion.
Lewis teaches applied percussion, percussion techniques and music history at Ouachita
and directs OBU’s Percussion Ensemble and the Tiger Marching Band Drum Line. He previously
served on the music faculties at Claflin University, the University of South Caroline
and Florida State University. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in percussion
performance from the University of South Carolina, a Master of Music degree in percussion
performance from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Instrumental Music Education
from Furman University.
For more information, contact Lewis at [email protected] or (870) 245-5421.
By Brooke Zimny
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