Concert Review 2

Jourdan Flores
Dr. Pete Zambito
History of Western Music 2
April 9th, 2022
Mizzou Percussion Concert Review
This evening I decided to go to the world percussion concert. This concert was made up
of a few different groups of percussionists. The first was a group of younger kids, which I
believe to be in mid to late grade school, called the Grant World Music Drumming Ensemble.
The second was a small section of Mizzou Percussion that made up the Mbira ensemble. The last
group was the entirety of Mizzou Percussion. The concert was held in the Missouri Theater and
was set to start at 7:00 PM. It was directed by Dr. Megan Arns, and had multiple guests
throughout the show.
The theme for the evening was Drumming Across the Globe. The concert was split into a
few different parts, each one showcasing music much different than that from the other sections.
The first section of the concert was three songs performed by the Grant World Music Drumming
Ensemble. The next section had two different guests from different parts of Africa come out and
show their communities style of music. The final section was a more modern section of music
written for another guest group, So Percussion.
The Grant World Music Drumming Ensemble started off the program. I was sitting
towards the back of the audience, so it was difficult for me to make out facial expressions clearly,
but it was very easy to tell that every one of the kids in this ensemble was having a blast. The
kids played through all of their music with a very contagious excitement. The audience loved
watching them having so much fun doing something they loved. This part of the concert was also
a good confidence booster for the kids. Being able to, and celebrated for, playing music in this
kind of environment is a wonderfully positive way to promote music in younger minds. It made
me think back to when I was that age and what kind of effects the support I got had on me.
The second block of time for the concert was devoted to music from Zimbabwe and
Ghana. This was definitely my favorite part of the program as a whole. Morgan Matsiga was the
first guest of the evening. He has ties to Mizzou as an alumni, and also to the city of Columbia,
as he is on one of the radio stations. Mr. Matsiga opened this section of the concert by talking
about the culture in Zimbabwe and the tradition of Mbira playing. After that, he played the
maracas and sang while leading the Mbira Ensemble through both of their two songs.
After that, the next guest came out and introduced himself and his culture. Emmanuel
Agbeli, from Ghana, also took the time to explain that music was used to connect as a
community. After this, he led the Mbira ensemble, now playing African drums, through his two
songs. This section of the concert was the most engaging and the most entertaining of all three of
the sections. The first two songs were slower and felt a bit more spiritual, while the second two
songs were very upbeat dance songs. This was emphasized by the audience actually being asked
to come onstage and dance with the performers during a second play through of the song. The
amount of fun the performers and audience had during this section was palpable.
After a very short intermission, Dr. Arns welcomed the audience back from the break, she
explained that the five songs being played were written for, and taught to Mizzou percussion by,
a New York based percussion group called So Percussion. After this, a quick video was played
where the members of that group said hello, introduced themselves and the music, and expressed
gratitude for the opportunity. Almost all of the pieces in this set had some kind of aspect to it that
set it apart from all of the others. The first song, Taxidermy, by Caroline Shaw, was played
mostly on flower pots, with the addition of some mallet instruments. The second, Nine Numbers
6, by Jason Treuding, had a completed sudoku puzzle being projected while it was being played.
It was explained right before the piece started that, instead of a sheet music, the ensemble was
reading the same sudoku, though it was never explained how that worked. The Third piece was
called Gone, composed by Angelica Negron, and was played with a small set of percussion
playing robots that we were told only Mizzou and So Percussion had access to at the time of the
concert. The fourth, Torque, by Vijay Iyer, was a virtuosic mallet piece played by the older
and/or leaving members of the group. Finally, the last piece, Walk, March, Run, by Kendall
Williams featured a lot of movement from the players, as well as several fourth wall esque
pauses, during which the ensemble noted how tired they were and urged each other to finish out
the piece.
The music was in a more modern style in which there wasn’t usually a clear tonal center,
which made it harder to follow and enjoy. The music appeared to be played very well, and I
thought it sounded very nice, for what it was, but honestly, it is hard for me to really get into that
style of music.
The only other major thing of note would just be how long the concert was. The whole
thing was just over two hours long. This was in part to a delayed start so the younger players
could finish warming up. The problem with this was that for people like me who don’t quite
resonate with the atonal music, the whole thing just seemed to drag on, especially towards the
end. This was because the section with African music right beforehand was something that
everyone, at least those who I could see, was having such a good time with. The atonal section
was something that is not everyone’s favorite style, which was very obvious to me as much less
of the audience seemed to be fully engaged the longer this section went on. I could see plenty of
people who looked like they just didn’t really want to still be there, as well as a couple sitting in
front of me that decided that they were done with the show about halfway through the fourth
song, so they just got up and walked out.
Over all, I think that the concert was very well put together and performed. The music
was all very unique and the program did a fantastic job of showing music from vastly different
parts of the world. The length was a bit of a problem, but I would go and see the group perform
again, and I would even recommend them to a friend, so I think the night went pretty well.

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Jourdan Flores

Dr. Pete Zambito

History of Western Music 2

April 9th, 2022

Mizzou Percussion Concert Review

throughout the show.

written for another guest group, So Percussion.

song, so they just got up and walked out.

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