Special to the Tribune-Star
VINCENNES — The Vincennes University Department of Music will present “Drum Enchanted Evening” at 7:30 p.m. March 25 at the Red Skelton Performing Arts Center. The event is free. The Skelton Center is on the VU campus at 20 Red Skelton Blvd.
Under the direction of Professor Susie Jackson, the VU Percussion Ensemble featuring 14 percussionists will play a variety of traditional and innovative percussion instruments. The group will perform various musical styles including jazz/fusion, classical, and the more contemporary novelty tunes performed in the “stomp” style, which involves the use of unique or unusual objects as percussion instruments combined with visual performance.
On March 27, the department will host a Day of Percussion at the Skelton Center. The event will include clinics and performances by various percussion ensembles. Participating collegiate ensembles include Ball State University, Indiana State University, Purdue University and Vincennes University. Marc Wooldridge of Indiana Wesleyan University will be doing a clinic performance of four of his multimedia compositions that incorporate film, visual art and aerial photography with live and recorded percussion. Erwin Mueller of Ball State University will have a session on making and repairing mallets.
The featured clinician will be Elliot “Ellie” Mannette, recipient of the 1999 National Endowment for the Arts and a 2003 Percussive Arts Society (PAS) Hall of Fame inductee. Recognized by many as the “father of the modern steel drum,” Mannette has devoted his life to the development of the steel drum art form. He is also the founder of Mannette Steel Drums Ltd., an instrument manufacturing company in Morgantown, W.Va. Steel drums, also known as “pans,” came into existence on the island of Trinidad around the time of World War II and are considered to be the only truly new acoustic instrument created in the 20th century. In 1946, Mannette was the first person to fashion his “pan” from the now-standard 55-gallon steel drum.
Mannette will present two sessions on the steel drum, one on the history of the instrument and the other on the construction and tuning.
Admission to the Day of Percussion is free. Registration will begin at 8 a.m., with ongoing performances and clinics beginning at 9 a.m. and ending around 6 p.m. For information about the Day of Percussion, contact Susie Jackson at (812) 888-4435.
