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Fans enjoy percussions
 Media Credit: Matthew Kaster Allen Otte, James Culley and Russell Burge, members of the world-acclaimed Percussion Group of Cincinnati, performed Friday and Saturday night in the Kimberly A. Ristche Auditorium.
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Picture this: you're in an airplane. The plane starts going down the runway slowly and softly. Time for a nice, relaxing flight to your destination. Suddenly, you're going down the runway at fast speeds and the sound gets louder. The plane lifts off into the air. There is a soft silence, but not for long�the turbulence gets uncontrollable and shakes the plane fiercely.
You heart is pounding and your ears are vibrating, wondering what is going to happen next�
That's the feeling you got if you were at the Percussion Group Cincinnati concert Friday night in Kimberly A. Ristche Auditorium. The song, "Lift Off," gave audience members a bumpy, yet peaceful ride through the sky for about ten minutes before landing again.
The second song, "Amores," was more soft and relaxing. The song goes back to the 1930s, where the ideas were to have power with a good beat that you could quietly dance to. Using a prepared piano, Chinese Tom-Toms, a Pod Rattle and wooden blocks, the group was able to create a Chinese mood with a faucet-dripping-water sound.
The third song, "From Drama," was written by Guo Wen-jing for the group. Wen-jing, who is from Bejing, taught the Percussion Group Cincinnati different ways of making sounds with the cymbals and the voice. The piece lasted almost 25 minutes.
The fourth song, "Dressur," describes the animals of the circus and how they dance. The group expressed this concept by using their body with various percussion instruments: the xylophone, coconut shells, chairs, even Dutch shoes, which left audience members laughing with enjoyment.
Did you know that newspapers are considered a percussion instrument? No one believed this until the Group's fifth "song" of the night, "I Read the News Today Oh Boy," demonstrated how. The Group started off by sitting on three chairs and reading the current headlines locally, nationally and worldwide.
They then proceeded to roll up their newspaper and bang it on various parts of their body in a rhythmic beat, then opening their paper again, shaking them as if they were stressed out from too much news. Finally, the Group ripped up their paper, crumbled it and tossed it on the ground.
The final song, "Four Chilean Songs," was arranged by the Percussion Group Cincinnati. During the 1970s, artists, playwrights and poets were encouraged by the government to write stories about the people for their country. The first section talked about a miner coming home from his hard day's work and getting his wife so that they can go to a protest. The second section talked about the flight of the flamingo, which celebrates game preservation. The third section talked about the rebuilding of the earth. Finally, the last section talked about the festivals at Chilean, where they combined groups with Catholicism. The group used various percussion instruments and the xylophone to tell their stories.
After taking their audience on a "journey" around the world, audience members were begging for an encore.
The Percussion Group Cincinnati, formed in 1979, consists of members Allen Otte, James Culley and Russell Burge. They are faculty members and ensemble-in-residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where they teach and coach young musicians, many of whom have gone on to careers in teaching, or in performance with symphony orchestras and new music ensembles in the U.S. and Europe. The group has also recorded for numerous independent labels and for radio stations throughout Europe.
The Percussion Group Cincinnati has won audience acclaim for all types of performances, including The New York Philharmonic's Horizons series, the Kennedy Center, Ravinia, Blossom, Palace of Fine Arts (Brussels), Big Disco (Turin); Hong Kong Cultural Center and Whitten Days for Chamber Music (Cologne), among many others. For sold-out audiences worldwide, the Percussion Group Cincinnati has definitely changed the way people experience music.
"I really enjoyed myself listening to the Group," said Mona Shriver, resident of Minneapolis. "Percussion is my favorite type of music."
"I would recommend to anyone to go and see one of their shows," said Ryan Johnson, junior. "They make a great team and put on a great show."
The Percussion Group Cincinnati also performed Saturday at the Paramount Theater.
For more information on the Percussion Group Cincinnati, go to www.pgcinfo.com.
Kateri Wozny can be reached at: [email protected]
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