MSU concert to 'bang the drums' slowly, quickly, all in-between

Contact: Sammy McDavid

Percussion instruments of all kinds-including glass bowls-will be featured in an April 17 concert at Mississippi State.

The free performance by the university's Percussion Ensemble begins at 7:30 p.m. in the McComas Hall theater.

Led by music education professor Robert Damm, the eight-man group will be accompanied on some of the numbers by Ellen Boles' third-grade class at Sudduth Elementary School in Starkville.

The combined groups will perform arrangements of "Zum Gali Gali," an Israeli work song; "Sleep, Baby Sleep," a nursery rhyme; and "Mango Walk," a Jamaican Calypso song. Hugh Davis, music education professor at Mary Holmes College in West Point, will be guest soloist on the steel pan.

Among other selections will be "Aruba Getaway," "March for Two Pairs of Kettle Drums," "Gending Bali," "The 1908 Rag," and "Gypsy Rondo."

Founded by Damm in 1995, the ensemble has performed at more than 50 concerts, workshops, demonstrations, and festivals around the state. Last year, they were featured at the Mississippi Bandmasters Association Band Clinic in Biloxi.

For more information on the concert, telephone the sponsoring music education department at (662) 325-3070.