Percussion Ensemble

Time and Location

The Western Washington University Percussion Ensemble directed by Patrick Roulet presents a concert of contemporary music inspired by percussion and xylophone traditions of East and West Africa.

Program includes:

  • Mbira by David Hahn Kpatsa
  • traditional drumming from Ghana arranged by Davor Michael
  • Akadinda Trio by Emmanuel Séjourné
  • Variations on a Ghanaian Theme by Daniel Levitan
  • Tusk! by David Jarvis Poole De Daan Yu (Lady take a Drink)
  • traditional music from Ghana arranged by Aaron Bebe Sukura 

Concert Program

Mbira (2000)

David Hahn

Kpatsa

traditional drumming from Ghana

arr. by Davor Michael

Akadinda Trio

Emmanuel Séjourné

Tusk! (1994)

David Jarvis

Variations on a Ghanaian Theme

Daniel Levitan 

Poole De Daan Yu (Lady take a Drink)

traditional music from Ghana

arr.by Aaron Bebe Sukura 

WWU Percussion Ensemble

  • Patrick Roulet, Director
  • Tyler Bateman, BS in Computer Science and BA in Music 
  • Toby Bruce, BM in Music Performance
  • Addisen Critchlow, BM in Music Education 
  • Malia Della Salla, BM in Music Education
  • Daniel Furry, BA in Music
  • Davis Juneau, BS in Applied Mathematics
  • Braeden Manalo, BS in Linguistics
  • Lauren Meis, BS in Psychology
  • Alex Nelson, BM in Music Composition
  • Gary Stivers, MM in Music Performance-Graduate
  • Lucas Webster, BM in Music Education and Music Performance
  • Jonathan Woods, MM, Music Education-Graduate
  • Zach Ziontz, BA in Music

Mbira by David Hahn

The mbira is the classic instrument of Zimbabwe, with an entire musical genre developed around it. The mbira consists of approximately 20-24 flattened metal prongs which are fastened at one end to a bridge---usually some sort of box shape. The mbira sits on a calabash, a gourd, which acts as a resonator. The free ends of the metal prongs are plucked with the thumb of the left hand and the thumb and index finger of the right hand. The most important feature of the mbira music is its chiming, cyclical nature, with each new repetition varying slightly from the last.

Mbira was written for the Western Washington University Percussion Ensemble directed by Patrick Roulet

David Hahn creates diverse styles of music ranging from the experimental sounds of processed electric guitars to musique concrète sound collages to more traditional settings featuring instruments and voices. Educated at Brown University, the New England Conservatory of Music, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, Mr. Hahn received the doctorate in historical musicology at Stanford University in 1993.

Kpatsa: Traditional Drumming from Ghana arranged by Davor Michael

Kpatsa is said to be associated with the limping gait peculiar to abodo-Dwarfs. The Ada-Dangme, the home of the Musical type, believe it emanated from the music and dance of the dwarfs which depict this uneven manner of the walking, hence the name Kpatsa.

Tradition has it that kpatsa was first seen to have been performed by dwarfs at Okongmleku a settlement in Ada, by either children or hunters. Principally, kpatsa is a recreational dance for both sexes. Occasions for performance include festivals like Asafotu festivals in Big Ada, durbar of chiefs, visit of important dignitaries and general state celebrations like Christmas, Easter etc.

Kpatsa may also be heard during funerals of members or on invitation of the band. The kpatsa group may decide to perform for purely entertainment purposes. The dance is fast becoming the major traditional recreational music of the Dagnme.

The arena for the performances makes room for audience participation. This may be shown by spectators placing coins on the forehead of dancers, spreading cloth over their shoulders, and tying the cloth around the waist of dancers. (Davor Michael, Drumming Instructor – University of Ghana)
The current arrangement was taught to Patrick Roulet by Davor Michael during a visit to Ghana in 2006. 

Akadinda Trio by Emmanuel Séjourné

Inspired by the percussive mallet music of Uganda, each player in this trio utilizes two mallets, and usually performed by three players on one five-octave marimba. In this performance, we have doubled the parts and spread out the players to several marimbas. Numerous melo-rhythmic lines interlock to form an interesting polyrhythmic (3:2, etc) texture. No one part is particularly difficult; yet, concentration is required so as to realize the interlocking rhythmic patterns in a fashion that seems relaxed, yet grooves. 

Emmanuel Séjourné is an active teacher, performer, and composer and recognized as one of the world’s leading mallet percussionists. Séjourné He is a member of the music faculty at Strasbourg Conservatory where he has developed a unique course of study for advanced mallet percussionists, the first of its kind in France. In addition, he has premiered hundreds of compositions - concertos, chamber music, and solo titles. As a soloist or as an ensemble member he has performed at many prestigious music festivals throughout Europe and in North America.

TUSK! By David Jarvis

Beginning in the late 1970s, the price of ivory on the black market had risen to as much as $150 a kilo, causing violence to spread to many parts of Africa. During the 1980s, greedy poachers hunted throughout the African fields slaughtering nearly 80% of the elephant population. The annihilation of close to a million of these large creatures put them on the “most endangered” list. In some instances, elephants would lie dying of bullet wounds as the “shifta” (the name used in Africa which means “poacher”) began to hack at the precious ivory with a power saw. 

The music of TUSK! draws on many aspects of African music. The instruments which are used are direct descendants from the African culture which includes bullroarers (also a descendant of Australia), shekere, wooden clappers, mbira, gonkogui, xylophone, and various types of drums. The harmony used in the work is based on a hemitonic pentatonic scale (a five-tone scale which used half steps) built on the following tones: C, E, F#, G, B. The rhythm of Tusk! Draws on the various types and styles of African drumming which includes call/response and the stacking of polyrhythms. The music has four distinct parts which are subtitled: 1) The African Dawn, 2) The Nago Dance, 3) The Hunt, 4) The Killing Fields. 

Professor David Jarvis recently retired as the Coordinator of Percussion Studies at Washington State University and has performed internationally in both classical and jazz arenas.

Variations on a Ghanaian Theme by Daniel Levitan

Variations on a Ghanaian Theme is a percussion trio scored for two cowbells, two tom-toms, and temple blocks. The piece is based on a 12-beat rhythmic theme which is stated in each instrument. Fragments of the theme are then used for rhythmic development before the theme returns in a fugue. The inspiration for this work came when the composer heard the theme performed by a Ghanaian master drummer during a live performance. In this performance, the three parts are played by multiple players expanding the trio to a work for 13 players. 

Daniel Levitan studied composition at Bennington College (BA, 1976) with Henry Brant, Vivian Fine, and Marta Ptazynska; and percussion privately with Phil Ford and Ray Spiegel (tabla), Frank Malabe (conga and latin percussion), and Tom Hemphill (mallets). Mr. Levitan, a graduate as well of the North Bennett Street School (1975), works as a piano technician in New York City, and writes and lectures on tuning topics for the Piano Technicians Guild.

Poole De Daan Yu (Lady take a Drink): Traditional Music from Ghana

arr. by Aaron Bebe Sukura and Patrick Roulet

This is a traditional Ghanaian tune taught to the ensemble by Aaron Bebe Sukura, music professer at the University of Ghana. The song comes from the repertoire performed at Bori Festivals and is a parable about selfishness. At the Bori Festival, one man shared his drink with the woman next to him only after he himself had enough to drink. The moral is to share what you have and do not only share after you have had enough yourself. 

The traditional tune is performed on two xylophones called gyile that are the primary instruments of peoples in northern Ghana, northern Cote D'Ivoire, and southern Burkina Faso. The arrangement combines the traditional xylophones with contemporary percussion instruments and hand drums and was created through virtual online lessons and rehearsals with Patrick Roulet and WWU Percussion Ensemble with Aaron in Ghana. 

Aaron Bebe Sukura, born in 1970 in the village of Tanchara in the Upper West Region of Ghana, showed a great enthusiasm for music at an early age. He would trace the sound of the gyil, to wherever it was being played. Even before he could walk, Aaron would crawl and climb to the xylophone anytime his father was playing, often holding the mallets together with his father as he played. Upon completing his schooling, he traveled south to the Ghanaian capital Accra, and in 1992 he began working for the Music Department of the University of Ghana as a xylophone instructor.

Disability Accommodations

For disability accommodations, please contact the department presenting the event. Disability access information is available online at Parking Services, and further resources can be found by contacting Western's Disability Access Center.