Join us for a Percussion Day at University of Maryland

Saturday October 24, 2009

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

#2540 Band Room

All events are FREE!

10:00 am All-State Audition Preparation

“Help” Session

Tips, Tricks, and Methods for mastering auditioning

Perform your all-state music for UMD Percussion Faculty:

Tony Ames, National Symphony Orchestra

Benjamin Ramirez, National Symphony Orchestra

Lee Hinkle, UMD Percussion Ensemble Director

And special guest Janis Potter!

12:00 pm a light lunch will be provided

1:30 pm Marimba Masterclass with Guest Artist Janis Potter!

Janis has performed more than 250 recitals and has presented masterclasses at more than 50 major universities as well as five Percussive Arts Society International Conventions.  She is best known for her unique and ground-breaking transcriptions and arrangements which have pushed marimba solo literature to a new level.  This masterclass will focus on the multiple timbres of marimba as well as unusual playing techniques such as dampening and specialized rolls.  Students will also be invited to play solos and participate in group exercises.  Janis is sponsored by Dynasty and Innovative Percussion.

Please RSVP if you would like to join us for this exciting day.  Indicate whether you would like to play for the all-state prep session and / or the marimba masterclass.  All are welcome!

Lee Hinkle lwhinkle@umd.edu, 301-405-5517

We’re looking for a different kind of student

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2933651n

April 4 - 7, 2007
Singing Shakespeare
Reviewed by Brad Hathaway

Running time 0:50 - no intermission
The first Signature Cabaret in the new space
Price - $27

The first Signature Cabaret in the Ark, the 99 seat black box in Signature's new home in Shirlington, is a part of the Shakespeare in Washington 2007 festival. Three vocalists work their way through seventeen songs from works based on the Bard - West Side Story, Kiss Me Kate, The Boys from Syracuse and others. The three are Nick Blaemire, Justin Keyes and Jason Michael Snow. They are backed by Jay Crowder on piano. He's a Signature regular, having composed A Christmas Carol Rag and acted as Musical Director on Urinetown, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Side Show. Lee Hinkle handles the percussion duties with a notable sense of flare - especially his work on a hand-struck drum somewhat larger than a bongo but not as big as a conga. The three offer strong vocal solos and combine to create something of a contemporary boy-band sound.

Storyline: Three young male vocalists take turns delivering solos or combine to create group renditions of songs from Broadway shows based on the plays of William Shakespeare.

The choice of material is rather adventurous given the constraints of sticking with the theme of the Shakespeare in Washington festival. Some of the songs are from shows that would be expected, such as Bernstein and Sondheim's Romeo and Juliet-based West Side Story ("Something's Coming," "Tonight," "One Hand, One Heart," "Maria" and "Somewhere,") Cole Porter's Taming of the Shrew-based Kiss Me, Kate ("So In Love," "Too Darn Hot,") Rogers and Hart's Boys from Syracuse based on Comedy of Errors ("Falling in Love With Love," "This Can't Be Love") and Galt MacDermot and John Guare's musical version of Two Gentlemen of Verona ("Love's Revenge," 'Summer, Summer.") Interspersed with those predictable choices, however, are songs from Michael Valenti and Donald Driver's tuneful version of Comedy of Errors, Oh, Brother! ("I To The World," "What Do I Tell People This Time?") as well as "What Do I Know of Love?" from Driver's Off-Broadway Your Own Thing based on Twelfth Night which he wrote with Hal Hester. There are two numbers attributed to a show titled Sighs of Fire (a nifty title lifted from Twelfth Night) which uses words from As You Like It ("Under the Greenwood Tree") and Two Gentlemen of Verona ("Who Is Sylvia?"). Most refreshing, however, is the inclusion of Stephen Sondheim's setting of a passage from Cymbeline, "Fear No More," which came from his musical based on Aristophanes' The Frogs.

The trio of singers comment during their banter that they are grateful that a full house came out to hear them since "You don't know who any of us are." For the record, then, Blaemire is fresh out of the national tour of Altar Boyz and is now preparing for his Signature mainstage debut in The Witches of Eastwick. Keyes has just finished small parts in two of the short plays in  the limited run revival of The Apple Tree on Broadway and the one-weekend concert version of Irving Berlin's Face the Music at Encores in New York. Snow just graduated from the Boston Conservatory and worked at Goodspeed in Connecticut in the revival of Pirates of Penzance. They all offer clear voices, careful enunciation which serves the lyrics well, sharp stage presence, a sense of excitement over their material and a nice feeling of camaraderie. They are at their best when either sitting or standing before their microphones. however, because the three have varying levels of skill with a hand-held microphone. This is, sadly, a skill that seems to be escaping the newer generation of musical theater singers who have worn wireless microphones for much of their early training and experience.

The black box is nicely set up with candle-bedecked cabaret tables. The bar in the lobby is open before the show and you are welcome to bring your drinks into the theater with you. The black box is literally that: black floor, black walls and black ceiling. To top it off, all three vocalists wear black. Chris Akins has lit the stage area with sharp colors, however, providing a dramatic look which is further enhanced with copious amounts of stage mist.

Directed by Matthew Gardiner. Lighting designed by Chris Akins. Stage managed by E. Brooke Marshall. Photography by Rachel Applegate. Musicians: Jay Crowder, Lee Hinkle. Cast: Nick Blaemire, Justin Keyes and Jason Michael Snow.