The program features Paul Binkley on guitar playing music from his Christmas CD “Do You Hear What I Hear”. Paul is a former Austin Peay music student, spent five years performing with the Grammy Award winning band Alabama, and is currently president of Grand Vista Music, a Nashville-based recording company.

The concert will also showcase members of the APSU Music Department faculty including: singers Tom King, Sharon Mabry, and Gail Robinson-Oturu; pianists Anne Glass and Jeff Wood; violinist Emily Crane; woodwind players Lisa Vanarsdel and Jeanette Zyko; brass players Francis Massinon, Richard Steffen, and Chris Vivio; guitarist Stanley Yates; and percussionists Richard Frey and David Steinquest. Karen Sorenson and Ted Jones from Languages and Literature will provide narration.

Selections from Paul’s recording will include fresh arrangements of holiday favorites such as “O Holy Night”, “Little Drummer Boy”, “Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming”, “I Wonder as I Wander”, “Ave Maria”, “Carol of the Bells”, “Silent Night”, and “Away in a Manger”. The program also includes James Taylor’s version of “Some Children See Him” and Michael McDonald’s song “Peace”, and instrumental settings of “Bring a Torch Jeannette, Isabella” and “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”.

Tickets are $5.00 General Admission (APSU students get in free with I.D.) and will be available Monday, December 1, 2008 in the Music Office (MMC 139). For information, contact Norma Jean Smith at 221-7818.

The recital will feature the violin and oboe with accompaniment provided by pianist Anne Glass. The group will perform works by Bach, Schubert and Massenet.

Crane is assistant professor of violin and viola and coordinator of orchestral strings at APSU. She has performed several solo, chamber and orchestral concerts across North America, Taiwan and Europe. Her orchestral experience includes the Valley, Texas, Jacksonville, Fla., and Columbus, Ga., Symphony Orchestras.

Zyko is assistant professor of double reeds. For the past five years, Zyko was principal oboe of Tactus Contemporary Ensemble. Her accomplishments include working with Pierre Boulez, playing with ensembles such as Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Zyko apprenticed as a teaching artist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

For more information, contact the APSU music department, (931) 221-7818.

The annual APSU Percussion Ensemble Halloween Concert lived up to its reputation as a lively music entertainment value for young and not-so young. From drums and human percussion to oboes and xylophones and tambourines, to wooden blocks and ceramic bowls, sounds were produced by means both wondrous and extraordinary.

As the director took to the stage, a startled child’s cry permeated the music hall and set the perfect tone for the event. The opening piece was an African Welcome which featured the thunderous proclamations of drums calling forth. The University Choir lent their voices to this dramatic piece demonstrating the magic within this most common element of daily sound. Everyone settled in for a rousing, good show. Indeed, it was.

Next stop on the tour was the ‘Valley of Nepal’ and the melodic magic of xylophones and cymbals. This was quickly followed by a stop in Brazil for ‘Samba Macabre’ with violin accompaniment by Emily Hanna Crane. Brisk and lively tempo, the music hall filled to the rafters with overflowing rhythms of violin, xylophone and chimes.

Then came the ‘Allegro barbaro,’ a human percussion piece that showcased human feet, hands and chests as musical instruments of high impact and engrossing sentiment. And true to being back in the wilds of the jungle, ‘Me Tarzan’ featured two ape-like performers playing “Stomp”-like trash can drums to thunderous effect and applause. Audience participation in a ‘call-and-response’ segment was a special touch in this piece.

In an acknowledgment to other-worldly creatures and softer tones, Romania was the next stop for ‘Casper’s Lulllaby’ with accompaniment by the University Choir settling any rattled nerves. The choir’s soothing and melodic voices truly invoked a tranquil demeanor to the setting. It was the perfect launching point for the hop over to China and talk of dragons of old, ‘Pulse’ evoked these fire-breathing terrors of yesteryear and their fearful onslaught. As always in those old tales, a valiant hero vanquishes the beast and saves the village. The musical equivalent was a vibrant thrashing event.

Next, it was off to Egypt and talk of mummies. ‘Walk like an Egyptian’ was the natural selection. Jeanette Zyko accompanied on oboe, as the rock piece quicken the pace and the belly dancer’s coin belt wraps tingled in the air. Then there was talk of fear of giant killer bees in Turkey. Here ‘Flight to Turkey’ served up an expanded ‘Flight of the Bumble Bee’-like excursion into flight which had heads bobbing.

Finally, we venture to Middle Earth and ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ a land of turmoil and warfare, but the musical selection may be more familiar to some from the 1981 classic, ‘Excalibur.’ I speak of the fanfare, ‘O Fortuna’ from Carmina Burana. With the University Choir accompanying, the percussion ensemble took up the challenge and gave an absolutely stirring presentation of this majestic choral piece. Thrashing drums, cymbals dashing and xylpohones rolling across vast expanses of land, the images filled the music hall as many audience members assisted the director in conducting the ensemble. So caught up were they in the music. I must confess, I was one such participant. The standing ovation and applause at its completion was testimony to audience appreciation. Merlin himself would have been impressed.

Every Halloween, the music department makes this gift of its talent to the community. If you have not yet availed yourself of it, do make plans now for next year’s show. It is well worth what ever chill might be in the night’s air. Your spirit will be warm and soaring. Look to see you there. For now, I bid you, “Good E-e-evening!”

[Show as slideshow]

123►