Drummer Brain: The Percussionist�s Approach to Music, Learning, and Remembering (VIU Arts & Humanities Colloquium Series)

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Friday, September 28th, 2018
10:00 AM to 11:30 PM

VIU drumming instructor Hans Verhoeven will give a presentation that takes us into the musical world of composer Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) by discussing and performing a Xenakis composition called "Rebonds." Says Verhoeven, “it is arguably one of the most difficult and demanding pieces in the repertoire for solo percussion.” The talk and performance, entitled "Drummer Brain: The Percussionist’s Approach to Music, Learning, and Remembering," is the first presentation in the 2018-2019 VIU Arts and Humanities Colloquium Series.

Verhoeven’s presentation will illuminate the inner musical workings of Xenakis's composition. The piece comprises two autonomous movements. These movements can be performed in the order of the player’s choosing and are meant to be heard back-to-back. “Due to the sheer power and intensity of the piece,” says Verhoeven, “many of the patterns, melodic and rhythmic motifs, and concepts that make Rebonds so exceptional can often pass an audience by during its first experience.” To help listeners, Verhoeven will break down patterns and demonstrate how they relate to one another, point out motifs and their development and evolution, and give the audience an intimate look at the score to appreciate the architectural nature of Xenakis’ writing. He will also give some background on the different percussion instruments being used and discuss his choices in sticks, mallets, tuning, and set-up. The presentation will conclude with a full performance of the piece. A preview of the roughly 12-minute composition can be heard at http://hansverhoeven.net/.

An architect and intellectual as well as a musician, Xenakis was an innovative figure in 20th-century music. He is also noteworthy for having fought for his homeland Greece as part of the Communist resistance in the Second World War and was sentenced to death after he fled to Paris in 1947 because of his politics, a sentence that was later commuted to a prison term, with his conviction finally quashed in 1974.

https://ah.viu.ca/colloquium-series