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Dr. Richard C. Gipson, Professor and Director of the School of Music at Texas Christian University, came to the University of Oklahoma in 1976 as the school's first Professor of Percussion. Under his leadership, the OU Percussion Department became nationally and internationally recognized for leadership in percussion pedagogy, ensemble performance, publishing, and recording. Between 1985 and 2001, the OU Percussion Orchestra was competitively selected to perform at four Percussive Arts Society International Conventions (PASIC `85, `90, `94 and 2001). In February 2001, the group's New York City debut recital in Merkin Concert Hall featured four works from its acclaimed Commissioning Series which numbered 18 original works composed for and premiered by the OU Percussion Orchestra between 1978 and 2001.Prior to moving to TCU in 2002, Gipson taught percussion for 26 years at OU, performed as principal timpanist with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra, percussionist with the Oklahoma, Austin, and Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestras, and taught percussion at the University of Texas, Central Missouri State University, Susquehanna University, and Penn State University. Southern Music Company, Studio 4 Productions, Columbia Pictures Publications, and the OU Percussion Press publish his more than 30 original compositions and special arrangements for marimba and for percussion ensemble. While conductor of the OU Percussion Orchestra, he recorded five commercial compact discs and premiered more than 20 new works.
The University of Oklahoma Percussion Department is recognized nationally and internationally as a center of excellence in the teaching and performance of percussion. The department is an innovative one internationally because of its commissioning series of works for percussion orchestra and ensemble, its publications through the non-profit OU Percussion Press, and its recording series.
In 1977, the OU Percussion Orchestra and Ensemble embarked on a project that developed into a national model for the encouragement and development of new music for percussion ensemble. The OU Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Series regularly engages outstanding composers to write works for this medium. The Commissioning Series now numbers 18 major titles, many of which have become staples of the percussion ensemble literature worldwide. Two additional commissions are currently under contract.
In 1983, in an effort to make the titles of the Commissioning Series easily available to the percussion world, the University of Oklahoma funded the establishment of the OU Percussion Press, a non-profit extension of the percussion area. Through the Percussion Press, the commissioning series titles plus other works expressly written for the OU Percussion Orchestra and Ensembles have been made available for purchase and performance by the world's leading percussion ensembles. The Percussion Press' catalog numbers more than 50 works, all published in a non-profit venture as a service to the profession.
The OU Percussion Orchestra is featured on three earlier commercial compact disc recordings, Laser Woodcuts (1986-Second Hearing), Christmas Bells, Mallets, and Drums (1990-Integra Music), and Twilight Offering Music (1996-Albany Records). A fifth recording for Resonator Records is in production at this time. From 1976 to 2002, Dr. Richard C. Gipson, Professor of Music, headed the program.
Joseph Blaha
Born in Fort Dodge, Iowa in 1951, Joseph Blaha is currently assistant professor of music and director of bands at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. In 1983 he enrolled as a doctoral student in composition at The University of Oklahoma and studied with Michael Hennagin earning a DMA in 1991. He continued his close relationship with Hennagin until the teacher's death in 1993.
The Night Watch (2000) — Joseph Blaha
Several factors came together to inspire the writing of The Night Watch. Among them, of course, was the biennial competition in honor of my mentor and friend, Michael Hennagin. But, for whatever reason, I was thinking of not entering the contest. It was upon the urging of my colleague, Al Wojtera, director of the Radford University Percussion Ensemble, that I considered participating.
In the last ten years of his life, Michael Hennagin had become enormously interested in the percussion ensemble. Certainly, his close relationship with Richard Gipson and the inspiration generated by the excellent musicianship of the University of Oklahoma Percussion Orchestra brought about the composition of the internationally known Duo Chopinesque and The Phantom Dances. (When I first began teaching at Radford University, I was treated a bit like a celebrity because I had studied with the composer of Duo Chopinesque. A year later the Radford ensemble gave an expert reading of The Phantom Dances.) Because of the relative newness of the percussion ensemble in western culture and its inherent ability to explore new sonic possibilities and textures, Hennagin actively promoted the writing of music for the percussion ensemble to his students. His genius in writing for this ensemble, or, for that matter, any other instrument, was his ability to engage the listener to hear music in the smallest sound. And, of course, when his music was loud, it was an explosion. His sudden death in 1993 robbed us of observing any further manner in which he might have accomplished these effects.
So, death, particularly Michael Hennagin's death, came to play a major part in the writing of The Night Watch. For three reasons I chose as a source of inspiration Rembrandt's painting of the same name: my wife, Sara, and I were about to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of our first trip to Holland (Rembrandt's homeland); the composition of Rembrandt's work provided ample interplay of shadow and light with the subject being the relative serenity of the central characters in the midst of hyperactivity; and, there just happens to be a drummer barely in the painting on the right side of the canvas.
The writing of this work seemed to flow effortlessly from start to finish. Some technical discussion might be warranted as to how the tonalities of E and D flat might emerge as representations of light and shadow. And there could be some question about the appearance of G major. Perhaps what follows will be explanation enough.
I. Death's Gathering
The bells ring and the drum sounds the warning,
But Death is upon us too quickly.
Death in majesty,
Who, with every deft and graceful swing of the scythe,
Will bestow its raiment upon one and all,
And cause us to play the lamentable dirge.
Death's gathering.
II. The Conflicted Youth
Quick!
Hide here
Run there
Feel the cold breath that is upon you,
And the heart beats wildly.
Death will catch you, youth,
Whose belief is doubt.
And the heart beats no more.
III. The Night Watch
There will be a quiet moment,
There will be a lonely moment,
It will be the last moment
When Death comes,
Naked,
And brings the Truth that sears the soul.
IV. The Unencumbered Youth
Why do you not hide, youth?
Death wants you.
Why do you not run?
Death will have you.
Are you not afraid?
Death will fight for you, youth.
What have you learned?
—Joseph Blaha
Winner of the 2001 Hennagin Prize in Composition, The Night Watch was premiered by the University of Oklahoma Percussion Orchestra, Dr. Richard C. Gipson, conductor, February 19, 2001, Sharp Concert Hall, Norman, OK. New York City Premiere February 26, 2001, Merkin Concert Hall.
Raymond Helble
Raymond Helble (b. Feb. 3, 1949) began composing at the age of 10 and conducting at 12. Mr. Helble completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Rochester's Eastman School where he studied with Samuel Adler, Wayne Barlow, Warren Benson, and Joseph Schwantner. A highly polished finish, elaborate motivic development, contrapuntal dexterity, and a concentrated intensity of expression mark Helble's work, whether he uses tonal, serial, modal, or atonal materials to fashion his work. Although most of Helble's international reputation rests on his percussion music, he has enjoyed critical and audience success with his orchestral, chamber, and liturgical choral music.
A native of the New York metro area where he has lived most of his life, Mr. Helble has recently moved to a bucolic area of Missouri where he lives with his wife, Carol. Mr. Helble's music is played all over the world, and he has won 10 ASCAP awards.
Concertare (2001) — Raymond Helble
Composed in 2001, Concertare was commissioned by the University of Oklahoma Percussion Orchestra, Richard Gipson, conductor, joining Diabolic Variations (1985) as major works composed for the medium by this fine composer. Like many of his other works for percussion, Concertare is a neo-baroque composition in the tradition of Bach and Brahms. The two-section (Adagio followed by Furioso) is scored somewhat unusually for six marimbas, vibraphone, glockenspiel, crotales, timpani and snare drum.
The Adagio begins mysteriously, gradually building before dying away prior to the start of the Furioso. The six marimbas dominate the considerably quicker Furioso, stating the theme at the beginning and developing it continuously throughout the section. Fugal motives, much like those found in the Bach Inventions for piano are developed elaborately within all parts of the percussion orchestra with motives passed between and often shared by various players. The piece ends with a return of the original Furioso melody, followed by an explosive coda utilizing the full force of the ensemble.
Concertare was commissioned and premiered by the University of Oklahoma Percussion Orchestra, Dr. Richard C. Gipson, Conductor, February 19, 2001, Sharp Concert Hall, Norman, OK. New York City Premiere February 26, 2001, Merkin Concert Hall.
Michael Hennagin
Born in 1936 in The Dalles, Oregon, Michael Hennagincomposed in virtually every medium including music for film, television, and stage. His broad repertoire includes instrumental and vocal solos, various chamber ensembles, symphonic band, orchestra, and a large body of choral music for which he is widely recognized. He received numerous awards from the National Endowment of the Arts, the MacDowell Colony, MTNA, and ASCAP.
Hennagin's dedication to teaching was evidenced by his participation in the MENC Contemporary Music Project Composer In Residence Program, the MENC Comprehensive Music Project, and the Kansas Flint Hills Project/Cooperative College Composers Project. He joined the faculty of the University of Oklahoma in 1972 and retired in 1992 to devote full time to his active composing schedule. He died suddenly in June 1993.
Duo Chopinesque (1985) — Michael Hennagin
Duo Chopinesque by Michael Hennagin is based on the E minor keyboard prelude of Chopin (Op. 28, no. 4). This composition, however, is not simply an arrangement but is rather a total recomposition and recasting of the structural underpinnings and dramatic shape of the original. Pitch material in the form of two rows (one ten notes; the other nine) has been derived from the right hand melodic line of the piano piece; each row receiving several transpositions. A rhythmic matrix has been constructed from the harmonic rhythm of the Chopin.
During the introductory section, the opening melodic motive of the original (an ascending dominant octave) is presented in the marimba against an increasingly active series of background flickers. After a short pause, the piece finally gets underway by stating the beginning few measures of the chromatic-slippage harmonic progressions before being briefly interrupted by the background material. A second attempt to begin is initiated quickly followed by another interruption. This alternation of quoted material with intrusions continues, as echoes of the primary ideas often emerge in the “accompaniment.” The second half of the Chopin original is similarly explored with an eventual quite tumultuous climax achieved—after which the opening tune slowly reemerges, dissolves, and then leads to an authentic cadence with a tonic commentary (i.e. the pitch “e”) popping up in many different registers seemingly bringing the piece to its end. However, a rhythmically augmented version of the opening dominant octave is faintly stated by the bells during the final measures and tantalizingly suggests a kind of circular return to the beginning as if the piece were starting up all over again. An abrupt, surprising, and short outburst, however, nips the possibility in the bud and brings a final and convincing closure.
Throughout the composition an intriguing reversal of the two elements is effected as foreground and background roles are gradually interchanged. The Chopin quotes—and almost all the original is represented at one time or another—predominate at first but later are quite literally obliterated by competing ideas which attempt to steer the music, with considerable resistance, into new and different directions—and realms of expression. The aesthetic result is powerful and haunting and slightly reminiscent of George Crumb's “Dream Images (Love-Death Music)” from Makrokosmos, Vol. I for amplified piano, in which the Chopin Fantasie-Impromptu in Db major is quoted—although in a manner somewhat different from Hennagin's approach—as the intrusion to and counterpoint against other material.
—Michael Rogers
Duo Chopinesque was commissioned and premiered by the University of Oklahoma Percussion Orchestra,
Dr. Richard C. Gipson, Conductor. PASIC `85, November 15, 1985, Los Angeles, CA, Dr. Gipson, conducting.
Diabolic Variations (1985) — Raymond Helble
The Diabolic Variations of Raymond Helble is a large-scale Neo-Baroque set of ground-bass variations in the tradition of the Bach Passacaglia in C minor for organ, the Bach Chaccone in D minor for solo violin, and, in some respects, the Brahms chaconne variations in the fourth movement of the Fourth Symphony. The variations continue at approximately ten-measure time intervals in a typically slow moving triple meter which is itself rather interestingly constructed at the outset through the use of ties and sustained notes creating a series of hypermeasures at first (larger 3/2 patterns spread over the notated 3/4) and, then, through a process of internal acceleration, the allusion of speeding up is achieved as quarter notes bring the statement to a close. The main bass theme itself is varied throughout in pitch content (in addition to the more obvious addition of other voices) although periodic returns of the original version occur as well as acting as reminders.
Some of the statements are elided into the next variation, some are more self-contained, and others involve slight transitions that blur the seams. Because of this and because of the tremendous variety of time values in the rhythmic figuration used as decorative overlay, the variations seem to constantly expand and contract much like an accordion. An immense accumulation of energy is eventually achieved as sixteenths, triplets, and thirty-seconds are added statement by statement. A mysterioso middle section provides an emotional respite from which a new cumulative series of increasingly complex and successive revisions are unfolded. The final section mixes 12/8 and 9/8 to provide for even more possibilities of expansions and contractions within the variations as well as between.
The pitch language is quite tonal (A minor) with numerous cross borrowings from modal and other parallel scales. One interesting feature involves sneaking the accompaniment (or background) material from one variation into the foreground of another so that many of the statements become variations of one another; this helps to avoid the inherent danger of choppiness is such pieces by providing a sense of sweeping continuity. The overall effect is one of devilish wit and rousing virtuosity. Performance techniques require advanced four-mallet independence technique as well unusual performance skill for two-octave crotales.
—Michael Rogers
Diabolic Variations was commissioned and premiered by the University of Oklahoma Percussion Orchestra, Dr. Richard C. Gipson, Conductor. PASIC `85, November 15, 1985, Los Angeles, CA, Dr. Gipson, conducting.
All works published by The OUPercussion Press, 500 W. Boyd, Norman, OK 73019 (405)325-3353
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