Four Del Mar Music Department ensembles will be performing for free towards the end of the Spring 2024 semester. One of them is the Percussion Ensemble, whose performance will take place in the Richardson Auditorium on May 1 at 7:30p.m.
Run by percussion professor Neil Sisauyhoat, the ensemble will be presenting a variety of selections from several decades and styles.
“A highly entertaining concert, the ensemble’s performance features traditional music from Brazil as well as works by James Campbell and Emmanuel Séjourné, among others,” Sisauyhoat said.
Not only will there be classic and traditional sources, but more contemporary songs will be performed as well.
“You might even recognize some fun music from classic video games,” Sisauyhoat said.
A special guest will be joining the Percussion Ensemble during the May 1 performance, namely some local talent.
“The free concert will also highlight the talent of some of the finest local high school percussionists performing in the Corpus Christi All-Star Percussion Ensemble, along with special guests,” Sisauyhoat said.
This catalog that will be presented during the May 1 performance is expansive, enough to bring many groups together to watch the ensemble.
“Percussion concerts offer a wide variety of styles and sounds, sure to entertain,” Sisauyhoat said.
The MWF Jazz Band will be performing such music and more in the Heritage Campus’ Richardson Auditorium on April 23 at 7:30p.m.
The performance is one of several performance that the Music Department will endeavor towards as the semester concludes.
“This April concert is our annual Spring concert and is the culmination of many months of practice and hard work,” jazz director Daniel Miller said.
With all 14 members of the band involved to some extent, the performance will include far more music than jazz standards.
“This concert consists of a famous James Brown tune called‘I Got You (I Feel Good),’ a Latin jazz tune by Andrew Neu, and the title track to Cowboy Bebop, the 90s anime,” Miller said. “That tune is called ‘Tank!’ and was written by Yoko Kanno.”
On top of funk to anime, there will also be selections from more contemporary sources as well.
“Our three smaller tunes are ‘Chameleon’ by Herbie Hancock, ‘Sir Duke’ by Stevie Wonder, and ‘From the Start’ by a young musician named Laufey,” Miller said.
The phrase ‘jazz band’ may conjure images of well-dressed musicians performing without so much as a smile and an audience expected with as much silence as possible. These expectations should be squashed for this upcoming MWF performance.
“This is definitely not a stiff-necked, stodgy, inflexible concert,” Miller said. “We have a lot of fun, joke around from the stage, try to put on a good show, and we love sharing this music with Del Mar College and Corpus Christi. If you’ve never tried a jazz or other serious music concert it can by a fun performance to try.”
