Percussion Ensemble wraps up 2023-24 year with engaging concert

Come for the xylophone, stay for the thunder sheet – McMaster’s Percussion Ensemble ended the academic year with an engaging concert featuring conventional and unconventional instruments. Performed in the L.R. Wilson Hall Concert Hall, the performance showed off the talents of the largest Percussion Ensemble in its history.

Directed by School of the Arts associate professor, Michael Schutz, the concert included multiple pieces including a version of George Gershwin’s “Prelude for Piano” adapted for xylophone and marimba, “Hummingbird” by Stephen Rush and “The Stars Began to Burn” by Matthew Gillott. The concert ended with Andrew Stout’s “Chameleon.” The instrument setup included traditional percussion instruments as well as two more unusual instruments – a Flexatone and a thunder sheet. The Flexatone created a playful ringing tone that Schutz likened to something heard in a Scooby Doo cartoon while the thunder sheet is a thin sheet of metal that, when struck, sounds like thunder rolling in the distance.

Listen in on the final performance of the night with this presentation of Andrew Stout’s “Chameleon” for percussion ensemble.