Released in 2024:
Breathing Drum
This quartet for harmonica and percussive text emerged in 1994 but the experiments it relies upon began in my noisy childhood. At some point early on I realized that I could pass the time on long walks or when running by singing/speaking/breathing rhythms along with my footfalls. I devised a type of rhythmic circular breathing, attempting to have a natural-feeling mixture of inhales and exhales. By repeating a rhythm and switching all inhales for exhales, one could make up two-measure patterns that could be performed indefinitely without running out of breath. I received some toy harmonicas as presents and also discovered that I could speak through them using their reeds in place of my vocal chords like a sort of low-rent vocoder effect. Ten years later after studying Meredith Monk’s Book of Days and also experiencing “big music for small instruments” (kalimbas) created by composers Jan Beukes and Alonzo Alexander, I developed a desire to find a similar vehicle for my music. Upon the untimely death of my stepmother, Wendy, I inherited her excellent harmonica collection. To expand the harmonies on these diatonic instruments I began experimenting with layering harmonicas of different keys using a 4-track tape recorder; the sonic materials for the piece began to appear. The original lyrics were chosen for the percussive sound of the words and the glimpses of anxiety and despair that they contain.
About the performers:
Michael Barnhart
Composer and teacher Michael Barnhart (b. 1971) is committed to creative experimentation, and project-based learning in education. He holds a doctorate from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory where he studied composition and computer music with Allen Otte and Mara Helmuth. A member of a vibrant music and arts scene throughout the 90s and 2000s, he wrote music primarily for the acclaimed Percussion Group Cincinnati and their network of student performers. Playing winds and live electronics in the group Current Quartet, Barnhart collaborated with jazz drummer Tony Franklin, Brooklyn composer Paul Hogan, and installation artist Anthony Luensman on numerous museum performances and experimental music recordings. Additionally during this period, Barnhart scored short films by Lisa Slates, Eric Theise, Mark Fox, and others while teaching production and media literacy classes for MediaBridges (an open-access TV and early internet radio facility). His project residencies have also often involved marginalized groups including students in both the urban midwest and in rural communities. In 2003 he joined the art faculty of Shawnee State University in eastern Ohio’s Appalachian foothills, offering courses in music and sound design. There he founded the Center for Creative Audio to support student exploration of original multimedia arts. His creative work has received support from the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, the US-Mexico Fund for Culture, the Studio for Electronic Instruments and Music (STEIM), Meet the Composer, and the GE Fund with works presented both locally and internationally on the International Computer Music Conference, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the Shanghai World Percussion Symposium, the Third Practice Festival, and concert music performances at many universities. Barnhart and his students developed and recorded audio drama for HyperKat games’ Mars Colony Frontier. Recently he composed interactive theatrical music for a reimagined Rashomon, as well as for a play retelling the Borden Family murders. His piece Epitaphs is recorded on the Soundset label, and his realizations of John Cage’s Imaginary Landscape No. 5 are available from Mode records. His scores are published by MediaPress, Inc.
James Culley
James Culley retired from his position as Professor of Percussion at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music on May 1, 2024. As an original member of the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame inducted Percussion Group Cincinnati (PGC), Culley has recorded with PGC for the ars moderno, CDCM, Opus One, Einstein and EMF labels, and performed throughout the U.S. and abroad. He directed CCM's Percussion Ensemble for more than 40 years, promoting new works by CCM student composers and specializing in performances of unconducted, full-score pieces. This student group has performed at Percussive Arts Society International Conventions in Nashville, St. Louis, and Columbus. In 1998 he received the Ernest N. Glover Outstanding Teaching Award for CCM.
Culley has performed as an extra percussionist in the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Opera Orchestras, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Chautauqua Festival Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony, Columbus Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra and Summit Brass, and he freelances as timpanist/percussionist in regional orchestras.
Kyle Lamb
Kyle A. Lamb is an active percussion performer and educator based out of Cincinnati, Ohio appreciated for his diverse skill sets in classical and non-classical musical styles alike. He has studied and performed in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia, Tennessee, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia. Kyle regularly collaborates with artists of all disciplines and styles including internationally recognized ensembles such as Percussion Group Cincinnati and the Phil DeGreg Trio. You can hear Kyle on the CCM Wind Orchestra's CD, Latin Landscapes, on the Mark Custom Recording Service record label available through NaxosDirect, the new music CD, Millennial Masters VI on the Ablaze Record Label, and the choral CD, Lux Dei: New Works for Choir on the Ablaze Record Label.
As an experienced musical theatre pit musician, Kyle has performed as percussionist, drummer, or keyboardist for fifteen musicals in three different states ranging from classics such as Carousel and Oklahoma! to contemporary works such as Legally Blonde and A Little Princess.
A passionate music educator, Kyle regularly works with students of all ages and backgrounds in both private and classroom settings. He has taught a private studio of percussion students as well as worked with concert and marching bands. Kyle also has strong ties with young artists at Interlochen Arts Camp in Interlochen, Michigan where he currently served as Coordinator of Camp Life until 2018.
His newest project is the Cedar Drum Workshop, a creative space housing a music studio and workshop for the building, repairing, and restoration of percussion instruments.
Kyle received his Bachelor’s of Music degrees in Percussion Performance and Music Education from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) and is currently pursuing an Artist's Diploma in Percussion from CCM.
Joseph Van Hassel
Joseph Van Hassel is a North Carolina-based percussionist specializing in orchestral and chamber music. Performance highlights include Carnegie Hall, the Cincinnati MusicNow Festival, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the International Tuba Euphonium Conference, and the Hindemith Center in Switzerland. A versatile artist in many genres, Joseph has performed or recorded with Percussion Group Cincinnati, Roland Vazquez, and Bernard Woma. He has worked with numerous composers in the performance of their music, including Steve Reich, Peter Garland, Joseph Schwantner, William Bolcom, Jennifer Higdon, Elliot Cole, Christian Wolff, and John Corigliano. Active in the performance of new repertoire, Joseph has individually commissioned and premiered works by many composers and is especially noted for his close working relationships with Michael Barnhart, David Macbride, Stuart Saunders Smith, and Dan VanHassel. He can be heard on recordings for the Innova, Mode, Equilibrium, nobrow.sounds, and Ohio Percussion record labels, and his solo CD of percussion commissions is available on Soundset Recordings. He is published in Percussive Notes, and his compositions are published by Media Press and PerMus.
An active educator, Joseph has presented master classes and given solo performances at numerous universities, including the Manhattan School of Music, Peabody Conservatory, Senzoku University in Japan, and the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies at the University of California at Berkeley. He is on the percussion faculty at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and previously taught at Ohio University and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Joseph is chair of the Percussive Arts Society’s New Music / Research Committee, president of the North Carolina Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society, and co-owner of Media Press Music.
Joseph earned degrees from the Hartt School, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and Ohio University. He also spent time studying music and dance in Ghana, West Africa. He endorses Yamaha Percussion, Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets, Black Swamp Percussion Products, Sabian Cymbals, and Remo Drumheads. For more information please visit his website: josephvanhassel.com
