#273 David Skidmore- Percussionist and Executive Director of Third Coast Percussion!
This episode is sponsored by Dream Cymbals.
The photo of David was taken by: Saverio Truglia.
This week’s guest is David Skidmore. David is an Ensemble Member and Executive Director of Third Coast Percussion.
As a chamber musician, David has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center Festival, Kimmel Center, EMPAC, June in Buffalo, Klangspuren Schwaz, the Ojai Music Festival, the Bang On a Can Marathon and three Percussive Arts Society International Conventions. David was a member of the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble from 2007-2011 and Ensemble ACJW from 2008-2010. David has performed and collaborated with many of the world’s finest musicians including conductors Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, David Robertson, and Michael Tilson Thomas, composers Steve Reich, Steve Mackey, Matthias Pintscher, and Peter Eötvos, and chamber ensembles Eighth Blackbird and Ensemble Signal. David has performed as a soloist in Europe, Asia, and the United States. David has also performed as a member of the Lucerne Festival Academy, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Pacific Music Festival, and the National Repertory Orchestra.
David is also a composer, and his works are performed regularly in concert halls and universities across the country.
David taught for four years on the percussion faculty at the Peabody Conservatory. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music. His teachers were Michael Hernandez, Shawn Schietroma, Michael Burritt, James Ross, and Robert Van Sice.
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday to Jim Ancona! Jim has over 20 years' experience as an arranger and instructor for world class drum and bugle corps including the The Cadets, Star of Indiana, Madison Scouts, Santa Clara Vanguard, and Carolina Crown.
Jim's honors in the marching activity include having been Percussion Caption Head for the 2006 DCI World Champion Cavaliers and having been on the instructional staff of the 2011 World Champion Cadets as well as Star of Indiana's (1993) and Santa Clara Vanguard's (2004) World Champion percussion sections. His Vanguard Percussion Ensembles and Mixed Ensembles (with brass) have won at the Drum Corps International Individual and Ensemble Championships. Several of his percussion arrangements appear on Star of Indiana's "Brass Theater" and "BLAST" compact discs and are published by Tapspace Publications. Jim is also co-author of Up Front: A Complete Resource for Today's Pit Ensemble and author of Up Front Etudes. He is an endorser and clinician for Remo, Inc., Pearl Drums and Adams Percussion, Avedis Zildjian Company, and a Signature Artist for Innovative Percussion, Inc.
Jim is an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Delaware. He is the Assistant Director of the Blue Hen Marching Band, Director of the Basketball Pep Band and Co-Director of the Symphonic Band. Jim received his Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his Master's Degree in Performance from Indiana University where he was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate.
Happy Birthday to Rusty Burge! Rusty joined the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music faculty in 1992 as a member of Percussion Group Cincinnati, with whom he has performed extensively throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Recent performances include the Japan World Drum Festival, Chinese International Music Festival, Taipei International Percussion Convention, the Ravinia Festival, Merkin Hall in New York City and the International Percussion Convention. He has recorded with the Group for the Mode, Centaur, Einstein and Ars Moderno labels. The Group has also made concerto appearances with more than twenty different symphony orchestras. He was formerly principal percussionist with the West Virginia Symphony and plays extra with the Cincinnati Symphony. He received his undergraduate degree from the Eastman School of Music and a masters degree from CCM.
Professor Burge teaches percussion, jazz vibraphone and directs the CCM Steel band. He is an active jazz vibraphonist who has recorded for Summit, J Curve Records, Human Records and Telarc. Recent jazz performances with Ted Nash, Rich Perry, Peter Erskine, Dave Liebman, Rufus Reid, Steve Allee, Steve Houghton, Roland Vazquez, Michael Spiro and Jim Rupp. Recent performances at the 2016 PASIC Convention, the 2016 Midwest Clinic and the 2017 JEN Convention with the BAHA Quartet (Burge, Allee, Houghton and Allen.) His latest recordings are Faraway (with Steve Allee) and Driftin' with Steve Houghton, Steve Allee and Jeremy Allen. In 2017 Burge (as a member of PGC) was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.
Gig Alerts
The Grammy Awards are coming up on Sunday, April 3, 2022, at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT on CBS and streaming live on Paramount+. These are the people scheduled to perform: Brothers Osborne, BTS, Brandi Carlile, Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow, and Olivia Rodrigo among others.
Lollapalooza has announced its lineup for this summer, July 28-31 2022.
Damon is giving a percussion clinic this Thursday March 24th at 7pm EST. It is FREE, and will be live streamed from Congahead Studios on Zoom. CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK TO WATCH.
Educational Spotlight
Congachops has released a new course for building your vocabulary for conga soloing in different genres and styles.
Iconic Recording
The iconic recording this week is Ritmica No. 5. Composed in 1930, Cuban composer Amadeo Roldán’s Rítmicas explore a multitude of Afro-Cuban-influenced setting. As a suite of six short pieces, the first four Rítmicas are scored for various wind instruments and piano, while the final two – No. 5 and 6 – are written exclusively for percussion. Considered to be one of the first extant works for percussion, Roldán’s work (along with Edgar Varése’s Ionisation from 1931) set the ground for the development and establishment of the percussion ensemble in the Western musical narrative.
Based on folkloric and traditional Cuban styles, Rítmica No. 5 is written in a symmetrical two-part form for a battery of Afro-Cuban instruments. Opening with the light, dancing rhythms of a son, a livelier montuno takes over the second half of the piece. As indicated in the titles, Roldán’s work exemplifies the dance-like nature of Cuban music with a gravitation towards extensive polyrhythmic lines.
This particular performance was done by the UK Percussion Ensemble Concert in the SCFA Recital Hall on October 30th, 2016, under the direction of James Campbell.
Music News
Two U.S. Senators are urging an investigation into Ticketmaster billing practices, including exorbitant fees passed on to concert-goers. -Article
More on the Ticketmaster issue below…..
The 2022 Oscars air live on Sunday, March 27 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC. Beyoncé, Billie Eilish and FINNEAS, Reba McEntire and Sebastián Yatra will perform with a house band including Travis Barker, Sheila E and Robert Glasper, led by Adam Blackstone.
Austin police have arrested a suspect in connection with a shooting near the SXSW festival. The shooting took place near East 6th Street in downtown Austin, according to police. Four victims were shot around 2 am and taken to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. Officers were on patrol when they heard several gunshots coming from the area and responded. -Article
Damon will be speaking at and hosting a live podcast episode from the DIY Musician Conference in Austin TX between August 26-28th 2022. Discounted tickets are available now.
David Skidmore Interview
The song leading into and out of the interview is, “Derivative” by Jlin (Jerrilynn Patton), from their (Third Coast Percussion) new album ‘Perspectives’
David attended Plano West High School.
Shout-out to Michael Hernandez, who taught David in his formative years.
David’s sophomore year of undergrad at, Northwestern University School of Music, was when he realized and made the decision to be a percussionist as a career choice.
David has lived in Chicago and New Haven, and claims that New Haven Pizza is better. Damon mentions the clam pizza at Pepe’s and David mentions the mashed potato pizza at Bar.
David was a member of the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and then taught at Peabody with his former teacher (and friend of the show), Robert Van Sice, then was an artist in residence at Notre Dame as part of Third Coast Percussion.
David mentions some drummers that participated in the marching arts like: Glenn Kotche, Jacob Nissly, and Damon mentions Chad Sexton.
David and Damon talk about curriculum and learning. They also talk about using fundamentals to guide their career choices.
Damon talks about searching out programs, like study abroad, to take advantage of while you’re in school. Or, searching out teachers you really would like to study with.
David talks about working with and being inspired by Danny Elfman.
Damon had Robert and Peter from Third Coast in the past.
David talks about some of his role as the Executive Director, as well as some of the other positions.
Damon brings up some of the upcoming events with Third Coast, including their new single and album. David elaborates on that.
David mentions the collaboration with Phillip Glass.
Third Coast is nominated in this year’s Grammys.
David wrote a book called: A Fresh Approach to Technique and Musicianship with Four Mallets.
David talks about starting your own percussion ensemble and recommends some of the first steps.
David talks about the importance of scheduling. He uses Google Calendars for the ensemble. He also uses Nudgemail.
For David, Gaffers Tape is underrated, and Timpani are overrated.
David talks about the piece called “Surface Tension”, by Donnacha Dennehy.
Third Coast uses Pearl Drums, Adams Concert Instruments, Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets, Zildjian Cymbals, and Remo Drumheads.
Shout-out to: Michael Hernandez, Shawn Schietroma, James Hanna, Art Ruangtip, Michael Burritt, James Ross, and Robert Van Sice.
Damon mentions some of the educational work that Third Coast does.
You can go to the website or social media of Third Coast Percussion to follow them. Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. You can also follow David’s personal Website, Facebook, and Instagram pages.
