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Take Naperville’s top percussion students, pair them with a seven-time Grammy award winning drummer, give them access to 130 instruments, 354 sticks and mallets, practice for over 1800 hours and the result is NCHS DRUMSHOW 2006. The show, featuring the top Naperville Central High School students is a plethora of rhythm, sound and theatrics normally found only in professional theater. It delights the audience with numbers ranging from popular tunes; like Santana’s “Evil Ways” and Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance” to more avant-garde performances of Steve Reich’s “Clapping Music” and Zivkovic’s “Trio per Uno”. Drumshow’s co-director, Master of Ceremonies and NCHS percussion instructor, Ben Wahlund says, “From the music to the lights, to the video, and the sound production, everything about Drumshow strives for excellence in every way possible.”
This is the 10 th anniversary of the Drumshow production originally created by former instructor and good friend of many local school percussion programs, Vern Spevak. Compared with previous years, “This year’s Drumshow was much more of a stage show rather than a concert, more like Stomp or Blue Man Group. It is a seamless production without a lot of dead time between numbers.” says co-director and the man behind the scenes for many Drumshows, Bill Fries, an instructor with over 51 years of percussion experience alone.
The student performers, of average age 16 years with average GPA of 3.89 include two departing seniors. Students are; Partick Troy, Dustin Shahidehpour, Ben Pratt, Prateek Kumar, Molly Binder, Christopher Telomen, John Lewis, Aaron Moy (sr.), Adam Barr, Carter Stirtz, Brian Reilly, Mike Mihalik and Travis Batzel (sr.) with NCHS House Band, Alex English, Steve Marquette and Victor Gall. These are the best-of-the-best that NCHS has to offer. “After a very difficult audition process, thirteen of Naperville Central High School's 3,500 students work for countless hours to present a professional caliber concert at every level.” notes director Wahlund. “Rehearsals started at 6 AM, 5 days a week and the students put in extra time on their own after school and on weekends.” Fries explained. “This year the students had more opportunities to run rehearsals on their own and ran the entire performance without help of the instructors.” In fact, some of the numbers were choreographed and directed by students. Senior, Aaron Moy directs a trash can ensemble titled “Noises On” and senior Travis Batzel features technical stick-work in a solo snare drum interlude, “Camera Obscura”. There are even hilarious transition skits involving flying piñatas, broomstick rhythms and “Dueling ‘Band Joes’ ”.
The guest artist for this performance was Paul Wertico; seven time Grammy award winner, long time member of the Pat Metheny Group and currently a member on the percussion faculty of both Northwestern University and Roosevelt University. Paul worked with the Drumshow cast for many days prior to the show as mentor and cast member. He is featured with stunning solos in his opening number “The Path” and later in the show in a tune called “Cowboys and Africans”. Although hoarse from days of instruction and rehearsal before the show, Paul explains the language of a rhythmic syncopation device called a ‘clave’ or second-line-groove and involves the audience in the number “Clyburn Strut” late in the show. “This was an incredible weekend for me”, says Paul, ”A lot of times I am the guest artist with college and high school bands and I can honestly say that this is the best time I’ve ever had!”
Watching the production, you will notice that the audience is highly involved in this supercharged show; stomping, clapping and adding rhythmically to the performances. “Its always a lot of fun to have an excited, energetic audience to play for!” remarked director Fries. The performers and audience work off each other’s creative energy. Director Wahlund remarked that, "Drumshow is a powerful experience for everyone involved.” A professional like Paul Wertico knows when a performance is great. “These guys are killing up here!” he told the audience. [Ed. Note: “killing” is a great thing in performer-speak.]
As the show ebbs and flows, there are two beautiful numbers that allow the audience to calm and float on a river of sound. The aptly named “Daybreak” featuring a quintet of xylophones and marimbas, paints a musical-mural allowing you to imagine a perfect morning sunrise. The other calming number, “Trio per Uno: Movements I and II” by Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic, supplements a vibraphone duet melodic line with unusual percussion instruments including a rain-stick, sweep chimes and a one-of-a-kind floating tone-bar array.
This, the 10 th Drumshow, the latest and arguably best of the series is not to be missed. “I feel honored to direct such wonderful students and look forward to many more successful years together." concludes Wahlund. You will want to watch it beginning to end so, grab a few bags of popcorn and make a visit to the restroom before it starts. Don’t miss NCHS Drumshow 2006 exclusively on NCTV17 this month.
Written by: Gary Navrotski
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