If you follow the local music scene at all, you’ve probably stumbled on Feral States, a band which plays an intricate variation of progressive rock music. Most recently, they performed alongside the Illinois Modern Ensemble at the Krannert Center in a show that was just as fascinating as it sounds.
What makes Feral States so interesting is the sheer music-making diversity of their group. For instance, the singer, Joe Meland, is involved with burgeoning local acts Church Booty and Boycut, and just won a student composer award from BMI. Nearly every member of the band is either involved in other local projects or extensive outside musical study. This week, I crammed into a practice room in Smith Hall at the University of Illinois to learn more about the outside music study of one of Feral States’ most integral members: drummer Justin Peters, who is feverishly practicing some of the most prominent percussion pieces in the world — right here in Champaign-Urbana.
When I first sat down to write this story, I wondered if it would be hard to make an interview on percussion music sound relevant and interesting, but after seeing Peters play excerpts of his pieces, it is safe to say that this music truly is on the cutting edge of its genre in the world — and even moreso that it’s being made accessible to all who have an interest in it. Check out our interview with Peters below, and don’t forget to check out his recital, held this Saturday at 5 p.m. in Smith Memorial Hall’s main auditorium.
Smile Politely: Can you give us just a general overview of what to expect from your recital?
Justin Peters: There are certain guidelines set up by professors here at UIUC for every student, and the Senior Recital requires 50-60 minutes of music total and specific instruments like Marimba, Timpani and either snare drum or multiple percussion. I’m going to be doing seven pieces in total, and one of them must also be a premiere — either a regional or a world premiere. In my case, I went for a world premiere.
SP: I think I’ve got a fairly good idea of what a world premiere is in this context, but just in case I’m wrong, can you explain that a bit?
Peters: Essentially, it’s just performing a piece that has never been performed by anybody ever before. I have a friend who got his doctorate in Music Composition here at UIUC, and I knew I wanted to do something for solo vibrophone. I knew he had just gotten done writing a piece for solo harp, which has a sound that resonates very similarly to vibes, so it was fairly easy for him to translate the harp piece over to vibrophone with a few minor changes. Now, I’m going to be giving the unheard premiere of this version of that piece.
SP: The recital has seven pieces in total, but do you have a couple that stand out from the rest?
Peters: There are a few that are considered “standards” in the percussion recital world, but for everything I did that was standard or easier to listen to, I tried to pair it with something that’s a little more challenging for the audience. Take the vibrophone solo I was talking about earlier, for example: it’s really pretty and not aggressive — something you can relax and enjoy. The marimba solo I’m doing, on the other hand, is called “Six Elegies Dancing” by Jennifer Stasack. The piece is separated into six movements with each movement representing a distinct character determined by the way the music is written. What’s really particularly interesting about it, however, is the fifth movement, which is entirely silent and based more on movement than on actual music. The composer did a lot of studying in the East, and this piece actually takes a lot of influence from the slow and concentrated Tai Chi. That one’s going to be interesting. I don’t think people will expect me to be flailing my arms around or doing much movement on stage at my music recital [laughs].
I’ve had people watch me play this piece before, and every once in a while you get a laugh out of your audience, which reminds me of a composer named John Cage. His stuff is super experimental and definitely straddles the line of what is considered “music” (he once wrote a piece “4.33” which is quite literally just four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence). There’s an old video of him on a talk show with a huge setup on stage of bizarre items: a radio and a goose call. All of a sudden, he starts turning on the radio, buzzing the goose call and just making noise any way he can. After his performance, the host asks him if he was offended by people laughing at his performance, to which he replied, “Laughter is preferential to crying.” [laughs] So that’s probably my mindset going into this. People are probably going to laugh, but it’s definitely better than crying.
SP: Outside of the physical movement involved in “Six Elegies Dancing,” another piece also incorporates some vocals, correct?
Peters: Absolutely. I’m also doing a piece called “Toucher” by Vinko Globokar where percussive sounds are meant to mimic French vocal tones in a reading of Bertolt Brecht’s “The Life of Galileo.” I actually had to learn an insane amount of French syllables to play along with drum sounds, which was interesting to say the least.
SP: As a percussion student here at the U of I, you have to work with some of the best percussionists in the country. For such a young genre or field of study, where do you think it’s headed? We must be on the cutting edge.
Peters: UIUC is pretty unique because we actually had the first university percussion program. One of the first pieces to use percussion in a small group setting was written in 1901, and it was a relatively simple cabaret tune with a snare drum, trumpet, voice and piano. Now, though, you’ve got stuff like some of my colleagues who have this massive percussion set-up with electronic accompaniment. So, it kind of has followed the experimental nature of contemporary music. There’s stuff that’s really out there like “To The Earth,” a piece where the drummer plays on flower pots while singing the odes of Horace. Seriously. I can’t make this up. So there’s stuff like that, but composers have also made up for lost time by writing pieces that are highly structured like the classical music of the past.
SP: So is there a type of “digital revolution” in the percussion industry?
Peters: It’s definitely gaining a lot of traction. As electronics have developed in the 20th century, percussion has been right there with it. Whether it be electronic accompaniment or live processing (digitally altering the sound of the instrument while it’s being played), these areas have seen massive growth. I’m playing a piece on snare drum with electronic accompaniment in this concert, for example. It’s not only limited to this one avenue, though. Percussion is young, but it’s old enough where a foundation has been laid and technique has been developed. Now, people can split off in a bunch of different directions, whether it’s electronic or traditional or classical.
SP: Any closing thoughts?
Peters: The words “percussion recital” bring with them a very boring connotation. One of the reasons I’m pushing this, though, is because I sincerely believe that if people are given the right information to understand a piece, they can connect with it. I think that’s the case for music in general, but especially classical music, where there seems to be a stigma that if you don’t study it, you can’t understand it, so you shouldn’t listen to it. That’s not the case, though. You don’t have to study it; you just have to be given the right tools to understand it. I want people to come to this recital and be challenged by what they’re hearing. Percussion is particularly accessible because it’s one of the most primitive instruments right next to the voice. Everybody can sing and everybody can hit things [laughs]. When it comes down to it, that’s what we do — we just do it in a very strategic way.
Justin Peters is a Senior at the University of Illinois studying Percussion Performance. His recital is this Saturday, April 11th at 5 p.m. in Smith Memorial Hall.
The School of Music will be presenting multiple percussion concerts this semester.
Dan Benson, April 12, 5:00pm, Smith Recital Hall
John Jaworski, April 18, 11:00am, Smith Recital Hall
Rose Xiao, April 19, 7:30pm, Smith 25
Victor Pons, April 25, 2:00pm, Smith Recital Hall
Colin Rambert, April 26, 11:00am, Smith Recital Hall
Jonah Angulo-Hurtig, April 26, 2:00pm, Smith 25
Top photo courtesy of Priten Vora.