Virtuoso of the Hardware Store
Don’t be alarmed if you see someone tapping clay flowerpots and listening to the sounds they make when you’re at your neighborhood hardware store.
It could be percussionist Brett Reed getting ready for his solo program, “Metal, Clay and Skin,” Sunday at 8 p.m. at the Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills.
Reed uses pots, aluminum bars and other hardware as part of his arsenal of percussion instruments.
“All of them can be tuned,” the Long Beach-based percussionist said recently.
“You cut them to different lengths. Because they’re off from regular [concert] tuning, you have to accept them as giving a different melodic shape. It’s hard to grab one and say it’s a D. Flowerpots can be that way, but you have to hunt. It all depends on what kind of mix I’m looking for.”
Born in Casper, Wyo., Reed got his musical start from his grandmother, a pianist who performed with her drummer husband in small clubs and bars.
“They had a set of drums upstairs in the attic,” he said. “One day we ran out of things to do. We pulled down the drum set. I was really into the rock group Kiss then. We put on one of Kiss’ records. My grandmother told me which sounds were what and set me up to copy on the drum set what they were doing.”
He soon began taking drum lessons, then went on to major in music at a nearby community college. After graduating, he toured for several years in a band.
But he missed the academic environment. A trip to the University of New Mexico changed his life.
He walked into an evening of John Cage music, a “happening.” In an enormous foyer, about a dozen Cage pieces were being performed simultaneously.
“I had never seen or heard anything like that. Right after it was over, I went over to introduce myself. I said, ‘I loved this stuff.’ ”
He stayed to study with Chris Shultis, head of the percussion department, then moved in 1993 to UC San Diego to study with percussionist Steve Schick. He’s now finishing his doctorate in music performance.
There is a strong element of improvisation in Reed’s concerts, which include his works as well as pieces by other composers.
“I write structures and then like to leave the details open for the moment of performance so I can really mine the uniqueness and freshness of whatever influences are hanging around the room at the time,” he said.
Audiences generally respond positively.
“They go in with the idea that these things you find from the hardware store must be just junk, that maybe you’ll just be banging on it and making some sort of horrendous industrial noise, which is part of it. But people are genuinely surprised at how tuneful and melodic these things can be.”
They’re also surprised at the level of theater that’s involved “just because the setups are so big,” he said.
“Generally, we don’t play sitting down. So there’s a really strong visual aspect to the concert. Someone who doesn’t go to a lot of contemporary concerts expects it to be just like being at an orchestra concert, where the percussionist is very stoic and stands at the back in a tux and bow tie.
“When you step out in front, there’s just a whole level of visual activity, and that element lends a very strong component to the performance.”
Reed also plays percussion in orchestras “all the time.” Next week, he’ll be playing with the San Diego Symphony in Orff’s “Carmina Burana.”
* Percussionist Brett Reed will play a solo concert Sunday at 8 p.m. at the Chance Theater, 5576 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim Hills. $15; $13 for students and seniors. (714) 777-3033.
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Hector Berlioz was 20 when he wrote his “Messe Solennelle” (Solemn Mass). He had recently left the study of medicine, a decision that earned him his father’s disapproval and, worse, loss of financial support. For years, the young composer would be forced to borrow funds from his friends as he eked out an independent existence.
Berlioz destroyed all his early music and would have burned this work too, but his teacher at the Paris Conservatory stayed his hand. Even so, the 1824 score--about an hour long--was somehow lost anyway, except for the Resurrexit. The whole was discovered in 1991.
Larry Ball will conduct the combined California Master Chorale and the St. Andrew Sanctuary Choir in the West Coast premiere of the mass (which has been performed in Boston and elsewhere).
“It is a young work,” Ball said. “Berlioz was experimenting with musical forms, but the gigantism of the 19th century is already prevalent, not only in the length, but also the way he writes his phrases. There’s no doubt about it. At 20 years old, Berlioz is already Berlioz.”
* Larry Ball conducts the West Coast premiere of Berlioz’s “Messe Solennelle” on Sunday at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 600 St. Andrews Road, Newport Beach. The soloists will include soprano Julianna Di Giacomo, tenor Robert MacNeil and bass Louis Lebherz. 4 p.m. $8. 7 p.m. $12. (949) 574-2231.
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Are you ready for a “Bulldozer Ballet”? The Balboa Performing Arts Theater has commissioned one for its renovation groundbreaking ceremonies Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the theater, 707 E. Balboa Ave., Newport Beach.
Karin Jensen has choreographed the six-minute work to a segment of Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” among other music. The work will enlist three dancers from Jensen’s Mandala Danceworks company, performing around and on two Bobcat bulldozers. Three apprentice company members will also perform on six-foot ladders placed on the makeshift stage.
For information, call executive director Michele Roberge at (949) 673-8095.