PUTNEY — In a performance sponsored by Yellow Barn, an innovative quartet of musicians from Chicago will showcase a work-in-progress written for a classic film based on a beloved children's novel.
Yellow Barn, the international center for chamber music in Putney, opened its 2016-17 residency season with Third Coast Percussion, a four-man percussion ensemble that has come to Vermont to work on a new soundtrack for the Academy Award-nominated film “Paddle to the Sea” in advance of the premiere at the Cleveland Museum of Art in May 2017.
“What we are developing in our residency at Yellow Barn is our new soundtrack to the 1962 Canadian short film,” says David Skidmore, Third Coast Percussion's Executive Director. “Working with the National Film Board of Canada, we have stripped the original soundtrack and are replacing it with a new one we are developing, as well as re-recording the film's narration for performance.”
Providing a live soundtrack, Third Coast Percussion will perform works inspired by impressions of water and the natural world by Philip Glass, John Luther Adams, and Jacob Druckman, composing music of their own to create a performance that flows seamlessly throughout the course of the film.
Video art that interacts with this new score will be created and interspersed throughout the film.
Workshops and performance
While working on their music for the film at Yellow Barn, Third Coast Percussion is giving a couple of workshops at The Greenwood School, the campus on which Yellow Barn is located. Their 10-day residency will culminate in a work-in-progress performance of the soundtrack at Next Stage in Putney.
On Friday, Nov. 4, at 8 p.m., Third Coast Percussion will present a public concert with the film, lasting about an hour, followed by a discussion among musicians and audience.
“Although our music is still a work in progress,” Skidmore says, “people will see the entire film of 'Paddle to the Sea' at the performance. Afterwards, we want to do a Q&A to hear what people think about what we're doing.”
Third Coast Percussion is an American percussion ensemble that specializes in new music/contemporary classical music.
“When we call ourselves percussion, we mean that we play not only drums, but also instruments such as marimbas, cymbals, and a range of classic percussion instruments,” Skidmore says. “In addition, you may find us making a bunch of crazy noises with anything that can produce sounds, like wine glasses, whiskey bottles, or a plank of wood.”
Accomplished ensemble
Founded in 2005, Third Coast Percussion has performed hundreds of concerts around the U.S., presents an annual concert season at home in Chicago, teaches musicians of all ages and experience levels, and has commissioned dozens of new works by composers.
The ensemble has collaborated with a wide range of artists and performing ensembles including Hubbard Street Dance, the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, and video artists Luftwerk.
Third Coast Percussion has also released numerous EPs as well as five full-length acclaimed albums: “Ritual Music” (2008), “John Cage: The Works for Percussion, vol. 2” (2013), “Resounding Earth” (2013), “Haunt of Last Night Fall” (2014), and “Unknown Symmetry” (2013).
Their latest album is devoted to the music of Steve Reich.
“Reich's music is very challenging to play,” Skidmore says. “Of course, you can say that about every music, but in different ways. Reich requires a great deal of concentration. A minimalist, he writes transparent music, and it takes work to make it flow naturally. Reich is a great hero of ours. He was an early champion of, and writer for, percussion music ensembles.”
Third Coast Percussion formed 11 years ago and consists of four musicians who hold degrees in music performance from Northwestern University, the Yale School of Music, the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory, and Rutgers University.
Northwestern connection
Besides being an ensemble member, each plays a specific function in the group. Along with Skidmore as its Executive Director, Robert Dillon is Development Director, Peter Martin is Finance Director, and Sean Connors is Technical Director.
“All of us studied at Northwestern University in Chicago,” Skidmore explains. “At that school there was a great teacher who was an inspiration for us. He was passionate about our type of music. Percussion groups were rare then, but he gave us the encouragement to pursue this music, which we have been able to do full time for the past three years.
“Although our home base is in Chicago, we play most of our work on tour [and] give concerts at art museums, universities, festivals, and concert halls - or in residencies like here at Yellow Barn.”
Skidmore expresses his group's enthusiasm for their coming residency, noting the importance of an audience at the very beginning of their exploration.
“Third Coast Percussion is so thankful to the creative community at Yellow Barn for providing us with the opportunity to workshop our new project,” he writes in a news release. “We are very personally invested in this project, and it will be so valuable to develop the project and preview for the thoughtful and culturally curious audience in Putney.”
Several years ago, Yellow Barn established the first retreat program in the U.S. created specifically for professional performing musicians to further the art of the performance of classical music by providing an environment conducive to undistracted study.
Community collaboration
“We are really excited about Third Coast Percussion's residency,” says Catherine Stephan, Yellow Barn's Executive Director. “The preview concert of their work-in-progress will be a multimedia musical event that interfaces musicians with the community and goes to the heart of what we are doing at Yellow Barn.”
Third Coast Percussion's effort to create a new soundtrack for “Paddle to the Sea” came to Yellow Barn's attention in early spring.
“Our Artistic Director Seth Knopp was in conversation with someone on the commissioning body of the Cleveland Art Museum whom he knows personally,” Stephan says. “Since Seth thought the project sounded great, his friend suggested we offer the group a residency to finish the piece before they performed it in Cleveland.
“So Third Coast Percussion put in an application in time for our April 1 deadline, and quickly rose to the top of those in which we were most interested.”
They also became involved in the “Paddle to the Sea” project with a nudge from Cleveland.
A metaphorical journey
“A colleague in Cleveland turned us onto the film, which was near and dear to him since childhood,” Skidmore says. “Yet even after he pointed us in this direction, it took several years before we got around to doing this project.”
Both the classic children's book and the film “Paddle to the Sea” tell the story of a Native Canadian boy who carves a wooden figure called Paddle-to-the-Sea and sets him on a journey through all five Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River, and finally to the Atlantic Ocean.
“It's a charming story,” Skidmore says. “Along its journey the figure washes up on shore and has contact with numerous people before being finally set out into the open sea. I see that as a metaphor for how art works - that is, you find influences by running ashore into someone who will change your direction, whether that person be an author, a painter, or a friend.”
Third Coast Percussion's project also, according to a Yellow Barn news release, “looks at our relationship to the bodies of water that connect our lives. Its story underscores the geographic, economic, and cultural connections formed by our shared waterways, and asks us to consider the human impact on the waters that help us transport our goods, provide our electrical power, bathe ourselves, cook our food, and quench our thirst.”
Skidmore adds, “The film certainly addresses important issues such as conservation and water rights. As we began working on the project we began to learn more about water rights, which have become a major concern in this country and the world.
“Water rights and sustainability is not getting as much attention as it should. We certainly are not saying we are experts on the subject, but hopefully we can start a conversation in a community in which real experts will join in to discuss this important issue.”
Such a social dimension to their work isn't unusual for Third Coast Percussion, which often develops subjects centered on crucial issues of our day.
Since its formation, Third Coast Percussion has gained national attention from collaborations across a wide range of disciplines, including concerts and residency projects with engineers at the University of Notre Dame, architects at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, and astronomers at the Adler Planetarium.
“It is not uncommon for our work to interact with others because we are inspired by what others do,” Skidmore says. “So if often we find ourselves aligned with astronomers, architects, or engineers, that is because, although they may lead us to off-the-wall stuff, such collaborations can be fun and inspiring.”