Performed by Honoka Masuyama (timpani) and Jonathan Reuning-Scherer (piano) at Honoka's DMA recital at The Hartt School on February 7, 2025.

Werner Thärichen, legendary timpanist of the Berlin Philharmonic, studied composition and conducting at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. He also learned the flute and piano and was a percussionist and timpanist with the orchestras of the Hamburg State Opera and the State Opera Unter den Linden in Berlin. Thärichen was known especially for his Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra, Op 34 (1954), which he performed as soloist or conducted at home and abroad. This concerto was the best known of his more than 70 works. It was written for his son Nicolai, to whom he also gave percussion lessons and who made a name for himself as a jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

Performed at Honoka's DMA recital at The Hartt School on February 7, 2025.

Asanga was dedicated to percussionist Robyn Schulkowsky, who premiered it on September 30, 1998, in Fylkingen, Stockholm. The Sanskrit title Asanga means ‘freedom from attachment,’ and Volans wrote it for her as a gift on the occasion of her father’s death. It was written with no conscious techniques or concepts. – Kevin Volans

Performed at Honoka's DMA recital at The Hartt School on February 7, 2025.

The Gyil (pronounced jee-lee), is the grandmother of the mallet keyboard family. It is made from fourteen wooden slats that are suspended, on a frame, over calabash gourds. Its sound is like our marimba, yet more "earthen" in character. It is the national instrument of the Lobi and Dagara people of Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Côte D'Ivoire. Throughout West Africa, people believe that its "woody" sound comes from an internal vibration of water that physically balances water in the bodies of people and animals. In Ghana, the gyil is present in daily life; from weddings and funerals to dances and everyday recreation. Fra Fra Song is the Dagara people’s interpretation of a particular song of their neighbors to the East, the Frafra people. Ni Fa Mik Pee is a song from Kalba Suru in the LobilBrifo and Dagara area of Upper West Region of GhanaKpanlogo is a Ghanaian recreational music and dance form associated with the Ga ethnic group, who are traditionally located in the Greater Accra Region, which is in the South of the country.

Performed by Honoka Masuyama on double tenor pan at her DMA recital at The Hartt School on February 7, 2025.

Composer, arranger, and steelband virtuoso Len “Boogsie” Sharpe is a legend in Trinidad, the island that invented the instrument. Sharpe began his career with Starlift Steelband, where he worked as a co-arranger with Ray Holman. He is most strongly associated with the Phase II Pan Groove Steel Orchestra, a band he has taken to several finals of Panorama steelband competition, as well as winning first place in 1987 and 1988. Sharpe does not teach steelpan privately one-on-one; instead, he teaches it publicly at the panyard. Short and Sweet are two short and relaxing pieces written for double seconds.

Special thanks to Kyle Dunleavy for crafting this beautiful set of double tenor pans, whose exceptional workmanship made this performance possible.

Full Nelson (2017) was premiered by Joseph Van Hassel in Fall 2018, a few weeks before Macbride’s untimely passing. This two-movement work for solo vibraphone was composed after Macbride attended a performance by his son Jimmy with vibraphonist Steve Nelson. Macbride asks the performer to use two mallets, as that is how Nelson performs. The title is a play on words, using Nelson’s name and the wrestling move. If the performer plays one movement, the piece should be called Half Nelson, and if both movements are performed, the piece is titled Full Nelson. Both movements of the work are quite episodic, with short musical gestures separated by fermati. There is a small amount of improvisation (appropriate for a work inspired by a jazz musician) and a multitude of tempo changes, sometimes in very quick succession. Full Nelson is recorded by Joseph Van Hassel on As Before: Solo Percussion Music of David Macbride; Joseph Van Hassel, Percussion (Chen Li Music 108).

Performed by Honoka Masuyama at her DMA percussion recital at The Hartt School, February 2025.