Never-Ending Everest:  Rebonds as Teacher
A Lecture/Performance

D'Arcy Gray (Independent, Canada)

As musical performers, we usually learn our instruments (and music) in a traditional way.  We have a teacher (usually another performer) who shows us the tricks of the trade for our instrument. At the same time, we study rudimentary history and analysis.  For some of us, that is enough.  For others, we keep looking for a different kind of knowledge.  We may run into a particular piece of music or even a body of work that will teach us a great deal about being a musician. Sometimes this happens by accident. For me Xenakis, through his piece Rebonds (1989), was such an accidental teacher.

Iannis Xenakis wrote two very important works for solo percussion:  Psappha (1976) and Rebonds (1989).  These works are important because of the large number of percussionists who study and/or perform the pieces worldwide.  In other words, both pieces represent a "coming of age" experience for many performers. 

I first heard (and heard of) Rebonds in 1992 when I saw Steve Schick play a recital in New York.   Soon after I was asked to perform the piece for a Xenakis Festival in Montreal (April 1993).  Since then I have performed Rebonds about ten times and taught the piece to several students.  During this time I have also heard the piece performed countless times.

In November 2004, I again had the opportunity to see Steve Schick in concert, and again Rebonds was on the program. I was impressed by the fluidity and freshness of Schick's performance after all these years. Later, I was stunned to hear that he has performed that piece about 250 times since I had seen him in New York. The work's ability to endure both our experiences is impressive.

Some of the lessons to be learned by a piece like Rebonds are as follows (in no particular order):

• This work is unplayable.  The challenge and excitement lies in trying to achieve the impossible; climbing a never-ending Everest.
• The scenario is created by the work.  It sets up its own objectives.
• We must adapt techniques to meet the demands of the pieces.
• The excitement of panic:  Xenakis challenged performers beyond their capabilities.  These pieces are architecturally perfect which suggests that it may also be musically anemic.  The key is the impossibility which forces performers beyond their technical comfort zone.
• Performer resignation:  stochastics, the theory of probability or coincidence, becomes a factor.  The performer must admit that a certain degree of control will be surrendered to the piece.  As such, many events are unpredictable on stage.

In Rebonds, extremes of speed make for stark contrasts. Lightning fast polyrhythms and transparent, running sixteenth notes. Strong accent and soft tremolo. Thirty-second notes flourishes pierced by silence.

Rebonds had a strong influence on the way I approach music.  Many of the above lessons can be applied globally to all types of music. My lecture/performance will concentrate on these lessons and how they are applied to other repertoire. Rebonds, through this talk and subsequent performance of the piece will act as teacher to the conference members about the importance of this work in the context of late Twentieth Century music and beyond.

Canadian percussionist D’Arcy Philip Gray exploits his versatility to find himself in a great variety of performing situations.  In the fall of 2004, Gray worked as both solo percussionist and “analogue circuit master” for the “musiques à loft” series in Montreal, toured extensively with the Motion Ensemble, gave marimba masterclasses at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, worked in the STEIM Electroacoustic Studios (Amsterdam), gave children’s percussion workshops in Toronto and Columbus, Georgia, and was an invited soloist at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Nashville.  During this time he gave first performances of nearly 20 pieces for solo percussion or chamber ensembles. In the past, Gray has taught percussion and music technology courses at McGill University, been a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, given recitals in Canada, the United States, Europe, and South America, performed with numerous orchestras (including the Montreal Symphony and the National Arts Centre Orchestra).  He has written a number of articles on percussion and electronic music, most recently for the Leonardo Music Journal. Gray is a graduate of the Juilliard School and McGill University.  He has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des letters du Québec, and the Getty Research Institute for theArts and Humanitites. D’arcy Philip Gray is a Yamaha Clinician and a Sabian Artist.