Nearly 100 years after ragtime originated as a musical form, percussion students at the Lamont School of Music are still celebrating its syncopated and lively melodies, and adding their own flare.

On Wednesday at 12 p.m. in the Joy Burns Plaza of the Newman Center, the Lamont Ragtime Ensemble performed for a group of approximately 40 eager listeners.

A group of nine undergraduate music majors came together in lively vestige to honor the time-worn tradition by performing both classic and updated ragtime tunes solely on xylophone and marimba, which are both percussive tonal instruments played with mallets.

The group performed nine diverse tunes, each featuring one of the group’s members as the soloist on xylophone with four to five percussionists playing supporting chords on two marimbas.

According to senior percussion major Rose Martin from Denver—the only female percussionist to perform on Wednesday—each of the group members were allowed to pick the tune that they wanted to solo over.

George Hamilton Green, a xylophonist, composer and pioneer of ragtime composed five out of the nine tunes performed.

“George Hamilton Green was one of the first really famous xylophone ragtime soloists in the ‘20s and ‘30s. He kind of pioneered it and then it kind of died out on xylophone but Bob Becker brought it back, and he wrote pretty much all the arrangements,” said Martin.

Martin soloed over one of the few pieces not composed by Green or arranged by Becker. The tune, entitled “Tambourin Chinois,” offered a unique rag arranged by percussion department director John Kinzie, and was an unexpected tune with basic ragtime musical principles and obvious Chinese influences.

According to Kinzie, he started the group seven years ago because he thought it had immense potential to be enjoyable for everyone involved.
“It was my idea, because it’s just fun,” said Kinzie. “How can you not have fun at this concert?”

The oddball costumes weren’t part of the equation at first, said Kinzie, but have become a tradition in the last few years.

“I think it’s kind of cool because especially for the young kids who haven’t performed as much, they can put on a costume and pretend they’re somebody else and they’re not as nervous,” said Kinzie.

Each group member was clad in clashing patterns, most complete with an unusual hat. According to Martin, who wore a lively jester ensemble topped with a green velvet hat, the DU theatre department allows the group to borrow their funky garb from the department’s costume shop.
Aside from the lively costuming, the ensemble augmented their performance with spontaneous choreography consisting of timed spins between chords.

Joey Glassman, a senior percussion major from Littleton, performed “Bye Bye Medley,” a Bob Becker arrangement of the 1926 jazz standard “Bye Bye Blackbird.”

“I love ‘Bye Bye Blackbird,’ it’s one of my favorite standards,” said Glassman, who has participated in a variety of jazz ensembles.

Glassman played the extremely technical tune with ease and pizzazz. The audience met his solo with applause and vocal encouragement.

Senior percussion major Kevin Matthews played the final tune of the show, and made his grand entrance by sliding down the railing leading from Gates Concert Hall into the plaza.

The ensemble is offered each year during winter quarter, and the final performance occurs each Feb. in the plaza over the lunch hour.

According to Martin, the ensemble is a pleasurable and supportive environment.

“I’m really close to everybody,” she said. “This is a good environment.”