On Thursday, November 19 at 7:00 PM, percussionist Josh Pruitt performed his senior recital. Josh performed a diverse and eclectic selection of pieces on a wide variety of percussion instruments. The program began with Josh’s own composition, “Life of a Secret Agent,” an upbeat jazz ensemble piece. Seven students joined Josh to create an ensemble including timpani, shaker, tambourine, and bass guitar, and featuring Ryan Moore, Maria Gramm, and Chris White on mallet percussion instruments. Josh took center stage on the drum set for this piece. The audience thoroughly enjoyed his opening number. Josh followed this with “Arithmetic,” a multi-percussion solo by Milton Kaye, and “Eyes Right,” a snare drum solo by Fred Hoey. Following an intermission, Josh commenced his recital with two movements of a playful marimba piece by Alice Gomez entitled Scenes from Mexico. Two pieces by Mitchell Peters followed: “Tribal Serenade,” a timpani solo, and “Sea Refractions,” a mesmerizing marimba solo. Josh’s sense of humor shone through when he played “Keyboard” on vibraphone with Maria Gramm. “Keyboard” is the piece that plays in Saturday Night Live while Jimmy Fallon pens “thank you notes.” Throughout the piece, Josh thanked professors and students who have helped him in his college career, using inside jokes to make the acknowledgements humorous. The recital concluded with the impressive Sonata for Solo Timpani by John Beck. This three movement sonata included a movement using hands instead of mallets and many difficult and quick rhythms. The recital displayed Josh’s diverse talents and hard work, and the audience responded enthusiastically. The Music Department is very proud of Josh’s accomplishment and looks forward to seeing how he uses his talents after he graduates in December.
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