On October 17 the Covenant community had the opportunity to see and hear Andy Harnsberger and his three assistants, Dr. Seabury, Dr. Jones, and Dr. Herring, play some amazing percussion pieces for us.
Andy Harnsberger is currently an Associate Professor of Music and Percussion Coordinator at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. Dr. Bailey Seabury is currently the Adjunct Instructor of Percussion/Drumline at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Caitlin Jones is an active performer with the Aiken Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Scott Herring is currently the Professor of Percussion at the University of South Carolina. At University of South Carolina, Dr. Herring directs the Percussion ensemble and the Palmetto Pans Steel Band.
Andy Harnsberger and his trio played “The Traveller” by Gareth Farr, “Dead Reckoning” by Adam Silverman, and “Saragordia Sound” by Benjamin Finley. They also performed other sets such as “Words Unspoken,” “Unbreakable,” and “Vertigo” composed by Andy Harnsberger himself.
They brought a five-octave marimba to Covenant. Covenant only has a three-octave marimba. They also brought two vibraphones, bongos, a gong, and many other instruments. The marimba was being played with 4 mallets—meaning 2 mallets in each hand.
In Finley’s song “Saragordia Sound,” the vibraphone was played with 2 bows that are normally used to play a stringed instrument like a violin or cello. Harnsberger’s written piece “Words Unspoken” was a solo marimba piece. One interesting thing he did as he played was switch out his mallets. It was amazing to watch him do that because it takes so much skill to switch out the type of mallet that you are currently playing with while also playing with two mallets in one hand. In the last song, “Vertigo,” closer to the end of the piece, watching Harnsberger play the marimba was attention grabbing. He played the marimba excellently, but what was so cool is that he was having to reach complete opposite ends of the marimba within seconds, which meant that he was jumping back and forth on stage between those octaves due to how big the marimba was.
Finally, Dr. Seabury, Dr. Herring, Dr. Jones, and Andy Harnsberger gave an excellent performance for the community as well as showing us that percussion can be played as a solo. Anyone watching surely would have been amazed that four people can come together from different areas of the country and be able to play these songs with little practice time together.