Payton MacDonald
Payton MacDonald is a percussionist, composer, and improviser who works across a wide range of musical disciplines. He was a founding member of Alarm Will Sound, a new-music chamber orchestra. He was with Alarm Will Sound from 2001 to 2014, and during that time he made five recordings with them on the Nonesuch and Cantaloupe labels. He has also appeared as a soloist in many countries, performed with Present Music and Verederos flute and percussion duo, and toured Japan with Keiko Abe and Galaxy Percussion. He currently tours and performs with the acclaimed avant jazz quartet Void Patrol and with the Erin, Nava, Payton trio. Payton has released over 100 recordings of marimba music, including collaborations with many of the leading improvisers and composers of our time. Payton studied percussion at the Eastman School of Music (DMA, MM, and Performer’s Certificate) with John Beck, and the University of Michigan (BFA) with Michael Udow. He also learned percussion from Pandit Sharda Sahai, Bob Becker, Julie Spencer, John Alfieri, and Richard Landauer. He studied composition with Robert Morris, Augusta Read Thomas, and Sydney Hodkinson. Payton is also a trained Hindustani Dhupad singer. He learned Dhrupad from the Gundecha Brothers and was awarded a Senior Fulbright-Nehru fellowship as a Dhrupad singer. Payton is a Full Professor in the Music Department at William Paterson University, where he directs the percussion studio, teaches improvisation and composition, and serves as the Chairperson.
Expansive Approach to Timbre on Marimba
Session Description:
My session will focus on an expansive view of timbre for the marimba. Over the last 10 years I have become more deeply involved with a community of improvisers for whom extended techniques are normalized and a foundational part of the music making process. Inspired by my colleagues’ work, I have endeavored to expand the timbral palette of the marimba by creating various new mallets, beaters, and keyboard preparations. I have drawn on the work of John Cage’s “Sonatas & Interludes”, Henry Cowell and Karlheinz Stockhausen’s piano music music, and the various composers and improvisers affiliated with the AACM (e.g., Anthony Braxton, Muhal Richard Abrams, et al.). None of the things I create will harm or damage the instrument. All the mallets and preparations are made with household items and are affordable and accessible.
My clinic will unfold as follows:
1. Short improvisation using a variety of beaters, mallets, and keyboard preparations,
2. Discussion / demonstration of my “Stochasticks” mallets,
3. Discussion / demonstration of my entropic mallets (these are mallets that gradually fall apart as you play …),
4. Short historical discussion of extended techniques and preparations in keyboard percussion, including a performance of Stacy Bowers’s seminal marimba pieces “Studies no. 3 & 5” (1977, 1978) that utilize keyboard preparations.
5. Discussion / demonstration of my various slap mallets, including a demonstration of a passage of Keiko Abe’s “Voice of Matsuri Drums” (1992)
6. Discussion / demonstration of glissandos, including a discussion and performance of Gordon Stout’s important work “Etude #7” (1982).
7. Q & A,
8. Short improvisation using a variety of beaters, mallets, and keyboard preparations.
My clinic will unfold as follows:
1. Short improvisation using a variety of beaters, mallets, and keyboard preparations,
2. Discussion / demonstration of my “Stochasticks” mallets,
3. Discussion / demonstration of my entropic mallets (these are mallets that gradually fall apart as you play …),
4. Short historical discussion of extended techniques and preparations in keyboard percussion, including a performance of Stacy Bowers’s seminal marimba pieces “Studies no. 3 & 5” (1977, 1978) that utilize keyboard preparations.
5. Discussion / demonstration of my various slap mallets, including a demonstration of a passage of Keiko Abe’s “Voice of Matsuri Drums” (1992)
6. Discussion / demonstration of glissandos, including a discussion and performance of Gordon Stout’s important work “Etude #7” (1982).
7. Q & A,
8. Short improvisation using a variety of beaters, mallets, and keyboard preparations.
Session Category:
- Keyboard
- |
- Virtual
Date:
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Time:
4:00 PM
Location:
Virtual
Session Type:
Clinic
Session Format:
Virtual
