The PAS Scholarly Research Committee is hosting two sessions at PASIC 2024, featuring Nicholas Papador and the Heartland Marimba Quartet. Papador’s live presentation, titled “Vessels of Song Precedents and Creation of Klezmer Suites for Mallet Ensemble,” will explore the historical development of klezmer music and its adaptation for mallet instruments, with performances by the quartet. The session aims to highlight the cultural significance of klezmer and its transformation through various musical influences. Additionally, Luke Helker will present a virtual session on the use of found objects in percussion repertoire, emphasizing their contextual role and performance considerations.

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The PAS Scholarly Research Committee is excited to sponsor two diverse scholarly research sessions, one live and one virtual for PASIC 2024. These sessions were selected based on their valuable contributions to percussion research and are deserving of a PAS audience.

Live Session
NICHOLAS PAPADOR AND HEARTLAND MARIMBA QUARTET
Vessels of Song Precedents and Creation of Klezmer Suites for Mallet Ensemble

Nicholas Papador will present an in-person research session titled “Vessels of Song Precedents and Creation of Klezmer Suites for Mallet Ensemble.” Assisting with Papador’s presentation will be the Heartland Marimba Quartet (HMQ), who will perform selections from these klezmer suites. Papador says that the presentation will provide “a precedent for klezmer performance on mallet instruments through contributions of a small but significant line of performers. Michel Józef Guzikow built his own instrument, the ‘stroyfidl,’ a xylophone prototype. His tour of Western Europe in the 1830s was a catalyst for the development of the orchestral xylophone. After the Ashkenazi immigration to North America, klezmer underwent a diasporic transformation as its musicians explored jazz and popular music. Joseph Moskowitz elevated the role of dulcimer instruments in New York and Jacob Hoffmann recorded as a xylophone soloist with the Kandel Orchestra in the 1920s. Furthermore, attendees will hear and learn about enjoyable new ensemble literature with poignant historical and cultural significance.”

Percussionist and composer Nicholas Papador is Full Professor at the University of Windsor School of Creative Arts in Ontario, Canada. Heartland Marimba Publications released his book Vessels of Song: A Collection of Klezmer Suites for Mallet Ensemble in early 2024. Papador has presented internationally at events such as The Space Between, Transplanted Roots, Puerto Rico Conservatory International Percussion Festival, and PASIC. His recording credits include Marimba Collage (2022) and Points of Departure (2015). Additionally, he was an on-screen performer in Matthew Barney’s six-hour film opera, River of Fundament.

Since its inception in 2016, HMQ has performed at over 250 concerts nationwide. HMQ offers a broad platform for the music of American and international composers. The ensemble’s four members — Matthew Coley, Ryan Pearson, Marco Schirripa, and Hunter Gross — form a virtuosic and electrifying ensemble. HMQ has been featured as soloists with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, Cheyenne Symphony, Minot Symphony, the University of Nebraska-Omaha Wind Ensemble, Millikin University Percussion Ensemble, and the International Marimba Orchestra. In 2022, HMQ was a featured guest artist at the World Marimba Competition in Stuttgart, Germany. The quartet released their debut album, VISION, in 2019 and is featured on other albums by Schirripa and Coley. Dedicated to bringing marimba performance to all communities, especially those underserved, HMQ provides numerous opportunities for artists, composers, and students at various stages of their careers. In line with this mission, HMQ was awarded a grant from New Music USA in 2020 and launched the New Quartets Project Consortium, commissioning six women composers. HMQ is committed to enriching the musical landscape and inspiring audiences through performance and community engagement.

Virtual Session
DR. LUCAS (LUKE) HELKER
Materials that Matter: A Context Driven Approach to Repertoire with Found Objects

Luke Helker’s virtual presentation is titled “Materials that Matter: A Context Driven Approach to Repertoire with Found Objects.” According to Helker, “My research often focuses on the performance practice around found objects in the percussion repertoire and music that engages with the natural world. The purpose of this session is to examine the role and context of found objects in the percussion repertoire by demonstrating how found objects can be, and often are, utilized beyond the scope of timbral mimetics. Additionally, a taxonomy for categorizing these objects and providing performance considerations for select works will be presented.”

Helker is Assistant Professor of Percussion at Fort Hays State University. He received his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Kansas, where he studied with Dr. Michael Compitello and Dr. Sam Um. He previously taught at Benedictine College and the Bishop Seabury Academy, the latter of which he helped establish their instrumental music program. Helker remains an in-demand instructor for the marching arts, having toured with the Jersey Surf Drum and Bugle Corps and assisting with a variety of high school programs in Pennsylvania and Kansas. He is also an active academic, regularly presenting (and often performing) at conferences including the Kansas Music Educators Association In-Service Workshop, joint meeting for the American Musicological Society and Society for Music Theory, and PASIC.

Helker has commissioned or premiered new works for percussion from such esteemed composers as Jenni Brandon, Kevin Day, Nicholas Tran, and Daijana Wallace. His annual concert series, Ears to the Earth, has initiated the creation of some of these works in addition to providing a platform to combine musical performance with local outreach. Helker has also performed with Yarn/Wire, members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, So Percussion, and Sandbox Percussion, and he regularly performs with such local ensembles as the Free State Brass Band, Crossroads Wind Symphony, and Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society of Kansas City.