Percussion student in Montreal
By Sharon Gray
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| Photo by Chris Hammond Andrew Dunsmore in front of a marimba, displaying some of the many mallets he uses to play percussion instruments. |
For the first time, the Montreal Symphony
Orchestra has selected a Memorial music student for its annual national
competition. Third-year percussion student Andrew Dunsmore traveled
to Montreal this week for the semi-finals Nov. 13. If successful, he
goes on later this week to compete in the finals.
“I’m really pleased to be part of this competition at such
a young age,” said the 20-year old student, noting that the competition
accepts applicants up to age 30. “I’ll be entering again when
the competition comes around to percussion in three or four years –
I’m sure I’ll learn a lot from this experience.”
Mr. Dunsmore began playing percussion while at MacDonald Drive Junior
High, where his mother directed band and needed someone to play glockenspiel.
He continued to play percussion while at Prince of Wales Collegiate.
As a percussion student at the School of Music, he specializes in the
marimba but is familiar with most of the percussion instruments which
fall into four large divisions – timpani, keyboard percussion,
snaredrums and triangles, and ethnic percussion instruments. He began
his studies with the late Don Wherry and recently Rob Power; he was
chosen last year to be Sabian representative for the Percussive Arts
Society Scholarship and traveled to Nashville to attend the national
conference. He also won the Rose Bowl at the 2002 Kiwanis Music Festival
and was one of three St. John’s students selected to participate
in the CBC’s national radio series Up and Coming, featuring 27
young musicians from across Canada.
For the semi-final competition with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra,
Mr. Dunsmore selected four pieces – Wind in the Bamboo Grove by
Keiko Abe, Shona Dream Dance by Canadian composer Mark Duggan, a sonata
on timpani and a snare drum piece. “The program I’ve put together
has three pieces that are very textually based,” he said. “For
example, Wind in the Bamoo Grove has some very interesting technical
effects that give the impression of walking through a bamboo grove.”
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