James Madison University Percussion Ensemble

 THE JMU PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE encompasses a number of performing groups, representing many styles of music.  These include the concert ensemble, a marching percussion ensemble, marimba ensemble, percussion theater, and steel drum band, as well as many small chamber groups.  The ensemble consists of more than twenty students, some of who have been selected as performers in the All-American College Marching Show Bands and Orchestra at Disneyland and the Walt Disney World/Epcot Center, as well as at Busch Gardens and Kings Dominion.  Several of its members have also been involved with drum and bugle corps, performing with such groups as Crossmen, Bluecoats, and the Cadets of Bergen County. 

 The ensemble has performed throughout the East Coast, including concerts at the Virginia Music Educators Association Convention and Virginia Days of Percussion, and it was selected to perform a feature concert at the 1990 Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Philadelphia.  Most recently, the ensemble was chosen to perform the feature concert at the 2003 National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.  In 2004 the ensemble won the small ensemble contest at the PASIC held in Nashville, TN. 

 The marching ensemble/Marching Royal Dukes have performed at the Spartan Marching Percussion Festival in Chicago, Percussive Arts Society International Conventions in Knoxville, TN, Washington DC, and at the BOA Marching Percussion Festival.

Vic Firth Podcast - David Gilliam's "Concerto for Piano and Percussion Orchestra" featuring Dr. Lori Piitz.

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