The colors of percussion
By Andrew Seguin
 What do you get when you put a duck call, a cowbell and some hollowed-out gourds in the Chapin Assembly Room? Not a punch line, but a line of melody emanating from the hands of celebrated composer and percussionist John Arrucci, who visited the first Lower School News assembly on September 30.
Once all the girls were seated, Mr. Arrucci launched into one of his compositions, which played over the sound system while he accompanied it on the xylophone before switching to the instantly popular duck call. When the piece ended to resounding applause, he switched from musician to educator and explained the significance of the xylophone, and how animal sounds can be incorporated into musical pieces.
An all-important question followed: “Who has seen The Little Mermaid?” Mr. Arrucci asked. Every hand shot up, and every body swayed like seaweed once the song “Under the Sea” began playing on the sound system. Mr. Arrucci asked the girls to simply listen to the melody at first, because he was going to add more sounds from his impressive battery of percussion instruments, some of which he had crafted himself.
And add he did. He began with the congas, explaining that they were from Cuba before tapping out a rhythm that demonstrated their range of tones. The melody of “Under the Sea” played again, and Mr. Arrucci added a conga line to it. “Sounds have colors,” he said, “and drums are the color of earth.” He then moved on to the triangle, the shekere (a large gourd sheathed in beads, originally from West Africa), the cowbell and finally the steel drum, a recent addition to his arsenal. With each new instrument, he accompanied a prerecorded version of “Under the Sea” that contained its melody plus the instrument he had just played. By the time he incorporated the steel drum, the girls had seen and heard him mix “colors” from all over the world into a complex song.
“Where are you getting all those instruments?” “How do you get the dents in the steel pan?” “What’s your favorite instrument?” the girls asked. Mr. Arrucci could only answer a few of the many questions that came his way, because it was time for him and the girls to be on their way. Their steps up the stairs added some final percussion to the room before the echoes stopped and they were gone.
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