Mixed Media

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7

Drum Roll, Please

Percussionist David Altwerger, a
student at Central Michigan
University, performs with a group that
has cut CDs with Yellowjackets saxo-
phonist Bob Mintzer (Lift Off), Dave
Brubeck Quartet drummer Joe
Morello (The Gamut) and Spyro Gyra
mallet percussionist David Samuels
(also The Gamut).
The recordings are among seven
made by the award-winning Robert
Hohner Percussion Ensemble, in resi-
dence at CMU under the direction of
Professor Robert Hohner. The group
appears April 30 at the Oakland
Community College Smith Theater,
where the program will span all kinds
of music from the classics to pop.
Although Ain/verger hopes he's
launching a successful performance
career, his practical side is making him
prepare for alternatives, none very far
from the instruments he reveres.
"I could be somebody's agent and
play on the side," says Altwerger, 22,
who is looking into graduate schools
to attend after completing require-
ments at Central in May 2000. "I can
practice 14 hours a day and never
consider it tedious."
Altwerger, a trombone student for
nearly two years, took up percussion
in eighth grade at the suggestion of his
mother, Barbara Altwerger. She had
been substitute teaching, heard a per-
cussion group and suggested her son
try playing drums.
"I liked the huge variety of instru-
ments and found them a good emo-
tional outlet," says Altwerger, whose
interest intensified at North
Farmington High School, where he
played with the North Farmington
Percussion Ensemble, another award-
winning group. He cut his first record-
ing there and got sales experience as
well, offering the fund-raising album

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t

David Altwerger: "I can practice 14 hours
a clay and never consider it tedious."

98 Detroit Jewish News

to classmates, relatives and friends.
"I've played in four or five other
bands," says the musician, whose Env
ily belongs to Temple Israel. "I've beer
in funk groups and performed dance
music."
Altwerger has about 25 percussion
instruments and counts a djembe, a
North African drum carved out of the
trunk of an oak tree, among his most
exotic. He finds some instruments
while traveling to perform and has
appeared in Ohio and Illinois during
high school and New York and
Indiana during college.
Especially excited about playing at
the Montreux Detroit and Notre
Dame Jazz Festivals, Alrwerger's moot
determines what he listens to when
he's alone.
"The Hohner Ensemble is made uj
of music majors, and I watched theiC.,
for almost four years before I became
a member," he says. "I'm glad any
concert of ours has something for
everyone."

— Suzanne Chessle

The Big Screen

The Robert Hohner Percussion
Ensemble will perform 7:30 p.m.
Friday, April 30, at the Smith
Theater, Oakland Community
College-Orchard Ridge Campus,
27055 Orchard Lake Road,
Farmington Hills. $10/$5 students
and seniors. (248) 471-7667.

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The Jewish Film Festival of Grand
Rapids, scheduled for Sunday-
Wednesday, May 16-19, will mark th
first time a retrospective of Jewish-
themed movies and documentaries h
been organized in this western
Michigan city.
The festival will screen 10 films,
both domestic and foreign, and fea-
ture a lineup of speakers that include
film critic Neil Gabler, author of An
Empire of Their Own: How the Jews
Invented Hollywood. The book inspiq
the documentary Hollywoodism: Jewsj
Movies and the American Dream.
Sponsors are the Jewish
Community Fund and the Urban `---\
Institute for Contemporary Arts in
Grand Rapids. The goal of the festiv e
is to provide the Grand Rapids com-
munity with an opportunity to learn
more about the various aspects of
Jewish life, history and culture.
Individual movie tickets are $6; a