Save the Date for MSUM Percussion Day with Jonathan Scales Fourchestra on Nov. 1
Minnesota State Moorhead is excited to host its biennial Percussion Day, with a morning mass drumline masterclass (area high school and university drumlines) with guest artist Lauren Teel. In the afternoon, steelbands from a tri-state area converge to perform side-by-side with the jaw-dropping Jonathan Scales Fourchestra. The Fourchestra then performs an evening concert on the stage of Hansen Theatre, sponsored by the Minnesota State Moorhead Cheryl Lossett-Nelson Performing Arts Series.
Saturday, Nov. 1 | 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
(All events held in the Comstock Student Union Ballroom unless otherwise noted):
- 9 a.m. Registration opens
- 9:30 – 11 a.m. Mass Drumline clinic with guest artist Dr. Lauren Teel
- 11 – 11:30 a.m. Drumline battle feat. area school drumlines
- 12 – 1 p.m. Dr. Lauren Teel clinic/recital (Fox Recital Hall)
- 1 – 3 p.m. Mass Steelband rehearsal with Fourchestra (open to the public)
- 3 – 4 p.m. Bass and Drumset clinic featuring Elon JD and Maison Guidry from the Fourchestra
- 4:30 – 6 p.m. Mass Steelband Performance with Fourchestra
- 7:30 p.m. Jonathan Scales Fourchestra performance sponsored by the MSUM Cheryl Losset-Nelson Performing Arts Series (Hansen Theatre) Free admission with a Percussion Day ticket
This event is funded in part with support from the Lake Region Arts Council through a Minnesota State Legislative appropriation, the Minnesota State Moorhead Comstock Fund, and corporate sponsors: Innovative Percussion Inc., Zildjian, Marimba One and Drummer’s Journey.
Lauren Teel is a nationally accomplished percussion performer, arranger, and teacher. As a visiting professor of percussion at Jacksonville State University, she is the percussion caption head for the DCI World Class Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps. At the University of North Texas, Teel was a member of the 17-time PAS National Champion UNT Indoor Drum Line. She was also a member of the 2009 and 2010 Phantom Regiment percussion ensemble, which received the 2010 Fred Stanford Award for high percussion, and in the Heartland Marimba Ensemble from 2020-22, a semi-finalist in the 2015 Great Plains International Marimba Competition. Teel appeared in the 2013 blockbuster, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” as a timpanist, and performed as a member of the NFL Atlanta Falcons Drum Line.
The Jonathan Scales Fourchestra veers from in-your-face, jaw dropping passion to quiet moments when the background noise disappears for a soundscape of solitude. The power trio of electric bass (E’Lon JD), drums (Maison Guidry), and steel pans (Jonathan Scales) combines elements of jazz, classical, and progressive rock, peppered with Latin rhythms and soulful outbursts of funk. Their innovative sound and raw performance power has drawn high praise from musicians around the world, allowing them to collaborate with artists like Victor Wooten, Jeff Coffin, Howard Levy, Roy “Future Man” Wooten, and Kofi Burbridge. The Jonathan Scales Fourchestra has toured North America, Europe, Africa and Asia as a Cultural Ambassador for the US Department of State and performed an NPR Tiny Desk Concert featuring Béla Fleck.