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 CARBONDALE'S
MARIMBA MAESTRO
by Jennifer Kulier, Media & Communication Resources
Kevin Lucas
lets the voice of the wood speak for him.
Lucas, a marimbist in the SIUC School
of Music, heads the art rock band Dead Musicians’ Society. But unlike
many rock bandleaders, he doesn’t sing.
Words could interfere with the stories
that Lucas and his fellow musicians tell, weaving complex, rhythmic soundscapes
with guitar, piano, saxophone, and drums. But Lucas’s marimba is the foundation
on which the band’s instrumental compositions are based and the force behind
its unique sound.
Lucas has many ways of getting the marimba’s
wooden keys to speak in tones that resonate with listeners. He tickles
them to coax a soft, rain-like patter. He pounds them, springing his body
into the air to create powerful, voluminous tones. He stretches his lithe
5’7" frame to reach the startling range of notes in the compositions he
writes.
The 8-foot-long marimba, a xylophone-like
African instrument whose name means "voice of wood," requires physical
stamina and considerable arm strength to play, as well as good keyboard
skills and an innate sense of rhythm. Lucas, who began playing in high
school, now owns a custom-made marimba and uses mallets that he designed
himself.
Lucas’s years of piano training—he began
that
at age 8—were excellent training for the marimba, whose keys have the same
layout. Lucas still plays the piano, and uses it when he composes because
it’s more comfortable and practical than composing on the gigantic marimba.
But he has a deep love of percussion, and he prefers the marimba’s physicality
and tribal sound.
"I enjoy the primitiveness," he says. "The
marimba sounds like nature; it makes me think of the jungle or the rainforest."
Besides the marimba, the compositions he
writes for the Dead Musicians’ Society employ a variety of unusual percussion
instruments, such as log drum, tom tom, bamboo chimes, and rain stick.
After getting his bachelor’s in music from
Illinois State University in 1996, Lucas came to SIUC to study. He will
earn both his master’s in music performance and his bachelor’s in music
education next year.
Over the past several years he has gained
national attention in percussion performance. In 1994, he won the Drum
Corps Midwest solo keyboard competition and helped the Madison (Wisc.)
Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps claim the Drum Corps International World Championship
for percussion ensembles.
In 1997, he placed second in the United
States among college-level percussionists at the Music Teachers National
Association competition. He also has won three MTNA composition contests
in Illinois. He has performed as a soloist with the ISU and SIUC orchestras
and has won concerto competitions as a part of both orchestras.
The topper: In February 2000, he was a
featured soloist at the Ussachevsky Memorial Festival for New Music in
Los Angeles, where he premiered a work by composer and SIUC music professor
Frank Stemper.
Lucas started the Dead Musicians’ Society
in 1997 to showcase an original composition he wanted to perform. But that
one-time concert turned into a recording project and local gigs. Beyond
the Carbondale area, the group has played in Springfield, Ill.; Nashville,
Tenn.; and several times at the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis. It has
recorded three CDs, the third funded in part by a $1,000 grant from the
Illinois Arts Council (IAC) through Carbondale Community Arts.
The band has garnered good reviews, a live
interview on National Public Radio, and most recently a coveted inclusion
on the IAC’s 2001-2003 ArtsTour program roster. A place on the roster allows
performing artists access to the major auditoriums and concert halls of
the state.
"This is a biggie," says Lucas. "It’s an
acceptance of us as professional musicians and an acknowledgment that we
offer something people want to hear."
That "something" cannot be easily categorized.
Lucas describes the band’s genre as progressive art rock. His compositions
are an intriguing fusion of rock, classical, jazz, New Age, and world music.
(Lucas trained most of his life as a classical musician.) His influences—ranging
from Debussy to Nirvana to Japanese marimba virtuoso Keiko Abe—can be heard
in the band’s music, which combines intricate melodies, beautiful harmonic
progressions, and rich tone color with sheer energy and emotion.
Lucas plans to take the Dead Musicians’
Society as far as it will go. But his degree in music education will provide
a nice safety net in a career that he also enjoys: teaching music.
"I want to have a successful rock band
and I’m doing everything I can to see that through," he says. "So far,
things are going great. But I’m realistic about it. I want to be able to
support myself if things don’t work out."
Kevin Lucas may be contacted at kevinlucas.org. At the time this article was written, the other members of the
Dead
Musicians’ Society were Andy Waldron, a senior in music, on guitar; Shadi
Frick, a senior in music, on saxophone; Brandon Walker, a junior in music,
on drums; Justin Wiley, a junior in art, on bass; and Hiroshi Morita, a
senior in music, on piano. |
