harry partch – Garry Says – The Blog of Garry Kvistad – Professional Musician, Master Chimemaker

garry kvistad, NEXUS, NEXUS Percussion, percussion, windchimes, woodstock, Woodstock Chimes, Woodstock Percussion

Sounds Good

I’ve known from a young age that good sounds are healing, and I’ve made the study of music and sounds my life’s work. I have had a few “sound” mentors who have helped open my ears. Among them were Pauline Oliveros, John Cage, Harry Partch and Lou Harrison. Pauline taught us “Deep Listening,” whereby you … Continue reading Sounds Good

drum boogie, drum boogie festival, garry kvistad, instruments, jack dejohnette, music, musical instruments, NEXUS, NEXUS Percussion, NY, percussion, windchime, windchimes, woodstock, Woodstock Chimes, woodstock chimes fund, Woodstock Percussion

The Other Woodstock Festival!

The Woodstock Chimes Fund produces the Drum Boogie Festival every other year. On September 7th of this year (the 10th anniversary of the Boogie), we held the daylong festival here in Woodstock and it was absolutely amazing. The weather was perfect and the music outrageous (Paul Winter, Jack DeJohnette, NEXUS and many more). We had … Continue reading The Other Woodstock Festival!

drum boogie, drum boogie festival, drumming, garry kvistad, jack dejohnette, john cage, NEXUS, NEXUS Percussion, percussion, Performance Practice in the Music of Steve Reich, so percussion, steve reich, woodstock, Woodstock Chimes, Woodstock Percussion

Confession of a Percussionist

Long ago I knew that music would be my future. I knew then that percussion specifically would be my passion. This all started in the fourth grade when I joined the school band. Through the years I’ve come to realize that percussion is underappreciated and often misunderstood. On my drive home from work recently, I … Continue reading Confession of a Percussionist

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Blackearth Percussion Group Retrospective at PASIC 16 in Indianapolis

The Blackearth Percussion Group was conceived in 1971, formed in 1972 and disbanded in 1979. It was inspired in part by Jan Williams’ New Percussion Quartet of Buffalo and named after a small farm town in central Wisconsin. I was one of the original group members at age 22, along with my brother Rick Kvistad … Continue reading Blackearth Percussion Group Retrospective at PASIC 16 in Indianapolis

GARRY KVISTAD, founder / owner of Woodstock Chimes, has been performing with Steve Reich since 1979 and a member of the internationally renowned percussion group NEXUS since 2002. Garry has a BM from the Oberlin Conservatory and a MM from Northern Illinois University, where he received its Distinguished Alumni Award in 1993. Garry was a Tanglewood Fellow in 1968, worked with Lukas Foss in Buffalo ’71-’72, co-founded the Blackearth Percussion Group in 1972 and remained a member until 1979, and is currently on the Bard College Conservatory faculty.