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There won't be any “Jingle Bells,” but there'll be plenty of little drummer boys when the UM Percussion Ensemble takes the stage for its fall concert Tuesday night.

The concert - one of the UM School of Music's perennially most popular events - will feature the typical bounty of oddball instruments, the usual wide range of musical styles, and the unexpected surprises that fans have come to expect.

What it will not feature - Christmas music - makes it just as unusual for this holiday season as what it does feature: music performed entirely on percussion instruments.

“We've got some real crowd-pleasers and a good range of music,” said ensemble director and UM professor of music Bob Ledbetter. “It'll be a little shorter than it's been in the past, but that will improve the quality because we're not squeezing so much music in.”

Long committed to presenting music from around the world at his spring and fall percussion ensemble concerts, Ledbetter decided last spring to create a splinter concert, dubbed the World Rhythms Concert, which took place in February. That event now serves as the percussion ensemble's primary presentation vehicle for African and other world ethnic music.

“I wanted to make the other (fall and spring) concerts more compact and focused,” Ledbetter said.

Hence the program for Tuesday night's concert, which leans heavily on jazz idioms during the first half of the show, and Caribbean steel drum music for the second half - and all wraps up in 90 minutes.

The UM Grizzly Marching Drumline will rattle the walls with Tito Puente's “Ran Kan Ran,” and student Cody Hollow will be the featured vibraphonist on David Friedman's jazz fusion piece, 󈬄 Minutes Off the Pavement.” The whole ensemble will shine - literally - in a glow-in-the-dark performance of a Japanese Taiko-style piece titled “Lion,” and they'll bang out a voiceless performance of jazz singer Gino Vanelli's “War Suite.”

The Islanders Steel Drum Band will close out the concert with music by Andy Narell and Tito Puente. Ledbetter notes that the Islanders will be releasing a new CD before Christmas; attendees at Tuesday night's concert can pre-order copies.

Go listen

The University of Montana Percussion Ensemble and Islanders Steel Drum Band will present their fall concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the University Theatre. Tickets are $6 for general admission, $4 for students and seniors.

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