A memorial concert held in honor of former California State University, Long Beach Director of Percussions, Michael Carney on Sunday drummed up emotions surrounding impermanence, mortality and healing.
“Carney was very giving with his time, caring about each individual student and helping them grow,” said Ted Atkatz, the current director of percussion studies.
The piece “The Other Shore” was composed to honored the memory of his life
It is a deeply moving composition with reference to the Buddhist concept of Nirvana where one may be freed from all suffering.
The “Other Shore” celebrated Carney’s contributions by acknowledging his love for international music.
The recital began with Tibetan singing bowls. Members of the band surrounded the room and sat in the middle of the audience. They struck the bowls at different times and the sounds resonated throughout the hall. It gave the feeling of being in a Tibetan monastery.
Atkatz followed by playing the vibraphone as the Bob Cole Chamber Choir sang the threnody’s poignant lyrics.
Carney, received degrees in percussion performance from East Carolina University, the Eastman School of Music and North Texas State University. His musical skills were cosmopolitan, encompassing styles from West Africa, the Caribbean and Brazil and instruments such as the vibraphone and Trinidad steel pan.
He founded and directed the World Percussion Project that took professional American artists, students and faculty abroad for an intense study of music in places such as Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, Brazil and Ghana, West Africa. Carney’s musical journeys had also taken him to Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Trinidad and the Philippines.
During the performance Atkatz said that he felt like he and the other students were “all on edge” and could feel “his presence was in the room with them.”