Percussionist Yang Chen interview: We discuss music-making as a social practice, how great percussion sounds, marching bands in Texas, shifting senses of time, and how a piece can go skronk blang-blang and woo plingy-plingy.
We also talk about commissioning and rehearsing pieces from composers and non-composers, working with flute, bass, steel pan, vibes, electric guitar, and more. And we listen to several pieces from Yang Chen’s longing for_, an album that coheres less around a single conceptual or stylistic focus, and more around friendships and collaborations. Composers and musicians we listen to include: Yang Chen, Sarian Sankoh, Cory Harper-Latkovich, Sarah Constant, Andrew Noseworthy, and Kali Malone.
This episode has lots of nice detail about specific collaborative and working processes. ‘Inside baseball’ for musicians…
Yang (they/them) is a percussionist with many side-hustles who prioritizes collaboration, personal growth, and joy. Yang is a grateful nexus of playful curiosity, cross disciplinary yearning, classical training, and loving relationships. All of which influence process & product within their work.
Yang is a versatile percussionist who enjoys collaboration and hanging out. Recent highlights include the release of two albums: longing for _, their debut percussion+friends album and Tiger Balme, their band’s self-titled debut album. Yang performs regularly with the Labyrinth Ensemble and Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan.
