Boom. Tap. Zing. Slap.

These sounds and more filled the ears of audience members during the annual fall percussion concert Oct. 17 at the Bedell Performance Hall at Southeast’s River Campus. The concert was under the direction of Shane Mizicko, director of percussion, and Assistant Director Christpher Wilson.

Mizicko has been the percussion director at Southeast for more than 15 years. He is in charge of the percussion ensemble, drumline, front ensemble, and steel drum band.

When choosing pieces for students to play, Mizicko said he tries to think of students and their abilities. He choses eight pieces to perform and five of those pieces were unconducted.

“Some pieces involve a lot of drums and some pieces have no drums at all and just mallet instruments — xylophones, marimbas, things like that,” Mizicko says. “I try to pair the pieces to the students’ ability to play, and I also try to have a very diverse program.”

Many of the pieces performed were based around an African cultural genre. These pieces included instruments originating from South Africa such as the African djembes, dunduns, shekeres and claves.

Two of the pieces titled “Denkyem” and “Kibo” originate from African inspired themes. Mizicko said that “Denkyem” is the West African sign for crocodile and “Kibo” takes its name from the highest mountain peak in Africa. The second piece, “Kibo,” also has a pop music theme influenced by the song “Africa” by Toto.

The sounds of the drums were loud and left a thumping feel in the hearts of the audience, as though the heart were only beating from the efforts of the drums.

Southeast’s choir performed songs in South African, more specifically Zulu or Xhosa.

that made the pieces come to life along with the percussion ensemble.

“Babethandaza” was a traditional South African piece played by the percussion section and the choir, set to be played again that will also be played again at the choir concert Oct. 22.

With every foot tapping on and off the stage, the cultivated creativity of the instruments left smiles on everyone’s face and high energy throughout the performance hall.

During the month of December, the percussion ensemble will host its annual Family Holiday concert include a more mallet based show to bring the Christmas spirit alive.