The graduate percussion recital of John Harlan Becker

Includes recorded audio files in WAV and MP3 formats, 72:24 in length.My goal in the preparation of this recital was to explore and perform music of many styles, demonstrating mastery of all of the major percussion instruments. Besides achieving this goal, I believe that selecting, learning, and performing my recital program was an invaluable, enriching experience. I performed my recital program on Sunday, June 15, 1986, at four p.m. In the remaining body of this abstract, I will discuss the pieces on my recital program. Benjamin Britten's Nocturnal, Opus Seventy, was written for the guitar, and was performed by me on the marimba. The work is comprised of a series of short pieces based on motivic material derived from the theme, which is the last piece played. The theme is based upon an ayre composed by John Dowland in the sixteenth century, which bore the following text: Come, heavy Sleep, the image of true Death, And close up these my weary weeping eyes, Whose spring of tears doth stop my vital breath, And tears my heart with Sorrow's sigh- swoll'n cries. Come and possess my tired thought-worn soul, That living dies, till thou on me be stole. (See more in text.