The multi facets of Rich O’Donnell span 45 years as virtuoso percussionist, composer, designer and builder of percussion and electronic instruments, teacher and writer. He is director of the Electronic Music Studio at Washington University, head of the Washington University Percussion Department, and music director of New Music Circle. He was 43 years with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, most of them as principal percussionist.

SeeSaw Drumming

O’Donnell has invented a revolutionary playing technique with new type sticks and new pedals. On May 1, 2000 he presented the world premiere of SeeSaw Drumming at City Museum in St. Louis under the auspices of New Music Circle and on May 11, 2000 the New York premiere at Merkin Hall by World Institute of Music. SeeSaw Drumming is based on reciprocal motion, which allows him to play twice as fast as his normal technique. A book with accompanying CD’s illustrating the technique is near completion. While speed is fun, it’s not most important. The ability to create complex layers of polyrhythms gives him new insight into rhythmical structures. He no longer thinks in terms of downbeats and bars, but rather convergence and overlays and cycles of the various layers. This technique can be fast and dense, but it can also be elegant and in the pocket. He enjoys playing now more than ever. He has already published 3:4:5, a book on SeeSaw Drumming rhythms. Some of the rhythmical systems explored include:

HARMONIC RHYTHMS-polyrhythms or polytempos with an integer ratio, that are synchronized like the ratios found in the harmonic series. Pattern shifts occur within the common subdivisions. An example would be 3:4:5.

MOIRE PATTERNS-sync’d epicycle patterns outlined by accents or short rests, (negative space). Which pattern emerges as dominant depends on the perception of the listener-like the changing patterns seen when looking through two window screens.

SWARMS-like swarms of insects, birds or fish, where the rule is to keep the distance as close as possible, without touching, (the sonic analogy is that each voice plays close to the same speed, without synching). A slight shift will “push” the whole group.

He also creates interactive computer/ synthesizer software, using MAX/MSP and KYMA/CAPYBARA systems to accompany live percussion performances. He continues solo performances with other performer/composers in the United States and Europe.

Compositions and Performance Commissions

Commissioned by St. Louis Symphony Discovery Series:

• Zato Kujira, for Tuba and Percussion Trio (2/86)
• Life in the Slow Lane, for MIDI Violin and Percussion, with Chris Woehr (3/89)
• Artikos, for electronics plus viola, cello, percussion, with Woehr and Steve Balderson (4/90)
• No 2 Straight Lines, improvisation for trombone/electronic percussion/interactive computer with Tim Myer (2/94)

Commissioned by New Music Circle:

• Spring into Summer, an improv in Kennedy Forest in Forest Park with banners and drummers Henry Claude, Bob Fishbone, Don Parker, Ted Rubright, Glen “Papa” Wright, and Angela Culbertson & Atrek Dance Company and Anna Lum & fellow T’ai Chi players. (6/01, 6/02)
• Mind Shifting, interactive improv platform between two computers and 2 minds, with Tim Myer (6/95)
• No Straight Lines, electronic percussion and woodwinds with J.D. Parran (2/92)

• St. Louis Alive Festival (6/91)
  • Change is, for dancer Suzanne Grace, electronics & laser beams
  • Peep Show in a Boogie Box, for dancer & electronics
  • Sheet Dance, for dancer, copper sculpture & electronics

• St. Louis Alive Festival (6/89)
  • Chaos, with poet Anna Lum and electronics
  • On the Roof, for electronics and Burning Feet Dance
  • In the Chairs, for electronic tape and Burning Feet Dance

Commissioned by Percussive Arts Society:

• Ferrous Lilac, for mixed chorus and solo percussion (11/84)
• Epi-Phase, for percussion quintet (1983)

Installations

• Junk Yard Drummer for X-P.O.E Anima(l) with Kelsey LaPointe at Lemp Historic Brewery (5/05)
• Chinese Culture Days Chinese music instrument exhibit at Missouri Botanical Garden (5/02)
• Termite Music, installation/performance environment with large wood sails & electronics, feedback sourced by its surroundings…if a termite could hear! with Anna Lum, Washington University Gallery of Art/New Music Circle (6/98)
• Shadow Dancing, laser installation at Washington University Gallery of Art, a laser controlled musical instrument, audience activated. (10/93)
• Numbers 1 & 2 with Mike Murphy and Recent Video Sculpture by Nam June Paik at The Forum (01/92)
• Fire and Ice, 3 major pieces for electronics, lights and George Greenamyer’s ice sculpture at Laumeier Sculpture Park (12/90,12/91,12/92)
• Black Horn with Blane DeSt.Croix, installation artist and Anne Patz, choreographer at The Forum (1990)
• Trephonia, sound sculpture with Bill Severson & Sandy Schultz, installed in Plano, TX (1988)
• Sun Worshipper sunlight controlled electronic instrument, outdoor environmental piece at Missouri Botanical Garden (7/82)
• Sun Worshipper too outdoor installation at Grand Blvd. and Washington Ave, St. Louis, MO (1984) a sunlight controlled, stereo electronic music instrument, broadcasting sound through two wind wind torqued copper sails active for 6 months.
• Midnight Carnival Large multimedia event from 10 pm till 2 am in a 24 block area of downtown St. Louis, created and produced by O’Donnell as part of New Music Circle’s BHAM celebration; 80 - 100K people attended. Electronic music by LeJaren Hiller (7/3-4/76)
• No Single Thing Abides an environment of videospace projections and electronic music, Tom Hamilton and O’Donnell music; Dave Sanders and Morey Gers video. (6/15-7/4/76)

Recent Collaborations

• Alvin Lucier at New Music Circle in St. Louis (4/26/06)
• Unknown Unknowns with Leroy Jenkins & Denman Maroney by New Music Circle at WUSTL (2/05)
• CEAIT Festival at Cal Arts and LA – Forum/Workshops and Performances with Vinny Golia, Patrick Vaillancourt and at LineSpace Line with Andre Vida (1/05)
• Sound Objects with Jim Hegarty at St. Louis Community College Forest Park and Eye Drum in Atlanta, GA with array of new instruments designed and built by O’Donnell and Hegarty (12/04) and at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City (11/05)
• 60 x 60 CD of 60 international electronic composers create 60 second compositions presented in concert in St. Louis and New York (11/04)
• Sounds Like Now new music festival presented by World Music Institute at La Mama, Etc., NYC (10/04)
• Leroy Jenkins’ Driftwood with Min Xiao-Fin, Denman Maroney and Jenkins for the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians at The Community Church of New York (10/04)
• East Coast tour with Andre Vida Baltimore, Brooklyn, Manhattan (5/04)
• Unknown Unknowns with Leroy Jenkins & Denman Maroney at Cooler in the Shade, Lotus Music and Dance, NYC (8/03)
• Improv with Larry Marotta at the Loft, Columbus, Ohio (7/03)
• MOONDIAL with John Butcher, Van McElwee, Nathan Snider and Patrick Vaillancourt at STLCC at Forest Park (3/03)
• Adventures of Prince Achmed with Carol Genetti, Andre Vida & Mike Murphy at Webster Film (12/02)
• Brunelleschi e noi, for harpsichord, Baroque flute, lute, drum & electronics, multi media piece for painting, DVD with Bill Kohn, Dale Dufer, Debbie Lum, Maryse Carlin, Paul Thompson, Jeff Noonan at Elliot Smith and Des Lee Gallery (11/02)
• Undulations, electronics for paintings and video with Bill Kohn and Van McElwee at Elliot Smith (11/99)
• Nature Moves at MO Botanical Garden with Angela Culbertson, Atrek Dance & poet Anna Lum (6/99)
• Machu Picchu/Sacred Light, media piece for slides, paintings, t’ai chi, electronic music with Bill Kohn, Randall Hyman and Anna Lum (10 & 12/97, 3/99)
• Bricolage, for electronics and Suzanne Grace, Burning Feet Dance (2/94)
• Intimate Vistas, for electronics and slides (11/92)
• Alien Environments, Monkey Scat and Rolls, for electronics, slides and percussion with the Nuclear Percussion Ensemble (1/91)

Stage Appearances

Compositions have been written especially for O’Donnell by many composers, including Jocy d’Oliviera, Eleazar de Carvalho, Walter Susskind, Robert Wykes, Carlos Santoro, Tom Hamilton, J.D. Parran and Michael Hunt. In the distant past, among those Rich has appeared on stage with include: Igor Stravinsky, Iannis Xenakis, Aaron Copland, Elvis Presley, Yo Yo Ma, Bob Hope, Dean Martin, John Adams, Imrat Kahn, Chet Baker, Luciano Berio, and Jocy De Olivera. More recently: Tom Hamilton, Andre Vida, J D Parran, Davey Williams, Vinny Golia, Jim Hegarty, John Butcher, Carol Genetti, Leroy Jenkns, Denman Maroney, Mike Murphy, Morgan Guberman, Peter Zummo, Min Xiao-Fen, and Anna Lum.

Patents

• Patent #6,541,686 on April 1, 2003 by the United States Patent Office. This patent covers a double beater swing action base drum pedal, ergonomically designed and enabling twice the speed of a traditional pedal.
• Patent #6,924,423 for SeeSaw Drumstick design was awarded August 2, 2005.
• Patent #ODOR 868005, apparatus and method for offsetting and tilting high hat cymbals is under consideration as of May 5, 2005.

Grants & Awards

• Rich O’Donnell has received a NEA Composers grant and a Mid-America Arts Alliance Meet the Composer grant.
• Rich O’Donnell was named to the Ritenour High School Hall of Fame, 2002

Education

• North Texas State University, Denton, TX, 1957-1959, One O’clock Lab Band
• St. Louis Institute of Music, 1955-1957
• Ritenour High School, St. Louis, MO, Diploma, 1955