Playing With Shadows
Playing With Shadows" is an evening-length work for solo percussion and multimedia composed and performed by Bryan Wysocki for partial fulfillment of a Doctorate in Music Composition. The work is structured in nine continuous vignettes, each telling a story from the artist's life. Each vignette, and the piece as a whole, uses the words, sounds, images, and colors of each story to ask the larger question:
"How do the stories we share about ourselves actually inform who we become?"
While an answer is not readily given by the piece, it instead forces introspection. It is a deeply personal exploration of both the form and function of the way in which we tell stories, and how they can shape who we are. It requires us to look into the deeper parts of ourselves: into the lies that we tell ourselves, the truths that we don't accept, and the in-between space that we occupy in our lives.
Every story is, by nature, built on a memory. We often trust these memories to build the stories that become our identity - but is it possible that you might misremember some core part of yourself? If so, is this "shadow" any more or less part of you than the truth? How much of yourself needs to be true?
It is impossible for an artist to control the response an audience has to their work, and knowing this, it is this artist's hope that you leave the performance this evening with a greater appreciation for your own stories - and the way that these narratives become part of yourself.
Kudzu Duo
"Kudzu is ethnomusicologist and dizi/guzheng player Vicki Lu and composer and percussionist Bryan Wysocki. We combine traditional Chinese instruments with western classical percussion to reimagine music from across the world."
We are going to release more projects soon, but for now please enjoy our holiday medley featuring our arrangement of everyone's favorite Leroy Anderson tune, Sleigh Ride, a traditional Chinese Lunar New Year song, Xin Yang Yang, and the New Years classic, Auld Lang Syne.
Honk and Bonk!
"Plastic Hugs. Emptiness" by Maria del Pilar Miralles Castillo
performed by Honk and Bonk!
Cassandra Roache, Bassoon
Bryan Wysocki, Percussion
Music by Women Festival Columbus, MS - March 2nd, 2023
i. Hugging You Tightly
ii. It feels like plastic
iii. It’s Ok, just hug
iv. Recycling All the Plastic. Forgetting You.
v. Alone
vi. Something Is Missing
vi. Sh…
“Umxhentso” by Nkuleleko Zungu
This is a work I commissioned from fellow UGA composition grad student and UGA Arts Collaborative member, Nkululeko Zungu!
He writes:
“Umxhentso is a work for solo percussion whose rhythmic content is derived from the dance style with similar name of the IsiXhosa
tribe of South Africa. This work is a commission for Dr. Bryan Wysocki.”
“Be Apart” - Album by Freedom Attic
Freedom Attic (2022)
Recorded in Atlanta, GA
Played percussion on the following tracks:
Am I Wrong?
Be Apart
It’ll Take Time
Nocturnal
Time
“North Star Boogaloo” by George Lewis
George Lewis (1996)
Bruno Moderna Conservatorio | Cesena, Italy
Georgia State University | Atlanta, GA
“Litany II” by Karel Goeyvaerts
Karel Goeyvaerts (1980)
Bryan Wysocki, TJ Shaheen, Noah Samuelson
Georgia State University | Atlanta, GA
“Boris Kerner” by Caroline Shaw
Caroline Shaw (2012)
Bryan Wysocki, flowerpots & Shadman Mirza, cello
Georgia State University | Atlanta, GA
“Naturalization, The Dual Identity” by Badie Khaleghian
Badie Khaleghian (2019)
Duoctane: Curtis Allen Gay, saxophone & Bryan Michael Wysocki, percussion
University of Georgia | Athens, GA
“Opalized Ammonite” by Kathryn Koopman
Kathryn Koopman (2019)
Duoctane: Curtis Allen Gay, saxophone & Bryan Michael Wysocki, percussion
Georgia State University | Atlanta, GA
“The Earth Refused to Catch My Fall” by Amber Vistein
Amber Vistein (2019)
SoundSCAPE Percussion Quartet: Bryan Wysocki, Julia Araiche, Britton Collins, Nikki Joshi
Aiyun Huang, Conductor
Bruno Moderna Conservatorio | Cesena, Italy
“Antico Adagio” by Lino Capra Vaccina
Lino Capra Vaccina (1980)
Neil Cole, oboe & Ian Smith, viola
Bryan Wysocki, vibraphone & Hannah Beamon, marimba
Georgia State University | Atlanta, GA