Chal Ragsdale, professor of music in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, recently traveled to Tokyo for the 2011 Percy Grainger Music Festival. This five-day international commemoration of the 50-year anniversary of Grainger’s death included a symposium, concerts and documentary film screening celebrating the pianist and composer’s life and work.

“It is always an extraordinary opportunity to discuss Grainger’s work with others who appreciate his contribution,” said Ragsdale. “And it’s even better when I get to do that and represent the University of Arkansas at the same time.”

Ragsdale was presented the international Percy Grainger Society’s “Grainger Medallion” in 2003 in recognition of his work on behalf of Grainger’s music. His presentation Percy
Grainger: In His Own Words was featured at the 2009 College Band Directors National Association Convention. Ragsdale’s arrangements of Grainger’s music have been featured at concerts around the world. They are published by Southern Music Co. and Aux Arcs Music.

“I originally got interested in Grainger because of his remarkable ability to arrange music for the concert band,” Ragsdale said. “I became more intrigued when I discovered his genius in writing for the percussion instruments, for chorus, for orchestra, for chamber music and his interest in folk music.”

Percy Grainger, (1882-1961) was born in Australia and moved to the U.S. in 1914. He produced more than 1,200 works and arrangements during his life and maintained an extensive international touring schedule. He also created the Grainger Museum in Australia. Grainger is known for his innovations in music. He developed the “Free Music” concept in which he sought to replicate the irregular patterns of nature.

“In Free Music reigns complete freedom from scales, complete rhythmic freedom (each tone strand enjoying complete independence from all the other tone-strands), and complete freedom from what I call 'Harmonic morality,’” Grainger noted in a 1938 statement.

The Percy Grainger Music Festival began on Sunday, Nov. 27, with a symposium titled Percy Grainger’s Australian Spirit and Global Mind. Ragsdale, one of five scholars invited to participate, delivered the multimedia presentation Percy Grainger’s Contributions to the Art and Science of Collecting Folk Song. Other events included charity concerts of Grainger's piano music in Sendai and Kyoto to support the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Australian flood. The festival was supported by Nippon Ongaku Gakkai (the Musicological Society of Japan) and the Australia-Japan Foundation.

Additional information about Grainger and the Grainger Museum is available at http://www.grainger.unimelb.edu.au.

The University of Arkansas department of music offers 13 undergraduate degree programs and nine graduate degree programs. Students and faculty have extensive performance opportunities through the department’s 17 faculty and student instrumental ensembles, the University Opera Theater, the University Symphony Orchestra, four choirs and seven bands, including the Razorback Marching Band. The department also hosts three music camps each summer. Additional information about the department of music and its programs is available at http://music.uark.edu.