In a musical and visual display, the Percussion Ensemble will return to Kimbrough Concert Hall for its fall semester performance.

The show will be under the direction of David Jarvis, the ensemble director and coordinator of percussion studies at the WSU School of Music. This show is one the ensemble puts on every semester.

Three of the five pieces the ensemble will play feature soloists with percussion accompaniment. The pieces include “Mudra,” “Xochipilli” and “At the Dawn of War.”

“Percussion literature is less than 100 years old,” Jarvis said. “The first important piece ever written was in 1931.”

Because of this late bloom, when organizing music for performances, Jarvis said he tries to feature one classical and a central, big piece; “At the Dawn of War,” in this concert.

Often he looks for both bombastic music and the serene. “Xochipilli” is a piece based off the music of the Aztecs, and “At the Dawn of War” was created through various inspirations.

A percussion concert is a visual performance as much as it is a musical one. On the melodic end are the mallet instruments like vibraphones, xylophones, bells and chimes. These have a distinctive sound that creates an orchestral feel when blended together, Jarvis said.

The visual aspect comes into play from watching the performers striking the other percussion instruments, like the bass drum or tom-tom.

“What’s great about percussion is the sounds are truly unique and truly individual,” he said. “It’s quite different from watching an orchestra.”

Jarvis said these concerts are the culmination of a lot of hard work done by the ensemble. It is rewarding, especially for the new players, to perform and reap the benefits of the applause from the audience.

“I look forward to doing these all the time because I’m very proud of my studio and my students,” Jarvis said.

The Percussion Ensemble concert is at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Kimbrough Concert Hall. Admission is free.

Reporting by Catherine Kruse