EXPLORING THE SALSA GROOVE

For trumpet player Shannon Randol, playing salsa means listening for the groove.

"I like it a lot and it's fun to play, but it's different from what we normally do," said Randol, a 17-year-old senior at Cape Girardeau Central High School.

"It's not American. You have to listen for the groove. You have to feel the groove. And that's what this music is."

Randol is part of the school's 11-member Salsa Project, a group of students in the music department who have been selected to learn and perform the Cuban salsa style of music.

Trombonist Kristina Jones, 18, says salsa is exciting to play.

"It's more improv," Jones said. "It's more of a feeling than reading off the page."

The Salsa Project is a high-energy ensemble that provides a laboratory and performance outlet where students can learn how cultural backgrounds and music are blended together, said Mark Ellison, Central's percussion instructor and coordinator of the Salsa Project.

Ellison said all of the students involved seem to thrive on the uniqueness of salsa.

Salsa is the merged sounds of five percussionists, the melodic power of vocalists and a horn section and the thunder of the bass, Ellison said.

"Four percussionists lay down the inner rhythms and then have the horn section on top, the keyboard, the vocals and the guitar," Ellison said. "Salsa requires at least nine guys and they each have the intricate little part that they play."

Ellison formed the Salsa Project earlier this year. The group is an addition to the Roc Ensemble, which performs each year at the Point of Impact concert, along with Central's jazz ensembles.

Their next performance will be at Southeast Missouri State University at Academic Hall April 3 at 8 p.m. They will share the concert with the Southeast Wind Ensemble.

The Salsa Project and Roc Ensemble will perform at 7 p.m. April 17 and 18 at the Central High School Auditorium. A $3 admission will go toward purchase of percussion instruments for the groups.

Ellison picked 11 of the best musicians from the 25-member Roc Ensemble to learn to play salsa and learn about the Cuban culture from which the music derived.

Salsa came about when the Cuban musicians who were living in New York City combined their music with jazz in order to keep it alive, he said.

"Salsa came from word sauce," Ellison said. "It uses rhythms and styles like they use in Cuba and it blends a little of an African style in with it."

Vocalist Christy Hey, 17, thinks salsa allows for more expression in music.

"I can sing how I want to, not how I'm supposed to," Hey said. "That's what's cool about it."