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Jon Mueller Puts Percussion in the Spotlight

Percussion instruments are often relegated to the background, where they provide support for other instruments in a band or orchestra, but according to Sturgeon Bay musician Jon Mueller, they shouldn’t be. 

“It’s a much larger instrument than that,” he said. “The aim, for me, is to try to work with drums in a way that brings them more to the surface, brings them more out as the featured sound source.”

That’s the focus of his current tour, named after his recent record, The Future Is Unlimited, Always. During the tour, Mueller been performing solo using six gongs, three kinds of bells and an Arabic bass drum. Backing up his live performance is prerecorded audio of singing-bowl and recorder music.

Although these instruments sound vastly different, he explained that they’re all tonally related.

“It’s like a good meal,” Mueller said. “You have these different flavors and textures that sort of sit well on a plate together.”

And on Dec. 3, he’ll serve a very memorable meal alongside local pianist David Utzinger at the Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor. 

Why Percussion?

Musically speaking, Mueller’s first love was drums. Before that, he had wanted to play guitar, but after experimenting with his friend’s drum set, he was drawn to its accessibility.

“You could play [the drum set] and not really know what you were doing, and it still felt OK,” Mueller said. “It didn’t feel like you were making mistakes or doing anything wrong because the different pieces just sound interesting on their own, whereas if you’re playing a melodic instrument, you clearly find out that you don’t know what you’re doing if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

To Mueller, percussion instruments are some of the most physical instruments, second only to the voice.

“With drums, I feel the connection to it and the vibration,” he said. “It’s so physical, as opposed to, say, piano or guitar, or even woodwinds. There’s sort of a separation.” 

The Message behind the Music

With a physical connection comes an emotional connection, too. The name of the tour – The Future Is Unlimited, Always – implies some of the themes Mueller touches on in his work, such as time, meditation and loss. He translates these ideas into sound through fluid, overlapping tones, which go from meditative spells of encompassing calm to occasional moments of awakening.

Inspiration came to Mueller from an unexpected source: an email exchange with an English artist. The conversation struck him powerfully because it was “this perfect balance of things teetering on this edge of hopelessness and hopefulness. In so many ways, everyone is on that edge,” Mueller said – and that’s something he hopes audience members have a chance to reflect on during his shows. 

He recalled one audience member, for instance, who approached him after his Madison show. Her father had died recently, and the show brought up difficult emotions for her, causing her to meditate on the cycles of life and death.

The music is as much of a meditative experience for Mueller as it is for his audiences.

“I know that when I sit down with it, every single time, it’s going to open up this world to me,” he said. “It’s like an invitation each time to just sit and listen.”

Jon Mueller will perform Dec. 3, 7 pm, at the Kress Pavillion, 7845 Church St. in Egg Harbor. Purchase tickets on his website, rhythmplex.com.