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Tim Broscious

Townsend

Established
Music: Contemporary Performance

By: Gail Obenreder

“As a child, I was captivated with the poetry of Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss and the inherent ‘music’ that exists in their words.”

Percussionist Tim Broscious has melded his lifelong fascination with language and his extensive musical studies – “I have been playing and studying percussion since the 4^th grade” – into a wide-ranging performance and educational career. Broscious comes from a long line of educators (including his mother, father, brother, and grandmother, who was a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse) and has held more than 100 university residencies. “Teaching essentially runs in my blood.”

Broscious is also a composer, writing music that juxtaposes his love of words with the percussionist’s “musical material and rhythmic language.” But performing is truly at the core of all his work. Classically trained, he has extensive experience performing solo, symphonic, and world music and has been heard and seen in 10 countries across five continents. But he is primarily known for his chamber music performances as a member (with Gene Koshinski) of the Quey Percussion Duo, now in residence at the University of Delaware.

Raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the Townsend resident and UD professor was influenced by his high school band director (not surprisingly, a percussionist) and by “anyone I could find on CD,” especially the exceptional Evelyn Glennie, one of the world’s most well-known percussion performers. Broscious lived and taught at the University of Minnesota, and he still performs with the Duluth Superior Symphony. But a great deal of his creative life has been spent exploring music and cultures worldwide, intrinsic to his creative drive.

He lived for several years in Jordan, where he was professor of Western Percussion at the National Music Conservatory and principal percussionist with the Amman Symphony Orchestra. He studied Arabic music there and drumming in Ghana, performing throughout the Mideast and Africa. He continues to explore world music and its varied instruments, inspired by “the continuous development of the percussion idiom as it grows and explores its capabilities.”

Broscious consistently challenges himself to create something worthwhile, always questioning “is this good?” As a teacher, he is gratified to help students “find their path and pass on the knowledge that was shared with me.” And as a performer, he is rewarded by “having the opportunity and privilege to share my ‘voice.’”

The pandemic has “affected all of us.” While it resulted in the loss of concert opportunities – critical to any performer – it also “provided the opportunity and need to change and adapt as artists.” He finds that virtual expansion via livestream and creating YouTube videos have become “necessary practices in the way music is presented” in the future.

For Broscious, the Division’s Fellowship “means opportunity to both pursue new avenues and expand my current practices.” He plans to reach out to other performers and composers, seeking “opportunities for development and collaboration.” By blending all his varied experiences and interests, Broscious hopes to “generate and perform contemporary art works that are able create a new and lasting impact on audiences not only in Delaware, but nationally and internationally as well.”

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