Good vibrations

Allie Barton

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“We’re a small group of really intensively bonded close collaborators,” says Kyle Rappe ’26MM, front right, playing the vibraphone (like a xylophone, but the bars are metal instead of wood) at a Yale Percussion Group (YPG) practice session in the Adams Center for Musical Arts. Robert van Sice, chair of percussion studies, created the six-person group along the lines of a chamber music group when he arrived at the music school 28 years ago. “The Yale Percussion Group is sort of synonymous with being a percussionist at the Yale School of Music,” says Rappe. YPG performs in orchestra concerts throughout the semester, once or twice a year in YPG concerts, and at lunchtime concerts at various times through the year. Besides Rappe, the group includes Han Xia ’25MM (front left), Jessie Chiang ’25MMA (back right), Judy Hu ’26MM (back left), Matt Boyle ’26MM, and Chad Beebe ’25MMA.