Masterclass with The Schwebkes
Join Yorkville Music and Yorkville Music Alumni, Mike Schwebke (YHS class of '09) and wife, Taylor Randall Schwebke (YHS class of '11) for an evening zoom masterclass. Mike & Taylor will be joining us from their home in New Mexico. They are going to share how Yorkville Music has impacted them and what they are doing currently in the music industry. In addition, there will be time for Questions and Answers.
ZOOM LINK HERE - 7:00 PM, Thursday, May 14th
Taylor Randall Schwebke graduated from Yorkville High School in 2011. While at YHS, she was involved in symphonic band, jazz band, pep band/marching band, and the chamber wind ensemble. She also participated in the IHSA Solo/Ensemble Contest and IMEA District Band.
After graduation, Taylor went on to study Equine Science, Business Administration, and Spanish at Colorado State University. She continued to play music during college, both in her spare time and as a member of the university symphonic band.
Now working at Rancho Corazon in Lemitar, New Mexico, Taylor is responsible for the management and training of all of the young horses in addition to managing the breeding program. She is a member of the Albuquerque Concert Band, and has also played in the pit orchestra for a local musical.
Mike Schwebke is an Illinois-based recording and performing artist on steelpan and percussion. He studied steelpan and percussion at Northern Illinois University under Liam Teague, Cliff Alexis, Robert Chappell, Mike Mixtacki and Dr. Greg Byer. While at NIU Mike played in the NIU Latin Jazz Ensemble, NIU Bata trio, several classical ensembles, and the internationally renowned NIU World Steelband.
Mike is also an active educator and clinician working internationally on different projects. In Illinois, he has students of steelpan, drumset and percussion. He has taught drumset classes at the Triple Threat Mentoring Organization and currently directs Oswego High School's Marching Percussion with Aaron Spevak. As a part of Paa Kow Band, Mike has been able to perform at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music on two occassions, taking the opportunity to share living African music with a Chicago crowd! He has taken part in a variety of clinics ranging from the history of the steelpan to its future, other clinic topics have included African and Afro-Cuban drumming traditions.
Enabling the creation of new music for steelpan is a huge part of his artistic drive. In 2011 he completed his first collaboration with composer Kyle Krause. The result was a 3 piece suite of short works for steelpan solo and duet. In fall of 2013, Mike gave a a recital of almost entirely new music for steelpan. It featured works by Todd Jelinek, Kyle Krause and Kevin Bobo (a piece commissioned and premiered a few months earlier by Liam Teague). In 2016, Mike was able to premier a duet for Double Second Steelpan and Clarinet by Krause as well as exhibit some of his previously commissioned works as a guest in a composition lecture at the Peabody Conservatory. Mike will presented a recital programmed entirely of commissioned pieces in 2018 and will be premiered Aaron Gage's "On the Mercurial Tides" for wind ensemble with steelpan soloist in 2019.
In his many performances over the years, Mike has shared the stage with artists like Liam Teague, Dave Katz, Mark Nelson, Ricky Sweum, Brad Goode, Paa Kow, Ethan Bell and many others. Mike regularly performs around the Chicago and northern Illinois area. In the studio, he has recorded on drumset, steelpan and other percussion instruments. He has spent time in the studio and on stage with the Furgeson/Moritz Hammered Dulcimer Duo, Paa Kow Band, The Ethan Bell Band and others. Mike traveled to Los Angeles to record on the 2017 and 2018 Pan Rocks recording projects that featured iconic rhythm sections with musicans like Stephen Perkins, Mike Portnoy, Billy Sheehan, Pete Thron, Tracii Guns, and 30 steelpan players lead by Tracy Thornton. Mike has been a featured soloist with the NIU World Steelband, has performed at PASIC in 2011, 2015 and 2017, as well as traveled to Trinidad for Panorama. Mike and a small steelband of pan majors from NIU performed at the 2012 Hyde Park Jazz Festival and the Matthew Tembo World Music Celebration. In recent years, he has performed at festivals like Denver's City Park Jazz Festival, the Summer Solstice Indie Music Festival, Santa Fe Bandstand, the Montreal International Steelpan Festival (Canada), the Patagonia International Percussion Festival (Argentina) and many others.
Mike has been featured as a soloist with steelbands and jazz ensembles across the United States.
Mike endorses Vic Firth Drum Sticks and 63rd Street Percussion Cajons.
Discography
2005
Iko Iko
WCC Youth Steelband
2009
"Just Wondering" Single
As of Yet
2009
Harter Road
Breakfast Club Steelband
2010
After Midnight
Moritz/Ferguson Duo
2012
"Summertime" Single
Ethan Bell Band
2013
Dangerous
NIU Steelband
2017
Cookpot
Paa Kow Band
2017
Project LA Video/EP Sessions
Pan Rocks Steelband
2019
Pan Rocks RUSH EP
Pan Rocks Steelband
2019
CARIJAZZ LIVE EP
Mike Schwebke's CariJazz!
Commissioned Works/Premieres
2013 Premiere
"Sirens" - Kyle Krause
DeKalb, IL
2014 Premiere
"Airbender" - Kyle Krause
DeKalb, IL
2014 Premiere
"Sealed Inside a Glowing Chamber" - Todd Jelinek
DeKalb, IL
2014 Premiere
"Antiphates and the Laestrygones" - Kyle Krause
DeKalb, IL
2015 Premiere
"Apricity" - Kyle Krause
Baltimore, MD
2018 Premiere
"you say you're ok" - Jason Mulligan
DeKalb, IL
2018 Premiere
"Delirium" - Aaron Gage
DeKalb, IL
2018 Premiere
"Tiresias" - Kyle Krause
DeKalb, IL
2018 Premiere
"Kilonova" - Aaron Gage
DeKalb, IL
2019 Premiere
"On the Mercurial Tides" - Aaron Gage
Albuquerque, NM
