Students interested in hearing some successful musicians may check out the NIU percussion ensemble concert at 8 p.m. today at the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall.

The concert is called “Maximum/Minimalist” and features American minimalist composers Steve Reich and David Lang.

One piece Reich arranged was a version of James Preiss’s “Six Pianos” but for marimbas, titled “Six Marimbas.”

“It is a fantastic work, some 15-20 minutes in length that offers the listener a ‘magic carpet ride’ of rhythm, timbre and sound,” said percussion professor Greg Beyer.

“Cheating, Lying, Stealing” and “So-Called Laws of Nature” are two works of Lang to expect at the performance.

“Although phrased in a comic way, I am trying to look at something dark,” said Lang of “Cheating, Lying, Stealing.” “There is a swagger, but it is not trustworthy. In fact, the instruction in the score for how to play it says: Ominous funk.”

Two student quartets will play the second and third movements of “The So-Called Laws of Nature.” The second movement is loud–playing metal toms, kick drums and anvils. The third movement is the opposite, with small bells, teacups and guiros.

The concert is free and open to the public.