Four accomplished and pioneering women percussionists wrapped up a week in residence at the University of Delaware with a concert showcasing their performances on Saturday, Nov. 5.

The event, part of the Master Players series, was directed and co-produced by faculty percussionist Harvey Price, associate professor of music, who organized the “Women in Rhythm” events. The concert was co-sponsored by the University’s Artist-in-Residence Program and the Department of Women and Gender Studies.

Throughout their week at UD, the visiting percussionists led workshops and master classes with students and took part in a panel discussion to talk about their careers.

With relatively few women percussionists working even today, they were among the first to achieve top positions in their fields.

Visiting UD were: Angela Zator Nelson, associate principal timpani and section percussion for the Philadelphia Orchestra whose specialty is in new music; Jeannine Remy, a steel-pan virtuoso who teaches at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and conducts research on the roots of ethnic music; Valerie Naranjo, a 20-year veteran of the Saturday Night Live house band who is also known for her pioneering work in West African keyboard percussion music; and Ezgi Elkirmis, an acclaimed darbuka (known as a “goblet drum” because of its shape) player and vocalist from Turkey who has participated in the Play For Peace project, which brings together female musicians throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East.

At a panel discussion about their careers, Nelson, Remy and Naranjo told students in the audience that they often encountered resistance from other musicians — especially early in their careers — to the idea of a woman specializing in percussion.

“I sometimes feel like we’ve had to work 10 times harder than our male counterparts,” Remy said.

Nelson, who in 1999 became the first female percussionist ever hired by the Philadelphia Orchestra, said the biggest hurdle she found was in getting that initial audition and being offered the chance to prove herself.

But, she said, times have changed and the orchestra has become “much more accepting,” with a female tuba player, several female horn players and a generally more diverse, inclusive atmosphere.

Naranjo, who studied in West Africa on what had traditionally been considered a man’s instrument, said she first sought and received the blessing of elders in the community to pursue her work. The West African attitude toward teaching is to be welcoming and nurturing, she said, which she tries to follow with her own students at New York University.

Nelson summarized the week spent interacting with other women percussionists and with UD students and faculty as “a breath of fresh air” in her career.