April 12, Courtney Fender’s Senior Recital

Now this was fun. The vibe was laid-back and intimate. The removal of all that walking off and on stage was a nice change. The talking between songs was very cool; it was like an episode of VH1 Storytellers. It was good to see someone skilled at multiple instruments – guitar, banjo, piano, and vocals. Courtney is so damn cute that she can screw up and still look adorable. I wish I could do that. My favorite was “Landslide”. When she sang “I’m getting older too” I got chills. I didn’t care for the Spanish-style guitar, just because it’s not my thing, but I was impressed at her ability because I’ve never learned how to play that style. The Contemporary Christian music was also not my favorite, although I’m guessing that I would prefer her versions over the original recordings. The blues song was excellent. “Amazing Grace” on the banjo was a pleasantly unique stylistic adaptation. Chopin is Chopin. The use of visual media during “Circle Game” was a very creative idea. I think the DVD malfunction was a perfect accident – playing “Circle Game” over and over again for what seemed like ten minutes – how metaphorical. Whatever that last song was, it was hilarious. Courtney has so much expression in her voice and gestures. She would be an amazing actress. This recital was an A+. I’m beginning to wonder if Adley is required to play at everyone’s recital?

March 29, Andrea Clark & Stephanie Bobcik's Senior Recital

Damn, look at this program! Multi-colored printing! Photos! Bios! My program will be an 8 ½ by 11 sheet of white paper. It was a welcome change to see something other than a vocal major’s recital. Stephanie and Andrea were like yin and yang on stage, with the former smiling and giggling and the later serious and stoic. I enjoyed Bobciks’s original song “Millstadt, Illinois”. She has a good voice and shouldn’t be so timid about projecting it. I also liked her “Music Therapy Medley” because it seemed like a practical use of her skills related to music therapy with her desired population. Andrea is very skilled at the flute, although I’m not too fond of its sound which struggles to find a happy medium between wimpy and piercing. As such, I enjoyed the flute/piano duets with Adley much more than the flute solos and trio.

February 23, Yonder Mountain String Band

I never know what to buy my family for Christmas because they all have more money than I do and can afford to buy whatever they want for themselves. So, I’ve begun a trend of buying them tickets to events that they would not regularly think of attending. So this Christmas I bought my mom, dad, and uncle tickets to the Pageant to see the Yonder Mountain String Band. My uncle decided he didn’t want to “go into the city on a weekend” even though it was only University City, so I went in his place. I’d played a YMSB CD for my dad before and he dug it. It’s pretty traditional sounding bluegrass music played by young dudes. The band is made up a 4 players, mandolin, banjo, guitar, and upright bass. They all sing, sometimes in gorgeous multileveled harmonies. All of the instruments were acoustic, but plugged in or miked to fill the room. The sound in the Pageant is too reverby for my taste and it was hard to discern the lyrics of unfamiliar songs. I hate cover bands, but I love when real bands play covers in their own style. YMSB did the theme from the TV show Jackass, which is “Corona” by The Minutemen. They are all excellent musicians – as I think you have to be to play bluegrass, which is essentially country music but four times as fast. On studio recordings their songs are fairly succinct, but in a live setting they verge on the jam band border with extended solos for every group member. This may explain the majority of the crowd being dirty hippies. Since The Grateful Dead are dead, Phish is on hiatus, and Dave Matthews wasn’t in town, they all congregated at this concert. As soon as the first song started, the group in front of us lit up a huge joint. My parents complained about the cigarette smoke. I had to explain to them that people don’t generally pass lit cigarettes back and forth to each other. In the next two hours they must have smoked another five joints. Then the guy with the joints fell asleep. There was no opening band so YMSB played from 8:00 to midnight, taking just a 15 minute break. We left around 11:00 because my dad had the urge to go home and eat some Cool Ranch Doritos.

February 10, Music at Maryville

Because we’re learning about the string section in Arranging & Orchestration, I focused on watching the violin and cello, trying to be observant of bowing patterns, double stops, and the use of open strings. Mendelssohn’s piano trio in C was enjoyable. When the violin and cello played rhythmically identical parts they, indeed, seemed to be using the same bowing patterns. The difference in timbre between up-stroke and down-stroke was much more pronounced on the violin than on the cello. While I never saw any open strings played on the violin in this piece I saw the cellist play his lowest open string – a C. David Halen played very passionately and by the end of the piece I noticed some of the bow hairs had broken loose.

The second section of the concert was more hit or miss. It featured songs of a Latin flavor, but I had no idea whether Miran was singing in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, or other. The cello solo showed great proficiency, but was extremely dissonant and rhythmically confusing. I observed many double stops during this piece, most (if not all), utilizing open strings. My favorite selection was Ritual Fire Dance from (El Amor Brujo) by Manuel de Falla which delivered on the promise of its title.

February 9, Erika Althoff's Senior Recital

I’ve come to realize that I’m not usually impressed by the first half of a vocal major’s senior recital. This is not due to the performer, but due to the fact that seems to be where vocal majors are required to sing a bunch of songs by dead, white Europeans. The exception to this rule was the Mozart duet, which was very entertaining due to the movements and facial expressions of Erika and Erica. It was completely over-the-top and hilarious. I hope it was intended to be.

I was pleasantly surprised at the inclusion of several very modern pieces in the second half of the concert. Even though I was not familiar with “Come To Jesus”, “Only The World”, or “For Good” I found them pleasing due to their contemporary style. I thought the instrumentation of “May It Be” was a little awkward. Courtney was bowing long sustained notes on the bass while Gretchen was strumming a nylon string guitar on chord changes. The sharp attack and quick decay of the guitar along with the slow attack and long sustain of the bass made the rhythm a little confused. I think this could have been remedied either by more frequent strumming (like constant quarter notes instead of whole notes) or by the addition of a percussionist. The piece with Jaime on djembe had some balance problems. Even though Jaime seemed to be playing softly, she still tended to overpower Erika at points. This made me contemplate the amount of microphones and amplifiers I will probably need at my own recital.

Erika’s parents make good bagels.

December 2, Tracie Heuring's Senior Recital

Tracie has a beautiful voice. This concert had less foreign language music – good. Both of the duets were great. I’m still trying to figure out the rules on entering and leaving the stage. During Rachael’s recital there seemed to be and exit and entrance separating each language change. This concert didn’t seem to follow that pattern. The only song I recognized was “My Ship” because we played it in jazz band. I have the feeling I should have recognized the Neil Diamond song and the encore song, but I didn’t. The reception: I’ve never seen so many different types of deserts in one place. I had one of each.

November 2, Rachael Blanton’s Senior Recital

I had been getting less and less nervous about my own

senior recital. That all changed when I saw the liquid chocolate fountain, the harsh white stage lights, and the elegant purple evening gown. Will I have to wear a suit? Do I still own a suit? The whole thing seems so formal as to be uncomfortable. I’d much rather play in a bar where the majority of people are more interested in hooking up or getting inebriated than listening to me. And what’s the deal with the foreign languages? I’m all for music therapy majors being held to the same standards as music performance majors, but I don’t particularly see the point for either. I guess I’d prefer to know what the singer is singing without having to read it in the program notes. Rachael seemed much more comfortable with the English songs in the second half of the performance, and I enjoyed them much more. (I’m so glad I play guitar so I don’t have to worry about what to do with my hands.) She really seemed to be having fun with “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy”. I wish vocal majors’ concerts could have more “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy” and less “Vergebliches Standchen.” I’m sure they feel the same way. Music is supposed to be fun. Right?