On September 17th, 2009 I attended a concert in Bryan Hall. Robert Dick, a very well known flutist came and performed many of his compositions. Every one of his pieces were different from anything I’ve ever heard. He did things with the flute that I didn’t even know was possible. One of his pieces, Bablonish Gabble, was based off of words internet spammers use. Words that make no sense when you put them together. He would also make weird sounds by blowing extra air into the flute and pressing down on the keys. One of the things I found quite fascinating was when he showed us the head joint he invented. It’s a head joint that is able to make a glissando by sliding. He played many different flutes including the bass flute in F which is the only one of its kind. Though the concert was pretty long, I was not bored for one minute.
The Sphinx Chamber Orchestra played at 3 PM on September 13th in Kobacker Hall. The orchestra is comprised of all African American and Latino musicians because they want to spread the love of classical music to these specific populations. I have seen many amazing concerts, but I consider my experience with the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra to be one of my favorites. I was not sure what to expect when I arrived that day because I had not heard of a group that only showcases African American and Latino players. What I heard and saw though, was amazing. It was not just the music, but the performance quality. Every player on Kobacker’s stage seemed to be enjoying themselves. They seemed like they were really playing with each other and connecting through the music. As music majors, I feel we often forget why we are here; to study music. We forget that music is supposed to be enjoyable and is supposed to bring us all together, not to make us compete with each other. The Sphinx Chamber orchestra reminded me of this and it is something I will remember for the rest of my career.
The University Men’s Chorus under the direction of Timothy J. Cloeter, and assistant conductor Christopher L. Clark had their fall concert on December 4, 2009 at 8 o’clock P.M. in Kobacker Hall. The University Men’s Chorus wowed the crowd with sixteen beautifully rich pieces in a variety of styles and languages such as classics like Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, and Ave Maria. Not only did the University Men’s Chorus perform but the men of the chorus were given a brief break when the two comical and very talented Varsity Quartets and and these always entertaining HeeBeeBG’s took the stage to perform a few selections. My favorite parts of the performance included the HeeBeeBG’s rendition of the the Twelve Days of Christmas, and the end of the concert when almost everybody stood up to sing the Alma Mater. The Twelve Days of Christmas medley was one of my favorite parts because I love when people put their own spin on well known classics. Finally, when all those people stood up to sing the Alma Mater; it created a truly amazing and breathtaking moment that I was truly fortunate to be a part of.
On Friday December fourth, I attended the University Men’s Chorus concert. I must say that I really enjoyed this concert. The University Men’s Chorus is huge and they made great music together. I couldn’t believe how low some of the singers can sing. There are many different singers and it’s clear that although they are one unit, each member adds their own personality to the music. Maybe not the in their voices, but when you watch them, they all look like they’re having fun, and that is really important. When that many people join a group to sing, it seems like it would be difficult to have different styles of music, but not for the University Men’s Chorus, they sang many different styles and songs. The concert also included two quartets and the HeeBeeBGs. I hadn’t seen any of the quartets here perform so that was fun and interesting. It was just one more style that was added to this concert.
On November 19th, 2009, on the Bryan Recital Hall stage, Alan Feinberg performed a wonderful selection of piano literature. Feinberg has premiered over 300 pieces by composers such as John Adams, Milton Babbitt, John Harbison, Steve Reich, and Charles Wuorinen. He has most recently premiered a piece with the Cleveland Orchestra called Emerson Concerto by Charles Ives. He has received four Grammy nominations for “Best Instrumentalist with Orchestra” and has lately been working as programmer/presenter. He is world-renowned. Feinberg’s program consisted of mostly new music. Le Chocard des Alpes was a piece that described the sunrise over the French alpes, but it wasn’t at all what you would expect a sunrise to sound like. It was full of clashing and clamoring. Another piece called High Window was about just that, a high, out of reach window. It was full of lonely tones and empty space. The piece that I enjoyed the most was Etude #2 which was played all with the left hand. At the end of the concert Feinberg graced the audience with an encore, which was a Chopin piece. He was an amazing pianist with much skill and conviction in the music that he played. It was wonderful to see how much passion he had for the music he played
Nexus performed at 8 o’clock in Kobacker hall on the eighth of October. At this concert the world renowned percussion group Nexus came and performed more new music via percussion instruments. The instruments they used were awesome. There were some that I have seen before and others that I had never imagined would be considered or even think of being played. While I like percussion features there are a few that I don’t really care for. Such features I will remain unnamed but there are a few that just make me wonder who wrote this how and why is it music and where did they get the idea for this piece was it something someone brought up in a brain storming session or did they just start doing it and said yes we can call this music. I really have no idea how they could call beating a rhythm into a drum repeatedly for about fifteen to twenty minutes and call it drumming.
Caitlin Guenther
Nursing Home
On December 10 we went to the nursing home here in Bowling Green to sing some Christmas carols to the residence. Before we sang there was a brass ensemble that also played a couple Christmas songs. They were really good. Then our group went up. We had about five songs to sing for them. I remember after the first song seeing how happy they all were after we sang. It was really glad that we were giving them a good time. After we had finished the songs we thought it would be cool to ask them if they had any requests. So they would shout out some songs and we would attempt to see them. It ended up going pretty well for the most part. Some of the people were even dancing in their chairs. It was really nice to make them so happy. I would love to do this again sometime. I had a lot of fun.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
On September 17th, 2009 I attended a concert in Bryan Hall. Robert Dick, a very well known flutist came and performed many of his compositions. Every one of his pieces were different from anything I’ve ever heard. He did things with the flute that I didn’t even know was possible. One of his pieces, Bablonish Gabble, was based off of words internet spammers use. Words that make no sense when you put them together. He would also make weird sounds by blowing extra air into the flute and pressing down on the keys. One of the things I found quite fascinating was when he showed us the head joint he invented. It’s a head joint that is able to make a glissando by sliding. He played many different flutes including the bass flute in F which is the only one of its kind. Though the concert was pretty long, I was not bored for one minute.
November 27th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Lauren Oberle
BGSU 1000
The Sphinx Chamber Orchestra played at 3 PM on September 13th in Kobacker Hall. The orchestra is comprised of all African American and Latino musicians because they want to spread the love of classical music to these specific populations. I have seen many amazing concerts, but I consider my experience with the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra to be one of my favorites. I was not sure what to expect when I arrived that day because I had not heard of a group that only showcases African American and Latino players. What I heard and saw though, was amazing. It was not just the music, but the performance quality. Every player on Kobacker’s stage seemed to be enjoying themselves. They seemed like they were really playing with each other and connecting through the music. As music majors, I feel we often forget why we are here; to study music. We forget that music is supposed to be enjoyable and is supposed to bring us all together, not to make us compete with each other. The Sphinx Chamber orchestra reminded me of this and it is something I will remember for the rest of my career.
December 8th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
University Men’s Chorus
The University Men’s Chorus under the direction of Timothy J. Cloeter, and assistant conductor Christopher L. Clark had their fall concert on December 4, 2009 at 8 o’clock P.M. in Kobacker Hall. The University Men’s Chorus wowed the crowd with sixteen beautifully rich pieces in a variety of styles and languages such as classics like Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, and Ave Maria. Not only did the University Men’s Chorus perform but the men of the chorus were given a brief break when the two comical and very talented Varsity Quartets and and these always entertaining HeeBeeBG’s took the stage to perform a few selections. My favorite parts of the performance included the HeeBeeBG’s rendition of the the Twelve Days of Christmas, and the end of the concert when almost everybody stood up to sing the Alma Mater. The Twelve Days of Christmas medley was one of my favorite parts because I love when people put their own spin on well known classics. Finally, when all those people stood up to sing the Alma Mater; it created a truly amazing and breathtaking moment that I was truly fortunate to be a part of.
December 8th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
On Friday December fourth, I attended the University Men’s Chorus concert. I must say that I really enjoyed this concert. The University Men’s Chorus is huge and they made great music together. I couldn’t believe how low some of the singers can sing. There are many different singers and it’s clear that although they are one unit, each member adds their own personality to the music. Maybe not the in their voices, but when you watch them, they all look like they’re having fun, and that is really important. When that many people join a group to sing, it seems like it would be difficult to have different styles of music, but not for the University Men’s Chorus, they sang many different styles and songs. The concert also included two quartets and the HeeBeeBGs. I hadn’t seen any of the quartets here perform so that was fun and interesting. It was just one more style that was added to this concert.
December 8th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
On November 19th, 2009, on the Bryan Recital Hall stage, Alan Feinberg performed a wonderful selection of piano literature. Feinberg has premiered over 300 pieces by composers such as John Adams, Milton Babbitt, John Harbison, Steve Reich, and Charles Wuorinen. He has most recently premiered a piece with the Cleveland Orchestra called Emerson Concerto by Charles Ives. He has received four Grammy nominations for “Best Instrumentalist with Orchestra” and has lately been working as programmer/presenter. He is world-renowned. Feinberg’s program consisted of mostly new music. Le Chocard des Alpes was a piece that described the sunrise over the French alpes, but it wasn’t at all what you would expect a sunrise to sound like. It was full of clashing and clamoring. Another piece called High Window was about just that, a high, out of reach window. It was full of lonely tones and empty space. The piece that I enjoyed the most was Etude #2 which was played all with the left hand. At the end of the concert Feinberg graced the audience with an encore, which was a Chopin piece. He was an amazing pianist with much skill and conviction in the music that he played. It was wonderful to see how much passion he had for the music he played
December 8th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Nexus performed at 8 o’clock in Kobacker hall on the eighth of October. At this concert the world renowned percussion group Nexus came and performed more new music via percussion instruments. The instruments they used were awesome. There were some that I have seen before and others that I had never imagined would be considered or even think of being played. While I like percussion features there are a few that I don’t really care for. Such features I will remain unnamed but there are a few that just make me wonder who wrote this how and why is it music and where did they get the idea for this piece was it something someone brought up in a brain storming session or did they just start doing it and said yes we can call this music. I really have no idea how they could call beating a rhythm into a drum repeatedly for about fifteen to twenty minutes and call it drumming.
December 11th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Caitlin Guenther
Nursing Home
On December 10 we went to the nursing home here in Bowling Green to sing some Christmas carols to the residence. Before we sang there was a brass ensemble that also played a couple Christmas songs. They were really good. Then our group went up. We had about five songs to sing for them. I remember after the first song seeing how happy they all were after we sang. It was really glad that we were giving them a good time. After we had finished the songs we thought it would be cool to ask them if they had any requests. So they would shout out some songs and we would attempt to see them. It ended up going pretty well for the most part. Some of the people were even dancing in their chairs. It was really nice to make them so happy. I would love to do this again sometime. I had a lot of fun.