Recital to showcase collaborations by professors
By KIMBERLINA ROCHA / The Collegian
Close your eyes and let the music tell a story.
That’s the message behind Trumpet Project 2005, a recital led by
trumpet professor Michael Caldwell in collaboration with his colleagues
from the music department. The event will be held today at 7:30 p.m. in
the Concert Hall.
The ensemble will perform songs from different musical genres, portraying
moods that vary from aggressive to passive.
“It’s not about chords, scales and rhythms,” Caldwell
said of the music. “It’s more about colors, moods and shapes.”
The music swings to emotional depths with Paul Hindemith’s “Sonate,”
a piece Caldwell will perform with music professor Natasha Kislenko on
piano, or soar with the free-spirited and out of control duo with music
department chair and professor Matt Darling on percussion.
Some of the music ranges from picturesque to humorous, like the concerto
for the trumpet and the alto saxophone played by music professor Alan
Durst.
“All the pieces have tremendous shifts in emotion,” Caldwell
said. “So come with your car in neutral and let the music work on
you.”
Even though the recital is titled the Trumpet Project, the concept is
about working with other instruments and hearing the trumpet in different
settings, Caldwell said.
In previous recitals, Caldwell has worked with one or two other people.
He said his wife, Pamela, usually played all the accompaniments. This
will be his first recital where different musicians perform every piece.
“We decided to branch out and do things with other people,”
Caldwell said.
One of those things is a duet with Pamela and Kislenko on piano, performing
the piano-four hands.
Caldwell said it’s rare to have pieces done by two pianists on
one piano because there is not a lot of music written for two people.
Caldwell said working with his colleagues has made him feel more motivated
and they each bring a unique quality to the ensemble.
“They’re all exceptional artists,” he said. “They
have made me feel more enamored in what’s happening.”
Music professor Hope Munro-Smith found performing in the group a learning
experience.
“They’re excellent musicians and I‘ve learned a lot
of new things,” said Munro-Smith.
Munro-Smith will play the steel pan with music professor Corey Whitehead
on the guitar and with Caldwell, in the group’s rendition of the
Gypsy Kings’ “Los Peces en el Rio,” or “The Fish
in the River.”
The song is a traditional Spanish Christmas carol.
This piece is folk-inspired and is the least formal of the music genres
on the program, Caldwell said.
“We’re not trying to make this like a performance where everything’s
perfect and cultured,” Caldwell said. “This is going to be
very folk-like and informal.”
The music from the Trumpet Project may not be the kind of popular music
most people listen to on the radio, but Caldwell said they should experience
something outside their everyday routine.
“There is no pop culture to sell,” Caldwell said. “In
a way, that is an attractive element to some people.
When you hear something so different than from what you’re used
to, it changes you, in a way.”
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