February 28th, 2008Latin jazz, choral pop concerts upcoming
Music students will showcase the skills they have learned in their classes for a midterm grade next week. It is a mandatory grade for students enrolled in ensemble music classes to perform and attend these concerts in the auditorium of McAllister Fine Arts Center.Music Professor Alice Gomez will direct the Latin jazz percussion ensemble class in performing Latin jazz style compositions at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. The group will perform compositions from Stevie Wonder, Duke Ellington and a Latin version of “Flight of the Bumble Bee.”The Latin jazz percussion ensemble consists of 10 members.”We practice for this a lot to see how they pull it off onstage,” Gomez said.In a departure from the calendar of concerts for the music department, music Professor Peter Kline will direct the brass ensemble class instead of a band concert at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The ensemble will perform compositions by Richard Wagner and play a march usually played by a band. The instruments include french violins, trombones, baritones and tuba. “This is the first brass ensemble concert in a while,” Kline said.Music Professor Stephen Gollihar, will direct a jazz ensemble performance with a variety of famous jazz and Latin jazz compositions at 2 p.m. Thursday.The compositions include “Easy Groove” by Bob Mintzer, “A Child’s Blues” by Phil Woods, “A Riff in Time” by Jack Feierman, “Just Foolin” by Sammy Nestico, “Coral Reef” by Neal Hefti, “Moving Right Along,” “Powder Blue” and “Contessa” by Lennie Niehaus.The instruments used will be four saxophones, four drums, four trumpets, three trombones, two guitars, two bass guitars, and one piano, Gollihar said.Voice Professor Cynthia Sanchez will direct a choral pop concert at 1 p.m. Feb. 29. Students will sing selections from “West Side Story” and Richard Rogers pieces. The chamber singers will perform pieces from The Manhattan Transfer, an American vocal group from New York famous for mixing jazz, big band and popular styles of music, and Take 6, an African-American a cappella gospel music sextet.”We don’t do pop music often. These compositions will not be quite so serious,” Sanchez said.All concerts are free.
