Ronald McTrump – Page 3

REVIEW: Sounds from the East to the West

March 31, 2019August 5, 2019 Ronald McTrump Leave a comment

Two of my recent musical passions are classical music and Chinese pop music. Recently I have been listening to Johannes Brahms second symphony and the Chinese band Sodagreen. This concert wasn’t a blend of classical music and Chinese pop music, but it is a western take on Chinese music.

Grace came out to play the first song in a beautiful red dress. What was most interesting about this first piece is that Grace played with only one hand. I am not sure if this is how the piece is supposed to be played, if she was showing off, or was doing a technical exercise, but I can only imagine it is easier to play any song with two hands. My favorite song by Grace was the second song she played Jasmine Flower Fantasia because of how different her right and left hand played in this piece. Her right hand played a peaceful quiet background which sounded like raindrops while her left hand more forcefully played the actual melody. Her left hand reminded me of someone busily basking away, if that makes any sense.

Grace’s style in this concert was very focused around emphasizing loud notes. It was like she would just buildup until she hit a few key important notes and then would start again. For the piano the loudness of the note played is extremely important. Whether the note is banged by a hand crashing down or carefully pressed by a finger makes it a completely different note. This is what I think distinguishes the piano most from other instruments like the guitar.

Oliver Jia was a piano master. He style was fast and quiet. I am not sure what the technical term is, but he would hit a few notes very fast so it sounded like musical notes in a flurry. When doing this if he messed up one note or missed the tempo, it would be a very apparent mistake, so thankfully he played this perfectly. A lot of his songs had a showtooney feel to them, which I assume was the western influence. My favorite song Oliver played was The Bright March in Liu Tianhua Impromptus. It really sounded like a march.

The second half of the performance they played together. Even though I had my wisdom teeth pulled the day before, I felt extremely comfortable sitting there and listening to the beautiful music. Classical music brings up emotions in me that I can’t communicate with words. It was a remarkable performance and I was very happy to see a standing ovation at the end.

REVIEW: Roulette

March 31, 2019April 3, 2019 Ronald McTrump Leave a comment

This show is like watching a cool dialogue between a couple that easily could be you and your significant other. There are only two characters in the whole play, a girl and a guy in a relationship. The whole play is in one scene, their apartment, and there is very limited use of props. In fact, the actors themselves did all the scene setting themselves. I enjoyed this because it made two aspects of the play super important, the dialogue and the relationship between the two characters. These were all the substance the play had, so if the dialogue wasn’t clever and well-written, and the relationship between the guy and girl was poorly acted, the play would have been miserable to watch, which it wasn’t. Sometimes cool props and extras running around just make for a pleasant distraction from the intense moments of the play. This play felt intense and that was because the actors did a phenomenal job.

I enjoyed that the male part was loaded with poetic and deep lines. He also had an amazing voice that sounded so genuine when he spoke. After many of his romantic lines I would anticipate the couple to kiss, only to see an intense look and then another question asked. Finally, the kiss did happen after he said the most important lines for the first time “I love you” ironically after a story about puking. My favorite dialogue during the play was when they were talking about how ” oh uh ya” is more like a no than a yes. This part was funny and made me realize concretely “oh uh ya is not yes”, “yes is yes”. The actor did an awesome job of acting when he was talking about his previous assault as a child. All of a sudden he felt very vulnerable and insecure from the way he held his leg and gave quick one word replies.

I enjoyed relating to this play as I am sure anyone who has ever gone through a relationship or breakup has. The line that really stuck with me was when the guy asked “Do I hurt you more often than I make you happy?” because this is a question I always contemplate when I am dating someone. The female role also reminded me of how I feel my significant others talked. I could tell that the play was co-written by a girl and a guy because the feminine and masculine roles were defined really well. Throughout the play the girl and guy had different ways of presenting information and used different nuanced language that really felt authentic.

The couple was portrayed to be a few years out of college working adults, but the vibe I got was definitely an immature college relationship vibe. The way they joked around with each other and how they would talk at times made me think I was watching a college relationship. However, the actors both being college students definitely biased my opinion. For the final vodka shot that was taken, the acting was good, but I was confused about why it was drunk. I felt that it was less clear and had less build up than the previous five shots. Unless this was intentional, I think there needed to be more dramatic substance leading to the final shot and more suspense about whether it will be drunk or not. It kind of felt out of the blue and sudden, which took away a lot of potential suspense.

It was interesting how insignificant the play made the fact that the couple shared different religious values. The boyfriend even said he doesn’t believe she will go to heaven because she isn’t Christian. I was expecting this to escalate, but not only did they not take a shot over religion, they didn’t even seem to have any friction over the topic, it just led to some playful joking around. I guess in modern times shared religious values is becoming less and less significant in relationships, and the writers realize that.

The play was very good and well-written, especially for college students. The dialogue was clever, relatable, and realistic. However, a dialogue is really what the play was, there wasn’t much plot or character development or creativity in this sense. In the end, I enjoyed watching it, but it isn’t a play I would want to watch a second time.

REVIEW: Beth Nielsen Chapman and David Wilcox

March 29, 2019March 29, 2019 Ronald McTrump Leave a comment

After a tough week I was looking forward to a relaxing concert. The ark does quiet-comfortable concerts perfectly. The dark small intimate atmosphere fits slow music very well. The performer’s mics weren’t working for the first 20 minutes or so, which allowed us to hear multiple songs unplugged. This was actually my favorite part of the concert. I could hear everything perfectly without the mics, because the ark is small enough to support unplugged music. I think soft singing and acoustic guitars sound better this way. There was a stillness in the air that disappeared as soon as the mics started working.

David and Beth’s music styles were a lot more similar than I was expecting or hoping for, but the content of their songs, the lyrics, metaphors, themes, and meaning, were drastically different. David was like a philosopher. His songs all had deep, often transformative meanings. He sang songs about the political state of our country and related it to a winter storm. He sang a song about emptying our minds, which made me think of the Buddhism class I am taking. He even quoted Abraham Lincoln in one of his songs. My favorite song of his was a song about how we are only responsible for the things in this world we can change, and that we shouldn’t feel responsible from all the bad news happening around us. He used water and the ocean as a recurring theme throughout this song.

Beth sang songs about love. All her songs seemed to relate to the happiness or sadness or mysteriousness of love. Beth has had a very impactful and emotional love life. She has lost two loved ones to brain cancer. It was remarkable how easily she was able to speak about her past love history. My favorite quote of Beths was when she said that Grief is like a boulder in our path that we can’t go around, under, or over. We just have to wait for the rain to wear it down into sand. The only way through grief is time. Beth had a beautiful voice which I actually thought fit the piano more than the guitar. All my favorite songs of her’s were songs played on the piano.

David and Beth would switch off playing songs, which made me wonder why they were even performing together. They only played two songs together the whole, and these were the best songs. I don’t see the point in them performing together if all they are going to do is take turns performing songs. They should learn eachothers so they can perform them together. Even songs that they wrote together, they would split in half instead of playing it together.

PREVIEW: Roulette

March 28, 2019March 28, 2019 Ronald McTrump Leave a comment

This a Basement Arts Show, which means it is completely directed, performed, and ran by Students. It also means that this show is FREE!!!! What is even more special about this basement arts show is that it was written by Michigan Students, Kyle Prue and Kathleen Taylor. So it is a special opportunity to see this play, at the place it was created, before it becomes famous.

This show is at the Newman Studio in Walgreen Drama Center. Watch it Friday (March 29) at 7pm and 11pm or on Saturday (March 30) at 7pm.

This is the description from BA facebook: Preston returns home one night to Emma. The conversation they have opens up the floodgates of every problem between them; all of the secrets they’ve kept from one another, everything they are too afraid to say. Preston suggests a solution—a drinking game. The rules of the game dictate that they pour six shots and ask each other honest, essential questions about the nature of their relationship. At any time, if someone wants to kill a topic or doesn’t want to answer the question, they take a shot. If they finish all six shots, it means their relationship is beyond saving and they have to break up. Roulette asks us to consider whether human relationships are built on mutual effort or some uncontrollable, cosmic force.

Preview: David Wilcox & Beth Nielsen Chapman

March 21, 2019March 21, 2019 Ronald McTrump Leave a comment

This show is at The Ark (316 S. Main Street), which is one of the best music venues in Ann Arbor. It is a small, intimate location that still attracts big names. Also, the Ark is non-profit, which is always respectable. This show is March 28th (Next Thursday) at 8pm. Tickets are $20.

I’m super excited for this show because it combines pop and country music. These artists don’t have a history of performing with each other, which will make an interesting dynamic on stage.

Beth Nielsen Chapman is an accomplished musician in the Songwriters hall of fame with seven number hits. David Wilcox has been producing albums and writing music for movies since the 1980’s. Whereas Beth Nielsen Chapman is a country and pop artist, David Wilcox focuses on folk music.

Here is a song by each artist to check out:

PREVIEW: Sounds from the East to West

March 19, 2019March 19, 2019 Ronald McTrump Leave a comment

This is a Chinese piano concert featuring Oliver Jia & Jiyuan Grace Zhang. It is Saturday, Mach 30, 2019 from 12:30 – 2 pm at the Britton Recital Hall in E.V. Moore Building. FREE concert, so definitely check it out. Also, this piano concert will be very different from what you are used to hearing because the songs all have an East influence, hence the name of the concert. This concert is guaranteed to relieve your stress.

Oliver Jia is a music professor at The University of Texas Rio Grand Valley, with degrees from Yale, Julliard and U of M.

Jiyuan Grace Zhang is a U of M graduate.

These are the songs they will be playing:

Man Jiang Hong – Prelude (2002), composed by Chu Wang-Hua

Jasmine Flower Fantasia (2003), composed by Chu Wang-Hua

Liu Tianhua Impromptus (1998), composed by Cui Shi Guang

Longing for my love (1991), composed by Dan Zhao-Yi

Pi Huang (1995), composed by Zhang Zhao

(Intermission)

Yellow River Concerto, composed by Xian Xianghai