Author: sophiascribbles

Sophia is a second-year chemical engineering student at the University of Michigan. Outside of classes, she plays violin in the Michigan Pops Orchestra and teaches music in Detroit with Seven Mile!

REVIEW: Trace Bundy

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After an exam-dense week, Trace Bundy’s show was a breath of fresh air to end my Friday. On top of his flashy fingerstyle techniques, Bundy’s playful personality shined through. Maintaining a conversational tone throughout the performance, he truly created an environment that felt much like a laid-back living room jam session with friends.

Because it was my first time at The Ark, I did not know what to expect in terms of layout or general audience demographic. The venue seems to be run by volunteers who are all very passionate about sharing great music. I was pleasantly surprised by the casual seating around mini tables scattered across an open floor plan, so my friends and I grabbed a couple of hot chocolates from the stand and settled down in the front.

Bundy opened the show by giving a quick overview of the different fingerstyle techniques he typically incorporates into his compositions, including tapping, percussive thumping, and looping. This really set the stage for an ongoing discussion about the technical elements that were showcased throughout the set list, which was great if you like to geek out over that stuff (like me).

Each of the songs Bundy included in the set seemed to highlight a different concept, which kept the performance engaging and showcased his range. Here were some of my favorite bits:

  • Frankie Valli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off You. Bundy introduced this as a recent project he took on inspired by the song’s ambiguous chord progressions, which he achieved using a myriad of customized capos (all at the same time, of course). Capos work by clipping to the neck of the guitar and pressing down across all the strings so that the resulting notes you play are shifted up by the same interval. However, by sawing the end off a capo or drilling a tunnel through, Bundy is able to only shift certain strings at a time.
  • Dueling Ninjas. This is one of Bundy’s original compositions from his Adapt album. Played entirely by finger tapping, he explained how each hand represented a ninja with a different personality.
  • Overtime. Bundy demonstrated how he used a delay pedal to create an underlying beat at one tempo and play in between at a slightly different tempo. This created an interesting rhythmical texture and hurt my head trying to grasp how he kept track of the beats.
  • Love Song. My personal favorite! Once again, Bundy brought out a handful of capos and somehow incorporated the procedure of clipping them on/off and sliding them around into the song like a choreographed dance.

I encourage everyone to keep Trace Bundy on their radar! I have a lot of respect for musicians who are not only eager to share their thought processes but are also able to present them in an accessible way to get everyone excited about something like music theory. Speaking to him after the show, I found that he is also just a kind and down-to-earth person. 

PREVIEW: Trace Bundy

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Dubbed “Acoustic Ninja” by fans, Bundy crafts intricate guitar arrangements of popular songs and original compositions using harmonics, looping, and multiple capos. His dazzling techniques have taken him across 28 countries and garnered over 45 million views on Youtube. Back for his mini Midwest tour, the seasoned performer will be playing at The Ark this Saturday!

With a nickname like Acoustic Ninja, I felt compelled to dig deeper into his story. Outside of classical music, I love following fingerstyle guitar and the likes of Sungha Jung, Ichika Nito, Tim Henson, and Yvette Young. To my surprise, I found out that a young Sungha Jung had opened several of Bundy’s shows in Korea and toured with him in the US back in 2009 (check out their Billie Jean arrangement!). 

Fingerstyle guitar is not tied to a single genre of music and is mainly distinguished by plucking the strings with all five fingers rather than with a pick. Bundy has a personal bio on his website describing how he discovered a love for music theory and was shaped by the up-and-coming wave of musicians developing this complex playing style. I could definitely relate to the excitement fingerstyle brings, as there is so much space for innovation and experimentation. It has gained even more popularity in recent years, with younger guitarists like Marcin Patrzalek on America’s Got Talent receiving widespread attention. I look forward to seeing what Bundy brings to the table, especially since he once acted as a mentor figure for one of my guitar inspirations.

Join me to see Trace Bundy live at The Ark this Saturday, October 8th @8PM! 

Event info: https://theark.org/event/trace-bundy-221008/

REVIEW: The Philadelphia Orchestra

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Call me biased, but one of the best parts of being a violinist has to be the concertos. They’re iconic, flashy, and for the musician playing, career-defining. The Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1, in particular, has a special place in my heart, so I was delighted to hear that concertmaster David Kim would be performing it alongside the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Hill Auditorium in concert last Saturday evening. A quintessential staple of violin repertoire, the piece truly comes alive with the many different interpretations by its players.

Opening the concert, however, was a more avant-garde piece by contemporary composer Missy Mazzoli. The Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) sneaks in with a distinctly soft, grainy texture provided by violin and harmonica before expanding to bellowing slides in the lower strings. A mixture of serene and ominous, the composition gives off the impression of irregular, interfering sound waves to convey the vastness of space. Due to its unique instrumentation, they had to take some time to switch out quite a few instruments before the following concerto!

If I were to give one word to describe each movement of the Bruch, I would say intense, longing, and triumphant. However, what makes the concerto so compelling is the complexity of emotion that lies within each category. The violin enters the first movement with a subtle, unassuming G, before erupting into crisp double stops and finger gymnastics. The orchestral passages here, a textbook example of tension-building, are somehow just as attractive as the solo. David Kim’s version had an unmistakably sweet quality, which particularly shined when he got to the slower second movement. From the balcony, I had a great view of his precise bow control which allowed for both a timid, “held back” sound and an unhindered singing voice above the orchestra. In contrast, Kim’s third movement was light, clean, and playful despite the heaviness of all the chords. It was a pleasure to be able to hear in person.

Concluding the concert was Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 in C Major. I had never heard it before, but a particular amusing comment written by Doyle Armbrust of the Spektral Quartet in the program guided my listening: “Franz Schubert wanted to be an opera composer with all the desperation of a hollow-eyed film school grad shopping a script from his garden-level studio in Burbank. My take on him is that he would have been a lot like that one friend — you know, the one who appears to have taken up permanent residence on your couch, but is somehow redeemed by his charisma in conversation?”

The symphony interestingly begins with just horns. A lighthearted melody gets passed around the orchestra like a breath of fresh air—this is later bolstered by bass drum and big, operatic tuttis. Nathalie Stutzmann conducts with an infectious swagger, which I enjoyed watching here. My favorite movement was probably the second one, opening with a plucky oboe solo over a quirky, mysterious, tiptoeing base of strings and interrupted with sudden outbursts of emotion.

Overall, the concert program brought forth a lovely combination of familiar and unfamiliar sounds. As expected, the Philadelphia Orchestra did justice to these works!

REVIEW: Fiddler on the Roof in Concert

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Confession: I had never seen Fiddler on the Roof prior to attending what UMS called a “lightly-staged concert performance” of the iconic Broadway-musical-made film over the weekend. 

However, I quickly wished I did–the production was so clearly made with a communal love and passion that I felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of easter eggs and small artistic decisions that I felt I was missing out on. Even from a newcomer’s perspective, I found the story to be easily relatable, the music heart-pumping and familiar, and the actors and dancers to be absolutely phenomenal.

As a violinist, I was immediately drawn in by the opening scene: a solo violinist leisurely traveling across the stage, a single dancer with outstretched arms following along with disjunct flowy movements, the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra nestled comfortably in the background. John Williams’ opening cadenza is plucky, sweet, and edgy, with an almost improvised quality. The violinist played it with the practiced ease of both a street performer and virtuoso, leaning into the music’s gratuitous slides and stringy texture.

Additionally, it was a pleasure to see SMTD students share the stage with Broadway singers Chuck Cooper and Loretta Ables Sayre. Ella Olesen, Kate Cummings, and Kelly Lomonte as Tzeitel, Hodel, and Chava were charming and relatable as we got to watch them grow as characters. Chuck Cooper/Tevye’s interactions with his daughters were precious and sincere, while other times he easily commanded the stage with his character’s charisma and humorous asides. Furthermore, Diego Rodriguez and Christopher Tamayo as Motel Kamzoil and Perchik gave memorable performances as we were prompted to celebrate and sympathize with them throughout the story.

A highlight of the show I didn’t anticipate was the dancing. Only working with the sliver of stage available in front of the orchestra, the dancers launched themselves in tight spins and sharp, electrifying moves. A particular moment that stood out to me was the bottle dance during the wedding scene where the dancers linked arms and slid forward on their knees in giant, synchronized lunges whilst balancing bottles on their hats. It was ridiculously exciting. 

A beautiful collaboration between UM students and decorated professionals, Fiddler on the Roof in Concert was the production I didn’t know I needed to see. After this, I definitely plan to keep my eye out for future student theater productions!

REVIEW: Candlelight Concert

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One perk of living on campus that I’ve often taken for granted is its sheer proximity to so many great music events. As a freshman living in the dorms, this proximity was made especially apparent when I was able to simply hop over next door to the Michigan Union last Saturday evening to check out the Candelight Concert—which to me, felt like a nice personal win. 

The concert featured 15 SMTD undergraduate piano students in what was a charming blend between a professional studio recital and a laid-back show-and-tell among friends. Each piece was prefaced with a quick blurb by the performer, introducing themselves with a hand-held mic and highlighting what bits of contextualization they felt were most pertinent to experiencing the music. To add to this casual intimacy, candles piled on top of the grand piano cast a warm glow on the performers’ faces as they played while even more candles lined the rows of chairs. Warm lighting typically helps to shrink the size of a room, but in combination with the extra tall ceilings of the Rogel Ballroom, created a stripped-back bubble of space. There was also a sizeable turnout—the majority of which was notably fellow students (something you don’t often see at classical concerts), which added to the welcoming atmosphere.

The program itself was designed to feel accessible to the general public, showcasing iconic classical pieces while mixing in a few less familiar ones. From a musician’s perspective, playing these widely recognized pieces is definitely a double-edged sword—they are much easier to scrutinize, and so many interpretations already exist that it is a daunting task to bring something new up to the table. However, I was pleasantly delighted by the performances of the night. Lesley Sung’s Moonlight Sonata opening was thoughtful and breathtaking, keeping the right hand triplets solid but not overpowering and leaning into the phrasing of the top melody line. Additionally, Aleks Shameti’s Chopin Nocturne Op. 9 no 2 exuded a graceful effortlessness—his dynamic control allowed for a pillow-soft left hand and a beautiful push and pull throughout the piece. Jacob Wang’s Tchaikovsky Andante Maestoso was complex and majestic, concluding the concert with huge waves of sound. 

Out of the pieces I wasn’t already familiar with, I truly enjoyed Sua Lee’s Schumann-Liszt Widmung. Her playing was bold and emotional with audible breaths between phrases, distinctly echoing the snippet of her personality I got through her introduction to the piece. Moving over to the jazz pieces, I felt that Eric Yu’s The Man I Love fit nicely into the atmosphere with rolling chords that filled the room like a warm bubble. I also loved Robert Yan’s Somewhere Over the Rainbow arrangement, which incorporated wispy, delicate Debussy-esque passages.

Overall, I thought the concert was a lovely experience. I’d like to congratulate all the performers and thank them for sharing their music!

PREVIEW: Candlelight Concert

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As the weather continues to treat us with frigid temperatures and icy gray slush, warm yourself up at the Candlelight Concert this Saturday at 8:00 PM in the Michigan Union Rogel Ballroom!

An entirely student-led event, the concert will feature 15 undergraduate pianists performing iconic classical and jazz music. According to organizer Jacob Wang, they have amassed around 750 LED candles that will decorate the piano and aisles to bring guests a cozy visual experience. Additionally, any extra profits from the event will go towards the piano department for scholarships, maintenance, and projects.

With a special focus on making the concert accessible to students and the general public, the program will incorporate a variety of genres and well-known pieces. I always get excited when I see Romantic composers on the list, but I also look forward to hearing Gershwin’s The Man I Love and I’ve Got a Crush on You, as well as Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Plus, tickets are free for UM students! What are you waiting for?

Event info: https://events.umich.edu/event/91755