Be sure to make it out for tonight’s performance of the school’s chamber jazz ensembles. The performance is at 8pm in the Stamps Auditorium of the Walgreen Drama Center. The event is totally free as one of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance’s over 900 annual shows. The college offers many different opportunities students and faculty from both within SMTD and without to participate in chamber ensembles of various size, genre, and difficulty level.
I’m excited to go to this performance as an amateur jazz lover always looking to expand my knowledge and taste in jazz. I’m hoping for there to be a big band style ensemble as I’m hoping to branch out a bit from my typical taste in jazz which is mostly smaller ensembles from around the 1950s. Most of my experience with modern jazz has been Kenny G or the horrible “watercolors” smooth, elevator jazz station my parents love, so my impression of jazz after the 1960s is generally abysmal. I know that there has to be good modern jazz out there though so hopefully this performance will be a step in the right direction and introduce me to some new sounds and composers.
REVIEW: Lisa Hilton
The cold, rainy Saturday that we experienced just as spring was beginning to grow left many of us disappointed with the mood that the weather brought that day. Even so, I was lucky enough to attend a performance by Lisa Hilton at the Kerrytown Concert House that day, an event that warmed my spirits as it sheltered us from the cold outdoors. As expected, a large proportion of the people who attended this event were older and only a few of us were younger adults. However, I came to realize how much this disparity didn’t matter because of how Lisa Hilton was able to connect to us with music that was universal.
As the show began, the back half of the concert house was almost completely full. The lights in the main room dimmed and the lights projecting onto the stage became more bright in contrast. Lisa Hilton walked onto the stage as we applauded her entrance and she stood by her piano to give an introduction. While she normally brought along a few bandmates to play the drums and the bass during her performances, she stood up there alone with only her Steinway piano that day. From this, I immediately felt excited about how intimate and stripped down this performance would be because I felt that we would be able to see into her personality the most with a solo performance
During her conversations with the audience, Lisa Hilton spoke very politely and gave her commentaries in an organized manner. In other words, she was able to articulate the exact motives behind each of her pieces very well and I believe this helped us recognize the importance of the messages of each piece. In the minutes during which she would play, you could tell that she was passionate about her performance and her compositions. She would sway on the piano bench, look up at the ceiling and back down at her hands, and look to smile at the audience while playing her pieces. As I noticed this, I thought about just how many hours she had dedicated to this moment: to be able to play a full-length piece that she wrote and to perform this piece without making mistakes undoubtedly took numerous hours of the majority of the days in a year to master. With this, I develop a large appreciation for musicians like her who dedicate so much of their time to perfect their craft.
In terms of the style of her compositions, I was very pleased to hear something unique yet simple. During one of her commentaries, she explained to the audience that she wanted to be able to inject emotion into her pieces; she could do so much to master an exceptionally difficult classical piece but even that may not be able to truly convey her feelings, and so she took to writing from the heart in every circumstance. As she demonstrated her mastery of the technical aspects of the piano, she made evident throughout her performance her mastery of musicianship, creating a modern style with abstract melodies and filling these melodies with jazz-like rhythms.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the caliber and soul of Lisa Hilton’s performance. She was able to convey her emotions through her pieces by using a unique style with universal moods. After attending this performance, I left the venue glad that I was able to de-stress with an event showcasing the impressive and beautiful work on the piano.
PREVIEW: Transit
Transit, a film directed by Christian Petzold and based on the 1940s novel by Anna Seghers, opens at the Michigan Theatre April 1st. Ms. Seghers’ novel is a depiction of a German in Paris desperately trying to escape the country during the Nazi occupation in the 1940s, by assuming the identity of a dead writer and seeking a ship to take out of the port city of Marseilles. Petzold takes this World War II drama and puts a unique spin on it, transporting it to the present where the threat isn’t as clearly defined as the Nazi occupation, but is something more modern and ambiguous. The film’s plot offers a tantalizing array of elements, from the dramatic action of a wartime saga, to a complex accidental love interest that jeopardizes the lead character’s plans, to a more philosophical look at the mirror 1940s Nazi France can hold up to today’s society. Transit is being shown in German, with English subtitles.
REVIEW: Wang Qingsong/Detroit/Beijing
The corner, glass exhibit of the UMMA always holds something new and exciting. Watching it change from season to season is a small way that tired students passing by can experience a little bit of art. When the giant moon balloon was deflated and taken away bright, Chinese writing began appearing on the glass. Like many of my classmates, I was curious what lay inside and took time to venture inside. The Wang Qingsong/Detroit/Beijing exhibit is a recreation of a 1959 drawing by Wang Shikuo. This drawing told the narrative of peasants uprising against their landlord and claiming their rights to the land. Qingsong’s photography project recreates this narrative in Highland Park, a small city in the heart of Detroit. The project was originally meant to be recognized in Beijing but after visiting Michigan the artist was inspired. The exhibit itself features the final photograph and components of the journey to creating it. The Chinese phrases on the glass walls are taken from banners featured in the photograph while the two garments in the center of the room are also featured in the photograph. One garment is a coat in a traditional Chinese style but the fabric is made from a patchwork of American and Chinese clothing tags. The other garment is the bloodstained shirt featured at the center of the photograph. The project is meant to create unity between the communities of Detroit and Beijing in a conversation about capitalism and activism. The photograph is set in an abandoned Highland Park factory and features over 70 volunteers including locals. My favorite aspect of the exhibit was the coat made of tags. It was a great detail that really accentuated the power of consumerism on society.
REVIEW: Haley Heynderickx
As I locked my bike on a rack on Main St, I rushed over to the opposite side of the street to make the long line that was spewing out of the door of the Ark: the venue at which Haley Heynderickx would be performing. People among all types of demographics made up this line: elder couples, younger couples, grungy teenagers, and families. I wasn’t expecting this diverse of a group of people to be in line to watch Haley perform; yet, after her performance, it became so much easier to understand why she could draw everyone in who was listening.
The Ark filled up quickly; as soon as I acquired a decent seat to the left of the stage, I remained in it until the end of the show so that I wouldn’t lose it to the floods of people continually coming in. Comfortable with the seat I was in, I immediately felt the excitement within me that comes when the lights go low and the performance finally begins. The production began with a opening musician, a component of the performance that I don’t think any of us were expecting but welcomed nonetheless. This musician was usually a part of Haley’s band during her larger performances, but was given the opportunity to open and perform her own art. I was very impressed by the opener’s performance as she was able to create unique sounds with the few instruments she had, such as the grand concert harp, synthesizer, and voice. Soon after her performance, we took an intermission and then were brought back together for the main act.
As soon as Haley entered the stage, her persona was evident. Having made this return to the Ark, I could hear people cheering extra loudly as she entered because they knew that she would put on an entertaining show. She immediately showed an elevated surge of quirkiness and subtle awkwardness. However, she was simultaneously pleasant and very easy-going, which altogether made her absolutely comical. Hailing from Colorado, I could sense her background, the essence of how she was raised and how in touch she was with her natural roots. I would come to find out that this essence that she brought as what seemed like a spawn of the Earth itself went hand-in-hand with her down-to-earth personality.
This real, down-to-earth personality shined through her musicianship. Giving a warm glare of the indie genre, I could feel a slight aggression from her lyrics and the tone of her voice that gave a more substantial light-heartedness than the stereotypical airy light-heartedness of indie music. This raw, rich tone allowed her music to soar as an original composition and I felt that I could credit her as a true musician in that way. She shared her musical influences as result of taking questions from the audience in between songs, and you could sense the passion she had with performing the music she created as a result of being inspired by them.
Overall, Haley Heynderickx put on a compelling show with a warm personality and simple yet original musicianship that allowed me to understand why most people never wanted her to end her show, never wanted her to leave, or come back to Ann Arbor at the every least if she had to leave. After attending this performance, I was able to solidify my interest in small performances and be reminded of how enriching and fulfilling they can be.
REVIEW: Sounds from the East to the West
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.
