The students of Patrick Kerber’s classical guitar class put on a performance at the Pottle Music Building Auditorium, Monday, Nov. 12.
Sponsored by the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, the simplistic style of guitar was displayed for family, friends, students and faculty alike as the twelve students strummed together in harmony. Guest artists included Andreina Colina on the violin and soprano Catherine New, a senior studying vocal music education.
The five sets of compositions allowed some of the freshmen to come out of their shell.
“This time around I really had to choose music that would fit the students because there were such a variety of levels of students. There were five out there for whom it was their first time,” said Kerber, director of guitar ensemble. Before the start of the performance Kerber made an analogy to relay to the audience the importance of quiet and attentiveness was an interesting stretch.
“We have a couple of first timers, some freshmen, and just like when you go to the football game and freshmen football players are doing fantastic, just last year they were in high school playing,” said Kerber. “Tonight is a very similar type thing. Last year these guys were playing Jimi Hendrix on their guitar, and here they are now putting out all this effort to perform this very beautiful music for you.”
The ensemble began with eight pieces composed by German music theorist and composer Michael Praetorius. Two musical performance majors, sophomore Dustin Dawson and freshmen Blake Guidry, gave the second performance. They played a piece by Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti. Next, senior musical performance major Hristo Balev presented his original guitar compositions accompanied by New.
Then, senior musical performance major Jojo White and guest artist Colina played South American style guitar and violin with music by Venezuelan composer Heraclio Fernadez Noya. To close out the night the entire ensemble joined together on stage to play “Tres Danzas Esanolas,” or the twelve Spanish dances. According to Kerber, these pieces were composed originally for solo piano, but student composer Shane Zeringue showed his versatility by making the pieces his own.
“This time of year signifies a culmination of a semester of hard work. It’s what they shoot for each year,” Kerber said of what the night signified to the students. “And next year it will be the freshmen in the front row.”
Kerber left the audience with one final thought about classical guitar.
“Just because the music is simple, doesn’t mean it can’t be beautiful,” said Kerber.
For information regarding future performances, contact the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at 985-549-2184.