The Concert At The Meyer Theater

On the train there we listen simultaneously, one bud in either ear, middle-school style, to a gingerly prepared selection of what I call “gateway indie”. Songs like “Rather Be” or “Somebody I Used to Know”, anything by Ed Sheeran or Ingrid Michaelson. Songs that could be considered traitors to the genre arguably built on eternal invisibility, or, more positively, songs that have broken free from the mostly underappreciated genre’s net of obscure lyrics, changing time signatures, unpopular instruments like the oboe or guitalin, and small spurts of unexpected electronica that sound awkward to the previously unexposed mind. Then again, I think as the train gives a tiny lurch and

I attended the Temple College Vocal Point concert on November 1, 2016 at 12:30 pm in the Jackson-Graeter Backstage Theatre. The Theatre, located in the Mary Alice Marshal Performing Arts Center, at Temple College is small, seating approximately 100 people. Since the setting is quaint, it makes for a personal experience, allowing the audience to truly see and hear the entertainers character. The stage size also has a downside, at times the actors would trip over each other while dancing.

At 12:30 PM, on October 18, 2016 I attended a Brown Bag Event that took place at the Jackson-Graeter Backstage Theatre of the Mary Alice Marshall Performing Arts Center. The event was a recital by singer / songwriter Ms. Amy Engelhardt, performing original works from her 2008 album, Not Going to be Pretty. She played the piano as she sang; and two Temple College staff members (Tarik Hassan on double bass and Norm Bergeron on the drums) also accompanied her.

There’s no better feeling than being at a concert and jamming along to songs that you love while surrounded by people who share the same love for the music. Music concerts are majestic environments where a variety of different people come together in order to share their love of music. A few weeks ago I attended a Zac Brown Band concert for the first time and I was truly inspired by the band’s artistry and skill. The band was fully able to captivate their audience with their soulful tunes and obvious passion for performing. One moment of the concert that particularly stood out to me was when the band performed a cover of The Beatles hit song “Let it Be.” Zac Brown Band was able to stay true to the original song while bringing a whole different level of soul to the music through the addition of a gospel choir. The audience immediately related to the song and came together to sing along to a song by one of the biggest bands in music history. Zac Brown Band was able to successfully deliver such a powerful song as “Let it Be” which was off of The Beatles final studio album.

On April 11th, 2017 in the Louis Armstrong Theatre, I attended the GVSU “University Band”. This up-beat ensemble lasted about 90 minutes; the talented students of GVSU’s university band joined together to perform multiple different songs ranging from a Waltz to a Dixieland Jamboree. All of the songs that the band played for the audience were all well-known, popular songs that they all enjoyed. Having the opportunity to attend this concert has opened new musical paths for myself and has allowed me to enjoy and kindly critique something that I perhaps would have never had the chance to otherwise.

Humans from the coast of West Africa arrived to the New World as slaves. Stripped of everything familiar, they brought with them their traditional ways of using music to record historic events, expressions, and to accompany rituals. While toiling in the tobacco fields of Virginia, slaves were not permitted to speak to each other. So, they resorted to their African tradition. They sang!

For this assignment, I went to the Basically Beethoven Festival at the Dallas City Performance Hall. The recital was opened with a few pieces played by the rising stars Madera Wind Quintet. The main performance included Rachel McDonald on the viola, Joseph Kuipers on the cello, Grace Wollett on the violin, Scott Wollett on the oboe, and the great pianist Alex McDonald. They performed a compilation of famous composers’ masterpieces.

On February 25, 2016, I was able to see the Mid-Year Band Concert in the PAC. The pieces I have chosen to review were performed by the Varsity, Symphonic II and Symphonic I Bands and conducted by Mr. Bailey and Mr. Hillhouse. “King Cotton,” “Amparito Roca,” and “Valdres” were among my favorites in the program and are all coincidentally, marches.

The concert I attended was called the Faculty and Student Recital, which took place in the Cisco Auditorium on April 11, 2017. The music that was on the program was mostly what is called “classical” music, as well as a Chinese Folk Song, an electronic composition, and variations on an Indian Tala. In the classical pieces, the instruments that were used were the violin, the piano, the cello, and the oboe. In the electronic composition, the computer was used to make music. In the Chinese Folk Song, the piccolo was used to imitate the unique timbre of a Chinese flute. In the Indian tala, drums from Ghana were used to imitate the rhythm and sound of Indian drums. The piano, the violin, the cello, and the piccolo all originate

On the evening of Thursday, November 10, I saw the OBU Theatre production of You Can’t Take It with You at the Craig-Dorland Theatre in Shawnee Hall. This comedic play was split into three acts titled A Wednesday evening, A week later, and The next day. The entire show lasted about two hours and thirty minutes including a ten-minute intermission. This play was written by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman in 1936 and it’s first ever performance was that same year on Broadway. This particular OBU production was directed by Matthew Caron and performed by members of the theatre department.

On November 1st at 7 pm, I attended the Stars at Night concert series performed by Texas State University’s jazz ensemble in San Marcos, Texas. They had Steve Houghton as their guest artist. I was excited to attend because I had yet to see the inside of the new performing arts center or go to a live jazz performance.

On November 7, I attended the concert called “ArtPower! Presents: St. Lawrence String Quartet” at 8pm in CPMC, UCSD. Four artists performed it: Geoff Nuttall, Mark Fewer for violin, Lesley Robertson for viola, and Christopher Constanza for cello. They performed three String quartets, composed in different eras. The first one is “ String Quartet in C major, Op.76, No.3 ‘Emperor’,” composed by Franz Josef Haydn, 1732-1809. The second one is ”Five Pieces for Spring Quartet,” composed by Erwin Schulhoff, in 1923.The third one is “String Quartet in C-Major, Op.61,” composed by Antonin Dvorak, 1841-1904. This String Quartet with four musicians impressed me a lot, not only for the concert full of audiences, of whom half were on the lower floor

On October 1, 2017, I went to The Shins concert at the Cal Coast Credit Union amphitheater at San Diego State University. On this occasion, I accompanied my brother who is a devoted fan of The Shins. I agreed to accompany him when he bought the tickets during the summer. Further, the only song I’ve heard from The Shins is “Saint Simon”, which was included in the Windows XP media player, as one of the sample songs. Moreover, we arrived at SDSU around 5 pm. We easily found parking at one of the parking structures in SDSU. If I remember correctly, they charged $15 for the parking. Upon arriving to the venue, I observed that most of the concertgoers were adults, some parents took their children to the concert as it was an all ages concert. Also,

On Sunday, May10 2015, a concert was held in The Broad Stage. The concert was played by Santa Monica College Symphony Orchestra, whose conductor is Dr. James Martin. For this concert, I would identify myself as a referential listener at this concert. I say this because I am not an expert in music, therefore it would be hard for me to be a critical listener. I wouldn’t be able to tell what went wrong with a performance even if some incorrect notes were played. I was more of a referential listener because the music was soothing and brought my mind to peaceful thoughts. This essay will tells my experience of the concert in order to persuade my friend to  attend a classical music concert with you in the future.

The first concert I attended was my high schools forty- sixth annual Rock N’ Roll Revival. The show is based off a show back in the late sixties and early seventies by the same name that a few students saw. Little did those students know that the show would turn into phenomenon when they decided to bring it back to Sherwood High School. When the show started it was more like a talent show with MC’s and the talents consisting of rock n’ roll songs. This style of the show lasted until Rock N’ Roll Revival #11 when it was decided to cut the comedy acts of the MC’s and focus all of the attention on the music. This new direction into the realm of pure rock n’ roll has stood the test of time and for a good reason.