CSUF Guitar Orchestra

........................................... p.7 12.07.06 Guitar Orchestra Tomorrow at Meng

By evin cole Daily Titan Staff Writer thebuzz@dailytitan.com

The Fullerton Guitar Orchestra will perform at the new state-of-theart Meng Concert hall on Friday at 8 p.m. The proceeds will benefit the music department.

The guitar orchestra is comprised of Cal State Fullerton students of the Guitar Studies program and is directed by Professor David Grimes of the music department.

The concert will be held at the performing arts complex that opened in January 2006.

The 800-seat hall can be tuned by moving the acoustic canopy up and down in addition to the curtains on the side, said Marc Dickey, chair of the music department.

The acoustics are designed to have the hall sound the same no matter how many seats are filled.

Among the pieces that the students will play include two written for guitar orchestra by the British composer Stephen Dodgson, Grimes said.

“One of them includes a soprano soloist pitted against a guitar orchestra which makes for a very interesting texture,” Grimes said.

Photos Courtesy of the Fullerton Guitar Orchestra

The Cal State Fullerton Guitar Orchestra at a performance last spring.

Dodgson wrote these for a large guitar festival in Hungary, he said.

“We are also doing exciting works in the Latin vein, Tangomania and El Vito,” Grimes said. El Vito is a traditional Spanish song that was arranged for the guitar orchestra by a faculty member of the music department Mark Garrabrant, Grimes said.

Also on the program is “Trois Mouvements Dynamiques” by Olivier Bensa.

“This is a very vivid, vigorous set of pieces that take advantage of the different textures that you can have with many guitars playing,” Grimes said. Some of the pieces are in four parts and one of them, the slow movement, is in ten parts with all of the guitars playing different things, he said.

On the first half of the program the performance will include chamber ensembles, duets and trios playing music from the baroque period to the modern and ending with a couple of characteristic dances by a Spanish composer Joaquin Turina, Grimes said.

In the second half the full guitar orchestra will perform, said Dmitry Koudymov, senior in classical guitar program, originally from Saint Petersburg, Russia.

There are different sections just as in a typical orchestra. An orchestra would contain first violins, second violins and cellos. In the guitar orchestra the same result is obtained with guitars, Koudymov said. The guitar orchestra has different ranges, including an actual six-string bass guitar that extends the range of the guitar orchestra.

The guitar orchestra size fluctuates from year to year based on the enrollment in the program at the time, said Petar Chekardzhikov, graduate student in Classical Guitar Studies and member of the Fullerton Guitar Orchestra. The guitar orchestra currently has 16 guitar players.

Most guitar players don’t have a lot of chamber music experience because it is a solo instrument, Koudymov said. Violinists and oboe players have always played in orchestras, but classical guitarists usually don’t have this opportunity.

This is an opportunity for guitarists who are used to playing

Photos Courtesy David Grimes

Director of the Orchestra and CSUF Professor in the Music Department

By james thompson Daily Titan Staff Writer thebuzz@dailytitan.com

Jay-Z Rushed out Decent Comeback Album

His return to the rap game could be seen from miles away and was as obvious as a K-Fed/ Britney Spears break-up, but it was great marketing move nonetheless.

In what may have been the worst retirement in history, the self-proclaimed “God MC” has returned from what seems like more of a three-year sabbatical than a retirement to give fans a so-so effort with “Kingdom Come.”

The intro to the album has JayZ reminiscing about his days as a hustling drug dealer over an Isaac Hayes-like ‘70s horn sample. He also recruits that same voice from his early albums to kick it off. The “king of the double entendres” states why he needs a new hustle besides rap and he’s more of a business man. This a decent track to start the album with, and if you had to judge the album off the first song, you would think you might have another Jay-Z classic.

The title track of the album explains that he has come back to save hip-hop over a slowed down sample of Rick James’ “Super freak.” He drops a lot of super hero references in this one implying that hip-hop has been in the clutches of an evil force. He goes from Superman to Flash Gordon of recording, climbing the charts like Peter Parker to being the Bruce Wayne of the game.

If you’ve seen the Budweiser commercial you’ve heard “Show me What you Got,” his party single. Once again he tells people he’s the “Mike Jordan of recording.” There are some cute lines in here about being a baller and coaxing women to remove articles of clothing. You know you’ve made it if you got Danica Patrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in your music video.

On “Lost One” Jay-Z recruited hip-hop super producer Dr. Dre for this simple piano laced track about lost friendships with former running mate and hustler Dame Dash. He also touches on his relationship with R&B songstress Beyonce’ Knowles of Destiny’s Child fame and a lost nephew. This is a stand-out track in which Jay sheds the baller status and gets personal.

by themselves to play with other guitarists. This interaction gives the guitarist listening skills, he said. It teaches the guitarist how to be an active listener. That is probably the most important skill in a guitar orchestra.

The guitar orchestra toured Oahu, Hawaii, in 2006 and Northern California last semester, Koudymov said. He has been a member of the guitar orchestra for four years and will play in a guitar trio as well as a guitar duo in the first half of the concert.

Tickets for the Friday night performance are still available at the performing arts box office.

Label mate Kanye West lends his production hand on the track “Do you Wanna Ride?” and brings R&B crooner John Legend along for the ride on this song about having an incarcerated friend and letting him know what to expect when he gets out.

“I made it” is an ode to wanting his mother to be proud of him, in which he apologizes to his mother for embarrassing her because he was a drug dealer.

“Anything” is definitely a track the album could’ve done without. The Neptune-produced track features Usher singing the hook. It’s about going to the strip club and making it “rain,” a feat in which people throw money in the air so it looks as if it’s raining money. A stupid unnecessary track Jay should’ve definitely left off. “Minority Report” is one of the best songs on the album in which Jay addresses the Katrina fiasco on how the government and the president responded and gets in depth about how he felt about his donation to the Katrina fund. The opening of the song contains sound bites from different news casts explaining the government’s role and how the victims feel. These are some of the most poignant lyrics of the entire disc.

“Beach Chair” is another one of the best songs on the cd in which Jay-Z gets deep again talking about his karma and what he needs to do to make sure the life of his unborn child will be set forever. He recruits Chris Martin of Cold Play for this insightful track who uses his angelic falsetto compliment the song exceptionally well.

Jay-Z has long ago cemented his place in hip-hop history, which might be the problem with this album.

He’s set the bar so high that he might’ve pulled a hammy trying to get over it. The album seems rushed and the songs predictable save for “Beach Chair,” “Minority Report” and “Hollywood.” All in all a decent album, but not his best by far. LISTEN ONLINE To NEW JAY-Z AT WWW.DAILYTITAN.COM - LOOK FOR THE BUZZ