Thursday Concert

NAVODYA DHARMASIRIWARDENA

Photo Editor @TheRoundupNews

The Thursday concert series is returning to Pierce College this Fall with a structured approach.

A lineup of unique performances by instructors from the Music department are scheduled to make way to the stage.

Doors are open to everyone, every Thursday at 12:45 p.m. at the Performing Arts Building Mainstage (PAB). Various genres will be performed every week, therefore, each week will be different.

Charlotte Betry, former Pierce student and current Music department faculty, will be performing at the next concert on Sept. 26. She regularly plays the piccolo with the La Canada Orchestra and Flute/Piccolo with the Afro-American Chamber Music Orchestra, OC Winds and Flute Sonic Orchestra to name a few. Apart from playing flute and piccolo, Betry teaches classes to various age groups apart from Pierce. ndharmasiriwardena.roundupnews@gmail.com

Playing the guitar being his talent Dr. Hugo Nogueira will be performing on Oct. 3 at the Thursday concert series. Currently being part of the Music department faculty, he has performed in many different states in the United States. Everyone joining in these performances will get the chance to enjoy various music and collaborations. Some interactive performances as well, where audience get to go on stage and perform with the musicians.

Oct. 31 is the joint faculty recital, where all music faculty gets together to perform on one stage.

Applied music program recitals will be happening on Nov. 7, Nov. 21 and Dec. 5, where Pierce students will perform. Nov. 14 will also be a student recital.

The history of Dagomba resonated from the three Lungas, talking drums, and two Gungons, bass drums, on stage.

Kevin Good introduced the music of Dagomba, a group in northern Ghana, and the rhythmic diversity of percussion during his Afternoon Concert at the Performing Arts Building Mainstage Sept. 19.

The 40-minute-long program began with an ensemble of traditional Dagomba praise drumming, featuring Good, Katie Eikam, Justin Bardales, Cole Castorina and Kevin Moran.

“Zhim Taai Kurugu” initiated backstage with great intensity. The group were wearing Dagomba smocks and continuously played onto the stage barefoot. Good had dress shoes on being that he was to perform different styles of percussion throughout the production.

After a brief pause, they got on their knees and performed “Nantoo Nimdi” in the center spotlight. Bardales chanted in Dagbani during this composition. His voice echoed above the booming drums as if both were communicating orally and musically.

They finished up the set with “Nyagboli,” while Good returned backstage.

Following the act was Good’s original piece, “Slow, Fragment, Vibraphone.” His source of inspiration derived from Sappho poems and the “Odyssey” by Homer.

Good captured his desire to work with fragments and how they work as a whole in a larger structure via a metal vibraphone.

The notes from the bars of the vibraphone were soft, yet left a ringing sensation in the ears long after their duration. There was a shift from consonance to dissonance that blended in a relaxing manner despite their different pitches.

Seemingly doing a 180-degree turn, DesoDuo debuted an original by Bardales titled, “Poor Crusty.” Motivated by Indonesian sounds, Eikam and Good used the snare drum and bass drum to establish a beat. One drummer would go off beat, then return while the next drummer went off until both would reconnect in unison, only to begin the cycle again.

“I try to show both sides of percussion. Something like the