Tyler Vanable plays in last week’s convocation performance. PHOTO CREDIT: Greg Clark
Dazzling piano, guitar, bass and opera singing entertained students and staff at the weekly University of Rhode Island music convocation on Friday, Oct. 15.
Held in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall, senior Tyler Vanable, the first performer of the night, played oboe alongside lecturer David Gilliland on piano to the songs “Andantino” and “Ab lithium – Allegro – ab lithium” by Camille Saint-Saens.
During the question and answer portion of the event following the performances, Vanable commented on the difficulty of the pieces performed, as both have a large range of notes to hit on the oboe.
“Some of the pieces performed had a very wide range,” Vanable said. “At one point, I was springing from a low C sharp, to a low B, up to a C and D.”
He then said that to hit such a difficult range of notes, he and his mentor worked together to organize the notes in a more reasonable fashion, and practiced the flow until they found a combination that fit right.
Ryan Savage, the second performer of the convocation, performed “Venezuelan Waltz no. 1 (Tatiana),” written by Antonio Lauro on the guitar. Savage emphasized the importance of using proper technique for the song he had performed.
“For most musicians, posture is really important,” Savage said. “It’s very important for high notes specifically, because in order to reach high notes you have to lean in order to get in the right position.”
Makayla Lane, a senior vocal performance major, performed “Ach, ich fuhl’s” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and “Quando me’n vo” by Giacomo Puccini, with the help of David Gilliland again on piano.
Lane said it’s important for her to get into character and tell the story of the song she is performing, especially because there is a language barrier between the song and the audience. Mozart’s piece was sung in German, and Puccini’s piece was sung in Italian. Lane said that learning to sing in a foreign language is a challenge, however she works with her vocal coaches and professionals to be able to use diction and sing, regardless of a language barrier. The movement was another challenge she pointed out.
“Singing and moving at the same time is really difficult, however I grew up doing theatre so I’m used to being able to sing and dance all at once,” Lane said. “Slipping into character and being able to tell the story with my body language is crucial to my self expression.”
Prior to performing “Quando me’n Vo,” Lane utilized the prop of a feather boa to tell the story of the character Musetta in the Italian Opera “La Boheme.” In this scene, Musetta is trying to catch the attention of her fling Marcello, and acts hyper-sexualized and flirty to do so.
Students Seth Russell and Johnny Santini were the last performers of the evening, performing “Con Alma” by Dizzy Gillespie on the bass and guitar. The duo were calm and composed throughout their performance, which carried on to the question and answer segment.
Russell and Santini are both soloists who decided to team up for their performance. When asked about the difficulty of working together, Russell took to the microphone.
“Just try to stay out of the way,” Russell said. “Get out of the way [of the other soloist], play the chord tones, and that’s it.”
Music convocations are held weekly on Fridays at 1 p.m. at the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall.