Fall 2002 Performers:

September 12, 2002

Victory Mori kicked-off the semester with a dazzling presentation of a Malagueña arranged by Paco Peña. His command of the flamenco techniques demonstrated his capabilities as a well-rounded guitarist. He followed this by playing a track, Ink Plot, from his rock opera, Edgar Lilly. Victory has successfully fused many styles including classical and flamenco to jazz and blues to rock and heavy metal, and all the styles in between. With the hard work he puts into his compositions and careful attention in his recordings, Victory is well on the road to success.

Jeanette O’Keefe started the morning by singing her versions of three pop songs. She began with “Only Hope” by Randy Moore, followed by Stevie Wonders “Creeping”, and concluding with “Destiny” by Jim Brikman. Her delivery of these songs was strong, displaying her extensive singing range, especially in the upper registers. It is not always easy for a female singer to sing songs originally written for a male voice, or vice versa, but Jeanette did so effectively. Her originality captured the audience and gave the impression that she “owned the songs”.

Playing with great confidence, Tiffany Chiang fanned out her delicate fingers over the keyboard and played two classical pieces on the piano. Beginning with bang, Tiffany hammered out Op.25 no.12 by Frederic Chopin. Next, she played Etude no. 5 by Sergei Rachmininoff with great ease and fluidity. This seemingly small, quiet girl was able to coax a large and loud sound out of the keys. Tiffany presented a charming personality and a good level of musicianship.

Pierce College is proud to offer a diversity of music and art, and this morning was no different. Playing the harmonium, Andres Sabogal began the day by singing two beautiful Ragas accompanied by his instructor, Devinder Bassi, on the talbas. The two started by playing Boopali followed by Vrinda Vani Sarang, both of which are traditional afternoon Ragas. There is a spirit of peaceful meditation to the music of India, a spirit which Andres captured to its fullest.

Next up was Sean Getchius, Pierce College’s own piper. Sean played a medley of reels and jigs on the bagpipes. In his medley Sean played Deputy Chief, Wingate, Itchy Fingers, and By My ‘ain Fireside. Sean started playing the bagpipes at an early age (he’s a little older than he looks). In the last year, Sean has shown much musical growth and he continues to grow.

Without the use of a microphone or an accompanist, Grace Rivas sang her version of the popular Latin song “Tú Solo Tú”. She then sang “There Are Worse Things I Can Do” from the movie Grease and ended her performance with a tune from The Little Mermaid, “Part of Your World". Singing a cappella is not an easy job for a vocalist but Grace was able to do well with these songs.

Brandee Bernot started with some show tunes from Rodgers & Hammerstein. She sang “If I Loved You” from Carousel and “Lord and Master” from The King And I. She followed these with “He Plays the Violin” from the musical 1776 finally ending with “How Could I Ever Know” from The Secret Garden. Accompanied by Dwight Elrich on piano, Brandee performed elegantly showing off her beautiful soprano voice.

Beginning the day was Craig Hoover with some acoustic guitar. He played an original piece he called “Wednesday Morning” because, he said, “I wrote it yesterday morning.” It was a calm improvised piece with unique tunings. It left the impression of a relaxing morning.

Ben Reichert brought out his electric bass and gave a remarkable display of bass finger slapping techniques. He played a selection from Victor Wooten’s ‘Bass Instruction Video’ titled “Latin Groove.” He then played three tracks from a CD he’s working on with the band Varna. He played Lost You, Inside Out, and Top of the World, and with the intensity and originality of their work, Varna is a band well worth checking out. To learn out more about the band, check out varna01.com.

Monica McCarthy topped off the morning with a couple of beautiful art songs written by the French composers Claude Debussy and Gabriel Fauré. Accompanied by Mrs. Priscilla Taylor, Monica started with The Flute of Pan by Debussy and finished with Au Bord de L’eau by Gabriel Fauré. Besides singing each song with perfect technique, Monica sang both songs in their original French.

Cellist Jerome McAlister began the morning with a very lively rendition of Bourrée 1 & 2 from Bach's Third Suite for Unaccompanied Cello. He was then joined by pianist Tiffany Chiang for a performance of the Largo from Chopin's Cello Sonata Op. 65. Jerome and Tiffany harmonized well especially given the fact that Tiffany was acting as an emergency accompanist, having had only a day's notice to prepare.

" He [Jerome] has shown remarkable technical improvement over the past semester", commented one Pierce professor.

Tim Joy entertained us with Golliwog’s Cakewalk from Children’s Corner. Written in 1908 for his daughter Chouchou, Claude Debussy wrote the suite exploring many of the possibilities of the piano. Tim played the piece in total command of the piano and with the visual image as if the piece had been written for him

To the cool beat of jazz, Sabrina Hart came out scattin’ to three popular standards. Accompanied by a karaoke C.D., Sabrina sang I’m Old-fashioned, Angel Eyes, and Summertime. Sabrina has a great vocal range and she knows a variety of vocal effects not to mention her ability to scat well.

Eddie Bosnoyan and Nathan Neuberg set the mood for Halloween by playing some hard and heavy rock. A few weeks ago Eddie (on guitar) got together with Nathan (on bass) to see if they could work something out for a team performance. They came up with three original tunes that had cool changes, bass guitar breaks, and screaming solos. Eddie and Nathan seem to have the chemistry for working together so they decided that their next step is to find a drummer and vocalist.

Saxophonist Bruce Salyer, accompanied by Mrs. Pricilla Taylor on piano, performed two movements from the Sonata, Op. 19 written by Paul Creston. He performed the Andante and the Allegro movements. Bruce had already performed these movements, also accompanied by Mrs. Taylor, for the student noon concert two weeks earlier. Bruce is currently working on the last movement to this sonata. We hope he will perform the complete sonata for us soon as the mood and feel of this piece seems to fit his personality well.

Having heard the students perform for the first half of this semester, Mr. Piazza decided it was time to call on the big boys and show the class what a music performance in the real world is like. Class was held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion where Mr. Piazza rehearsed with the L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra. With Emanuel Kribine conducting, the orchestra (consisting of 70-80 members) rehearsed Mahler’s 4th Symphony. Then after a short break, about half of the orchestra returned to rehearse Beethoven’s 1st Symphony. The experience was humbling, but it was also rewarding and educating.

Tiffany Chiang returned to the stage to play Nocturne No. 6 Op. 63 by Gabriel Faure. This very technical piece is Tiffany’s favorite piece. Tiffany has already played at the first student noon concert and she will be auditioning for the second student noon concert coming soon. We hope to see her there.

Next up was Monica McCarthy. Monica performed for the class back on October 10 and then she performed for the student concert a week later. This time she sang Trois Chansons de Bilitis by Claude Debussy. This piece has three songs: La Flûte de Pan, La Chevelure, and Le Tombeau des Naiades. Monica again sang in the original French with precise technique. Monica has also been selected to perform at the student concert on December 5.

Finishing the morning was a piano trio made up of Tiffany Chiang (piano), Jerome McAlister (cello), and Raul Barillas (violin). Together they perfomed the 1st movement to Mozart’s Piano Trio #4 in C Major K548. The three of them performed the piece in a well-coordinated manner communicating musically with each other as well as to the audience.