Over the past few weeks, many graduating musicians have performed their senior thesis recitals, the culmination of their work within the music major. These performances have ranged from operatic arias sung solo or in small groups, to original jazz and afrobeat compositions in 12-piece bands, to sitar and Ghanaian Kpangolo drumming performances.
In Jonno Boyer-Dry’s ’08 recital, entitled “Living the Highlife,” he explored a number of Ghanaian musical traditions he encountered while in Ghana during his junior year. Boyer-Dry used a 15-piece orchestra including trumpets, saxophones, a trombone, bass, two guitars, organ, keyboards, drum set, conga drums and other percussion instruments. His thesis also included a Ghanaian hiplife (hip hop) piece for string quartet, the only piece that he did not compose. Boyer-Dry seemed very pleased with outcome of his thesis.
“[It turned out] even more beautifully than [I] had originally anticipated,” Boyer-Dry said.
In “String Theory,” Leah Weinberg ’08, who studies classical viola, played a series of classical pieces, including J.S. Bach’s “Suite No.5 in C minor movements I, IV, and VI” and Frederic Chopin’s “Trio in G minor.” On the selection of her pieces, She said that the gamut of classical music to which she is accustomed “has been getting way too stuffy for [her] lately.” In speaking about the manner in which she selected her pieces, Weinberg said that she tried to choose pieces that she believed would be accessible for people unaccustomed to hearing classical music.
For his thesis, pianist Nick Pappadopoulos ’08 experimented with the variety of ways to convey musical fluidity. Pappadopoulos’ concept originated from an interest in human language and speech, especially as it pertains to storytelling. He attempted to create a continuous sense of movement throughout the recital.
“[I] tried to combine speech and music so that they flow into one another,” Pappadopoulos said.
Some senior thesis musicians seemed surprised by the success of their final projects. Jazz composer Nate Kaufman ’08 said of his recital, “Dabblin’,” performed with the Nate Kaufman Orchestra, that he was impressed with the progress made during the rehearsal process, despite the challenges within the music.
“[I] set out a very ambitious program and didn’t quite believe [I] would manage to learn all the pieces,” Kaufman said.
Woody Leslie’s ’08 recital went through a significant alteration before being presented to the public. While he initially planned an entire concert of sitar music, he ultimately decided against performing exclusively with the single instrument. Reflecting on his decision to change the program to include other instruments, he emphasized the importance of including a range of musical sounds to better reflect the cultural context from which the music came.
“At this point, singing and tabla are as much a part of Hindustani education as sitar, so it made more sense to perform a smaller piece on all three as a sort of representation of breadth rather than depth,” Leslie said.
In putting together “More Fiya: Beats to Bring the Heat,” Nate Ash-Morgan ’08 focused on both “hip-life,” or hip hop originating in Ghana, and the multitude of influences and issues connected with it. His recital combined elements of brass band, kpanlogo drumming, funk, hip-hop, jazz and fast hip-life dance music.
Speaking before the performance, Ash-Morgan appeared both nervous and thrilled. His comments reflected both the learned skill and energetic spontaneity that infused many of the recitals.
“[I’m] excited to wail on electric guitar and to play the contemporary Kpanlogo drumming style I learned in Ghana, [as] I haven’t played either in front of an audience yet,” Ash-Morgan said.
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