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Two guest artists filled the concert hall with a unique mixture of sounds on Monday as they took the stage to showcase a variety of music played on bassoon and percussion instruments.
The Col Legno Duo, made up of Amy Pollard on bassoon and Scott Pollard on percussion, brought their unique style and sound to Sam Houston State University as they performed pieces by Bach, Andrew Beall, Verne Reynolds and Astor Piazzolla.
The finale piece titled LHistore du tango took the audience through the different stages of development of tango music. Made up of three movements, each piece exposed a different mood of tango.
The first movement Bordel showcased the technical skills of both musicians in a light, bouncy tango piece. Amys fingers flew across the keys of the bassoon as she took control of the piece that kept the excitement going throughout the movement. In Cafe the duo showcased a softer side to tango and offered a romantic version of the dance. Scott began with slow, running notes on marimba that gave the song a rich, smooth sound to accompany the bassoon. Nightclub featured a more modern version of tango as it took on a true dance from. It transitioned from fast notes in the opening to a more lyrical mood as both percussion and bassoon echoed each other until the end of the piece.
Students in the audience took note of the emotion the duo put into each piece.
I liked the last piece because it was great to see how they put emotion into what they were playing to convey romanticism, freshman music education major Hannah Talton, said.
In the second song of the night Song of Almah, the Pollards offered songs of romance and love by Andrew Beall. Rich sounds of the marimba filled the room with rich tones as the bassoon shined. Amy showcased her range moving effortlessly between high and low notes to convey the beauty of the instrument. Although most of the pieces of the night were not originally written for percussion and bassoon, the Col Lengo Duo blended their sounds together in a unique performance.
In the middle section of the concert, the Pollards moved from lyrical pieces to a more abstract juxtaposition of sound in a series of movements in Fantasy Etudes for Bassoon and Percussion. Scott moved from marimba to bells and hand drums and showcased his versatility, moving to each with ease behind the slower sounds of the bassoon. He offered fast, accented rhythms while the bassoon echoed in several exposed moments.
Students were excited to take away skills from the musicians to apply to their own performances.
It was good to take ideas from them, not only their playing, but their gestures and how they work them into their performance, senior music education major, Kathryn Roessler said.
Others were eager to take apply those skills in the practice room.
I loved watching them because its what were going to be doing in the future, Talton said.
Its good to take what theyve done and put it into our own music to help us perform.