High Notes for High Grades

The Texas A&M International University Center for Fine and Performing Arts hosted a voice recital consisting of music students from Professor Dana Crabtree & Suzanne Ramo. Along with being a series of performances, the recital doubled as a midterm exam for the music students. The concert atmosphere given by the terminology "recital", shared the room with the stiff and muttered interactions between nervous students giving each other comfort in the corner. The students were plain and simply put on the spot, and it came to the relief of the audience to finally hear their voices without the overlapping of distorted trumpet noises in practice rooms one is all too familiar with while walking down the halls of the CFPA.

The list of songs, or "compositions" for the pretentious, was chosen by Crabtree and Ramo with, not only an audience, but their students in mind. "Once [the students] get into the meaning of the words.... they realize that it's older language, but when they look at what it's really about they realize it's things that are just universal to the human experience and that they can relate to," Professor Crabtree explained. The 18th and 19th century songs mostly touched on love and heartbreak; topics effortlessly seen in today's songs on the radio. These universal topics acted as a bridge for the audience's attention because it was most likely that the tired man in the work uniform, the supportive mother with a camcorder, and the awkward journalist holding a Sony recorder knew nothing about music theory or history.

On stage was a microphone and a piano played by Dr. Colin Campbell, which touched on the idea of simplicity in a setup, and the performances ran in an immediate order: student performs, takes a bow, and next student takes stage. The middle ground between performance and taking a midterm exam was clearly found, and it was much appreciated by the audience. The students showed what they learned in class and left the judgment for their professors, instead of drowning in the narcissism that comes with a close to flawless recital.

The Center for Fine and Performing Arts will be hosting Music on the Menu concert March 27 at 12:15pm.

(Dago Carmona may be reached at dagoalbertocarmona@dusty.tamiu.edu)