Phi Mu Alpha (PMA) hosted their American Music Recital (AMR) featuring members of Augustana’s collegiate chapters PMA and Sigma Alpha Iota (SAI) on April 9.
The AMR was specifically filled with music originally composed and performed by American artists. The pieces chosen ranged from solo piano pieces to modern music hits.
The recital began with “Piano Variations” by Aaron Copland. Understanding Copland’s composition would have required dozens of hours of close study and knowledge of the technique involved.
Following Copland was a modern song written by Mike Posner.
“I Took a Pill in Ibiza” was performed by junior Sam Dunklau. Dunklau took Posner’s song and transformed it into an acoustic version of the dance hit by performing the piece as a vocal piece with guitar.
The next two pieces performed were unaccompanied pieces. “Extase” by Emmett Yoshoika was performed on the trombone by senior Rachel Auton, and “Daisy/Bicycle Built for Two” by Harry Dacre was performed by the men from Augustana’s Chamber Singers. Both went by easily without a hitch.
Junior Annie Mitchell performed Leonard Bernstein’s “100 Ways to Lose a Man” from “Wonderful Town.” While everything before had a rather serious tone, this made the audience laugh and prepared them for the pieces yet to come.
The next performance was John Cage’s “4’33,”” which includes four minutes and 33 seconds of pure silence. It received a mixed reaction in the audience.
To lighten the air, “The Lava Song” from Pixar’s “Inside Out” was then performed with a ukulele, violin and four singers. The performers even dressed to impress, donning swim trunks and flaming shirts. It was a much needed song to clear the air.
Brian Hinkley then took the stage and performed an original piano piece named “L’evolutión des brouillards…” Translated from French, this means the evolution of mists. It jumped back and forth from simple, beautiful notes to complex chords intertwined with impressive phrases. You could almost imagine the fog and mist moving in on a cold morning by the way the phrases were set up.
Victoria Kleeman then performed the Dolly Parton classic “Jolene.” Much like Dunklau’s performance, the more modern classic was well-received and provided a break from the classical programming.
Lastly, selections from “Animal Ditties” closed the performance. The dramatic reading was provided by Steven Mondloch, accompanied by Brian Hinkley, piano and junior Ben McKay, trumpet. It gave brief descriptions of animals, like a python, and described them using interesting musical phrases along with the original text.
The afternoon was filled with a variety of music. As one of the few student-produced recitals. AMR provided plenty of laughs, applause and very long silences.
