By CONNIE MORGAN, staff reporter
Wednesday night, Shanauan Green started the spring season with a percussion recital in order to achieve these graduation standards.
Students in Central Washington University’s esteemed music program perform in over 30 recitals every quarter. These students are generally seniors who must fulfill performing requirements in order to receive their degrees and graduate.
Students in the music department put in countless hours practicing and getting ready for their senior recitals. No matter the instrument, whether viola, voice or flute, each musician must put on a solo show in the McIntyre Recital Hall.
For onlookers, this process appears to be quite terrifying. The student performs alone on stage with no accompaniment and no introduction.
Green performed for a small crowd of adults and some students. Music education majors are required to attend eight recitals every quarter but freshman percussionist specialist David Rim tries to go to as many as possible.
“I’m just looking forward to Shanuan playing his heart out up there,” Rim said. “He worked hard on this.”
In order to fulfill his applied study requirement, Green performed five different pieces covering a variety of drums.
The lights were dim and slowly lit as Green walked on stage in simple black attire.
Green’s first piece was played on a set of timpanis which made for a “grand” sounding opening to his recital. Green followed up his timpani piece with a xylophone piece then snare drum set. Before moving to the grand finale, Green played another xylophone set, impressively holding four mallets in his hands as he played a piece that involved moving rather quickly up and down the xylophone.
The program listed the final piece of the evening to be an arrangement composed by Green himself called Three Minutes of Chaos (for drums!). Before performing this self-composed arrangement, Green left the stage. The crowd laughed when Green returned to the stage with his black dress shirt unbuttoned to reveal a Black Sabbath shirt.
Green’s final piece was on a drum set; it was intense and straight from the heart. Green flipped his sticks in rock star fashion as he played. Green’s passion could be seen as he closed his eyes and got lost in the chaos of his piece.
At the end of the recital, Green took his final bow with a smile on his face and you could see the pride and relief in accomplishing a senior recital.
Students are encouraged to attend these free senior recitals and other performances out on by the music department. The next concert will feature guest artist Stephen Drury at 2 p.m. in the McIntyre Concert Hall on April 28.
