Student drums away at recital
February 20, 2015
For percussion students, the world itself becomes an instrument.
Ariana Barela, a junior studying percussion performance, will perform a degree-required recital at 4:10 p.m. Friday in Kimbrough Hall.
Barela said all the sounds people can hear around them can be considered music. Percussion is growing and changing every day, and there are new ideas as to what constitutes a percussion instrument, she said.
While in high school, Barela said she thought her future lied in the brass section of ensembles, but after an accident left her unable to march in the drum and bugle corps, she picked up playing the marimba.
“Once I found percussion I couldn’t go back to the trombone,” she said. “Being able to see everything you’re playing, it’s a different feeling. You feel more connected with the music.”
While students studying percussion are expected to learn a wide variety of instruments, most end up gravitating toward certain ones, said Dave Jarvis, the coordinator of percussion studies at WSU.
“I could walk through the music room and point out which students are best on which instruments,” he said. “Ariana excels on the marimba.”
One misconception around percussion musicians is, because they play less during ensembles, they’re less important, Barela said. But if a percussionist is not ready for the big percussion part, they risk ruining the whole song, she said.
“Younger musicians sometimes think that percussion is just goofing off, you hit a triangle and that’s it, but percussion brings so much color to the piece,” Barela said.
Since it’s a junior recital there will be less music than in a senior year one, Jarvis said, but he and Barela worked together to build a strong collection of songs.
One of the pieces chosen was Bach’s “Cello Suite #1,” which is an easy piece to translate from cello to marimba, but a difficult piece to actually play, Barela said.
“Bach is very transparent; everyone knows if you missed a note,” Jarvis said.
Audience members will also hear “Cage for One” by Dwayne Corbin, a song that was heavily inspired by the experimental music of John Cage, Barela said.
During the song Barela will play music on five woodblocks while radio static fills the background, she said.
“It kinda makes you see everything around you as potential music,” Barela said.
After earning her bachelor’s degree, Barela said she plans to continue into graduate school and work toward a doctorate in music theory. Even if she never gets a professorship, she said she’d still be happy, since her time spent studying music is something she just enjoys doing.
“I think it’s the most beautiful thing in the world that I get to wake up every day and play music,” she said.
Reporting by Dustin VandeHoef