KORI BARKLEY
Staff Writer
Percussion students at the State University of New York at Fredonia last Wednesday, Nov. 5, had a day full of knowledge and excitement, as She-e Wu, a leading influence in the percussion world, spent the evening presenting a motivating marimba master class.
Sponsored by Majestic, Mapex, Innovative Percussion, Evans and Zildgian companies, Wu travels the world as a solo performer and clinician. According to Zildgian’s website, she has appeared at institutions in France, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, England, Scotland, Germany, Spain, Greece, Japan and Korea, as well as at numerous Percussive Arts Society International Conventions throughout the United States.
In addition to traveling, Wu designs percussion instruments for her sponsors, composes and has recorded solo marimba and chamber music recordings with the American Brass Quintet and the International Sejong Soloists.
Wu is an associate professor and the head of the percussion program at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University in Illinois.
Wu spent the past week presenting master classes to four schools across the region and concluded the week with a free performance of the Ewazen Concerto for Marimba and String Orchestra by Wu alongside Gannon University’s Erie Chamber Orchestra.
While in Fredonia, Wu interactively demonstrated to students how incredibly musical and stylistically versatile she is.
A marimba trio and four other soloists performed a variety of styles of marimba music, ranging from contemporary to baroque, but she was able clearly articulate how to take each piece one step further.
With her high energy and vibrant personality that never seemed to diminish, Wu explained that musicianship goes deeper than playing all the correct notes at tempo with the proper dynamics. Rather, it is the shaping of phrases through dynamics and breathing that makes a piece musically excellent.
Her passion and effervescence encouraged the students.
A graduate percussion performance major, Paul Chambers, performed for her and was impressed with how personable and efficient she was.
“It was so easy to connect with her both as a teacher and a performer,” Chambers said. “The way she constantly keeps going with her high energy and incredible music skills is what makes her such a great [musician]. And that’s just really inspiring.”
Tyler Marvin, another student performer, described the master class as one of the most enriching musical experiences he’s had thus far in his time at Fredonia.
“The experience as a whole taught me a lot about my music making in general,” Marvin explained. “We learn a lot about theory in our time here, but one thing I took out of the class is that applying phrasing to the musical decisions we make can be very different from analyzing the chord structure of a Mozart piece on a theory test.”
Wu’s sense of working toward making oneself a better musician, whether one wants to teach or perform, seemed to be the theme of the night.
“If you want to play, you have to continue to practice,” Wu encouraged. “And if you want to teach, you have to be the best musician that you can be, so that still requires practicing. Either way, you need to be passionate about it and that’s what drives you to be better, so you can express.”
Door prizes of mallets and drumsticks, sponsor tee-shirts and baseball caps were given by raffle throughout the night, until every student won something.