2008 Woodie Awards
Students present musical blends during quartet performance
By Dara Salley
Rocket Assistant Life/A&E Editor
Issue date: 11/4/05 Section: Entertainment
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"One of the reasons we have a saxophone quartet is because we have a lot of really good saxophone players here at Slippery Rock. Many of the music majors who play saxophone are in this concert," professor Terry Steele said.
The first quartet, comprised of Tammi Redman, Matt Swallow, Alex Krebs and Amanda Fratangeli, played two selections, "The Goldrush Suite" and "The Royal Garden Blues."
"Mr. Steele really liked the Goldrush Suite," Fratangeli said. "He said he had liked it for a while and never had a quartet he wanted to give it to, but he wanted to give it to us. We all liked it a lot because it incorporated many different chords and different aspects."
The piece consisted of seven movements with names and melodies intended to invoke the drama and emotion of the California Gold Rush.
"The melodies were taken from American folk songs. Songs which are forgotten now but were very popular pioneer and cowboys songs," Steele said.
"The Royal Garden Blues" was a jazz piece which helped transition into the second group. The second quartet, which included Sam Eisenreich, Brandon Musko, Mark Goldwin and Steve Patterson, played all jazz pieces, which included an improvisational solo for each person.
"Saxophones are very versatile," Fratengeli said. "They can play classical or jazz. Saxophone quartets are interesting to listen to because they are different from other instruments, there is more tension in the chords."
The music for the quartets was chosen by Steele and then agreed upon by the performers.
"To pick out the music I go to Volkweins in Pittsburgh. I buy a bunch of saxophone quartet music and bring it back up here. There is a surprising amount of music for saxophone quartets, they are becoming more popular in the United States," Steele said.
The musicians each played one of four saxophones: a soprano, alto, tenor or baritone. The players are very versatile and some can play more than one of the different kinds of saxophone.
