Trifecta and Bassoon Ensemble concert Analysis

Trifecta
Going to see Trifecta perform was a lot different that what I had normally expected. First
off, the performance was at Presser Hall. I had to ask my professor where Presser Hall was
located because I originally thought the performance would be in one of the concert halls or
performance centers. That is why I called Trifecta the away team since they are performing at an
unfamiliar place to me. Presser Hall is located on the western campus of Miami and that alone is
enough of a reason to call them the away team because students often joke about the distance
from western campus to main campus.
Upon arriving at Presser Hall I noticed that the performance was on the second floor in a
classroom style room where all the chairs could be moved around. Once they closed the doors
and the performers started to warm I noticed that there were only 30-35 students present for this
performance and most of them were taking notes like I was. I sat in the back row and quietly
observed the entire performance. There were only three performers, thus the ensemble name
Trifecta. Lori Baruth was on the clarinet, David Oyen was on the bassoon, and Chialing Hsieh
was on the piano. Lori seemed to be the leader of the group and introduced her other performers
as well as herself. She explained how the group formed and what they normally play and where
they are from. They told me that the group has only been together for about a year and a half and
that they are from a university in northern Kentucky. After they covered the basic information
they moved on what pieces they were playing and started to warm up. Since there are multiple
pieces I will only be discussing two of them to keep my analysis in the range of the suggested
word count.
The first song that they played started out with them playing the same melody and in
unison but then the bassoon took over for about a 20 second solo. Then they returned to playing
the opening and the bassoon dropped out and the clarinet played a solo that was accompanied by
the piano. The clarinet continues to go off on its own and is accompanied by the piano and
bassoon. The clarinet seems to take the lead on most of the song. At the end the dynamics
become louder than what they were in the entire of the piece. When they finished playing the
told us that this piece was composed for at least 14 different musical combinations and this was
the first time they performed it for a live audience.
The fourth piece starts out with the clarinet switching to a smaller clarinet and using a
different mouth piece it looks like. I am not a music major so I do not know the proper
terminology. The bassoon also switched out the mouth piece. They just said something about
catching a 7/8 multiple and I have no idea what that means. The piano is starting out loud and the
bassoon and clarinet are slowly getting louder. The bassoon and clarinet both hold long notes as
the piano hangs out in the background playing dissonant tunes. They are return to the same
melodic line shortly before going back to their own lines. The piano goes off and plays a bad
solo of just smashing the keys for about 20 secs. The clarinet continues to sound the loudest and
most forceful, but that may be because Im sitting closer to her side. A man now stands at the
side of the piano turning the pages, he was not there before. They are getting louder and then
softer again before building back up to the loud sound. They play this in and out sound and
something almost like a tom and jerry sound of crashes and oh no moments. and something
falling to the ground. The performers move around with their instrument in their chair and it
shows how into the music they are. The piano takes the lead at the end the clarinet and bassoon

follow the same line. The piano continues to climb the ladder and then go all the way back down
and hits a couple high bass notes. The bassoon plays as the clarinet plays the melody as well and
then they join on the same melodic line. The clarinet and bassoon play in unison as the piano
provides accompaniment to them and then it sounds like the piano has joined them all playing
the same melodic line. The bassoon and clarinet play together as the piano goes solo and plays its
own line. They all play separately and then come back together for all of 2 seconds before all
going off on their own again. They ended loud and proud and all played in unison at the end.
Bassoon Ensemble
I decided to deem the Bassoon Ensemble the home team for a very simple reason. The
performance was in the same room that we normally have class in. I did not have to venture over
to western campus and sit in an unfamiliar room. I simply had to make my way over to our
normal class location on halloween and watch the performance. This was the second concert that
I decided to attend. When I arrived at Souers Recital Hall it was about 1:55pm, 5 minutes before
the performance was about to begin and every seat was taken. I was truly shocked because our
class does not even fill all the seats in the building. I found myself standing at the back of the
room and eventually having to go grab a chair from another classroom to sit in. Another thing
that I had noticed before the performance started was that they had ran out of programs to give to
people when they arrived.
When the performance began it actually started out with a skit instead of music being
played. Two gentleman wearing the exact same clothes mimicked each other on stage and it was
actually very funny to watch. Another man dressed as Richard Simmons got up on stage and did
a routine pretending to be him and he made all of us stand up and do exercises. After all of this
fun the conductor got on stage and told us about what the concert was going to be about and how
it will be performed. All the pieces that were going to be performed were from some sort of
television show or series. After she gave us all that information she called the performers on
stage and they started to warm up before getting to the first piece. Since there were eight pieces I
will only be discussing two of them to keep my analysis in the suggested word count.
The third piece that they played was only performed by three students. The conductor
told us before they performed that each year when the bassoon ensemble performs at halloween
she allows her students to pick out and create their own adaptations and pick the songs that they
want to perform. When she brought up that idea this year these three students decided that they
wanted to play the Friends Medley from the popular show friends and that they did this all on
their own without any help. If anyone has heard the friends theme song before they instantly
recognized this piece and about half the audience clapped when your supposed to. With the entire
piece being played by only bassoons it was easy to differentiate who was playing what parts.
Since three people played this piece I could easily pick out who played the melody, harmony, and
accompaniment. That got me thinking, can an instrument be its own accompaniment?
The 6th piece that was played was the Pokemon theme song. I could have immediately
recognized it whether or not I had the program because this song was my childhood. I played a
lot of Pokemon and probably watched even more as a kid. This song took be make to when I was
a kid and made me remember some sweet moments in my childhood which rarely happens with
todays music. It was played by four people, one of them dressed as Ash from the TV show. As I
sat there listening I couldn't help but hum along with the tune and say the words in my head. It
was different listening to the song when its only performed by bassoons. The main melody was

played by two of the four performers in unison. The third bassoonist played the harmony while
the fourth bassoonist played the accompaniment even though the piece didn't really need it. The
song was fast like I had remembered but there were parts that I had forgotten about that were
played and then it all came back to me. The dynamics were louder than I would have expected
for a piece like this and it ended with all of the performers shouting POKEMON, which for me,
was quiet impressive and was a brilliant way to end the piece.
Overall, I enjoyed this performance more than Trifectas performance merely on the basis
of the Bassoon Ensemble playing music that I recognized. Both performances were truly
amazing and I couldn't have enjoyed myself more. Since the Bassoon Ensemble performed on
Halloween they gave some candy to the people who showed up in costume which I thought was
a nice treat (no pun intended). Going to watch and listen to Trifectas was performance was
something that I had never experienced before. It felt like I was in the pit of an orchestra because
of how close I was to the performers. Both performances were at drastically different ends of the
spectrum. But both of them shared to the same ability to produce music that the audience
enjoyed and thats all that matters.