On Tuesday, April 8, Plymouth’s Silver Center for the Arts opened its Recital Hall doors at 7p.m., providing students, family and faculty the opportunity to catch Plymouth States own Guitar Ensemble’s twelve song, spring performance.
With a humble introduction by Professor Jim Alba, the four guitarists joined in with Alba to perform a short track before briefly exiting the stage to make way for freshman, Dustin Straubinger’s solo performance of his own original piece, “This Old Tune.” The folk enthused song sparked several cheers from fans in the crowd as Straubinger delicately performed his selection. The second song, “Lerchengesang” began an interesting trend for the remaining set that saw the four players Jeremy Morse, Nate Weaver, Bob Davis and Straubinger trading off. The guitarists held their focus intently on the music sheet while their hands nonchalantly translated the notes into a well-played Renaissance song allowing each player the opportunity to take lead and mix in a little of their own style.
Jeremy Morse played a strong lead guitar on his steel stringed acoustic, bouncing around as he picked away at Mile Davis’ “Freddie Freeloader.” Morse held the standout lead in “Freeloader” while his student counterparts supported him equally with the melody. Playing alongside Alba, each of the students used different styled guitars creating an interesting mix between three acoustic players and one electric. The varying guitars supported each other through an equal balance of two nylon stringed guitars and two steel stringed guitars.
Shoulders were shaking and toes began tapping when the quartet moved into a blue grass fueled “Honeysuckle Rose” by Fats Waller. Morse and Davis exchanged leads, bouncing between the twang pitches and capturing the audience’s attention with their talent and accurate hands. The remaining guitarists continued the pattern for harmonizing while channeling their techniques to resemble their own personal style.
The second duet allowed for audience members to gain a better understanding of the guitarist’s styles when classmates Morse and Davis performed an entertaining jazz piece titled “Out Of Nowhere.” The song held a progressive rhythm that allowed Morse to show his unique style with casual grooving. The progressive rhythm cooled to a phantom ending that kicked back up with electric guitarist Nate Weaver’s precise fusion of acoustic with Morse’s exceptional instrument handling.
Playing another Jazz Standard appropriately titled, “Joy Spring”, Straubinger incited a clap-along to accompany the playful tune turned solo by Weaver. The quick switching of lead on the track excited audience members as resounding cheers went out at the end of the tracks performance.
Though the Jazz Standards appeared to catch the attention of the audience, it was truly the closing song, “Minor Swing” that held audience members greatest respect appreciation. A steady rhythm and quirky tone gave Straubinger another opportunity to show the students, family and faculty in the crowd how well he could play his guitar. Each of the quartet’s members did well in playing their parts on the track with Alba’s own genuine skill only adding to the performance.
The ensemble left the stage and mingled with the audience as student Phil Wasag offered his opinion on the recital’s performers, “It seemed like the guitarists could relax and reach their potential,” Wasag said. Alba later confirmed Wasag’s sentiments when he said that the class is an opportunity for students to gain experience on stage while concentrating on various music genres that allow the students to focus on varying aspects of guitar playing, creating their own style and gaining exposure through ensemble performances.