PLU during the Spring/ Life of a Music Minor

PLU During the Spring:

Things to look forward to in the Pacific Northwest once May comes around: sunshine. After seeing months of rainy days, the sun becomes a blessing. Flowers start to bloom, the world seem brighter, and students sit outside doing homework, eating lunch, or just relaxing with friends. It's amazing how much the beatiful weather here becomes a motivator to appreciate living on campus. As I promised in my last post, here are some pictures of PLU during the spring:

Studying outside during Writing 101

Life of a Music Minor (Concert/Juries):

The end of the semester is a really busy time for music students; however, it is also the most exciting time of the semester as well. Studio classes and ensembles are concluded with concerts. On April 20th, the PLU saxophone studio group had a combined concert with the UPS (University of Puget Sound) saxophone players. In this concert, several quartets from both schools played and the concert ended with a combined PLU/UPS group. This was a really good experience for me personally, since I got meet other saxophone players who attend a different university. Furthermore, it was a good experience for me as a music student. Because of the busy schedule of the UPS students, we rehearsed as a whole group on the day of the concert for the first time- 3 hours before the concert began. For us to all be able to play well, we needed to be flexible with the changes made in the music; a necessary skill for musicians. In the end, the concert was a success!

Photo taken by Erik Steigner

Music juries are also coming up! You don't know what juries are? Let me explain. Music students who take lessons usually get to experience playing a variety of music. However, we concentrate on one peice to play for the end of the semester, to show a jury (usually a group of three music faculty members) how much we have improved and recieve feedback on our playing. Last semester I played Sonata for Tenor Saxophone and Pinao by William Hartley, a modern American peice. My choice for this semester is completely different. I am planning to play Viola da Gamba by J.S. Bach, which is transcibed from a peice that is supposed to be played by viola. I am enjoying the opportunities am I recieving in my lessons to play different types of music, and I am excited for what the future is going to bring!

Lots of Love,
Loana