March 26, 2015
Andean Music Ensemble Performs at President Drake's Residence
The Andean Music Ensemble received a very special invitation to perform at the Drake’s Residence this Spring to launch a series of student musical performances hosted by Mrs. Drake. On Monday, March 23, we performed for an audience of 30 invited members of the OSU community. It was a unique opportunity to showcase this new ensemble as the product of a fruitful collaboration between the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the School of Music.
We presented a repertoire of seven pieces sung in Spanish, Quechua and Aymara, and played on a variety of Andean instruments. And we didn’t hold back on the Bolivian tarkeadas! Mrs. Drake and a couple of other guests even joined us playing the chakchas (goat hooves rattles) on one of the pieces.
Between songs, students introduced the pieces, talked about the instruments and the Andean languages in which we sing, provided some insight into our learning methods, and shared information on Andean culture and society to contextualize the music.
Our performance was well received. In fact, we felt like rock stars, as people came up to us after the performance, eager to have their picture taken with the group. We’ve come a long way in 11 class sessions!
Members of the Spring 2015 Andean Music Ensemble are:
- Angel Algarin—graduating senior majoring in Spanish and Pre-veterinary Sciences.
- Erin Allen—3rd year doctoral student in Ethnomusicology.
- David Cabrera—6th year undergraduate student majoring in Music Composition.
- Christy Garcia—4th year doctoral student in Hispanic Linguistics in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
- Devin Grammon—3rd year doctoral student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, concentrating in Hispanic Linguistics.
- Peter Moeller—1st year doctoral student in Musicology.
- Caroline Shipley—1st year doctoral student in Latin American Literatures and Cultures in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
- Yun Wang—2nd year doctoral student in Ethnomusicology.
- Chia-Chieh Wu—2nd year doctoral student in Music Education.
- Michelle Wibbelsman—Assistant Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese; Director of the Andean Music Ensemble.
