Jacobs students perform at Rachael's

Graduate student Ben Wedeking walked over to a garbage can and clipped his fingernails moments before his performance. This is the way Wedeking, a string instrument musician, prepares his fingers for performance.

Wedeking and eight other Jacobs School of Music students put on a concert at 7 p.m. May 3 in Rachael’s Cafe.

Organized by Wedeking, the event showcased four different types of chamber music, ranging from pieces by Russian composer Tchaikovsky to rock tunes by the Rolling Stones.

Working on a double major in violin and guitar performance, Wedeking has played a variety of chamber music pieces this past year. Chamber music refers to music composed for small groups that would be played in a small chamber or room,

Wedeking said. He wanted to incorporate his experience with it in his act.

“I wanted to do everything I’ve been involved with this past semester in one place and have all different groups in the same concert,” Wedeking said.

The concert contained four different sections, the first being a string sextet performing a classical piece by Tchaikovsky called, “Souvenir de Florence.”

The next section consisted of seven popular Spanish songs by Manuel de Falla for classical guitar and soprano voice.

“As an undergrad, I remember hearing graduate students playing these songs with a vocalist, and I really admired these pieces,” Wedeking said. “I always wanted to play them.”

He said these pieces were written by a classical composer but are inspired by Spanish folk music. These pieces portray the shift from classical to folk.  

The next section included classical guitar duos and mandolin/guitar duos deriving from the Brazilian choros tradition.

“Choros is a genre not very well known as much as samba and bossa nova, but in Brazil, choros are just as popular as the other two genres,” Wedeking said.

The last section of the concert included steel and electric guitar duos from the

American folk tradition performed by Wedeking and Eli Schille-Hudson, a freshman studying guitar performance.

“The idea is that we’re going on a journey from more academic and classical music to less academic and more folk-oriented pieces,” Wedeking said.

As the only undergraduate student in the entire performance, Schille-Hudson said he and Wedeking had been jamming for a couple weeks when he asked him to be a part of the performance.

They collaborated to choose songs they both knew how to play or were willing to learn from each other.

“This performance is different from Jacobs’ concerts in that it’s out in public, and we’re not sure of who the audience is going to be,” Schille-Hudson said. “It’s also much more relaxed and laid-back.”

Wedeking said along with this performance being more relaxed and laid back, it’s an opportunity for audience members to hear different types of music and experience different genres all in one concert.

“The audience will hopefully find some links between the different styles and have interest in a new perspective or a glimpse into a variety of genres,”
Wedeking said.