The Wayne State College music department faculty members Karl Kolbeck and Shelly Armstrong performed their first recital of the academic year Friday in Ley Theatre.

“The faculty recital is music with the clarinet and piano accompaniment,” said Kolbeck, Associate Professor of the music department.

Kolbeck played the clarinet while Armstrong, an accompanist of the school of arts and humanities, played the piano. This was a showcase for the clarinet.

“This particular recital had works on the eastern European, Hungarian, Czech, and Italian composers,” Kolbeck said. “The music was primarily classical along with a dance style.”

This is high class music performed with different styles of woodwind
instruments composed in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

“On this particular one, I did the final piece on bass clarinet, and a year ago I did a complete bass clarinet recital and e flat clarinet,
however each piece is a fresh start,” Kolbeck said.

He does a faculty recital every semester.

“The significant part of my job is to recruit more students and teach them to play the clarinet, as well as other woodwind instruments,”
Kolbeck said.

“My goal is to see myself at Wayne State College in the next five years,” Kolbeck said. “Doing these faculty recitals keeps me going as
a performer, and I hope to continue these woodwind skills to pass onto my students.”

“There were four pieces of music that were incorporated together with Shelly Armstrong,” Kolbeck said.

Armstrong and Kolbeck have been working on this particular recital since late August.

“This is my first recital,” Armstrong said.

Learning the music took time, and the preparation was the main focus.

“I have been working on the music for about five or six weeks,” said Kolbeck. “I try to practice two to three hours a day on my own.”

Armstrong and Kolbeck would rehearse together for an hour once a week.

Armstrong just started performing at Wayne State College this semester. However, last year, Armstrong directed the orchestra.

“I started taking piano lessons when I was in second grade,” Armstrong said. “Often times the music is challenging enough that I stay focused on the music itself.”

“There were community members that attended, and there were lots of Wayne State College students involved,” Armstrong said.

The Ley Theatre is located in the Brandenburg education building, and the faculty recital lasted about 45 minutes.