Karl Kolbeck and Shelly Armstrong, will be performing a joint faculty racial on Wednesday, Feb. 11. This recital, like many others, is an example of the music department here at Wayne State College that is free and open to the public. Dr. Kolbeck will be featured on clarinet and Armstrong as an accompanist on piano.
The performance will feature “Suite from The Victorian Kitchen Garden” by Paul Reade, “Romanza” by Michele Mangani and other stylistically similar selections. According to the WSC event post, the “repertoire imagines a lovely garden through the flowing melodies” of these pieces and connects them through imagery.
The post further goes on to describe the upcoming performance, saying “the unaccompanied “Hommage à M. de Falla” by Béla Kovács showcases dramatic contrasts and syncopated rhythms with the clarinet imitating other instruments such as a trumpet and guitar.”
Dr. Kolbeck is currently in his fifteenth year as a music professor at WSC. Kolbeck said he was initially drawn to the institution because he felt his skillset was an excellent fit for the position as it was advertised. After joining the WSC faculty, Kolbeck found that the community would grow on him and he was an even better fit than he had previously imagined.
“I appreciate working and living in a small community,” Kolbeck said. “I’ve stayed all these years in part due to the excellent colleagues and fantastic students I get to work with every day in the Department of Music.”
Whether they are majoring in a music-related field or simply playing in one of the ensembles for fun, the music students are a big part of the drive behind the faculty performances and recitals here at WSC.
Faculty members in the WSC Department of Music are required to present a solo faculty recital that is open to the public every semester. However, many music professors are involved in multiple campus groups or ensembles and perform multiple times throughout the semester.
Kolbeck said the faculty recitals contribute to the wide array of cultural events presented by the Department of Music and WSC.
“There’s always a lot going on in the department,” Kolbeck said. “It’s rare for a week to go by without some sort of music performance taking place.”
Kolbeck further credits the faculty recitals with helping his students learn. He is able to draw upon his own experiences to help teach students in classrooms how to be successful on the stage. This is a highly effective way to prepare many individuals for their own upcoming shows. Through watching their professors perform on stage, students are shown the confidence necessary to be a performing musician.
