2008 Woodie Awards
Percussion professor adds personal flair
Lew Olowski
Issue date: 2/27/06 Section: Culture
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Allison Shaw, a renowned percussionist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, came to UMKC to perform with the percussion ensemble at 7:30 p.m. this Monday at White Recital Hall. She also offered instruction and tutoring at the Conservatory of Music.
"The most important thing I'm here for is to give the students here something that will help them grow in some way, both in the ensemble and in my master class," Shaw said. "It's important to give students a sense of what some of the possibilities are professionally, to let them see things through my eyes, through the perspective of experience."
Like students in other disciplines, Shaw feels musicians are concerned about their financial future. However, she said, success boils down to hard work and passion.
"There is an entrepreneurial underpinning to what we learn in music school," Shaw said. "People won't know you unless you get your name out there, and music's so competitive, it doesn't offer guarantees. The nature of what it means to be a musician is always changing."
At Monday's concert, Shaw will perform a solo piece, "In the Beginning, There Was Rhythm," by Sophia Gubiadulina, one of the famous "Russian Three" composers who composed avant-garde music during the Soviet era.
"I'll play any kind of music so long as it moves me," she said. "I was as moved by [the composer's] story as by the music she writes. They weren't allowed to express what they wanted to, because the authorities thought that it would incite revolution. I think that embedded in this particular piece is a voice of hope, a voice that refuses to acknowledge oppression."
Shaw also believes the piece is an example of how powerful a beat can be.
"A great thing that music can do is to address something so fundamental to the human condition that it transcends the words we use to describe it," said Shaw.
