The Quill/Chad Hummel
By Michelle Seitz Contributing writer
On Oct. 4, Joshua Davis, associate professor of music, gave a performance in Stretansky Concert Hall.
His performance featured both faculty of the music department and students.
The faculty performers that accompanied Davis included Jennifer Sacher Wiley, associate professor of music, on violin; Ilya Blinov, lecturer in music, on piano; Patrick Long, professor of music, on marimba and Marko Marcinko on percussion.
The students involved in the recital were juniors Alanna Dent and Trystan Johnson. They sang vocals.
Davis’ recital consisted of original compositions.
He performed a solo bass set that was influenced by Indian music. The song featured two vocalists from his world music class, who sang Indian syllables repetitively as Davis played.
Another piece Davis performed was “Bach Reflections” with Wiley.
The composition was inspired by dark times in Davis’ life. The reflections piece shared similarities with Bach’s works but varied structurally.
Davis performed a song titled “Trips” with Blinov, Young and Marcinko. The song was composed after Davis went to the Beehive nightclub in Boston.
“Who We Really Are” is another piece Davis wrote. He composed it at a time when he struggled with spirituality. It was the first of three songs featuring vocals from Johnson and Dent.
“Working with professors and putting the whole thing together in such a little time frame was cool,” Dent said.
“We had to have faith in each other that we could come in at the right time and make our individual parts weave together to create a blanket of sound,” she added.
Another piece Davis performed was “Brahms Third Symphony, a moment” and “Beams.”
Davis also performed the song “Sleep,” which featured a piano solo by Blinov.
He said the song is a representation of the lack of sleep Davis has gotten as a result of having two children whom he loves dearly.
Davis said he was pleased with how the performers adapted to the work he presented to them.
“There were classical musicians playing non-classical music and very successfully, and that is uncommon,” he said.
Davis was inspired by the amount of talented vocalists at Susquehanna.
“Working with [professor] Davis is particularly fun because he makes rehearsals like a sort of experience. Every time we ran our charts it was like a completely new piece,” Dent said.
“This was an incredible experience and I would be thrilled to perform again,” she added.
Davis’ performance was a part of the “21st Century Tuesdays” series. The performances take place on the first Tuesdays of the month.
The next “21st Century Tuesday” will be in January.
