By: Rachael Jackson Freelancer
On Sunday night, Oct. 19, 2015, marimba player Dr. Wei-Chen Lin performed at the Smith Recital Hall.
Dr. Lin received his doctorate of Musical Arts from Boston University in 2006 after moving to the United States.
Trained as an orchestral musician, Dr. Lin is a distinguished marimba player that has traveled and performed in places like Taiwan, Russia, and Australia.
The marimba is much like a xylophone, but is made with wooden bars instead of metal. The tones it produces are warm, the notes lingering long after the initial staccato of the mallet strikes.
The marimba’s richness of sound can be attributed to the tube-like resonators that hang below the instrument.
He began the concert by playing two pieces alongside his peer from Boston University and the Director of Percussion Studies at Western, Dr. Christopher Whyte. The two musicians hopped behind their instruments, every now and then synchronizing rhythm in unexpected ways.
The second song they performed together, “Skylark Orange Circles” by Gordon Stout, was a virtuosic Japanese piece, an ode to the color orange and the rapidly paced song of an ascending skylark.
Dr. Whyte left the stage while Dr. Lin continued with two Brazilian songs. The second solo piece was a five movement work titled “La Populaire Brasillienne” by Heiter Villa-Lobos that was adapted from guitar music to the marimba by Dr. Lin himself.
“The marimba produces deeper sounds better than the guitar, of which loses depth quickly,” Dr. Lin said, explaining his decision to adapt this song to marimba, “I play on here and you get a much fuller sound. You can hear the resonance.”
His final song was another guitar adaptation, this time from “Fantasia on Themes from La Traviata” by Francisco Tarrega.
This romantic piece used famous tunes from La Traviata, an Italian opera. When crossed over to the marimba it became a delight to experience with its whimsical and rich sound.
Faith Osterlund, sophomore and Contemporary Music major, said she drew inspiration from hearing music similar to “Fantasia.” “I’m a classical singer,” Osterlund said. “So if I was to do something from this particular concert, I would choose something along those lines.”
The Music Department is hosting a number of events in the next months. Don’t miss the next concert on Sunday, Oct. 25 in the Smith Recital Hall at 3 p.m. It is titled “Violin, Viola, Vielle, and Friends” and is free to Western students that bring their ID.
