MACOMB (WGEM) – Sunday marked the twenty fifth anniversary for Western Illinois College’s Brassfest.
Yearly, the occasion is the end result of a nationally famend visitor ensemble, WIU music college students and highschool college students.
This yr, Seven Hills Brass took the stage to wrap up the night.
WIU trumpet professor Bruce Briney mentioned the aim is to present college students the chance to “choose the brains” of the skilled musicians whereas they go to.
“I feel they [students] all the time depart campus feeling impressed, and that’s actually what’s essential I feel for younger folks to get them enthusiastic about their artwork and craft,” Briney mentioned.
WIU college students Dante Patterson and Kate Sanger each mentioned they plan to grow to be music educators after they graduate. They plan to take the teachings they’ve discovered from the professionals into the longer term.
“We’re asking them questions like ‘how are you being such a very good musician? How did you get right here and what can I do?” Patterson, who performs trombone, mentioned. “When it’s off-stage and it’s one-on-one it feels very intimate and it feels private, so I take that have, I stick it in there [my head] and I develop with it.”
Sanger mentioned she’s discovered that psychological well being performs an enormous position within the lifetime of a musician.
“Ensuring that you just care for your psychological well being as a musician, it’s really easy to be caught up in ensuring that all the pieces’s good, however on the finish of the day we must be human with the intention to play our greatest,” Sanger mentioned.
Visiting highschool college students additionally acquired the possibility to play together with Western college students throughout a “masterclass.”
Q&A classes have been additionally part of the agenda.
Briney mentioned the cash raised at annually’s Brassfest goes in direction of bringing a brand new visitor ensemble to campus the next yr.
Previously, Briney mentioned the American Brass Quintet and the Dallas Brass have carried out on the occasion.
“It’s serviced our program in so many alternative methods on so many ranges,” Briney added.
To view Brassfest 2023, click on right here.
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