From the Top, NPR's popular program of young musicians playing classical music, will be in Kalamazoo this Sunday to record in front of a live audience at the Dalton Center Recital Hall on Western's campus. One of the featured musicians, and the only one from Kalamazoo, is Marissa Uchimura, a senior at Kalamazoo Christian High School. WMUK’s Cara Lieurance spoke with the young pianist about appearing on the show.
This is Marissa Uchimura playing Chopin's Scherzo No. 2 two years ago as a sophomore in high school. Already her playing was mature and accomplished, but she's seen herself improve in leaps and bounds in recent years after attending the Indiana University Piano Academy summer programs.
[Marissa Uchimura] “There I was meeting other pianists from all over the country who were my age and younger too, who were just way beyond my ability and stuff. And so my first year, I didn't get into any performance except for the student recital which everyone plays in. And then the second year, I was in an interactive class, which is like a master class with one of the faculty of the piano academy. And then this past summer, I was selected for a master class with, Joseph Kalichstein, who's a professor at Juilliard. So that was big. And so it was kind of like each year was big leaps of improvement which should happen over time, but definitely I wanted to focus. So I practiced more and I was picking up harder repertoire and everything so I guess things just started happening the more dedication I put into it.”
The piece Marissa has prepared for her appearance on NPR's From the Top is the 3rd Sonata by Sergei Prokofiev, one of the most fantastical and formidable pianists/composers of the 20th century.
[Marissa Uchimura] “I guess I didn't know it was going to be so difficult when I started it. But it actually ended up, I started it and then I dropped it because I was like, "I'm not sure if I'm capable of playing this piece." Then I ended up picking it up a few months later and then really really working on it and cracking down. It was kind of all I practiced for a couple months. And then I got it, and it's such a great piece and it's so fun to play. It's not one that, that I tire of. This is a piece that I would want to play for the rest of my life.”
[Cara Lieurance]”I bet you noticed how every person on the show as a guest, they sound really smart and articulate and funny. Are you worried about the interview portion?”
[Marissa Uchimura] “Yeah, I guess sort of. We had a pre-phone interview where—it wasn't Christopher O'Riley but one of their From the Top employees called me-and we just talked. And they liked to say, ‘Okay, if there's like anything that you don't want us to talk about or that you really would like us to talk about...’ So, I mean, almost I think it's kind of just like a conversation. So I'm trying not to go into it thinking, "Okay, I have to sound incredibly intellectual and make everyone laugh." So I think that they kind of help you out, push you toward saying the right things. Hopefully."
Marissa Uchimura, a senior at Kalamazoo Christian High School, is preparing to say and play the right things on From the Top's live taping this Sunday at 3 in the Dalton Center Recital Hall. This From the Top show will air on WMUK on February 9th at 8 p.m.
(Music: Prokofiev, Sonata No. 3, Andre Gavrilov, pianist)
"Snowflake" honors Marquette icon
No matter where you’re from, you probably remember a character from your hometown. A well-known personality who made your city unique. Gale LaJoye’s silent comedy “Snowflake” celebrates a man who locals say brought so much life to the city of Marquette, Michigan. LaJoye will be performing “Snowflake” next week at Kalamazoo’s Chenery Auditorium for students grades K-12. For LaJoye's full tour schedule, click here.
A man in baggy gray trousers with suspenders and a red plaid cap jumps down from a tattered old fence, only to get his suspenders caught in between the wooden boards. With a comical worried look not unlike Curly from The Three Stooges, the man starts jumping as if on a trampoline until he lands safely back on the fence.
Performer Gale LaJoye doesn’t say a word in his one man show “Snowflake.” LaJoye says he likes doing silent comedy because it allows action and expression to take center stage, like in old Charlie Chaplin films.
[Gale LaJoye]“All the focus is on the movement and the subtleties of the movement of not only the emotional content but also just gesture.”
“Snowflake,” is about a homeless man who uses discarded everyday objects to create his own happiness in a lonely world. The show is inspired by a man named Don Stenglein, or ‘Snowflake,’ who often walked the streets of LaJoye’s hometown of Marquette. LaJoye says Stenglein didn’t have much, but he would always wave and smile at passers by.
LaJoye says he was compelled to create a character based on Stenglein one Christmas Eve, when he noticed a loneliness and vulnerability in the man, that he had never seen before.
[Gale LaJoye]“Don was walking down the street and it was snowy. I pulled my car over and it was late, nobody else around, just the two of us. Myself watching him as he was walking down and I just began to think, what may he be thinking tonight?”
Stenglein wasn’t homeless. But by putting Snowflake’s character in the street, LaJoye hints at the isolation that homeless men and women face every day. One of the more moving scenes in the performance is Snowflake’s reaction to a billboard showing a happy family with a house and a white picket fence. Without a living friend, Snowflake’s own coat cheers him up.
[Gale LaJoye]“He comes on and looks up at the billboard and realizes that that’s not going to be his life, or it reminds him that this is his life in this alleyway. And he becomes a little morose or sad and he goes to sit down. And in feeling that way, then the coat embraces him and becomes his friend and nurtures him.”
Despite the deep meaning behind the performance, LaJoye says the show mostly about the power of positive thinking.
[Gale LaJoye]“People can find themselves in the situation of Snowflake through one accident or one bad business deal. So you can be on the other side of the fence. I think we can see that more now than in the past. People were more secure. We’re all vulnerable and that’s what the show is about, it’s just our vulnerability. We can find ourselves here and then how are we going to react? How are we going to find a positive self in that kind of environment?”
Stenglein died about a year after LaJoye brought him to see the show in Marquette. LaJoye says performing “Snowflake” insures that Stenglein’s message about keeping positive is remembered.
Other events:
Loy Norrix High School students will have their art on display at the Ann Harrison Gallery in Friendship Villiage Retirement Community starting this Saturday, January 14th at 2 p.m. The gallery will be open through March 17th.
Chinese culture courses will begin Monday, January 16th at The Confucius Institute on Western Michigan University’s campus. Seniors receive a half-price discount on tuition as do WMU students, staff, and some faculty.
Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek will be hosting a free coffeehouse meet-up featuring performances from two jazz instructors: Western Michigan University Professor Trent Kynaston and Hope College Jazz Instructor Mike Hyde. The event will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Want to go to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit? The Air Zoo will be offering rides to the auto show for $55. That fee includes transportation and tickets to the show at the Cobo Center. The Air Zoo coach will leave from Kalamazoo on January 17th at 7:30 a.m.
