UC Merced Magazine | Volume XIX, Issue V

Faculty Group Serves up a Smorgasbord of Sounds for the Region By Sam Yniguez If you ask one of UC Merced's faculty musicians to describe the genre attendees will hear at one of their performances, don't expect a straight answer. “ e short answer is that it’s a potluck,” said music and dance professor David Kaminsky, who plays utes and brings a Swedish musical background to the table. “Everybody brings something, and like with most potlucks, you don’t tell people what to bring. ey just show up with what they show up with and it always works itself out.” e group’s rst concert was held in 2018, sparked by the arrival of pianist Patricia Vergara to GASP. Vergara — whose expertise is jazz and Brazilian music — played professionally for over 20 years and was touring all around the world at one point. Needless to say, the professor was happy to be a part of a new ensemble at UC Merced. “ ere was a lot of talking about music and writing about music, but we were all very eager to play,” said Vergara, adding that the group was very ambitious that rst year, holding a spring and fall concert. A er realizing how much went into putting together an event with a slate of performances, they scaled back to one show per year. “It requires a lot of logistical work,” said music Professor Jayson Beaster-Jones, an accomplished saxophonist who is uent in jazz and Indian popular music. “From writing arrangements and getting the musicians in line with them, it takes far

longer than you can imagine. And all this happens outside of our day jobs so we’re working weekends and whatever spare time we have to prepare.” en there’s the matter of nding time to rehearse. “Every year, we say we’re going to start sooner, and before you know it, we’re six weeks out and realize we need to get on the ball,” said Beaster-Jones. “And some years require more work than others to pull together the program. It really depends on how ambitious David is feeling.” “It’s true,” responded Kaminsky. “I’ve brought in some ambitious arrangements before, but I have since learned my lesson.” Soprano Jenni Samuelson, a continuing lecturer, is the fourth member of the concert band core. e group held its annual performance in February at the Multicultural Arts Center in Downtown Merced. For each of the shows, members like to invite local talent — a bass player, a drummer — to ll out the ensemble. A guest artist has also become a staple of the concerts, the most recent being local recording artist and instructor Cheryl Lockett. e band also likes to incorporate student musicians and dancers in the act,

providing them with valuable experience performing in front of an audience. ese types of collaborations usually end up being quite memorable. “One of the most really powerful memories for me was when we ended a show with the entire Latin American drum ensemble playing and a recently graduated rapper performing on top of that,” said Beaster-Jones. “It was loud, and it was awesome.” e “core four” — all of whom have music degrees under their belts — agreed that, in addition to providing attendees with a great time and celebrating di erent cultures, a big reason why they perform as music faculty is to show that UC Merced is a place where music, and the arts for that matter, is thriving. “If you go into the Arts and Computational Sciences (ACS) building, you’ll see and hear all kinds of student music groups, dance groups, martial arts groups, art clubs and others working on their cra ,” said Vergara, adding that there’s also a recording studio students have access to as well as a student record label they have created. “ e ACS has become a real hub for the arts on campus,” she said. “And the concerts are one of the ways that we get to share that with the community.”

Part of the GASP faculty performs at the annual concert.

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