Trifecta

Going to see Trifecta perform was a lot different that what I had normally expected. First
off, the performance was at Presser Hall. I had to ask my professor where Presser Hall was
located because I originally thought the performance would be in one of the concert halls or
performance centers. That is why I called Trifecta the away team since they are performing at an
unfamiliar place to me. Presser Hall is located on the western campus of Miami and that alone is
enough of a reason to call them the away team because students often joke about the distance
from western campus to main campus.
Upon arriving at Presser Hall I noticed that the performance was on the second floor in a
classroom style room where all the chairs could be moved around. Once they closed the doors
and the performers started to warm up I noticed that there were only 30-35 students present for
this performance and most of them were taking notes like I was. I sat in the back row and quietly
observed the entire performance. There were only three performers, thus the ensemble name
Trifecta. Lori Baruth was on the clarinet, David Oyen was on the bassoon, and Chialing Hsieh
was on the piano. Lori seemed to be the leader of the group and introduced her other performers
as well as herself. She explained how the group formed and what they normally play and where
they are from. They told me that the group has only been together for about a year and a half and
that they are from a university in northern Kentucky. After they covered the basic information
they moved on to what pieces they would be playing and started to warm up. Since there are
multiple pieces I will only be discussing two of them to keep my analysis in the range of the
suggested word count.
The first song that they played started out with them playing the same melody and in
unison but then the bassoon took over for about a 20 second solo. Then they returned to playing

the opening and the bassoon dropped out and the clarinet played a solo that was accompanied by
the piano. The clarinet continues to go off on its own and is accompanied by the piano and
bassoon. The clarinet seems to take the lead on most of the song. At the end the dynamics
become louder than what they were in the entire piece. When they finished playing the told us
that this piece was composed for at least 14 different musical combinations and this was the first
time they performed it for a live audience.
The fourth piece starts out with the clarinetist switching to a smaller clarinet and using a
different mouth piece. I am not a music major so I do not know the proper terminology. The
bassoon also switched out the mouth piece. They said something about catching a 7/8 multiple
and I have no idea what that means. The piano is starting out loud and the bassoon and clarinet
are slowly getting louder. The bassoon and clarinet both hold long notes as the piano hangs out in
the background playing dissonant tunes. They are return to the same melodic line shortly before
going back to their own lines. The piano goes off and plays a bad solo of just smashing the keys
for about 20 secs. It was very dissonant. The clarinet continues to sound the loudest and most
forceful, but that may be because Im sitting closer to her side. A man now stands at the side of
the piano turning the pages, he was not there before. They are getting louder and then softer
again before building back up to the loud dynamics . They play this in and out sound and
something almost like a tom and jerry sound of crashes and oh no moments. And something
falling to the ground. The performers move around with their instrument in their chair and it
shows how into the music they are. The piano takes the lead at the end the clarinet and bassoon
follow the same line. The piano continues to climb the ladder and then go all the way back down
and hits a couple high bass notes. The bassoon plays as the clarinet plays the melody as well and
then they join on the same melodic line. The clarinet and bassoon play in unison as the piano

provides accompaniment to them and then it sounds like the piano has joined them all playing
the same melodic line. The bassoon and clarinet play together as the piano goes solo and plays its
own line. They all play separately and then come back together for all of 2 seconds before all
going off on their own again. They ended loud and proud and all played in unison at the end.