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PVB Campus Students Enjoy Sample of Russian Music
The monthly musical performances at the Bolles Ponte Vedra Beach Campus continue with the students learning about Russian music in February. Vera Watson, a concert pianist and Chairwoman of the Piano Department at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, held two performances for the Bolles students on February 18.
Watson received her music education from the Russian Academy of Music in Moscow, Russia. She shared some Russian folk art and musical instruments with the Bolles students, including the popular matryoshka, a set of dolls of decreasing size set within each other. Watson also described and played a balalaika, a three-stringed Russian instrument, for the students. She invited several students to play wooden spoons, a tradition in Russian folk music, as well.
Watson explained to the students about how folk music from 200 years ago influenced Russia’s classical composers such as Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. She played samples of their work on piano, joined by Douglas Anderson junior Victor Huls on cello and piano. Douglas Anderson senior Ryan Carlson also demonstrated the “Trepak”, a dance from Tchaikovsky’s ballet, The Nutcracker.
“It’s great to expose the students to the roots of classical music,” Watson said. “Folk music from different countries influenced classical music. It was so long ago and it’s important to connect it for the students.”
View more photos on the Bolles online gallery here.