Fall 2021
YAZZ Band: New Normal
Review of jazz album YAZZ Band: New Normal by Greg Yasinitsky » More ...
Instrumental
Winter 2020
Videos: Danh Pham conducts
Conductor Danh Pham, an associate music professor at Washington State University, brings joy and wonder as he directs various musical pieces.
Read more about Danh Pham’s work to introduce diverse and underrepresented composers.
Conducting the WSU Symphony Orchestra at The Fox [Theater in Spokane], 2019
Conducting Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin
Washington State University Symphony Orchestra, 2016
Conducting the Erhu Concerto “Jinghua’s Dream” (Mvt. 4 – Winter) by Guan Naizhong
Guang Xi Symphony Orchestra
Conducting the Clarinet Concerto (Mvt. I – Giocoso) by Philip Sparke
Seogwipo Philharmonic Wind Orchestra
Conducting … » More …
Fall 2019
Studio of notes
The music recording studio at Washington State University gives faculty, student, and guest musicians a sonically blank slate on which they can immortalize their art. » More ...
Fall 2019
YAZZ Band
Review of Washington State University professor, composer, and saxophonist Greg Yasinitsky's album YAZZ Band » More ...
Fall 2017
Cougtunes
Recent releases from the WSU School of Music:
Gator Tail, faculty jazz quartet (Brad Ard, David Jarvis, Brian Ward, Greg Yasinitsky) (contemporary hard bop—even a classic Hammond B-3 organ can be found on the album)
YAZZ Recordings
Singular … » More …
Spring 2017
From the top
It’s sunrise somewhere on the Appalachian Trail. Ruth Boden is sitting on top of a mountain, playing her cello as she gazes out at a sea of trees. A hiker approaches. “So that’s what I’ve been hearing for the past six miles!” he calls out to her, grinning from ear to ear.
Boden is the cello professor at Washington State University and the founder of Music Outside Four Walls. She is challenging the received wisdom that classical music is played in tuxedos in concert halls with whisper-quiet audiences who’ve paid big bucks for a seat. So she backpacks, with cello, … » More …
Fall 2013
Compositions of Charles Argersinger
Winter 2016
Breaking through
Paul Henning ’98 didn’t set out to be a professional musician. “I swore up and down I wasn’t going to be a music major or study music—but then, look what I did!” he says.
He moved to Los Angeles where he made a lot of phone calls looking for work as a session player, orchestrator, or proofreader of musical scores—and ended up working with John Williams on the music for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Over the course of 60 years, John Williams has scored over 100 films and taken home five Oscars. All his scores, Henning says, start with Williams at the piano … » More …
Fall 2016
Dave Hagelganz
Dave Hagelganz, Saxophone; Dru Heller, drums; Scott Steed, bass; Brian Ward, piano
WSU Recordings: 2014
Tenor saxophonist Dave Hagelganz leads a quartet of highly compatible musicians in this overdue self-titled debut album, joined by fellow professors Brian Ward (Washington State University) and Scott Steed (Eastern Washington University, Whitworth University), as well as young lion Dru Heller from Spokane. On the surface, this album appears as a humble offering to today’s jazz scene. What can … » More …
Fall 2016
The music of life
In Yakima’s Garfield Elementary School, Principal Alan Matsumoto ’75 is hearing music ring through the halls after school. With 100 percent of the students facing poverty, the afterschool Yakima Music en Acción (YAMA) gives them the opportunity to transcend their circumstances with instruments.
YAMA, based on a Venezuelan program called El Sistema, brings professional musicians to the school to teach Garfield students how to play violins, cellos, and other instruments in ensemble groups.
The program launched four years ago with just seven students. Matsumoto says he first heard about El Sistema from Stephanie Hsu, who had recently graduated from training and now leads YAMA. … » More …