Entertainment
Kreider signs and gives advice on vocal arts
By Loretta Carter
greatest composers of our time
such as Puccini, Wagner, and
Our College was entertained Mozart. Kreider says, “My
by music and a lecture from favorite composer of all is
Paul Kevin Kreider a baritone Puccini.” Kreider does most
opera singer. For three hours of his music in their natural
Wednesday in the music hall form which is mainly Italian.
Kreider demonstrated his art Some are also in German and
and answered questions from French. Kreider believes to
the students. After his perfor become a good opera singer
mance he then gave helpful you, “have” to master the
hints to the private voice languages and Music Educa
students on improving their tion is a must. Music theory
voice abilities.
should be the main part of
Kreider was raised in Min your Music Education.
nesota and at seventeen he
Although Kreider does most
pursued his singing career in of his music in foreign
opera. At age 29, he is now languages he does do
one of the top baritone opera American Operas too, such as
singers around. Kreider adapts “Baby Doe.”
his music from some of the"
Kreider has been singing
Staff Writer
professionally for five years.
Since the age of seventeen he
has been in straight theater
and in musical theater. He
taught voice at the University
of Colorado for one year. He
then started studying opera at
the University of Arizona.
Kreider said, “Opera is very
different from any other type
of music and you have to be
willing to give a lot and give up
a lot to become the best in
your field. It will always be a
challenge. Kreider will be
moving to New York City next
year to continue his career. In
two weeks he will be perform
ing in Vienna and then at the
Mnnesota Opera in, “The
Postman always rings twice.”
Hersch’s performance varied
Insanity, hysterics,
somethingfor nothing
By Thad Kreisher
by Thad Kreisher
Entertainment Editor
Entertainment Editor
James Hersch first started
playing guitar at the age of
twelve. His sister, it seems,
won an acoustic six string, but
never took an interest in it.
Not so for Hersch. After
learning a few chords from a
neighbor, he fell in love with
the instrument. Little did he
know that two albums and 27
years later it would lead him to
a noontime performance here
at the College.
Hersch, 29, holds a degree
in classical guitar from
Hamline University in St.
Paul, Minnesota. However,
soon after obtaining his
degree, he switched to a dif
ferent, more contemporary
style of playing.
“I found I wasn’t really in
love with classical. Tb play
classical you must be very
dedicated. It is really an in
teresting style.”
His current style is a mixture
of blues, classical, easy listen
ing, and satire. His choice of
musical “heros”, Bob Dylan,
Cat Stevens, Leo Kotke, and
“China Crisis,” reflect this
style.
Hersch’s noontime perfor
mance was very enjoyable. His
set was well mixed with a good
variety of music and styles.
From Johan Sabastian Bach,
to Tom Leher’s satyrical
“Vatican Rag,” to Hersch’s
own touching original, “Only
Lonely Sometimes,” his per
formance was very colorful
Page 4
containing a little bit of
everything.
Currently Hersch is touring
the college circuit through 25
states, and trying his luck as a
songwriter. He has two
albums, “Audition” and “By
Design,” available.
Overall, the student reaction
- Nothing^ if there’s one word that’s worth its weight in gold, it
has got to be “nothing.”
Suppose you ask someone what they’ve been up to lately.
Most likely they will reply, “Nothing.”
Last week a friend of mine seemed a little distraught. I asked
what the matter was. As I suspected, it was nothing. But, that’s
not the problem. What ever the matter was, I’m sure that my
friend will manage to get over it.
The problem is “nothing.” Yes, nothing itself. What is
nothing? Don’t try to think about it, because you can’t. You just
can’t think about nothing. It’s impossible. I know, I tried.
For twenty minutes I meditated. I did my best to visualize
“nothing.” The next thing I knew I was screaming “No! Please,
no more! No more!” My landlady burst into the room, fraught
with fright. She wanted to know why I was screaming. I told her
it was nothing.
However, my brush with insanity was not in vain. Despite the
hysterics, I did manage to come up with a few good “nothings.”
Life is filled with vast amounts of nothing, but certain things
aid in defining the term. For instance, what does water taste
like? Some people would say that water just tastes like water,
but it really tastes like nothing. Maybe in some areas where the
water isn’t so pure it tastes like something, but pure water tastes
like nothing.
Then there’s air. As far as the sense of smell is concerned,
pure air smells like nothing. Cities smell like exhaust and con
crete. The country smells like trees and grass. Ah, but these are
merely aromas. Air, devoid of additives, smells like nothing.
So far so good. Now we know what nothing smells like and
what it tastes like, but what does it look like?
' I’m glad you asked that.
Nothing looks like a lot of things. For example, when your sit
ting down at home and you turn on a light, what does the light
look like. Depending on your lamp, the bulb may appear to be
Photos by Dan Wheeler
whitish, or tinted. Yet, the bulb is only the source of our light.
to Hersch seemed very good. The light itself dosn’t look like anything. I guess you could say
Likewise, Hersch enjoyed per that it looks like nothing.
forming here.
“I had a good time. A real
Well, I began with nothing to write about, and ended up
nice audience... You never writing about nothing. Never let anyone tell you that you can’t
know with a (noontime perfor get something from nothing.
mance), sometimes you get
thrown to the lions;”
Clackamas Community College