{"id":29211,"date":"2019-04-29T13:23:31","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T17:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=29211"},"modified":"2024-07-02T17:11:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T17:11:00","slug":"from-ensemble-to-soloist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=29211","title":{"rendered":"From ensemble to soloist"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Arvind<\/a>
Saxophonist Arvind Mallikarjunan in rehearsal with the UNC Wind Ensemble on Thursday, April 11, 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last semester, Arvind Mallikarjunan came to a realization.<\/p>\n

The UNC senior, double majoring in Music and Exercise and Sports Science, was in the process of working on a piece for saxophone that he planned to use to audition for the UNC Symphony Orchestra\u2019s Annual Concerto Competition. If selected, he\u2019d get the opportunity to play with the Symphony Orchestra in a late February concert.<\/p>\n

But then, in the thick of a semester in which he was taking some of his most challenging science courses \u2014 Organic Chemistry II, Physiology of the Human Body and Neuromuscular Control \u2014 it struck him that he didn\u2019t have the time to fully prepare the piece for the quickly approaching fall audition.<\/p>\n

Another piece came to mind, though \u2014 one he\u2019d been working on for almost a year. The piece was Juilliard professor Eric Ewazen\u2019s \u201cFantasia.\u201d It was then that he knew he would use that 10-minute selection, which he played on his saxophone, to audition in February for the 2019 UNC Wind Ensemble Concerto Competition. Nearly two months after winning the competition, Mallikarjunan performed the solo piece with the UNC Wind Ensemble in their spring concert with the UNC Symphony Band and University Band on Tuesday, April 16.<\/p>\n

Mallikarjunan is a co-first-chair saxophonist in the UNC Wind Ensemble, as well as a member of UNC Jazz Band. So, he\u2019ll be performing with a group he\u2019s already familiar with. But he says the preparation to be at the front of the stage as a soloist, rather than seated with the group, has been different.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m having to play a lot louder and projecting a lot more than I\u2019m used to,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, there\u2019s the physical exhaustion that we\u2019re not normally used to \u2026 It\u2019s also a lot about trusting yourself. This game is really mental \u2014 to believe that your interpretation of the music or what you want is good enough to be in front of the whole band.\u201d<\/p>\n

UNC Wind Ensemble director Evan Feldman has continued to give Mallikarjunan the same advice throughout his preparation. Mallikarjunan says Feldman has enabled him with the confidence to lead the group by telling him, \u201cJust do what you want to do. I\u2019ll follow you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mallikarjunan continued to gain confidence through rehearsals, which occur every two days. But as he prepared for the performance, he didn\u2019t want to over practice a piece that he\u2019s gotten to know well over the past year.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I want to focus on making the music and following the band,\u201d Mallikarjunan said. \u201cAnd so, if I focus too much on the technicalities, I\u2019ll miss that \u2026 And in a way, if I miss a couple of notes, I\u2019d rather do that than miss communicating with the band and working with the band as much as I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a way, Mallikarjunan\u2019s non-music pursuits \u2014 which contribute to an already busy schedule \u2014 led him to select the piece that will allow him to have a 10-minute spotlight in April\u2019s concert. And Feldman makes sure not to overlook this when praising the concerto winner.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a great musical mind; he\u2019s got a very thoughtful way of approaching things,\u201d Feldman said. \u201cMusic is not his only interest \u2026 (But) the music is something he\u2019s kept seriously, which is kind of the poster child and the best way to (show) what a Carolina student does.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Parth Updahyaya for the UNC music department<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senior Arvind Mallikarjunan prepared a 10-minute selection of Eric Ewazen’s “Fantasia” as he took his first solo experience to an April concert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":29212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,29,33,21,34],"tags":[24,25,26,145],"class_list":["post-29211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fine-arts-humanities","category-general","category-media-news","category-news","category-news-archive","tag-carolina","tag-college-of-arts-sciences","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29211"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49258,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29211\/revisions\/49258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}