Community pianists played the role of harmonic historians at an SRJC-sponsored recital focusing on classic French composers. Experienced musicians and music majors performed the recital as part of a community education class taught by Florence Aquilina.

The class performed impressionist music by French composers from the turn of the 20th century. Their compositions sound different than “traditional” classical music in that they manage to create many unusual sounds rarely heard from the piano. In the words of Donovan Sheets, a music major at SRJC, “French composers sound new to the ear.”

The most featured composer was Claude Debussy. He is credited as the man who brought impressionism to music. According to pianist Tatyana Goodhart, his music defined the transition between the romantic period and the modernist period of music.

Nine pianists and two flutists played in the concert. Each pianist played one solo set, and there were several piano duets. The flute players provided beautiful melodic accompaniment to the piano in several pieces.
The piano performance class, which allowed recitals such as this was recently cut due to budget constraints. It was turned into a non-transferable community education class. This creates a problem, for every music major needs a perfomance class.

Pianist Connie Holbrook was upset at the relegation of this class to community education status. “This was once the top musical class for students headed for a degree in music. When the class changed to a community education course, it forced students out of taking it because it doesn’t count towards a degree,” she said.

Holbrook got her music degree from Berklee College of Music and she said, “Flo and this class is better then any I took there.”