The Montclaire String Quartet performed and critiqued pieces written by members of the Society of Composers. David Langr, violin; Kathryn Langr, violin; Sandra Armstrong, viola; and Andrea Di Gregorio, cello, shared their advice with about 20 people. 

Joey Dangerfield, graduate student and president of Society of Composers, thought it would be a good idea to bring the Montclaire String Quartet to Marshall.

"It was my idea to get the Montclaire String Quartet to come and do these classes because I knew they had done things here previously," Dangerfield said. "They were in residence at Marshall for three years."

It has been at least four years since the group visited Marshall. The quartet works with music appreciation students throughout the state. 

"It is unusual to work on other composers' pieces and it is good for students to hear a live quartet so they can learn," Di Gregorio said. "The performer has the chance to tell the composer what would work better." 

A piece by Dangerfield was performed first. 

"I wrote this piece last semester, I entitled it '19,' " Dangerfield said. "I named it that because 19 is the average weight of all the instruments." 

The quartet played the piece once and then began discussion. Dangerfield talked about certain places he wanted to change and the members gave suggestions on what would sound better and be easier to play. After discussion, the quartet played the piece again with the changes. 

The quartet also played John Allemeier's piece "Exit." Allemeier is the adviser for Society of Composers. 

"I wrote this when I was a graduate student four or five years ago for a different reading session," Allemeier said. 

The quartet also discussed Allemeier's piece. The musicians then played it again with the changes. 

Dangerfield said the master class was a success. 

"I was pleased with how things went this morning," Dangerfield said. "I've heard my pieces performed before, but it's not an everyday thing and I was nervous that I had made mistakes. 

"We hope to do more things like this in the future. The composers get to hear their music and learn what they did. They have the chance to change a few things in their music." 

The quartet gave a string master class later that day, during which the string students at Marshall performed pieces and discussed them with the quartet. The quartet also discussed twentieth century string techniques, Dangerfield said. 

"The string master class was something casual for us to listen to the students," Di Gregorio said. "They had a chance to perform and get criticized. It's always good to have another pair of ears listen to you play."

It wasn't hard to get the Montclaire String Quartet to do this at Marshall, but the Society of Composers did have to get the money to bring the quartet here, Dangerfield said.

"I applied for grants and SCI held fund-raisers," Dangerfield said. "We received money from the Student Fine Arts Gala Fund and from the music department."

Dangerfield said he thinks this was a good experience for the students at Marshall.

"This gave them the exposure to see how things work," he said. "They worked with the performers to write better music."

Story by Courtney Ross