Thousands perform for judges in music competition

By Sarah Owen

of The Northwestern April 28, 2007

http://www.thenorthwestern.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070428/OSH05/704280301

Oshkosh West students Angie Xie, Robin Karlin, piano; April Boucher, violin, Christine Dubie on the cello; rehearse for the WSMA music festival, which is being held at UWO today.

In summer 2006, she finished it.

Young pianist Robin Karlin composed a concerto she'll debut for judges today at the annual Wisconsin School Music Association State Music Festival.

Inside the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Arts and Communication building, Karlin will sit at the piano and play the original piece she imparted an ethnic flair.

"It sounds very Spanish," said the 16-year-old Oshkosh West junior. "I think I'll end up making a few more movements for it."

Karlin joins more than 3,000 Wisconsin music students who have qualified to perform before a panel of judges in 30 classrooms at UW-Oshkosh, and more than 35,000 students statewide who'll perform at 11 different colleges and universities.

Those playing earned the highest ratings at local festivals hosted at WSMA member schools, said Kenneth Liske, director of choral and general music education at UWO.

After performing for two ceremonies in one day last year, Karlin sat with Oshkosh West's orchestra, her thoughts wandering to a melody in her mind that rose above a speech she'd already heard given onstage.

"I was thinking about what I could do, and I came up with a theme. It sounded Spanish, and I ran with it," she said.

Though she isn't sure she'll ever play music professionally, Karlin has taken piano lessons since she was 4. And this isn't her inaugural bout at besting the peer competition at the state level, nor the first time she's composed her own musical piece.

"I've composed for a while, because I take piano and the teacher mandates that we make a piece for the end of the year," Karlin said. "I got started from there."

The pianist also will play before judges with three other students, to Antonin Dvorak's "Piano Quartet in E Flat Major."

"I don't like playing solo as much as in a group," Karlin said. "But instead of a recital, which would be more nerve-wracking, it's nice to go to random judges you'll never see again. They tell you technical details, comment on what they like."

And performing her original material also has its perks.

Karlin quipped, "in a way it's easier, because nobody knows how it's supposed to sound."

Sarah Owen: (920) 426-6671 or sowen2@thenorthwestern.com.