She-e Wu Masterclass

Renowned percussionist She-e Wu led an energetic masterclass with Percussion students earlier this term. She-e was visiting the college to perform a concert with fellow percussionist David, alongside students from both RWCMD and the Royal College of Music.

Third year Max Ireland was one of four students asked to prepare work to perform for She-e Wu – a unique opportunity to work with an established performer who does not perform regularly in the UK.

I chose to play a duet with another student Samantha Herman – 2+1 Marimbas, written by Ivan Trevino. This was also a piece that Sam and I performed in our Percussion Ensemble concert earlier this term. The feedback both Sam and I gained from She-e was fantastic and it really changed the way we ended up performing the piece in our assessment concert. She was very hands on with us and loved to demonstrate how she thought we should have played things rather than just talking about it, which straight away captured all of our attention.”

Masterclasses provide students with a unique opportunity to get an insight in to the life of a working percussionist.

Whether it be a world class soloist or an orchestral player, there is definitely something for us all to gain by watching these percussionists play or even just for a chat. The percussion suite is a fairly small room so it makes the masterclasses quite an intense situation. Everyone wants to play well for someone that may be their idol or even a potential employer, so it can be quite nerve-wracking. It’s really beneficial for us to get a wide variety of opinions through these sessions with professionals.”