By TANGELA JOHNSON

Staff Writer

Goat's toenails and other unique instruments made beautiful music together April 15 in Howard Auditorium, Center for the Performing Arts.

The event was Louisiana Tech Concert Association's last program for the academic year.

The soft melodies sounded like many Spanish themes played behind narration of rural scenes on the History Channel.

Hesperus is the name of the traveling music group whose specialty is cultural portraits, said Scott Reiss, the group's co-director, percussionist and one of the recorder players.

"When we do cultural portraits, we look at the music of a whole culture," Reiss said.

"We look at the art music, the folk music and the relationships between the people."

An instrument resembling a bracelet made of goat's toenails in the Andes Mountains was a part of Reiss' percussion section.

Aside from the instruments, the study included learning to sing in different languages, styles and dialects, as their soprano, Nell Snaidas, demonstrated during her performances.

This particular portrait, aptly named "Spain in the New World," included a medley of songs, all sung in Spanish.

Reiss said Tech is only one of many stops they will make while on the road.

"This is about a nine-day tour," Reiss said.

"We're kind of in the middle of it right now."

This tour, Reiss said, began in Charlotte, N.C., and will end in Athens, Ga.

The group, which has been in existence since 1980, has changed members, Reiss said, but it has maintained the same focus.

The other co-director and viola da gamba (fiddle of the legs), violin and recorder player, Tina Chancey, has been with the group since the beginning.

Grant Herreid, baroque guitar, vihuela and recorder player has been in the group a little over a decade.

One of the songs played, "Hanacappa" was used historically in the New World to promote Catholicism, Herreid said during the performance.

"This is the first piece of music that was actually printed in the New World by printing press," Herreird said.

The audience learned many other facts while watching the quartet perform music that the Spanish used in everyday life for various reasons.

Allison Brazzel, a junior Spanish major, said the performance combined two things beautifully that she especially enjoys.

"I guess I really liked it because I really like Spanish, and I play the violin so I really like music," she said.

During the seminar held earlier that day, Brazzel said she had an opportunity to learn even more about the cultural portraits, such as ties between Latin American and Spanish instruments.

Brazzel said she even had a favorite piece from the show.

"I liked the piece that Nell sang, 'Al Dormir,'" Brazzel said.

"It was a capella and really pretty."

She said hearing the music sharpens her interpreting skills and is better than simply listening to an instructor.

"It opens up a whole new world," Brazzel said.

"Instead of the book stuff, it's live and it's fascinating."