{"id":3713,"date":"2015-04-14T12:15:08","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T16:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/news\/?p=3713"},"modified":"2015-04-15T12:40:34","modified_gmt":"2015-04-15T16:40:34","slug":"music-communicates-supports-connects-spring-concerts-begin-april-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/2015\/04\/14\/music-communicates-supports-connects-spring-concerts-begin-april-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Communicates, Supports, Connects \u2013 Spring Concerts Begin April 19"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"male<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThough music is clearly not a language, it expresses things that words are feeble to do. It is communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is James Haines\u2019 take on why music is just as important to college students as reading, as sports, as extra-curriculars.<\/p>\n

Elizabethtown College is home to several musical ensembles, a good number of which are credit-bearing endeavors. In addition, the College boasts seven chamber groups\u2014smaller ensembles that perform without a conductor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are required by the accrediting agency\u2014National Association of Schools of Music\u2014that every music major must have at least one semester in an ensemble group,\u201d said Haines, Fine and Performing Arts department chair. \u201cAll of the large ensembles, except Jazz Band, fulfill a core curriculum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen making music with others, they learn something about the context in which the music was written; they are being exposed to culture of that moment,\u201d Haines said of participating students. \u201cIt\u2019s also about working with peers to make a successful performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0Though music is clearly not a language, it expresses things that words are feeble to do. It is communication.\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"orchestra\"<\/a>Haines said music is often thought of as extra-curricular but, \u201cif done well it supports. It\u2019s working together, discipline, developing gross to fine motor skills, developing listening. You have a different relationship with people with whom you make music,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The three main choral groups at E-town are headed by Matt Fritz, associate professor of music, who noted that choirs of human voices have been around since the \u201cdawn of the first hominids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSongs have been galvanizing forces throughout history and in every culture. And no culture on earth is devoid of singing,\u201d he said. \u201cTo sing is to bring joy to the world. To sing with others is to magnify that joy 100 fold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those opportunities come by way of Concert Choir, Women\u2019s Chorus and the College-Community Chorus.<\/p>\n

Concert Choir, an audition group, is a mix of men\u2019s and women\u2019s voices. The group tours nationally and internationally<\/a> every other year immediately after graduation. Past trips have been to Brazil, Hawaii and Austria.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s Chorus also is an audition group, with classes meeting one evening a week. Performances take place on campus once or twice a year.<\/p>\n

And rounding out the choral selection is the College-Community Chorus, which is open to anyone\u2014on or off campus\u2014who likes to sing. The group meets once a week and performs on campus once per term. Members range in number from 40 to 80 depending on the year, with the majority of singers coming from the College.<\/p>\n

\"jazz<\/a>\u201cMusic ensembles are important because they are one of the few areas of the curriculum where students are required to be interdependent,\u201d said Fritz. \u201cThe sense of camaraderie achieved while learning a particularly difficult and\/or beautiful work of music is indescribable. The shared experience results in not only a synchronicity of heart rate throughout the ensemble (LITERALLY!) but also a rich sensory experience which, decades later, can be relived by simply hearing the same work again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert Spence, associate professor of music and director of instrumental studies, leads the Elizabethtown College instrumental groups.<\/p>\n

Symphonic band, open to all college students with no audition, has about 75 members, and the College-Community Orchestra, also open to all string players and college wind players, includes about a third of its performers from the surrounding community.<\/p>\n

Involvement in Symphonic Band or College-Community Orchestra gives students experience in developing sequential skills and concepts that not only help them in performance but also will be useful in their professional life beyond college. Performances give students a positive outlet for creativity, expression and musical awareness, and beyond performance, involvement in ensembles offers students exposure to diverse composers.<\/p>\n

But, mostly, Spence said, the ensembles \u201cprovide our audiences with a concert experience that serves to both educate and entertain; with our music helping to support, encourage and uplift the human spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant Moore, director of the College\u2019s preparatory division, directs the College\u2019s Jazz Band, a non-audition ensemble of about two dozen performers with a \u201ctypical big band sound.\u201d Jazz Band tours with Concert Choir, \u201cthereby providing travel, service projects and cultural opportunities to the members of the band,\u201d said Moore. This year Concert Choir and Jazz Band perform in South Africa.<\/p>\n

“The College Jazz Band has a long standing tradition of performing on campus, providing our college community with big band music of many different styles,\u201d the director said. \u201cThe Jazz Band is open to students of all majors and provides a varied jazz experience …”<\/p>\n

Taking it down a notch in size are seven chamber ensembles\u2014brass, woodwind, string, percussion, piano, voice and flute\u2014which have one player, at the most, per part. \u201cA string quartet, a brass quintet, a woodwind quintet,\u201d Haines mentioned, as example. \u201cThis year the string ensemble is just two, but sometimes we have the standard.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, the College has two non-credit music groups: the small men\u2019s choir Sine Nomine and Camerata, an auditioned madrigal choir of 16 students, directed by students.<\/p>\n

Haines admits that it\u2019s hard work to be in musical ensemble but \u201cthere is reward one gets from doing so. \u2026 The students gain from the experience\u2014music major or non-music major. Music is an innate human experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can hear the College\u2019s music groups in concert over the next few weeks. All performances are free and take place in the College\u2019s Leffler Chapel and Performance Center. For information contact Amy Reynolds at 717-361-1212 or reynoldsa@etown.edu<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The 75-member College-Community Orchestra<\/strong> performs works by Rimsky-Korsakov and Dvorak and features the winners of the College’s Concerto Competition, Elizabeth Boyer, soprano, and Amanda Watson, piano, at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 19<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

At 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 21<\/strong>, the College presents the Scholarship and Creative Arts Day Showcase Recital<\/strong>. A highlight of the year in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, the Showcase features theatrical performances as well as vocal, instrumental and piano music. Performers are chosen through a highly selective audition process in February.<\/p>\n

At 3 p.m. Sunday, April 26<\/strong>, the 75-member Symphonic Band<\/strong> is in concert, featuring works by Mitchell, Klingbeil and Holst.<\/p>\n

And, winding down the academic year, is a spring choral and Jazz Band concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 3<\/strong>. Elizabethtown College choirs and Jazz Band offer an eclectic mix from the Renaissance to pieces written in the past year\u2014freedom songs from South Africa and spirituals from the United States. Choral works include Mozart to Morten Lauridsen, and Jazz Band brings legends of big band.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThough music is clearly not a language, it expresses things that words are feeble to do. It is communication.\u201d That is James Haines\u2019 take on why music is just as important to college students as reading, as sports, as extra-curriculars. Elizabethtown College is home to several musical ensembles, a good number of which are credit-bearing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":3715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[774],"tags":[924,922,244,920,144,197,624,917,919,918,243,925,923,921],"class_list":["post-3713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","tag-camerata","tag-college-community-chorus","tag-college-community-orchestra","tag-concert-choir","tag-e-a-harvey","tag-elizabethtown-college","tag-grant-moore","tag-james-haines","tag-jazz-band","tag-matt-fritz","tag-robert-spence","tag-sine-nomine","tag-symphonic-band","tag-womens-chorus","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3713"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3739,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3713\/revisions\/3739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}