Community members gather for concert
The Lamplighters Touring Choir held a concert in honor of “Music and Family” on Sunday, Nov. 13.
The 18-person choir, directed by Director of Choral Music Melanie Catana who was accompanied by Dr. Sora Lee, sang nine songs and a variety of hymns chosen by the audience, who sang along.
“Music tends to be the one thing all families have in common, whether it is singing to a car radio or church choir or just singing Christmas carols; most families have some memory that includes music,” said Briana Ryan, sophomore music ministry major, who sang in the concert. “This way we wanted [the audience] to get that feeling of family and community at the concert.”
This concert was not only for students and family but also for the community, and members of the Greene Arc, Inc.
Greene Arc, Inc. is a private, nonprofit corporation that provides residential, vocational, day support, job support, job opportunities, advocacy and mental health/recovery services to citizens with disabilities of Greene and surrounding counties.
“We have been meeting with Green Ace to doing collaboration events together with them, to interact with the community on a deeper level,” said Catana. “I hope this is the first of many for opportunities we get to have and interact with them.”
The choir made cookies and other deserts for a small reception following the concert where they got to interact with some of the community members.
“I think the concert went really well and the audience seemed to enjoy the interactive hymn sing we did,” said choir president Kayla Goncalves, an arts administration major.
The some of the Choir members wrote out in a paragraph how music has affected their life, which was featured in the program, and others spoke on what they wrote in-between songs.
“I have never talked about that in front of people like that before,” said Heidi Dziak, a freshman accounting major. “It was nice to hear other people talk about it and hear how it has affected their life because you never know how it will.”
Choir and audience members seemed to enjoy the concert. There was a lot of positive feedback from the staff from Greene Are and the singers themselves.
“I feel it went really well and gave us a chance to really know our community,” said Ryan. “To me seeing the joy on the faces of some of the community members reminded me of the joy behind music and why I sing.”
A portion of the concert was dedicated to remembering the life of James “Fuzzy” Randolph, who passed away the Friday prior to the concert.
Randolph had a huge influence on the music programs at then, Waynesburg College, and still attended as many music department events as he could until he fell ill last semester.
Nelson Fox, one of the Touring Choir’s accompanists, spoke about Randolph’s accomplishments at Waynesburg, as well as a timeline of his life at Waynesburg.
This year Touring Choir has a large number of new members, including freshmen, but that did not stop them from having a very successful semester.
“As a freshman it has been very welcoming, they look out for us and make sure we’re okay as well as getting the job done,” said Dziak. “In the beginning of the semester we got to go in a small retreat that helped us bond as a big family.”
This was the Touring Choirs fourth concert this semester, with members looking forward to the few they have left.
“Touring Choir has been so much fun with all our new members,” said Goncalves. “If there are songs we struggle with we have always pulled together as a team to get them right. Sometimes I forget that most of our members are new because how [well] we work together.”