Longwood students of all grades and areas of study piled into Jarman Auditorium on April 26 for a night of music and lyrics – only this time, this mixture of both music and non-music majors weren’t in the audience – they were on stage.
Longwood’s own Women’s Choir and Men’s Choir performed in the combined spring concert entitled “Don't Be Afraid” along with a multitude of soloists and small group performances from each of the choirs.
Both ensembles are part of the university’s choir classes and have performed in this concert as their final exam in order to showcase their progression as vocal musicians. Part of their exam is to show improvement in reading music, vocal range, and voice quality.
“For some, this is their singing debut,” said Jared Dowdy, a member of the production team for the concert, “it's the first time they've ever sung in choir. For others, this is a class where they can continue to do something they love”
The concert opened up with a crowd favorite, “Seasons of Love” from the hit 1990s musical, “Rent” to warm the audience up for a night of both upbeat songs, as well as ballads. The song was sung by the Combined Choir, which includes both men and women's choir together.
Following this song, the program then moved on to an American choral style of music, beginning with the Men's Choir singing a barbershop quartet feeling-of-a-song entitled “The New Ashmolean Marching Society & Students Conservatory Band.” The choir, although much larger than a quartet, blended very well while using typical barbershop-esque styles, such as the scooping of notes, marching in place and the typical four-part harmony.
The Women's Choir then took the stage for an African-American spiritual song called “Elijah Rock” that was sung A cappella or without accompaniment by any instrument. The form of this song has a style associated with slavery and the struggles that African-Americans faced during this time however it highlights the hope and longing for a better future. This song allowed for the many voice parts that were used in the piece to be highlighted in their own way, all the while giving the song the traditional spirituality invoked in it. The choir’s use of dynamics highlighted the many levels of themes that were displayed in the song.
Following these American inspired choral tunes, there was a mixture of solos, duets and small group pieces. Among those were either student performed or student composed songs that they had been working towards since the beginning of the semester.
One of the first solo performers that stood out was sophomore Raven Bransom, a pianist music major from Palmyra, Va. who performed “Fantasy in D minor, K. 397” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. If you have ever performed anything written by Mozart, you would know that they are not the easiest pieces to take on. However, Bransom’s performance of the piece was handled eloquently when it comes to technique. She instantly stood out when playing this piece because of the well-handles sudden changes in mood throughout the song.
Another performer that stood out during the solo pieces was freshman Abby Lichty, a theater major from Virginia Beach. She performed a more contemporary piece entitled "Manhattan" by pop singer Sara Bareilles with piano accompaniment by Teri Kidd. This ballad is one that lyrically shows a lot of emotion which was well-shown through Lichty’s expressions while singing the song.
The solo performer that perhaps stood out the most to the audience was senior vocalist Farris Hallaj. The vocalist not only sang and played piano, but also composed his solo performed piece entitled “Lost Love.” The original song was a moving ballad that the audience could easily tell meant a lot to Hallaj.
Between solos, duets, quartets, small bands and the two headlining choirs, seventeen total songs were performed on the night of the concert which led to the eighteenth and final song, “Don't be Afraid” composed by Allyson Reigh and arranged by Jennifer McMillan, to which the song inspired the title for the entire evening’s program. The song is inspired by the LGBTQ Awareness Society, in which their launching point’s message was iterated through the title of the song. The goal behind this piece was to eliminate fear and to be free for self-expression.
The closing song began with a smaller group singing the introduction to the piece made up by freshman Elise Freeman, Kathleen Lucas, Katherine Elliot and Naiihrr Dryden-Mason and sophomores Meredith Puryear and Akim Mansaray. Raven Bransom had the spotlight once more as the soloist throughout the piece. The entirety of the Combined Choir delivered the courageous tone of the song with use of dynamics and harmonization.
Although this was the final concert for Longwood’s men and women's choirs, the music department still has one final upcoming event on April 28, in which Longwood’s advanced choirs the Camerata Singers and Chamber Singers spring concert will be held at 7:30 in Jarman Auditorium.