Ignition Garage is Goshen’s neighborhood record shop, audio equipment repair store and a Top Ten Americana concert venue. Located in downtown Goshen, the glass façade building boasts selections of old-style records, CDs, movies and concerts. However, the $20 per seat price point puts Ignition’s concerts out of reach for many college students. Ignition is working to change that through a movement called Ignition Underground. “Ignition Underground is for GC students to have access to concerts at Ignition Music Garage with perks,” said Maria Bischoff, a senior and an intern at Ignition Garage. Several key-shaped flash drives filled with music were...

By Hayley Mann • November 5, 2015 • Features

The Goshen College fall choral concert got off to a spooky start on the Friday of Halloween weekend. As the Chamber Choir presented their opening piece and the first song of the evening, “I Thank You God for Most This Amazing Day,” by Eric Whitacre, the house lights began to flash on and off. “No one is quite sure how it happened,” said Ben Ganger, a senior in both chamber and men’s choir. Could it have been something spooky? Whatever the cause, director Scott Hochstetler and his choir carried on with their music, ignoring the flickering lights. Throughout the evening,...

By Alex Hochstetler • November 5, 2015 • Arts

“And should Joaquín Murrieta ever be needed again, he will return!” Those words resonated as the last declaration of Joaquín Murrieta in Tuesday night’s performance of “Los Valientes: The Courageous Ones.” Hosted by the Center for Intercultural and International Education, in collaboration with the Spanish department and theater department, “Los Valientes” is a performance combining music and dramatic historical retellings of the lives of famous Latinos. The performance featured multiple musical pieces, including both interludes and a soundtrack to the dramatic events. The pieces were performed by a trio of instrumentalists: Ju Young Lee, cellist, Chien-I Yang, pianist, and Michael...

By Lydia Good • October 29, 2015 • Arts

Goshen College students walking by the Administration building are in for a pleasant musical surprise. Located in this nondescript corner of campus lies a new painted piano. If one decides to approach and further inspect the piano, they will be greeted by the evoking artistic stylings of Maddie Gerig, a third-year student at Goshen College. Riddled with chipped keys and left without a bench, the piano is painted with a color scheme of varying shades of blue and white accompanied by powerful accents of yellow and red. This piano came as a result of the efforts of Student Senate to...

By Carter Mckay-Epp • October 15, 2015 • Arts

El Sistema is a new Goshen College music course that explores a system of music education that sets out to bring about social change in communities. The El Sistema class is taught by Elsje Kibler-Vermaas and Dr. Jose Rocha, the former being a professor at Longy School of Music, a Cambridge-based conservatory whose mission includes a social imperative to bring music to underserved audiences and has been a leading proponent in the United States of El Sistema, which was founded in Venezuela. Goshen has been taking a cue from Longy, with emerging music programs at local schools and now this...

By Hayley Mann • October 8, 2015 • Features

This past October weekend, Goshen’s First Fridays featured a special event: the first season performance of Goshen College’s own Lavender Jazz. Directed by Adjunct Professor of Music, Christopher French, Lavender Jazz is GC’s jazz band comprised of about twenty students and community members. The band features brass and woodwind instruments, as well as a rhythm section that includes piano, upright bass, vibraphone, drums, and a ukulele. At the Friday performance, the band played pieces by Count Basie like “Moten Swing,” and “One O’Clock Jump,” as well as other jazz staples, like “Take the A Train,” “Gentle Rain” and “Shining Stockings.”...

By Lydia Good • October 8, 2015 • Arts

Marcia Yost, Goshen High School choir director, executive director of Goshen College’s Music Center and current director of the Women’s World Music Choir, talks about her love of music and family. I know that you’re very busy—tell me about an average day in your life.  I’m at the high school sometimes as early as 6:30 a.m. Part of my role there is I have 30 teachers that I work with in their classrooms and do observations, and I also teach two classes. I’m generally over here [at the college] for a couple of hours most evenings—but not all of them....

By Grace Weaver • October 1, 2015 • Features

The four-man indie-pop band Hippo Campus performed at Ignition Garage this past Thursday, with several Goshen College students in attendance. “It was the first time the crowd was singing along to the songs,” said Maria Bischoff, a GC senior who works for Ignition Garage. “It was an awesome concert to be at. The band was really legit and the crowd loved their energy.” The energy didn’t stop with the band. The students and community in attendance were thrilled to see Hippo Campus, whether it was their first time hearing the band or they knew them well. “The concert was probably...

By Jordan Waidelich • September 24, 2015 • Features

This year, one student is doing more than just participating in the Lavender Jazz band; he is helping to direct. Lavender Jazz, sometimes referred to as, “the big band on campus,” plays a variety of music, including jazz, world beat, and fusion. The group usually has two concerts in Sauder per year and an annual gig at Goshen’s First Fridays. This year, the main director is Chris French, adjunct professor of music, assisted by third year, Jacob Penner. Penner has been a saxophone player in the Lavender Jazz band since his first semester at GC and has played in various...

By Elsa Lantz • September 17, 2015 • Arts

This fall, Goshen College will bring “Godspell” to the Umble Center stage, a musical that tells the story of the community created by Jesus during his time on earth. Community and fellowship are at the heart of Mennonite culture and by extension a large part of the GC experience. According to director Doug Liechty-Caskey and music director Scott Hochstetler, this makes Stephen Schwartz’s musical “Godspell” a perfect fit for our campus. “This is a show that brings the cast together in a special way while sharing the teachings that are central to our faith,” said Hochstetler, describing why this show...

By Alex Hochstetler • September 10, 2015 • Arts

Before beginning his interview with the Record, newly-inaugurated Associate Professor of Music Jose Rocha took the opportunity to clarify a recent misconception. “This is the first year the instrumentalists have won the Kick-A-Dilly competition,” said Rocha proudly, referring to the annual kickball tournament between the orchestra and choir members. “It was due to a tiny technicality, but we still won. Scott still thinks the choir won, but the trophy is in the orchestra room.” A full week has passed since classes began on the GC campus, but it seems that Rocha is already beginning to feel at home. Following the...

By Christina Hofer • September 3, 2015 • Arts

Music floods junior music education major Miranda Earnhart’s world as she participates in orchestra, women’s choir, chamber choir and the worship ensemble, Parables. Earnhart has performed as a soprano in the musical “Urinetown,” the opera “The Marriage of Figaro,” and most recently in this year’s Concerto Aria competition. Earnhart also plays the violin, ukelele and bowed psaltery. When asked which of these activities she enjoyed the most, Earnhart could not make a decision. However, she did note that due to a busy year, “Vocal things have become my primary focus.” Earnhart’s interest in music began around age three. Since then,...

By Jenae Longenecker • April 16, 2015 • Arts

On March 31, Dr. Solomia Soroka and her students will be giving an April Fool’s Concert in Reith Recital Hall. This concert will feature pieces specifically for violin that have been deemed a little bit “crazy.”  Rumor has it that the performers plan to dress wildly to accentuate the theme. The idea for the concert came from a first-year student, Monica Miller. “It was all inspired by Monica and her piece,” said Dr. Solomia Soroka, a professor of music at Goshen College. “It is a piece by Henri Vieuxtemps, a Belgian composer.” The piece is a reflection of Vieuxtemps’ love...

By Maggie Weaver • March 26, 2015 • News

  [caption id="attachment_31546" align="alignright" width="216"] Photo contributed by: Com/MarGoshen College will part with two faculty members at the end of this academic year: Seth Conley, associate professor of communication and GCTV advisor; and Dr. Christopher Fashun, assistant professor of music.[/caption] Pat Lehman, professor of communication, voiced the sentiments of many. “Our department is sorry to see Seth leave, but we also wish him well in his new position in Nashville.” She thanked him for his large contributions in the development of the department. “Seth has been a superb colleague, professor and mentor for students. We will miss him greatly!” Senior...

By Monica Miller • March 26, 2015 • News

Last weekend, over 200 musicians took part in the performance of Verdi’s Requiem. Members of the Women’s World Choir, Men’s Chorus and Chamber Choir joined together with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and the Philharmonic Chorus to perform the two-hour long work. It was presented on two separate occasions; the first on Saturday, March 21 in Fort Wayne’s Embassy Theatre, and the second on Sunday, March 22 in Goshen College’s Sauder Hall. The performances were conducted by Andrew Constantine, with Dr. Debra Brubaker and Dr. Scott Hochstetler, GC choir conductors, having done the necessary preparatory work with the choirs. Vance George,...

By Ramona Whittaker • March 26, 2015 • Arts