They may be on opposite ends of their collegiate careers, but Martin Flowers, a first-year, and Emily Trapp, a senior, put their age difference aside and their music skills together to place second at the spring 2013 Kick-Off. This was Trapp’s sixth Kick-Off appearance and Flowers’ second after he won the event last semester. It was Flowers’ fall Kick-Off solo debut that first sparked the idea for Trapp. “I heard him sing at Kick-Off in the fall and he did an amazing job,” said Trapp, a music major from Oregon. “I was very inspired by his performance. I was like, ‘yep,...

By Vanessa Jones • January 30, 2013 • Arts

While their peers were sleeping early Friday morning, the members of the Women’s World Music Choir boarded a bus and headed to the statewide conference of the Indiana Music Educators Association (IMEA) in Fort Wayne, Ind. The women’s choir performed six songs at the annual IMEA conference opening session in front of several hundred music educators, a great honor and a first for the choir. Their opening song, a First Nation piece called “Strong Women Song,” left the audience speechless. “[That song] has a lot of chest voice and a lot of power,” said Debra Brubaker, music professor and choir director....

By Ariel Ropp • January 24, 2013 • Arts

Emmylou Harris opened her Performing Arts Series concert on Saturday evening with a warm welcome to her audience. “Settle back and see where we take ya,” Harris said as she strummed her guitar and looked out onto a packed Sauder Hall. Tickets to see the 12-time Grammy country singer–known for partnering with other folk icons like John Denver, Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson–had been sold out for weeks. Many audience members, like Mark Nafziger, ’81, were long-time fans thrilled to see the musician they’d followed since their college years. Others, like Becca Yoder, a senior, were curious to hear Harris...

By Becca Kraybill • January 17, 2013 • Arts

Anne McCue describes her music, as “a bit dirty, a bit rockin’, a bit swampy and a bit bluesy, with a touch of mysteriousness to it.” What isn’t mysterious is McCue’s musical talent and range. She was voted the Roots Music Association’s Folk Artist of the Year in 2008, and was included in the Four Decades of Folk Rock box set alongside of Bob Dylan and Wilco. She has played in concert halls all over the world including the Sydney Opera House Americana icon Lucinda Williams had this to say: “Initially, her stunning voice hooked me in. Then I got...

By Becca Kraybill • November 15, 2012 • News

Phil Scott is a junior at Goshen College and is part of the three member band, Moral Circus, which recently played two shows in Wisconsin and released their first EP. Q: How did you become involved in music at Goshen College? A: I used to just make music by myself. The first time I collaborated was freshmen year; we had 11 guys from Miller 1 get together and play an Arcade Fire song and it was sweet. And after that, me and Henry (Stewart) became friends, we were friends with Lauren (Treiber), and it kind of just happened because we...

By Ben Shelly • November 15, 2012 • Features

This year, Parables is creating sacred spaces. With the help of Deb Brubaker, professor of music, and Gwen Gustafson-Zook, minister of worship, the Parables worship team developed the theme “Wherever You Are: Creating Sacred Space” for the 2012-2013 season. The group is comprised of Stefan Baumgartner, Rhianna Cockrell, Micah Detweiler, Hillary Harder, Gloria Showalter, Jake Smucker and Seth Yoder, all sophomores; and Ruth Weins, a senior. The theme “was developed out of our song choices,” said Yoder. “The theme explores the journeys we take through life, meeting other people where they are in their journey and making a sacred space...

By Hayley Brooks • November 1, 2012 • Arts

A sea of balding and white capped heads bobbed in appreciation to the opening swells of Os Justi preformed by the Goshen College Symphony Orchestra at the Homecoming Music Gala on Saturday. The alumni came out in full force, and students a little less so, to attend the event. The gala combined the orchestra, Chorale, Chamber Choir, Women’s World Choir, Men’s Chorus and several solo musical performances. The celebration also honored the 10th year since the Music Center’s opening. The evening began with words of welcome from President Brenneman acknowledging the hall’s “decade of stewardship.” Brenneman was flanked by Brian...

By Elizabeth Derstine • October 11, 2012 • Arts

Marcia Yost became the executive director of the Music Center at Goshen College on Oct. 1. Yost will continue her work as choral director and chair of the music department at Goshen High School even as she assumes leadership of the Music Center, a quarter-time position. While at Goshen High School, her choirs have won three state championships and six state runner-up titles. “Since the first time I walked into the Music Center I have been in awe of the facility,” Yost said. “The possibilities are wonderful and to be involved in continuing to bring those possibilities to the community...

By Brandi Brubaker • October 4, 2012 • Features

The 2012-2013 Performing Arts Series season includes musicians that have performed all over the world, worked with celebrities such as Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin and have won or been nominated for Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy awards. Seraphic Fire, a 13-member choral group, opened the PAS season on Friday evening in Sauder Hall. Seraphic Fire was founded in 2002 and has been nominated for two Grammy awards. The concert was a five-set performance including a range of traditional, chamber and folk music. A crowd favorite was “Jesus Christ the Apple Tree,” which the choir sang in a cappella style as...

By Hayley Brooks • September 20, 2012 • Arts

Four members of the Goshen College-based band Kansas Bible Company (KBCo.) returned to Goshen this fall. Charlie Frederick, Nate Klink, Jacob Martin and Jeff Yoder are back after taking a year off in Nashville to further their music careers with seven other members of the band. Last year, the eleven members of KBCo. relocated to Nashville, Tenn. to find exposure as a group. However, for those who had yet to graduate, this meant making a choice between KBCo. and school. Frederick, Klink, Martin and Yoder eventually chose to join their friends and leave in the middle of their time at...

By Sara Albaba • September 20, 2012 • Features

The annual Earthtones choral concert will be held in Sauder  Concert Hall this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. All GC choirs—Goshen College Chorale, Chamber Choir, Men’s Chorus and Women’s World Music Choir—will gather to sing a collection of songs that celebrate the earth and its diverse cultures. The concert’s theme this year is “Songs from Many Cultures” and will include pieces from a variety of regions, ethnic groups and traditions. “I appreciate that there is a wide variety of pieces, most of them ethnic,” said Becca Augsburger, a sophomore choir member. “Some are in English but most of them are in...

By Liz Core • March 28, 2012 • Arts

Mark O’Connor’s visit to Goshen College on Tuesday night brought crowds ready to bop and jive to some smooth, swing tunes. O’Connor, an American fiddler, composer, and teacher performed with his acoustic and vocal ensemble in Sauder Concert Hall as part of the 2011-2012 Performing Arts Series. Accompanying O’Connor on vocals was Heather Masse, best-known by her folk group, The Wailin’ Jennys, who visited the Sauder stage in 2010. Playing guitar were Frank Vignola and Matt Munisteri, and Gary Mazzaroppi was on bass. Each of these musicians have successful careers individually, but together they carried the swing of O’Connor’s fiddling....

By Anna Ruth • March 28, 2012 • Arts

How did most Goshen College students spend their Christmas vacation?  Reading, traveling, spending time with family, basking in the bliss of wasting time without consequence—the usual.  But the same cannot be said for Henry Stewart, a sophomore music composition and biochemistry double major. After receiving an email from Jorge Muñiz, adjunct professor of composition at GC, about the VQ New Works Competition, Stewart decided to submit one of his composition pieces.  Stewart said, “I was already three-fourths of the way done with the piece, so when I saw that the competition was for a string quartet, I decided to enter.”...

By Mara Weaver • March 21, 2012 • Arts

“The whole thing made me want to dance!” said Sara Klassen, a sophomore, after attending this spring’s Lavender Jazz concert. She was in good company, as Sauder Concert Hall was filled with high energy as the jazz band played hot tunes last Friday evening. The band performed classic instrumental jazz favorites such as Prima’s “Sing, Sing, Sing” and Strayhorn’s “Take the A Train,” along with different arrangements of popular songs, such as Lennon and McCartney’s famous “Blackbird.” Along with the instrumental songs, Rhianna Cockrell, a first-year, sang along to Fields and Kerm’s “The Way You Look Tonight” and Weill’s “Mack...

By Kate Friesen • March 15, 2012 • Arts

This weekend, while many of their friends head south to warmer weather, the Goshen College Men’s Chorus will set off on a spring break adventure to Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. Though touring through the fields of the Midwest may not seem like the best way to escape Goshen winter, members of the choir are looking forward to the week ahead. Daniel Driver, a senior, is anticipating his second tour with the men’s choir to be “a fantastic chance to bond with guys that I don’t ever get a chance to know outside of choir practice. You can’t replicate the camaraderie...

By Emma Ruth • February 23, 2012 • Arts