An afternoon of music
Students and community members filled the Chadron Arts Center at 3 p.m., Sunday to hear CSC’s Concert Choir and Community Chorus, presented by the Chadron State College Department of Music.
The concert began with the Chadron Community Chorus singing a slow and sweet song named, “Sweet Betsey,” followed by other westernized songs including “Red River Valley,” “The Auctioneer,” “O Prairie Land,” and “Stomp Your Foot.” Graduate student Lauren Stephens of Chadron played flute for “Red River Valley.”
“The Auctioneer” was a fast-paced song, which had the choir singing words as fast as possible. Norm Martin of Chadron sang the tenor solo.
“We worked hard to get all our articulators to pronounce that,” CSC music professor and Chadron Community Chorus director Una Taylor said
“Stomp Your Foot,” also had the audience tapping their feet. When they sang the line “dance around the room” six singers stepped forward to dance together.
There were 43 community members and CSC students in the Chadron Community Chorus.
The Chadron State College Choir took the stage next, but not right away. Instead, the choir lined up on each side of the audience and sang “Heilig” a cappella. A cappella means without instrumental accompaniment. The choir performed the rest of the concert from the stage.
Joel Schreuder, CSC music professor, directed the Concert Choir. He said the two German songs, “Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener in Frieden fahren” and “Alma Redemptoris Mater,” were typically sung for an evening service. The concert programs contained translations of all foreign language songs.
The 39-student choir performed a variety of other compositions including “When David Heard,” “Tristis Est Anima Mea,” “The Sounding Sea,” “Skylark,” and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”
Schreuder introduced “The Sounding Sea” as “something that will knock you on your chair and wake you up.”
The song fluctuated between soft and peaceful, and loud and rumbling. The men stomped their feet when the song gained intensity.
“We are pushed to learn different styles and genres of music, and it is definitely an interesting challenge,” Concert Choir member Danny Guelzow, 19, sophomore of Arvada, Colorado, said. “Personally, my favorite piece to perform was “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”
“The dynamic of the piece was fun and fairly laid back,” Guelzow said.
