By Marissa Massare, Arts & Entertainment Editor
Phi Mu Alpha will present their musicale, “Music Through The Ages” at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 16 in Stretansky Concert Hall as a closer for their philanthropy week.
The musicale is the final event for their philanthropy week, following a “Rock Out” session in Charlie’s Coffeehouse on Nov. 12 and the Community Aid Catwalk on Nov. 15, where members of various greek organizations will put on a fashion show with clothing they purchased at the Community Aid in Selinsgrove, Pa.
Phi Mu Alpha’s national philanthropy is the Mills Music Mission, which “stresses the importance of performing music to those who need their spirits lifted,” according to chapter president Cameron Laudenslager. Their local philanthropy is Save the Sound, which raises money for local high school music programs in need. “We hope to help foster a future generation of musical students as many schools are cutting their arts funding as it is not seen as important,” Laudenslager said.
Their upcoming musicale performance will feature a “wide range of songs spanning from the beginning of recorded music to music produced in the recent year, with a focus on the 20th century,” according to junior Stephen Burdsall, song leader for Phi Mu Alpha.
One of the songs that will be performed is the “Epitaph of Seikilos” which is “among the first historically preserved pieces of recorded music,” Burdsall said.
In addition to the “Epitaph of Seikilos” Phi Mu Alpha will feature a brass chamber band performing a Jackson 5 hit, a funk band performing a Vulfpeck song and an Italian aria. An aria is typically a long song accompanying a solo voice and is often heard in an opera.
“We [Alpha] focused on really broadening the spectrum of music performed in our musicale by making any piece of music accessible to perform. It’s really a no holds barred production,” Burdsall added.
Phi Mu Alpha is seeking to make a point to the audience during the program. The point of the program, according to Burdsall, is to provide insight as to how music has changed throughout the ages. Their hope is that audiences will see even more specifically how music has shifted so much, even from decade to decade during the 20th century.
Burdsall said that when choosing the music for the performance they decided that for this production, anything goes.
The musicale will feature a relatively even mixture of vocal and instrumental performances, with all but one vocal act including some sort of instrument being played during it.
Laudenslager said, “We believe that performing music is one of the best ways that we can give back to our community. As an organization that heavily emphasizes community service through the power of music, we wanted to host our musicale this weekend in order to thank everyone that participated in our philanthropic endeavors this week in order to give to those that help us give to the community.”
Phi Mu Alpha’s upcoming musicale is free and open to the public.
