Valerie Ettenhofer
Staff Writer

“Size matters” is the tagline for this year’s collaboration between the music and art departments. Students looking for a one-of-a-kind experience can expect experimental music, themes of space and live painting at the spring concert event.

The concert and Juried Art Exhibition will take place on June 6 at the Arts and Allied Health building on Pierce’s Puyallup campus.

Choirs will perform pieces from “Alice in Wonderland,” rhythm songs by a minimalist composer called Reich, and “grand, epic pieces about outer space,” according to Music Department Promotions head Liza Brown.

Brown’s energy and enthusiasm for the programs is infectious, and her praise goes to the students participating and music instructor Evin Lambert. “We are very lucky to have a fabulous director,” Brown shared. “He has high expectations and he pays attention to detail. He’s very animated and he makes class a total blast.”

This is not the first year an innovative theme has been explored. Last spring, the choir put on a show that mixed 1970’s rock with country and included a light show. The choirs usually put on a more traditional holiday concert and try to think outside of the box for their spring production. This year’s space theme was originally meant to synchronize with the opening of Fort Steilacoom’s new science dome.

The pre-concert art display will feature the top twelve submissions from students in printmaking, photography, painting and drawing classes, including prizes for the top three entries.

Four on-stage artists will shift between paintings, compiling an image in time with the music that will lead to a greater composition. The final product will be sold and proceeds will likely go toward a scholarship for the program.

The concert and chamber choirs putting on the concert are all available for students to join. Chamber choir is an audition-only choir that sings a mix of pop and classical tunes, while concert choir is non-audition, graded on attendance and even open to community members.

Though this concert will explore “paradoxes of scale” and some less well-known music, Brown emphasizes that the music classes themselves have a familial feeling and are a great learning experience. The first twenty minutes of each class focus on vocal technique, helping all students to work toward improvement regardless of skill level. Brown, who has been performing for 30 years and even toured Europe, says she still learns from the class.

“Choir is a yearlong commitment,” Brown said. “If students get in and they’re challenged by classical music, they just need to hang on and we try to make it fun.”

Students who wish to sign up for a choir class can register for MUSIC144.