This month, the Arts & Culture Section brings you a playlist about new beginnings: the thrill and fear of fresh starts, learning from the past…
Posts published in “Music”
After a turbulent two semesters for student orgs, Smith a cappella groups are coming back in full swing this spring. From the oldest historically women’s a cappella group in the country (The Smiffenpoofs) to Blackapella (for Black diaspora Smithies) to Crapapella (the “alternative” a cappella group), Smith genuinely has an a cappella experience for everybody. For many in the Smith community, a cappella is an irreplaceable source of community, inclusivity and beautiful music on campus, even during a global pandemic.
Speaking to friends, family and from personal experience, it has become increasingly evident that, perhaps as a way to cope, our days are now being spent in the bottomless inertia of the internet. Alongside the multitude of mainstream media, Smith offers more off-kilter online options for helping students through this pandemic.
On Feb. 22, the Five College Consortium came together in John M. Greene Hall for the annual Five College Choral Festival. The event opened with a performance of Ave Maria by the Five College Collegium which was followed by performances from the Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke and UMass Chorales, Chamber Choirs and Glee Clubs.
Thursday, Feb. 27, the Sage Chamber Music Society presents Schubertiade VI: A Benefit Concert. Smith professors Joel Pitchon (violin), Volcy Pelletier (cello), and Jiayan Sun (piano), will perform works by Franz Schubert and collect donations in support of the Hubei Charity Federation.
In the depths of the bottom floor of the Campus Center, tucked into a corner, lies the WOZQ station for Smith College Radio. Lined floor to floor with disks, records, polaroids, drawings, letters and posters (specifically, a four-foot-tall poster of 2010-era Kevin Jonas, red-lipstick-kissed on his cheek), over eighty Smithie DJs come to broadcast their shows seven days a week.
Thursday, Nov. 14th, I attended the 29th anniversary of Smith Celebration, an annual event on the Wilson House steps on the Quad which celebrates love in all forms.
This fall, Duct Tape Productions (DTP) is following up its spring production of “The Addams Family” with another movie-based show they hope will entertain. From Thursday, Nov. 14 to Saturday, Nov. 16, Smithies will have the opportunity to see "Shrek the Musical" in all its verdant (and, reportedly, heartwarming) glory.
Sweeney Concert Hall was awash with first chatter, then music, then the supportive cheers of the audience when the Asian Student Association (ASA) and Korean Student Association (KSA) started their annual Asian Culture Show (ACS) Saturday, Oct. 26. A staple of Family Weekend, the event highlighted the many talented Asian cultural dance and music acts within the Five College Consortium and beyond.
Zoë Crutcher ’22 spent most of the night Oct. 18 sitting at the feet of performers at the Display Art Collective’s “Open Mic Night.” Holding a black microphone up to the mouth to those playing instruments and singing, she laughed at an oversight: they didn’t have a mic stand.