The IUP Community Music School's Crimson Youth Choir, directed by graduate student Kye-Won Choi and accompanied by piano faculty member Evan Engelstad, recently sang
during a class meeting of the Music Department’s Vocal Pedagogy Class, a required course
for music students.
The course is co-taught by Raquel Winnica Young and Joseph Baunoch. While Baunoch focuses on one-on-on studio teaching, Young provides the students a variety of other teaching experiences, such as working with seniors in a class voice setting through four visits to the Moorhead Senior Facility, as well as this in-class experience with the Crimson Youth Choir.
“I believe Kye-Won's work is invaluable for the kids and the community, and those young singers have a lot to teach us!” said Young. “The impact of music at a young age could change the life of people forever, and having the Crimson Youth Choir and a wonderful and thoughtful presentation by Kye-Won was an excellent artistic experience for the class and myself.”
She went on to say, “Not only were these children having a blast making music, but I could also see how proud and responsible they felt by showing us their work.”
This experience for the CYC also became another stepping stone for performing in the region as Young invited them to perform with the Pittsburgh-based chamber music ensemble Bell’Art Ensemble, for their annual Christmas concert, A Tiny Gift. The concert takes place at 7:00 p.m. on December 15 at Third Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh.
The CYC will also be performing as part of Sing in the Holidays, a concert presented by the IUP Choirs at 7:30 p.m. in Fisher Auditorium on Saturday, Dec. 1, as well as their own end-of-semester Christmas Cabaret concert Winterlight at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 8, in the Blue Room of Sutton Hall.
The
IUPCMS is funded in part by the College of Fine Arts through the Department of
Music and the Lively Arts at IUP, S&T Bank, and IUP Dining, and the generous
donations of Ann Wilmoth and Kay Smith. The
IUPCMS also receives state arts funding support through a grant from the
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
The
IUPCMS is a program of the College of Fine Arts and Department of Music and
managed by the Lively Arts. For more information about the IUPCMS, call
724-357-2787 (ARTS), email community-music@iup.edu, or visit the IUPCMS on the
web.