Music tours provide for entertainment, recruiting

by Sam Dearden/Staff Writer

The Music Department has been busy recruiting new students to the department through their annual trips around the area.

Both the Simpson College Symphonic Band and Jazz Band and the Simpson College Madrigal Singers recently went on tour in efforts to recruit future students to their programs at Simpson.

The band recently came back from a trip around the state where they visited high schools in hopes of recruiting new students who would be interested in performing in the band

“The band (visited) high schools in eastern Iowa, including Marshalltown, South Tama, Cedar Rapids, Marion and more,” sophomore Ryan Runyan said.

The students have many reasons why they are interested in band and hope to pass these along to the potential recruits.

“I like the challenge that the symphonic band director gives us,” junior Natalie Nielsen said. “He picks challenging music for us to play and it makes us work hard. I also like jazz band because it is a great opportunity to play with other great musicians and the jazz band director makes rehearsals a lot of fun.”

The trip that the band took included performances from the various bands here at Simpson.

“The Simpson College Symphonic Band and Jazz Band will be performing, as well as the Epic Fusion Saxophone Quartet,” Nielsen said. “We will be performing at the schools and trying to recruit people for the upcoming years.”

The band was not the only group that has taken a trip recently, however. The Madrigal Singers recently returned from Chicago. They traveled there, as well as neighboring communities, for their annual tour. Used as a recruitment tool, the choir performed different shows at churches and schools around the area.

The Madrigal Singers perform a specific style of music.

“We sing music from particularly the Medieval and Renaissance period, although we do sing some later works,” senior Chris Carr said.

Becoming a part of the Madrigal Singers is a challenge but it is one that has many benefits.

“It is a privilege to be a member of the Madrigal Singers as it is a small group and not easy to get into,” Carr said. “We work very hard for a long time and in the end it is easily one of my favorite things about Simpson College.”