Two newly reinstated musical groups invite the Mount Marty community and the Yankton community to make beautiful music together. Choral Union and Lancer Jamz are both starting up again this fall, Dr. Tyler Thress, MMU assistant professor of Music and director of Choral Activities, told the Press & Dakotan.
Monday marked the group’s first meeting since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Rehearsals are slated Mondays from 7:30-9 p.m.
in Gregory Hall on the MMU Yankton campus. “Choral Union is a ‘Comuniversity Choir,’ Thress said. “Ideally, it’s a mix of Mount Marty students, faculty and staff, and anyone in the area who wants to come and sing with us.
” Thress, who will be leading the choir, said he has planned an exciting first season. “They’re going to sing in the Fall Choral Showcase in October and they’re going to sing in Vespers,” he said. “Once we get to the holidays — and this is maybe the most exciting thing — they’re going to sing a large work on their own as an ensemble in the Bishop Marty Chapel.
” Thress, who completed his first year on the faculty at MMU in May, said one of the very first questions he was asked while introducing himself to people was, “When are you going to bring back the Choral Union?” “I think it’s time and I think it addresses a real need that I’ve heard as someone who now lives in this community,” he said. “If people want to come up here and sing, who am I to say no? We throw the doors open and say, ‘Yeah, let’s do this!’” Also, it’s a great way to consolidate and activate the incredible support for the arts that exists in Yankton, Thress said. “For a year now, I have been blown away by how much music there is in Yankton,” he said.
“I think, being in a small community, it’s one of our responsibilities as an institution of higher learning to give folks of all ages, backgrounds and skill levels a place to come and make music and learn. That’s one of the great things about this ‘communiversity’ model.” At MMU, casting calls for the theater program are open and all the bands are ‘communiversity’ ensembles because the model works so well, especially at smaller institutions, Thress noted.
“Also, we have people, who will come and sing in the Choral Union, who have been singing for longer than the students that I put together have been alive,” he said. “They’ll bring so many years of experience, not just as singers but as people, too.” While the students in the choir will get the opportunity to learn from older, more experienced community musicians, the community musicians will be able to enjoy the energy that students bring, Thress said.
Also returning to MMU in September are Lancer Jamz, led by Todd Carr, director of Instrumental Activities, Thress said, adding how differently he and Carr plan and organize activities. “This is why Todd and I work so well together as a team,” he said. “I am very Type A, very goal oriented: ‘Here’s what I want.
Let’s work backwards from that and see where we get,’ which is one approach.” Meanwhile Carr’s style is the exact opposite, Thress said. “Todd (says), ‘Let’s open the doors and say, ‘Hey, you want to play in a pep band? Bring your instrument.
Let us know if we need to borrow an instrument. We’ll get here, we’ll come together and then we’ll figure it out as we go,”’ Thress said. “Working with Carr is this beautiful, fun collaborative experience.
” Meanwhile, the two also agree a lot, Thress said “One of the things we agree most emphatically on is that this should be a place not just for our students to make music but for the whole community,” Thress said. “It’s a kind of ensemble that is really near and dear to my heart because the kind of people that come and do this are in it for the love of the game.” Lancer Jamz practices begin Thursday, Sept.
12, from 7-8 p.m. in Gregory Hall.
.
