Author: Daniel Minguez
The first “Music On a Friday Afternoon” was cancelled last Friday, Sept. 27. Two of the scheduled three vocalists to perform fell ill just before the recital.
Last Friday’s performance would have marked the first of five events in the MoFA series this semester.
Music Department administrative assistant Norma Navarro said, “There will probably not be a makeup.”
MoFA is designed as “an informal recital to give students more experience performing in front of a group of people,” Navarro said. Though geared toward helping students prepare for a recital or cure stage fright, MoFA encourages all interested students to participate.
Most participants are in one of the music department’s chamber groups or the jazz ensemble, or are taking lessons in the music department.
“We always have a hard time getting people to sign up for the early ones,” Navarro said. She said that performances toward the end of the semester may feature up to 12 musicians in Booth Hall’s Remsen Bird studio. “Maybe later in the semester they [musicians] feel more confident about their skills,” Navarro added.
Last semester, members of the Occidental Glee Club entertained a packed house at the final MoFA recital. Tyler Westen ’08 and Jordan Miles (junior) covered Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze”.
On the occasion that there is an overload in performers, the music department will make cuts on a first come, first served basis. The remaining performers are asked to shorten the length of their pieces to approximately three minutes so that they may all fit in the one-hour time slot allotted to the performers.
Recitals are always on Fridays and always between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. Entrance is free and everyone is encouraged to come. “The idea is to allow musicians to perform in front of a group, the bigger the group, the better,” Navarro said.
For those interested in performing themselves, sign up sheets are posted on the bulletin boards in the entrance to Booth Hall.
There are four more MoFAs scheduled this semester, three of which are in October: the first on Oct. 10, the second on Oct. 24, and the final on Halloween day.
Already scheduled to perform is Alex Smith (senior) who plans to perform a snare drum solo and a duet with his instructor, Michael Englander.
Six more MoFAs will be held spring semester.
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