The School for Visual and Performing Arts welcomed 350 local high school students to Brown Auditorium last Wednesday for Arts on the Bayou.
The Sound of Today performed their “Queen of Souls” halftime show, filling the auditorium with the music of Beyonce. Additionally, the band taught arriving students traditional stand tunes such as the “Warhawk Chant” and “Fight Song.” The performance resembled the halftime shows at the football games minus a 28,000-seat stadium.
“It is a fun event for high schoolers and other ULM students to get engaged with the musical aspects of the program,” Garrett Haas, a sophomore English major, said.
After the marching band’s performance, prospective students toured the VAPA facilities in Bry and Brown Hall. Professors planned presentations, hoping to clear up any questions students had about the art and music program. Students also connected with members of the VAPA program and performed pieces from past ULM musical productions. Anyone who has seen last year’s production of “Putnam County Spelling Bee” knows that hilarity ensued as current members sang about magic feet and Jesus.
“Some students might have reservations about making a living with a career in music, but there are countless opportunities for students that choose to go down that path — performer, teacher, arts administrator, recording engineer, recording artist.” Allen Parrish, the director of the Sound of Today, said. Parrish works as an assistant professor of music.
The purpose of the event was not to perform showtunes from “Cabaret” or play on orange bucket drums. Rather, VAPA organized the event to connect with high schoolers and teach them lessons that are rarely taught in schools.
“High school students are exposed to a lot: English, math, science, social studies[…]and I’m sure those things are important in their own right,” Nicholas Bratcher, the director of VAPA, said. “But we also need them to know that the arts, whether as a career or just for leisure, are just as viable, if not more so .”
