Shaeffer Auditorium is packed for an evening concert. The choir director says a few introductory words as the lights  dim, and the audience takes  their seats. Just shy of seventy students shuffle onto risers, fumbling to adjust their traditional robes and tassels. At last, the moment has come. The director raises her hands to conduct, and the choir begins to sing.
 

   Scenes such as this are a staple of Kutztown’s Music Department and have been ever since Shaeffer Auditorium was built in 1938. The Archives have the photos and programs throughout these decades, a useful resource for Music majors today. Commercial Music major Joseph West was intrigued to learn that there is also a small library of recordings highlighting past ensemble’s performances. “I could make a collage of student-made pieces because I’ve been studying a lot of audio,” he said.  “I could upload their arrangements, with their permission, and pretty much make a two-minute mix taking their melodies and combining them in a way.”
 

   Joseph also wondered how useful the backlog of old programs could be for Music Education majors. Since concert performances make up such a huge percentage of class grades, these programs are an academic record as much as a student event. The programs reveal the scope, breadth, and depth of the music department and how contemporary hits were paired with traditional classics.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   The symphonic band often played older pieces as compared to the marching band, for instance. Broadway showtunes as well as movie hits found their way into the band’s repertoire. 1976 featured a West Side Story medley, while “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl was performed in 1974. All this is put into context with the symphonic band’s “Tribute to Henry Fillmore” in 1979, a return to the early classics of big bands. This is a merely a cursory dive into the latter half of one decade of musical history; the Archives offers a unique chance to explore various angles and specifics of the music department through these old programs.
 

   Through  the ever changing and graduating student body, individual performers and even entire ensembles have been changing throughout Kutztown University’s history. Nevertheless, the eighty years’ worth of musical programs and records speak to the university’s  love of music. No matter who is performing or what is being performed, music touches those who hear it. The Archives has something for to all lovers of music and to current musical performers.