Posted By Gettysburgian Staff on Feb 22, 2024 | 1 comment

By David Poulos, Staff Writer

The Sunderman Conservatory of Music presented their Wind Symphony Annual Family Pops Concert on Feb. 18 in the Majestic Theater. The concert was in collaboration with Gettysburg College’s non-commercial, student-run radio station “WZBT 91.1 FM.”

The concert was named “Live on Air,” and students recorded radio segments to mimic real radio stations. These segments were played between the different performances, simulating flipping through different radio stations of various music genres. The music performed by the Wind Symphony included hits from the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and modern pop songs. The concert benefits the “WBZT 91.1” to help fund equipment needs. 

Professor of Music and Director of Bands Russell McCutcheon was the conductor for the concert and explained the inspiration behind it: “This is the second time we’ve done a concert like this. The first time we did ‘Live on Air’ was in 2018. The pandemic of course interrupted things a little bit, but we try to bring this concert back every four years so that everyone has a chance to participate.”

(Photo David Poulos/The Gettysburgian)

McCutcheon also explained that one of the special aspects of this concert is that it is fully created by the students.

“All of the audio that you hear, all the funny bits and fake commercials, that’s all written by and recorded by students in the group. It really gives them a chance to participate and to be a part of the planning from choosing the music to what order it goes in,” he said.

The concert involved the audience in the performance, encouraging clapping and joining along during some of the songs, and there was even an activity where you could call the “radio station” number in the hopes of winning a prize. At the end of the concert, the audience gave a standing ovation.

McCutcheon commented on the event turnout: “The house was really full and the audience seemed to be enjoying the show and people were clapping and laughing when they were supposed to.”

McCutcheon also expressed that the main goal of the performance was to create a family oriented event.

“The idea is every February the Wind Symphony plays a Family Pops Concert. It’s not always this concert; it’s not always this radio concept,” McCutcheon explained. “We do different things, but every year we do a Family Pops Concert, and it’s always lighter music, it’s always more popular music. Sometimes it’s broadway or movie themes or show tunes. We always want to make it fun for people of all ages. We want to create a light concert on a sunday afternoon, not a lot of really heavy music.”

The audience responses to this performance concurred with the symphony’s goals. 

Audience member and student Riley Dunbar ’27 said, “I loved it. It was very creative, and it was enjoyable. The concert was really well put together by the students and everyone seemed to have a great time.”

Another audience member, Trevor Weakly ’26, also gave his thoughts on the performance: “I really liked it! I love how they had a bunch of different eras of music, and it seemed like everyone was having a great time.”