By Brooke Zucco
Maag Library’s lobby isn’t typically filled with musical melodies, but Sept. 18 marked a new concert series, “Music at Maag,” where students can now enjoy a performance while checking out their books.
Visitors walking through Maag’s doors were greeted by a duet that kicked off the series where two students played flute and piccolo.
The students are members of the Youngstown State University Wind Ensemble and the Dana Symphony Orchestra. Despite both playing in the groups, they never had the opportunity to perform a duet together until this concert series, and they agreed it was overdue.
Mckenzie Cooper, a junior in an individualized curriculum program focused on music and entrepreneurship, said she thought they played great despite making a few mistakes.
“[Mistakes] are part of the game. You just [have to] keep going no matter what,” Cooper said.
The performance was witnessed by students passing through the lobby, and many stopped their daily tasks to live in the musical moment.
The sounds rang throughout the lobby from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. as the two played common classical flute duets. The performance wasn’t complete until both students pulled out their piccolos to play an excerpt from “The Stars and Stripes Forever” by John Philip Sousa.
Although the flute and piccolo are held the same way, the piccolo is smaller and plays the highest notes in the woodwind instrument family. This made the performance’s sound change, giving the audience variety.
But this performance is only the beginning of what is to come for Maag’s concert series. Kayla Gilmore, a sophomore music performance major, was the flutist contacted to make this vision a reality.
“Ellen [Wakeford-Banks] reached out to me and asked if we would be interested in performing,” Gilmore said.
Wakeford-Banks, a library clerk at Maag and member of the Maag Marketing Committee, organized this event that will continue to bring different instrumental and vocal sounds to the library.
“We’re trying to be known a little bit more,” she said. “During National Library Week we had music in the lobby and that seemed to gain a lot of attention, so we thought of doing that again.”
She said she wants any student that would like to play music and has free time to play in the lobby. The performance by Gilmore and Cooper was followed the next day by a Nepalese student playing his guitar, adding a cultural sound to the series.
Wakeford-Banks said the library is looking for students to perform during the week between 9 a.m. to around 3 p.m.
All students with a love for music and an instrument to play are welcome to talk to Wakeford-Banks and schedule a time.
The next performance scheduled for “Music at Maag” is a string quartet during the week of Oct. 7.