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Music Department holds tribute concert, open for all VSCC students

By Michaela Marcellino
Volunteer State Community Colleges’ Music Department hosted a concert at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 7. It was in the new Steinhauer-Rogan-Black (SRB) Humanities Building, Room 151.
Nancy Slaughter, Associate Professor of Music, said that students have been busy with preparations for this exciting event all semester.
According to the flier, “everyone is invited to witness this tribute to political humorist Tom Lehrer.”
The flier also says that this event counts as the concert for Music 1030 classes.
“This is going to be very humorous and satirical. Tom Lehrer is a guitar player, and a political humorist. [The show is] going to be crazy. We will be able to lighten up the mood before the election.
Some of the songs are just really crazy. My song is called Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, and it basically is just a song about the springtime. It is beautiful, and then turns into this crazy, humorous thing.
We really want people to laugh, and have fun. I’m really excited [for the show]. There is going to be props and it will be very theatrical,” said a Volunteer State student, Rachel Loney, who is performing in the show.
“I hope people think [the show] is fun. [Performing is] fun, and I really love entertaining people. I really enjoy helping people enjoy the show,” said Josie Doyka, another Vol State student performing in the concert.
“I hope [students attending the event] will get to see that music can be ridiculous and silly, as well as serious. [This will be] a fun-filled concert with political satire and other humorous songs. [This event will include] singers and instrumentalists, faculty and students,” said Slaughter.
As this concert is a tribute to Tom Lehrer, students may want to know more about him. The site www.thefamouspeople.com has a bio on Tom Lehrer, which says that he is “…an American singer-songwriter and mathematician. He is known for his dark humor and satire.
As a singer he often parodied popular songs and wrote controversial lyrics dealing with the social and political issues of his times.
He began writing songs and tunes from a young age. Lehrer was a brilliant student; he earned his AB in mathematics from Harvard University at the age of 19 and his master’s degree the next year…and taught at MIT, Harvard and Wellesley.
He was a confident man who spoke his mind and never worried about political correctness. His songs often created controversy due to their dark, macabre and satirical nature, but he never bothered.
He started writing funny songs while in college to amuse himself and his friends though he had no plans to become a musician. But his friends who greatly enjoyed his parodies and comic songs encouraged him to record them.
Thus, he recorded his first album, ‘Songs by Tom Lehrer’ under his own label Lehrer Records in 1953. Lehrer was a comic paradox who successfully managed two seemingly unrelated careers—one as a mathematician, the other as a musician.”
Everyone involved hopes that the event was a fun and hilarious evening for those who attended.

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