Fourth Friday Recital Streamed Music Students

By Lindsey Foster

Fourth Friday Recital is a recurring monthly music event that includes guest artists, faculty, and students from the department of music at Ferrum College. A recital recently took place on Mar. 26, 2021 and was streamed on Ferrum College’s music department’s Facebook page. This was also the second Fourth Friday Recital in the spring 2021 semester.

(Introduction photo of the Fourth Friday Recital. Photo Credit: Lindsey Foster.)

This recital featured five students from the music department. The faculty of the department also accompanied the students while playing on the piano. These faculty members included Director of Chorale Adam McAllister and Director of the Concert Choir Jennifer Ayers-Barnard.

“Performing in such a formal type manner is a great experience for our students and I felt that they each demonstrated a professional presence,” Ayers-Barnard said.

Two vocalists - junior Erica Leed and junior Alyssa Robles who both major in musical theatre - performed at the recital. Leed and Robles have been working with McAllister and were accompanied by him during their performances.

New to Ferrum’s music department, freshman Ashley Patrick performed with her vocal coach Ayers-Barnard. Patrick is a music performance major and is studying voice with Ayers-Barnard. At the recital, they performed “Goodnight My Someone,” a piece from the musical “The Music Man.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve performed in front of people, but the faculty of the music department was there for me and helped me gain confidence for my first performance at Ferrum,” Patrick said. 

(Ashley Patrick performing “Goodnight My Someone” while being accompanied by Ayers-Barnard. Photo Credit: Lindsey Foster.)

Two other students that performed at the recital included instrumentalists junior Conor Rock on trombone and freshman Ryan Grossfield on trumpet. Both students are music performance majors. Rock performed the well-known piece “Amazing Grace,” while Grossfield played a piece titled “Round Midnight” by Thelonious Monk. They have both been studying and practicing their instruments with Steve Hedrick, who is a brass specialist at the music department.

(Conor Rock performing “Amazing Grace.”Photo Credit: Lindsey Foster.)

The music department offers several courses for anyone interested in music and doesn’t require you to be a music major to register, including learning guitar for beginners and intermediates, voice classes, and jazz band. For more information, you can contact Ayers-Barnard at her email jayers-barnard@ferrum.edu.