UTM is not a big school, but it has one of the best learning environments for students. That is the reason why UTM has many more students who enroll in the fall semester as compared with last semester. The Music Department plays a very important role on the campus.

Music is one of the most important elements that students need to relax after studying. Music can be used to release our anger and to calm ourselves down so we won’t become very aggressive. The Music Department provides a series of concerts during each semester. Each concert will be held at Harriet Fulton Theatre in Fine Arts Building. Students should get themselves involved in these activities. There is no fee to attend the events.

There was a concert held on Thursday, Oct. 5. The music department invited two guests over to perform only for one night. One was Lisa Oberlander. Another was Amy Griffiths. They are two shining stars in the music industry. Oberlander’s major instrument is the clarinet. She went to Japan with some founding members of the Fountain City Ensemble in 2005 and performed in Tokyo. There were two other performances in which she played with the famous international pianists Jon Kimura Parker and Andre Gaskin which included two performances of the Brahms Trio.

Griffiths recently recorded her single for the clarinet. The record will be released in early 2007. She also played with some symphony groups, including the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra. She has been invited to perform live on WTVM (ABC). Her performance pieces are always the best choices on Georgia Public Radio. She has worked on the faculty of the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program from 2001-03.

Griffiths is more interested in playing the saxophone. She has toured all over the United States, Canada, Europe and as far away as Japan. She founded a group known as The Fountain City Ensemble with three of her best friends, who include Lisa Oberlander (clarinet), Andree Martin (flute), and Paul Vaillancourt (percussion) in 2003.

They toured Japan and presented the world premiere of their group in the city of Tokyo in 2005. She also has a saxophone CD which is going to be released in the winter of 2006. She is in the Columbus State University Percussion Ensemble and is working on their recording of Charles Griffin’s Fist Through Traffic for alto saxophone and percussion. She has worked for the Orquesta Panamericana band in Phoenix, Ariz. for the past two years.

When she was in Arizona, she was also in the Jazz group Dixie Devil. Dixie Devil specializes in early New Orleans-style Jazz. She enjoys working as a performer. As soon as she moved to Georgia, she was playing in several soul bands. They include Saints and Sinners and Maxwell Lummus. She also works at Columbus State University. She teaches saxophone quartets, chamber music, small-group Jazz and woodwind methods as well. She has her own feeling about music, and maintains a dynamic saxophone studio.

It was quiet in Harriet Fulton Theatre because there were not many people who showed up to the concert. Most viewers were UTM students who were Music majors, except a few people who were from outside of campus. The show lasted an hour, and there was a ten-minute break between the two sections. Professor Elaine Harriss performed with Griffiths and Oberlander during the concert. Her role is the piano part of the performance. She is a fine pianist, and she has been teaching at UTM for a long time.

The next event sponsored by the Music Department will be the Chamber Ensemble concert, which will be held tonight at 7:30 pm in the Harriet Fulton Theatre. For a list of upcoming shows, you can check out the UTM Web site or call the Music Department at 881-7402.