The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Monday, September 12, 2016 — 3A
Students display 2,977 American flags on
Diag to honor, remember 9/11 victims
On
Sunday,
the
15th
anniversary
of
the
attacks
on Sept. 11, the University of
Michigan’s chapter of Young
Americans
for
Freedom
organized their annual tribute
on the Diag.
The display of 2,977 American
flags — which represent each
loss of life from the tragedy
— attracted the attention of
students, faculty and members
of the Ann Arbor community.
LSA junior Dominic Stanchina,
vice chairman of YAF, noted
the unique qualities of his
organization’s tribute.
“It’s attention-getting,” he
said. “It’s a visually stimulating
piece so we can catch people off
guard. They see almost 3,000
flags for 3,000 victims and it
(makes) them pause.”
YAF
secretary
Derek
Loewen, an LSA junior, said the
need for the commemoration
is especially relevant in a time
when the threat of terrorism
still persists.
“It happened 15 years ago
and people are already starting
to forget about the events,
when that sort of terrorism is
still relevant today,” he said.
“We want to remember and pay
respects to those that did lose
their lives, but also to remind
people that there is still an
active threat today and we can’t
lose sight of that.”
According to its website,
Young Americans for Freedom
is
a
nonprofit,
educational
organization that devotes itself
NEIL SCHWARTZ
Daily Staff Reporter
Men’s Glee Club hosts contest to
find new song lyrics for bicentenial
Winning submission to be performed during
November 2017 festivities
EMILY MIILLER
Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan
Men’s Glee Club is preparing
early
for
the
University’s
bicentennial
celebration,
launching a contest earlier this
month for a lyricist for a new
song they plan to perform at
the November 2017 festivities.
All students, alumni, and
faculty members are eligible
to submit to the contest. It
will close on November 15th,
after which a committee of
the Glee Club’s director, the
song’s composer and student
members of the Glee Club will
choose the winning lyrics.
The song will be added to a
Michigan
songbook,
which
contains
all
the
Michigan
songs ever written including
“The
Victors”
and
other
traditions.
Eugene Rogers, associate
director
of
choirs
and
conducting with School of
Music, Theater, Dance and
the director of the Men’s Glee
Club, said there is a precedent
for this type of contest at the
University, tracing back to the
alma mater, “Yellow and Blue.”
“Charles Mills Gayley wrote
the very first Michigan song,
the alma mater,” he said. “He
responded to a student ad and
received twenty dollars for
writing the alma mater as we
know today. And that’s the
case for a lot of our Michigan
songs.”
After the committee has
chosen the lyrics for the new
song, Kristin Kuster, professor
of composition with SMTD,
will compose a piece of music
to accompany them.
Rogers said Kuster is the
first woman to compose for
the Men’s Glee Club and add
to the compilation of Michigan
songs.
“So that’s for us really a
triple excitement because we
have a brand new text, a brand
new piece written by a new
composer, as well as the first
female professor to compose
it,” Rogers said.
Kuster noted she is only
the second woman to receive
tenure in the Composition
Department at the University
and said she is honored that
the Glee Club asked her to
write the piece.
“I am grateful to be part
of this important milestone
in
the
Men’s
Glee
Club’s
commissioning
history,”
Kuster said. “I am committed
to
advocating
for
the
underrepresented composers
in our contemporary classical
music scene; namely, female
composers
and
composers
of color. My hope is that my
presence
in
commissioning
projects such as this will help
transform our field into a more
inclusive, and therefore more
enriched culture of music
making.”
She said she will have
ample inspiration to help her
compose the song, coming
particularly from students.
“This opportunity to write
again for our Men’s Glee Club
is thrilling, and I am excited,”
Kuster said. “The inspiration
for writing music for this group
for this occasion surrounds us
on our campus: it is exuded
by all of our students, across
every discipline.”
The piece, she added, will be
inspired by a series of emotions
she’s oberved on campus.
The expressions of nostalgia,
pride, and/or camaraderie that
emerge from this new piece
will be dependent on the lyrics
we choose, yet also will drench
every single note on the page,”
she said. “All of these feelings
will
inevitably
be
present
because I adore this place.”
This new Michigan song,
once completed, will premier
at the Glee Club’s spring
concert in April. They will
also perform the new song
during their annual spring
tour, which has a bicentennial
theme this year. Finally, it
will be performed as a part of
the University’s bicentennial
celebrations in November 2017.
SMTD
senior
Patrick
Kiessling, president of the
Glee Club, said he was looking
forward to participating in
this new part of the Glee Club’s
repertoire.
“To
be
commissioning
and helping create a new
Michigan song with the Glee
Club, that will be in this
Michigan
songbook
and
a
part of the Glee Club and the
University’s history for the
next years to come, is truly a
unique privilege,” Kiessling
said. “We’re really excited to
be writing the first chapter of
this new song’s story with the
Glee Club.”
The Glee Club sings a few
selections from the Michigan
songbook
at
their
end-of-
semester
concerts,
and
Kiessling
said
finding
out
which songs is always a large
part of preparation for these
concerts.
“We always enjoy learning
which Michigan songs we
Young Americans for Freedom recognizes lives lost fifteen years ago in
campus commemoration
See GLEE, Page 7A
See FLAGS, Page 7A