At 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 30, West Liberty University’s (WLU) Office of Student Life and The Hilltop Harmonic Collective orchestrated a Cabaret jazz-themed performance in the Student Union.
Lighting in the Student Union was dim, and the usual gray tables were topped with tealights and red feathers, with black and red tablecloths underneath. Red velvet ropes lined the entries.
The Hilltop Harmonic Collective, WLU’s jazz ensemble, started their performance with “Sing, Sing, Sing” by Mark Brymer. Around 25 songs followed, including traditional jazz hits such as “Fly Me to the Moon”. In addition to group numbers, each student in the ensemble, vocalists and instrumentalists, had solos.
Dr. Douglas McCall, the Director of Choral Activities at WLU, is the director of the ensemble. The group started last semester, in the spring of 2023 after a student interest. “I had a couple of students who came to me who wanted to do jazz and we didn’t have an ensemble for them,” McCall said. “So I created one.”
Since coming together, the Hilltop Harmonic Collective has done small events, such as performing for the WLU Foundation. The group has been working on a lot of music, and Dr. McCall decided instead of putting them in a group concert, that he would create a separate event for the jazz ensemble to show off their work and get other students interested.
“I am excited,” McCall added. “My hope is that some of the folks who come in may not know jazz as well and become interested in it.”
The group currently has eight singers and three instrumentalists after their first semester. Dr. McCall hopes to have 12 to 14 total vocalists and several more instrumentalists.
Kate Billings, the Director of the Student Life Office, said the idea came to them when getting together for their monthly coffee meeting. Since the Employment Engagement Committee’s initiative for staff members to get to know each other, they have become better colleagues.
“Because he and I had that relationship, during coffee one day this semester he discussed doing something with the choir group in the union to get them out and about,” Billings said. “When we brainstormed, a jazz night came up, and that’s when cabaret came up.”
Around 40 people came out to the event and Billings compared supporting the arts to supporting athletic teams on campus, “You can go and appreciate the student who has those great talents just like any other student would go to a basketball game,” and added, “It’s the same thing just for a different type of venue.”
If interested in joining WLU’s jazz ensemble, The Hilltop Harmonic Collective, reach out to Dr. Doug McCall at [email protected] for more information.
