After a year of separate rehearsals and mask-wearing, Kent musicians finally performed together without masks at the Parents Weekend Concert, shared Ms. Pendal, who has been at Kent for 18 years and is the current Music Department Chair. Aside from teaching flute and Music History and Appreciation, a major term-contained course, Ms. Pendal helps coordinate lessons with 16 instrumental teachers in the department and manages nine ensembles on campus. 

The Parents Weekend Concert featured the music of seven different groups: the Concert Choir, Glee Club, Chamber Choir, Kentones & Kentettes, String Orchestra, Concert Band, and Jazz Band. In spite of the fact that students have only been back for a month, the concert was an awesome opportunity to have fun, bring students together, and show the parents what we’ve been working on. 

The Parents Weekend Concert has been a tradition for many years. Due to the pandemic last year, the concert was virtual, with three different streamed links for parents and families all around the world. The singers wore singer masks and sang six feet apart, which greatly influenced the music produced because singing is all about merging the voices, Ms. Pendal recalled. 

This year was a hybrid approach, with some parents listening on campus and others watching through a live-streamed link. Although we aren’t quite back to pre-COVID conditions, “it was phenomenal to perform without masks and to play for a live audience in Mattison Auditorium,” Gabby Todd ‘22, the co-president of the orchestra, shared. 

Rebounding after the pandemic is always difficult, as students haven’t played together for 18 months, and almost half the students are new. Fortunately, it was a joyful moment to bring everyone together and to invite the parents to see our progress in the last month, 

With the holiday concert and Lessons and Carols coming up in December, Ms. Pendal hopes to build upon the good progress that we’ve already made. In an environment where students have extremely busy schedules, Ms. Pendal aims for music to be their stress reliever and their moment to calibrate and reset after a burdensome day. “I enjoy playing music for the beautiful melody that flows out of my bow and for the opportunity to take my mind off the ridiculous workload,” Gabby Todd ‘22 smiled as she picked up her bow and gazed upon the treble clef.