The Fall 2023 semester was one of music, friendship, harmony, phamily, and phun for the members of the Phi Tau Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon!
Throughout the semester, members of our chapter in the Concert Band, Brass Band, Wind Ensemble, Wind Orchestra, Concert Orchestra, A Capella Choir, Denton Community Orchestra, and North Central Texas Winds have performed magnificent concerts in our Murchison Performing Arts Center, and across the Denton and DFW communities. Under the direction of John Clemons, Jerianne Larson, Dr. David Childs, Professor Amy Woody, Dr. Andrew Trachsel, Dr. Clay Coutoreoux, Dr. Allen Hightower, Hank Chang, and Dr. Thomas Singletary, our members have played and sung their hearts out under the lights. We are so proud of all of our members for all of their hard work they put into their large ensembles this semester, whether based at UNT or within the Denton community!
In October, our chapter hosted a Trevor Project Fundraiser Recital, raising funds for this organization supporting LGBTQ+ youth. Multiple members of the chapter gave thrilling performances on a Saturday afternoon for the recital. Leading up to the recital and during one of our weekly meetings, multiple members of the chapter even created friendship bracelets to support the fundraiser!
Throughout the semester, Events Committee hosted various holiday-themed events for our chapter to unwind and take a break from the stressors of music school. For Halloween, we held a Murder Mystery event completely designed by our Fall 2023 Events Committee Head, Julia. For Thanksgiving, we held a Phriendsgiving Dinner on the last day before Fall Break. A huge thank you to Julia and Events Committee for arranging these wonderful events-we had so much fun, and hope to do them again in the future!
December 2023 has been an exciting and busy month for our chapter! On December 2, our chapter participated in a joint recital with the UNT chapters of Phi Mu Alpha and Kappa Kappa Psi, followed by a really fun reception in the aftermath! Members of all three chapters sang along to various tunes, including songs from Hamilton and various popular Christmas tunes. After the reception, our chapter migrated to the Music Annex, where we held our annual chapter Executive Board elections. Congratulations to Julia Dunphy (President), Kendall Curtis-Malone (Vice President), Megan Courson (Treasurer), Abby Isley (Recording Secretary), Carter Reynolds (Corresponding Secretary), Vivi Pichardo (Parliamentarian/Alumni Secretary), and Emily O’Brien (Historian) on being elected to their positions for the 2024 calendar year! We can’t wait to see what you do!
On Thursday, December 7, members of our chapter went to Sage Oak of Denton to perform at our now semiannual Nursing Home Recital! We always love performing for the residents at this recital-we can tell that our performances always make their day. This semester, we performed for three different homes in the complex, accommodating each performance to each group of residents’ unique needs. Thank you to SERV Committee for organizing this recital-it is a favorite event every semester, and we hope to keep this tradition alive for years to come!
On Friday, December 8, we celebrated the end of the semester-and unwound from juries-with an Events Committee-organized Ugly Sweater Christmas Recital! After the recital, the chapter hopped in the car and drove to Lewisville, where we spent the afternoon roller skating! Whether it was their first time ever roller skating, or they had done it several times before, everybody had a blast playing tag and chasing each other around the rink-while cheering on our members who had never roller skated before!
On Sunday, December 10, we had our End-of-Semester Phormal with Mama Capps! We always love spending time with Mama Capps, and are always grateful to her for blessing us with a warm, loving home, delicious food, and wonderful stories when we come over to visit-and repayed our gratitude by giving her Christmas cards and presents! We enjoyed an amazing dinner provided both by members of the chapter and Mama Capps, participated in a holiday sing-along, and enjoyed simply spending time with one another before going our separate ways for break.
As it is the end of the fall semester, we want to recognize our graduating senior for the Fall 2023 semester: Jack Nagel (BM Music Education with a concentration in Trumpet, Mu Gamma, initiated Fall 2021). Thank you for making the choice to be a part of our phamily-wherever you go next, remember that we will always support you, and you will always have a home in our chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon. We will miss you dearly…come back and visit!
With that, the Fall 2023 semester has come to an end. Thank you to every member who made this semester special for their service, music, laughs, and love-while we are sad to see it go, we are excited for the wonderful things that lay ahead for our chapter in the year to come! GMG, and Mu Phi for Life!
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