Monster Concert features thirteen pianos, a blue monster and encourages audience participation
Thirteen pianos crowded the stage of the Daines Concert Hall as the Utah State University Youth Conservatory put on its annual Monster Concert on Friday, February 2.
Conservatory students have been preparing since November for the event. The result was a family-friendly concert that was engaging and fun for audience members of all ages.
The concert featured plenty of audience participation, providing opportunities for audience members to sing and even dance as students and teachers throughout the community performed together.
The pianos and performers shared the stage with an essential feature of the concert: a big, furry blue monster. Kids throughout the audience were completely enraptured as this gentle giant came to dance on stage, act out lyrics in sing-a-longs, and lead audience members in “The Chicken Dance.”
“We just really wanted it to be exciting for friends and family and then the students themselves performing. So that’s why we sort of put our own little twist on it,” said Emily Ezola, director of the USU Youth Conservatory.
When asked about the inspiration for this concert, Ezola said, “Pianists are often on their own. They practice a lot alone. They don’t really get a chance as much to collaborate in the same way that violinists do or instruments that are in a band. But the benefits that you can gain from being in an ensemble are huge. So it was important to us, as part of really the music education component, to get them to play with each other.”
The USU Youth Conservatory is a teaching lab for both undergraduate and graduate piano majors, and it creates a valuable teaching environment for college students.
“They get to have real-life experience right away when they come to our program, super unique to Utah State, actually,” said Ezola.
The Monster Concert specifically gives USU piano majors the unique opportunity to “lead rehearsals and conduct a fleet of pianos and pianists.”
In addition to benefiting the students of Utah State, the Conservatory also contributes to the community by offering piano lessons to youth in Cache Valley at affordable prices. “Again, that’s part of our goal, is to keep this as accessible to the most people that we possibly can,” said Ezola, adding that the Conservatory is a way to “keep up with music education and to connect to the community and give kids the chance to learn how to play piano.”
The collaboration of musicians at the Monster Concert was evidence of that community.
“We want lifelong music lovers and piano players,” said Ezola. “I think this helps just kind of fuel that motivation.”
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