Jason Heald and The Umpqua Singers enthusiastically discuss next plans for upcoming concerts this term. Gerardo Lopez / The Mainstream
To celebrate UCC’s upcoming 60-year anniversary, President Pokrant reached out to Jason Heald, director of music, to write a fight song for the school.
Fight songs have been around since the 20th century mostly stemming from sports teams as a way to boost morale, encouraging the team to reach victory.
Heald did extensive research on previously successful fight songs before creating “Riverhawk Squawk” highlighting the inclusive spirit and “call-and-response” from the crowd. A Call and response is a musical technique where the singer will call out a phrase and the audience will respond with a phrase back.
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Jason Heald director of music advises Umpqua singers during practice. Gerardo Lopez / The Mainstream
Heald directed the Umpqua Singers in performing the fight song first on the center stage and then invited the crowd to join in at parts during a second round of singing.
Besides working on writing new music, Heald has also been busy on field trip duty, taking the Umpqua Singers group he advises to Alaska over the spring break to perform in several shows across the state. The group sang songs from jazz, acapella, and pop genres, as well as classic Alaskan songs including the state song. Alaska was chosen since it was close enough for the short spring break and Heald is from Alaska, so the trip was easy to put together based on his previous experiences. This small functional group also travels together to perform at many local and state venues throughout the year and they have previously traveled overseas in the past years to places such as Hong Kong, Spain, and Ireland.
Caleb Jones engineering major and Umpqua singer practices new pieces for the upcoming concerts of spring term. Gerardo Lopez / The Mainstream
Heald, who came to UCC in 1998, directs the Umpqua Singers group of eight to 12 students typically in an amplified style, which includes each member having a microphone due to the constantly changing environments in which they perform.
Before working at UCC, Heald was a musician living and working in Portland.
Joining the Umpqua Singers is a year-long commitment and requires students to have a flexible schedule as the Singers perform 45 to 50 times per year. Merit awards are available for students helping them get some relief from tuition costs.
John Dixon music major student enjoys practicing musical instruments on center stage. Gerardo Lopez / The Mainstream
Students can also enroll in the Music Studies program that prepares students for transfer to four-year universities, offering comprehensive training in music theory, history, technology, and performance. The Music Studies program has two pathways: an Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer degree and an Associate of Applied Science degree.
According to UCC’s website, this program is approved for “liberal arts and education programs at most four-year colleges and universities.” The program includes award-winning performance groups in choir, band, and orchestra, with specialized classes in jazz and classical music.
Contact me at: UCCMainstream@yahoo.com
For more articles by Jace Boyd, please click here.
JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – The Supreme Court of Alaska will be taking up the case of the State of Alaska, Division of Elections v. Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr.
The oral arguments will be held Monday at 10 a.m. via Zoom, according to an order and opening notice.
The document also specifies that a decision is expected to be made before noon on Tuesday.
According to documents from the Division of Elections, the state must start printing ballots at noon on the same day.
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This comes after an Anchorage Superior Court Judge ordered Dan J. Sullivan on to the ballot Friday.
See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com
A new home under construction in Potter Valley in Anchorage. (Loren Holmes / ADN)
This June, two very different offers reach Alaska families, and both amount to the same thing: $10,000. The difference is everything.
Bill Walker, running for governor, would hand every eligible Alaskan a one-time $10,000 check and then end the Permanent Fund dividend for good. Ask one question: Where does his $10,000 come from?
It comes from the Permanent Fund, the people’s own money and the savings Alaskans built for their children. Walker would spend that endowment once to pay Alaskans to give up the yearly dividend forever.
Think about what that does. It cancels the annual check that gives a family a reason to keep an Alaska address and replaces it with a single payout. You hand people their own savings, call it a gift and cut the tie that held them here in the same motion. It is the oldest mistake in governing money: raid what you have saved to buy a moment’s applause and call the spending generosity.
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A plan that spends the people’s savings to send the people away is not bold. It is foolish.
Now consider the other $10,000. Through Alaska Housing Finance Corp., the state offers families up to $10,000 to build a new, energy-efficient home. AHFC raids nothing. It earns its own way. Over the years, it has returned more than $2 billion to the state treasury, and it spends some of that income the way any good business does: to win a customer.
Here, the customer is an Alaskan who wants to own a home, put down roots and stay.
That is the oldest sound move in business: Invest a little of what you earn to bring in someone who stays. The homeowner remains, the community gains a family and the corporation keeps earning. The money spent comes back. A plan that puts earnings to work to bring people home is not charity. It is clever.
Same amount. Opposite source. Opposite wisdom. One spends savings; the other spends earnings. One pays Alaskans to leave; the other pays them to stay. One empties the state; the other fills it.
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This Homeownership Month, the choice is the size of a single check, and the whole question is where the check comes from and what it asks of you. Ten thousand dollars of your own fund, to wave you goodbye. Or $10,000, earned and reinvested, to help you stay and build.
Evan Swensen is the publisher of Publication Consultants in Anchorage and the author of “What’s the Money For: A Permanent Fund Mortgage Proposal.”
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