Written by Kylie Akins
The makeshift stage in front of the scattered chairs and couches that night in Midnight Oil held musicians who did not play for a paycheck or fame but for a common cause. Some sang songs in an African dialect, beat boxing to the foreign words, and others presented their original songs in the name of charity. Through the musicians’ generous enthusiasm, more than $300 was collected for the orphanages in Togo, Africa that night.
During the past few months, musicians within the Harding community have put on several concerts, spreading their music and ideas through small venues for the benefit of local student fundraisers.
Recent graduate and current Harding adjunct teacher Michael Wright, sophomore Alex Freeman and junior James “McCoy” Taylor have all been involved with these fundraisers. Wright and Freeman recently played for the Togo Benefit concert at Midnight Oil, and Taylor opened for Michael Cooper at the Harding Society for the Advancement of Management fundraiser last month.
According to Wright, music has fueled his hunger for a spirituality that is founded in meaning. This desire inspired him to write songs that utilize Biblical imagery, putting ideas in a new light he said
he hopes other people will find eye-opening. He said that as a musician in the Harding community, he is driven by a creativity he said he hopes all artists here will strive for.
“We should be producing things that are separate from the world, but just as good or better than what other people are making,” Wright said. “I hope that artists here will have courage to be original.”
Through singing and writing, Freeman said she finds a way to communicate her emotions in a way where she might not be completely comprehended. To be understood by her closest friends is refreshing, she said, but to a crowd, the mysteries her lyrics present is freeing.
“It’s a way to take what’s inward and make it outward,” Freeman said. “It’s a way to share what I’m thinking and feeling even if it’s not completely understood. It’s not harnessing all of my thoughts and feelings, but it’s putting them out there.”
Freeman said she enjoys the community that sharing music creates and is performing with other Harding musicians more often than solo while on campus. She said not only is she able to play with other artists, but she has also created bonds of friendship through group concerts that are only strengthened by the musicians’ shared Christianity.
“I find a lot of joy in it, and it’s nothing I want to sell for money,” Freeman said.
Taylor said his love for singing came from his parents, and his own career “just started in the shower.” He is a Texas country singer and put out a CD of his own, “Judging by the Frio,” last summer. He went from playing at local venues in Texas to performing in the Administration Auditorium in front of his fellow Harding students. He said he enjoys playing in front of other students here and the attentiveness they give to his message.
“When people really stop and listen to the lyrics, nothing makes me feel better than when they say they can relate to that,” Taylor said. “When that happens, I realize I put something into words; I painted a picture people could appreciate and understand. It’s one of the best feelings in the world when people really listen.”
G.K. Chesterton’s line “Art is the signature of man” is one of Wright’s favorite quotes, he said.
“I just want to show people why do we paint, sing and have a desire to express ourselves,” Wright said. “I feel like that is given to us by the one who created us.”
