Quinn Bogart ’21 stood before the crowd, strumming on her guitar and serenading the crowd. She was singing her own song, “Lightning Calls,” which she had worked on for weeks, and finally had the chance to perform live to the School.
Members of the Marlborough community like Bogart were able to share their talent at lunch in the Collins Room on Feb. 17 for the fourth annual Marlborough Singer-Songwriter Showcase In addition to Bogart, the Showcase featured Alden Fossett ’17, Kendall Amon ’16, and Lauryn Tauber ’17.
Tauber, who is a co-president of the Singer-Songwriter club at Marlborough, helped organize the event. In order to combat the low community participation of previous years, she and performing arts instructor Ernie Scarbrough worked hard to better organize the event and reach out to the entire school.
The goal of the showcase was to provide a space for student musicians to express themselves to the school. Tauber pointed out that Chamber Choir is the only well-publicized program at Marlborough where singers can demonstrate their talents. Tauber’s aim was to create an alternative to choir that still engaged the community.
“There are so many people here who are great musicians and singers, they’re just not in chamber choir. The singer songwriter showcase brings out those people,” Tauber said.
Grace Kim ’17, the other co-president of the Singer-Songwriter Club, explained that the Singer-Songwriter showcase creates a different, less formal creative outlet for singers who aren’t necessarily in chamber choir.
Even though only four singer-songwriters were able to showcase their talent, the organizers of the event considered it a success.
“We put a lot of effort into this year, that you can’t really see. It was really cool to see that pay off,” Tauber said.
“We had a big crowd. It was huge compared to last year. Last year there were empty seats,” Tauber said. At this year’s showcase, the Collin’s room was overflowing, and many people had to sit on the floor to watch. Head of School Priscilla Sands even made an appearance to support the students.
Tauber hopes that the increased popularity of the event will continue in years to come.
“I would like to see next year be bigger, just because that’s going to be my last year. I feel like the bigger it is, the more likely it is that someone’s going to want to take it over after I leave,” she said.
Bogart, who participated in the Showcase for her first time this year, agrees. “I want to continue this. I love music,” she said.
