Arkansas Tech University student Caelah Carvin poses with the tools of her trades for the ATU Symphonic Wind Ensemble\u00a0— French horn and lighting equipment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n
An idea brought forth by a student in the French horn section will shine a new light on the Arkansas Tech University Symphonic Wind Ensemble for its final performance of the 2025-26 academic year.<\/p>\n
The show will begin at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 26, in Witherspoon Auditorium, 407 West Q Street on the ATU campus in Russellville. Admission will be free and open to the public.<\/p>\n
The concert will include a new stage lighting concept envisioned and developed by Caelah Carvin, a first-year ATU student from Hot Springs.<\/p>\n
\u201cLighting really sets the mood,\u201d said Carvin, who is majoring in instrumental music education and minoring in business. \u201cIt really ties everything together and brings something new to the stage. I\u2019m super excited to see what it might add to the performance and what feelings it might evoke in the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carvin has long had an interest in stage lighting, but her busy schedule at Lakeside High School in Hot Springs prevented her from pursuing it through the theatre program.<\/p>\n
After graduating from Lakeside in 2024, Carvin invested a gap year in attending and graduating from the U.S. Army School of Music as part of her service to the 106th Army Band in the Arkansas National Guard.<\/p>\n
It was at the Army School of Music that Carvin first saw stage lighting blended with classical music. When she began her studies at Arkansas Tech in fall 2025, she brought that concept with her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many opportunities here,\u201d said Carvin when asked why she chose Arkansas Tech. \u201cThe faculty listen, and they care about music as much as the students do. There\u2019s a shared respect and mutual interest we all have in the same thing. They really hear your ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carvin began shopping for lights online, found the right ones, practiced with them and then implemented them as part of the ATU Jazz Ensemble performance at Witherspoon Auditorium in April.<\/p>\n
Now, she is taking the light show up a notch for the ATU Symphonic Wind Ensemble concert and blending it with her love for music.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just everything\u2026it\u2019s my passion,\u201d said Carvin when asked why she plays music. \u201cEvery time I listen to music, it makes me feel\u2026it\u2019s a language that communicates to everyone. It\u2019s not bound by words. It\u2019s a pure transmitter of emotion. It\u2019s my love and my joy to reach people that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pieces scheduled for performance during the April 26 concert include John Stafford Smith\u2019s \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner,\u201d as arranged by Brian Balmages, in honor of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States; \u201cLet My Love Be Heard\u201d by Jake Runestad, which will be played in memory of former ATU director of bands Hal Cooper Sr.; \u201cRumba Fugata\u201d by Arturo Marquez; and \u201cAmerykahn Graffiti\u201d by Katahj Copley.<\/p>\n
Dr. Daniel A. Belongia, ATU professor of music and director of bands, is conductor for the ATU Symphonic Wind Ensemble.<\/p>\n
Visit www.atu.edu\/humanities\/music<\/a> to learn more about the ATU Department of Music.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.arkansastechnews.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arkansas Tech University student Caelah Carvin poses with the tools of her trades for the ATU Symphonic Wind Ensemble\u00a0— French horn and lighting equipment. An idea brought forth by a student in the French horn section will shine a new light on the Arkansas Tech University Symphonic Wind Ensemble for its final performance of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2388144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2388143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/A-Bright-Idea-Carvin-Brings-New-Element-to-ATU-Music.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2388143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2388145,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388143\/revisions\/2388145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2388144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2388143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2388143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2388143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}