FMU’s PAC hosts music industry ensemble performance

For the final time of the fall semester, FMU hosted its music industry ensemble performance on Nov. 17 at the Chapman Auditorium in the McNair Science Building.  

The show was open to the public with free admission. While the majority of the guests remained seated throughout the show, the performers invited them to stand up and dance during the performance. Specifically, before the ensemble’s cover of The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside,” Abi Floyd, one of the vocalists, addressed the crowd.  

“If no one gets out of their seat for this song… I might have to come down there, and we’ll have a discussion,” Floyd said.   

The entirety of the ensemble was composed by Brandon Goff, a professor of music industry at FMU.  

Goff has been putting together student-led music industry ensemble events since he was hired at FMU 11 years ago. Each semester brings new student talent to the stage,  

Although according to Goff, there are usually several students who come in as freshmen and perform in the ensemble for several consecutive years.  

As for the most recent show, the genre of music played centered around rock n’ roll, with songs such as Wheatus’s “Teenage Dirtbag” and Journey’s “Anyway You Want It” being played early in the performance.  

Later in the show, more modern hits were performed, such as Paramore’s “Misery Business” directly followed by Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse.” While this particular performance was predominately a single genre, that is not always the case.  

“We have three hours of music,” Goff said. “It just so happens that what lined up tonight was more Rock.”  

Regardless of genre, most students sang along to and cheered for the majority of the songs on the lineup, some of whom even said they heard hits from their favorite bands.  

Floyd, who has performed for the industry ensemble for three semesters, said she enjoyed singing “Misery Business” the most since it was the same piece she did her first solo performance on during her first semester with the ensemble.   

“It was the first song to really get me out of my shell,” Floyd said.  

Goff said he was especially impressed with the musical prowess his students demonstrated during the show.   

“[The students] are really what I’d call the cream of the crop,” Goff said. “These guys are great, some of the most talented students on campus and the band kind of shakes it out.”  

Future events related to FMU’s music industry ensemble may be found on their page on the official FMU website.