Bison Perform Recital to Benefit Africa Trip

Two Oklahoma Baptist University juniors performed at The Master's Touch School of Music and Performing Arts in Grapevine, Texas, on Sunday, April 5, to benefit an Africa mission trip. Spring Butler, from Grapevine, Texas, and Lindsay Inman, from Peyton, Colo., presented portions of their junior recitals before the Grapevine crowd. Both are piano performance majors in OBU's Division of Music.

The recital was given to raise money for a trip Butler plans to make to Kenya this coming August to teach piano and music classes at the Kenya Baptist Theological College in Nairobi for two weeks.

"The idea was that I could offer an afternoon of enjoyable music, inform my friends and family about my trip, and ask for their support," Butler said. "It was actually Lindsay's idea that I do a recital for a fundraiser. From the recital I was able to raise about a fourth of the funds needed for my trip, so I felt it was a very successful event."

The recital, which included compositions by Scarlatti, Beethoven, Barber, Haydn, and Liszt, also served as a practice round for Butler and Inman's junior recitals. Inman performed her junior recital on Bison Hill April 19, and Butler performed her junior recital on May 3.

"As a piano performance major, it is important for me to take advantage of as many performance opportunities as possible." Butler said. "This is something I have learned since coming to OBU. The more I perform, the more comfortable I become and am therefore more able to enjoy communicating through the music to the audience.

"Being able to perform a recital like this was great practice for my junior recital and also an opportunity for me to share my music with some people will not be able to make it to Shawnee for my recital," she said.

Butler also learned she was a winner of the Oklahoma City Ladies Music Club Scholarship. As an award winner, she was able to perform at the club's spring scholarship recital and received a scholarship check for her performance. She performed the piece "The White Peacock from Roman Sketches, Op. 7" by Charles Tomlinson Griffes.

"It was an honor to be recognized by the Ladies Music Club," Butler said. "The audition was an opportunity for me to perform and receive some input on my pieces along with having chance to receive a scholarship."