Cedarville University’s harpists

By Bella Agnello

The Friday before finals week, students typically spend the afternoon getting ready to perform their skits during Deck the Halls. But if they were to stop by the Stevens Student Center for an early dinner, they might be able to spot three hooded creatures wheeling large, covered objects from the Dixon Ministry Center to the SSC. And if they stay for a while, they might be pleased to hear the sounds of celestial Christmas cheer.

These creatures are actually the harpists of Cedarville University: senior Music Performance and Music Education major Olivia Perschbacher, junior Music Performance major Anna Jender and sophomore Bachelor of Arts in Performance student Chloe Hammond.

For over 10 years, Cedarville’s harpists have held informal Christmas concerts in the SSC for studying students and curious passersby. Not only does it give people a chance to enjoy live music, but it also increases the trio’s presence on campus. 

“It’s just a fun way for us to spread some extra Christmas cheer and also be like, ‘We exist!’” Perschbacher said.

With finals and projects, not everyone has the time to sit down for a formal Christmas recital. This event gives students the liberty to listen to the harpists without putting a pause on their busy schedules.

“With this type of thing, you can just say, ‘I’m in the SSC for a couple hours, come when you can,’ and then they can come for like five minutes if they want, or they can sit for the whole thing,” Jender said.

Each girl’s calendar is crowded with performances in recitals, birthdays and weddings throughout the year, for which they put in countless hours of practicing and fine tuning. Though they rehearsed their set list, the girls resolved to have fun while they played.

“Compared to where you have to prep everything to the T, [sometimes] we just start laughing because we’re like, ‘Well, this is going somewhere! We don’t know where, but it’s going,” Perschbacher said. “We can just enjoy it, too.”

In the final push of the end of the semester, pausing to enjoy the live music music offered a breather before the chaos of Deck the Halls and lifted spirits before a long weekend of studying. And now, with this season’s events behind them, the girls are looking forward to their next performance on March 23.

Bella Agnello is a junior Broadcasting, Digital Media and Journalism major with a concentration in Journalism. She enjoys thrifting, listening to records and reading classic Russian literature in her spare time.