By Loretta Evans
Kassie Willford Sanders, originally from Rigby, Idaho, is a percussion expert without a drum or any other musical instrument. Using only her voice, she is the beatboxer for Noteworthy, an acapella group of women from Brigham Young University.
Noteworthy and Vocal Point are coming to Idaho Falls’ Frontier Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, March 29. The concert will begin at 7 p.m. Both groups, composed of students at BYU, sing completely acapella.
Neither Noteworthy nor Vocal Point has musical instruments accompanying them. One person in each group, the beatboxer, imitates percussion sounds. As a result, the music sounds like drums and other percussion instruments are keeping beat with the songs.
Noteworthy consists of seven female vocalists and Vocal Point is composed of seven men. The program will include numbers by each group separately and together, including pop, rock, jazz, hip-hop and spiritual genres.
Kassie Sanders says that once she masters one percussive sound, she begins work on additional ones. The key is practice, practice, practice. Besides being the beatboxer, she sings with some of the numbers.
Kassie loves singing with Noteworthy. She sees singing with the group as a special opportunity to use music to spread goodness all over the world.
At Rigby High School Kassie participated in several choir groups, as well as the musicals Thoroughly Modern Millie and Fiddler on the Roof. As a high school student, she attended a summer camp at BYU on vocal music. It was there that she was introduced to acapella singing and beatboxing. She was fascinated.
During her freshman year at BYU, she met Talmadge Sanders, who had also attended the same summer camp. They were both members of the Acapella Club on campus. After serving a mission in Birmingham, England, she returned to BYU. She and Talmadge began dating and eventually married. They both sang with Amplifyre, another acapella group at BYU. Talmadge was the beatboxer for Amplifyre.
Kassie is pursuing a master’s degree at BYU in public health. She sees it as an opportunity for social change to allow all people to have access to health care, regardless of their financial situation.
The concert is sponsored by the Idaho Falls Chapter of the BYU Alumni Association. Proceeds from the concert will help provide financial assistance to some local students attending BYU, BYU-Idaho and BYU-Hawaii. Replenishment grants provide partial tuition for students. After graduation, students are expected to give back to the university fund, so future students can benefit. Unlike student loans, these grants do not charge interest.
The Alumni Association held an annual networking conference, for students and local businesses. This past spring local businesses met with college students to help provide students with career direction. The local businesses pointed out what they were looking for in future employees. Students had an opportunity to meet business leaders to help obtain an internship or full-time employment.
To purchase tickets for the concert, go to www.app.arts-people.com/index.php?show=269650.