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Please click on title of song to hear sample clip. All songs are on NCS CD and can be purhased at CD Baby.
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Excerpts
from a Juniata College Press Release printed
in the Harrisburg Patriot News Sunday, January
2, 1966,
and many other papers:
One April day in
1964 a group of students were leisurely having
an informal "sing along" session in Swigart Music
Hall on the Juniata College campus in Huntingdon,
PA. A few days later, this same group was singing
publicly at a $100 Club banquet at the college.
The students were so well received at this occasion
that they decided to convert these casual sessions
into public performances.
This was the beginning of the New Century Singers;
Juniata's innovation to imaginative and exciting
entertainment. In their young existence, the Singers
have been in constant demand throughout Pennsylvania
and other states - already establishing a rapport
with all kinds of audiences - from teenagers to
old folks.
Before the first summer was over, what was first
expected to be only a college pastime was turning
into a semi-profession. Requests from service
clubs, charities, high schools, colleges and private
organizations kept pouring in and the Singers
were books for weeks in advance.
The New Century Singers have cut two records,
the first only seven months after they organized
and the second last summer. An LP album is planned
for this spring.
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| DOWN
TO BUSINESS - Rehearsal in
Swigart Hall: Bob McDowell, Bill Brubaker,
Paul Morse, Sue Judy, Steve Engle |
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| Paul
Morse, Bill Brubaker, Kirsten Miller,
Dave Gould, Steve Engle (Somewhere
out of sight is bassist John
Russell.) |
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In collegiate competition, the Singers took first prize at a hootenanny contest sponsored by the Waynesboro Rotary Club where seven colleges and universities were represented. (When is the last time you read "hootenanny?"-Steve ) They also took a second place prize and a two-foot silver trophy at the Inter-Collegiate Competition sponsored by Lycoming College in which ten universities and colleges competed.
The New Century Singer's creation may have been by accident but their work is serious deliberation.
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Since its beginning, the group has consisted of
seven fellows and two women, although there have
been some changes in personnel due to graduation
at Juniata. Stalwart of the Singers is its leader,
Steve Engle, currently the only senior and the group's
director.
Others include Bob McDowell, Paul Morse, Bill
Brubaker, Dave Gould, Don Armstrong, Kirsten Miller,
Pat Dove and John Russell on string bass, the
only non-singing member of the group.
Former members are Susan Shaffer, Suzanne Judy,
Jack Crissman and Dean Buckwalter. The Singers
have thus far put on concerts at such places as
the Bedford Springs Hotel, Manchester College,
IN, Shepherd College, WV, Altoona's Jaffa Mosque,
Waynesboro Area Senior High School, Lycoming College,
Lock Haven University, and have made numerous
radio and television appearances.
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