Making beautiful music together for over a century

Wednesday Music Club becomes AR-TX Music Connection

Amy Meadows and others attend the Wednesday Music Club at First United Methodist Church in Texarkana, Ark. The club is changing its name to AR-TX Music Connection.
Amy Meadows and others attend the Wednesday Music Club at First United Methodist Church in Texarkana, Ark. The club is changing its name to AR-TX Music Connection.

If the name Wednesday Music Club sounds familiar to your ears, it should. After all, it's thought to be the oldest continually running service organization in Texarkana, roots stretching way back to the late 19th century.

Organized in 1898, the group dedicates itself to music through its affiliation with the National Federation of Music Clubs. By celebrating local talent, supporting performance opportunities and providing scholarships to students, the club aims to put music front and center in our lives.

Now, what's been known as the Wednesday Music Club for more than 120 years is looking ahead to new days and retooling itself, first by adopting a new name. It's now called the AR-TX Music Connection, and its members want you to connect with the music.

The group meets the second Wednesday of each month at 11:30 a.m. This past month, they met at the First United Methodist Church on the Arkansas side of town. Should you attend a meeting, the opening minutes may find you singing with the club.

In the church's parlor this past month, members lifted their voices in song to sing an old standard, "My Grandfather's Clock," which was covered by Johnny Cash. Programs feature visitors like Fredrick Hollowell, music director at Christ Nations Church, and his wife Char. Her angelic voice filled the parlor to the accompaniment of his piano work.

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John Deering Editorial Cartoon 7/18/13

When it comes to explaining the name change, Vicki Carr refers back to how she first heard of the organization. When she moved to Texarkana in the early 1990s she was introduced to the club.

"It was very hoity-toity," Carr recalled. "A lot was made about the fact you have to be invited to be a member. It was kind of country club-ish."

She didn't think that would be her thing, but she got involved locally as a teacher and in playing piano at First Baptist Church. She became immersed in the local music world and met folks who were part of the scene, so she was eventually invited to meetings.

When Carr retired from teaching, she was formally invited to join, then took on the job of president in recent years.

"I just got excited about what we do in the community," Carr said. That includes music scholarships for students locally and elsewhere, such as Opera in the Ozarks in Eureka Springs, Ark., and here in town at Texarkana College and with the Texarkana Youth Symphony Orchestra.

"That's just the beginning of things I would like to see us do because really music education is a main focus," Carr said, noting the National Federation of Music Clubs came into existence because of the World's Fair in Chicago. American music is a particular emphasis. And, Carr said, the local club was one of the first to be nationally federated.

"They've always been involved in promoting music in the community. We support it by attending, we support by sometimes having an actual performance, supporting a performance of our own," Carr said. A couple years ago, for example, they organized a program of love songs sung by a young opera singer around Valentine's Day. 

They've partnered with Texarkana College on some events. Their own meetings include a musical component, a guest performance. "We give opportunities for performance and we encourage creation and performing opportunities," Carr said.

As the AR-TX Music Connection president, she wants new blood, younger blood, in the group. Younger people bring additional creativity to the group, in her estimation. She's not a fan of doing things the same way the group has always done it.

"I just don't hold to that," Carr said with a laugh, adding, "There's always something new and fresh, an idea." She comes from an event background, so that informs her eagerness for the group to continue to make its mark.

She wants the group to be contemporary and important in the community today. All sorts of musical entities, whether it's rock or jazz or some other sort of music, are here to "make us hum," she says.

"Because music is important in our community," Carr said. "And I'm glad it is. How many towns this size have a symphony, the Regional Chorale? There's a lot of music emphasis here. We're very fortunate."

She's looking for fresh ideas and new energy to infuse the group. They've rebranded themselves with the new name and a new logo. So what's the idea behind the name AR-TX Music Connection?

"We wanted to be sure it said who were are, where we are," Carr said. "We're about music and we're connecting with all kinds of people and music, not just church music and not just classical music, which would be traditionally the concept."

Another group in town, which is for piano teachers, has many of the same members, but not all of this group's members are teachers.

The AR-TX Music Connection has close to 50 active participants. And for them, music is something to enjoy and cherish, judging by the camaraderie and fellowship they showed during a lunchtime meeting.

What's the importance of celebrating music in today's world?

"I find that hard to express. Music is so much a part of who I am that it's like to having to look into my soul and express that in just a few words. That's hard. When there are no words, music says it all. I didn't make that up. Somebody else did, but I thought it was a good line," Carr said.

And as she puts it, everyone relates to some sort of music. Each generation has its music, too, all of it good, she believes.

"And it's all part of our American heritage. A hundred years from now, what we're hearing today will be history," Carr said. "So it's important for us to support it, create it, develop it and save it."

AR-TX Music Connection meets monthly. November's meeting on Friday, Nov. 11, at 9 a.m. is a TC scholarship recital and then a 10 a.m. master class presented by Luis Sanchez in the TC Music Hall. Among other activities ahead, they'll go caroling in December.

(If you're interested in joining AR-TX Music Connection, contact Vicki Carr at 903-277-4124 or [email protected].)

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