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UFS Choirs Entertaining and Uplifting Staff and Students

25 March 2022 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Supplied

The Bloemfontein Campus Choir singing in front of the Main Building for students in celebration of Human Rights Day.

Students on the Bloemfontein Campus were treated to a lunch-hour music performance by the campus choir – an uplifting musical production led by the indomitable Sibongile Mngoma, conductor of the choir on the Bloemfontein Campus. The performance, which was in celebration of Human Rights Day, took place on 22 March 2022 in front of the Main Building. “We realised that people were hungry to hear beautiful music and beautiful sounds, and we started these pop-up performances just to revive people’s spirit and to give them hope,” says Lucy Sehloho, Officer: Arts and Culture in the Department of Student Affairs. As such, the staff and students at the University of the Free State (UFS) can look forward to a series of pop-up performances by the UFS choirs, specifically on the Bloemfontein and South Campuses.

One institution, different sounds

According to Sehloho, “the choirs are all running on the same constitution and the same code of conduct”. However, they are slightly different in sound, and this is determined by the audience to whom the respective choirs cater, and the number of members involved in the choir. The Bloemfontein Campus choir is known to cover genres such as rap, trap, classical music, and South African choral music. However, the Qwaqwa Campus choir focuses on choral music and various African sounds, while the South Campus choir manoeuvres through most of the abovementioned genres.

Preparing for life as an artist after university

It is important to note that the choirs are not just a safe space that encourages expression for young artists. Indeed, for many students it is also the beginning of a career. As such, they are taught lessons about financial literacy and the ability to brand themselves as artists. “One of the things I am teaching the students is how to price and cost themselves,” Sehloho highlighted. In fact, Sehloho argues that a major challenge among young performers when they leave university, is that – because they have never charged a fee for their service – they have no idea how to price and sustain themselves from the money they acquire. Consequently, industry experts are invited to provide insight into the realities of the world for artists once they start working. These industry experts include Dr Jerry Mofokeng wa Makhetha.

Future endeavours for the respective choirs

In addition to these lessons, the choirs have various projects that they are working on. The Bloemfontein Campus choir is currently planning performances for national holidays such as Freedom Day and Youth Day. The choir is also gearing up for a performance of Handel’s Messiah in celebration of Easter. The South Campus is specifically working towards the Network Festival in collaboration with Oranje Girls’ School. Furthermore, the Bloemfontein Campus choir will compete in the Sing for Gold competition in Barcelona this coming October. Once an institutional choir has been finalised, the Arts and Culture team will represent the UFS and the nation at the World Choir Games in 2023.

The main challenge experienced by the choirs

Although the choirs are succeeding in entertaining and uplifting the UFS community, there are still some challenges that hinder their growth to some extent. Racial diversity is one of these barriers. ‘’When someone looks at the choir, they don’t get to see the full picture of who we as the University of the Free State are in terms of diversity,’’ she explains. Therefore, Sehloho notes that the respective choirs are open to students from all walks of life in order to ensure racial and cultural diversity. As such, students who are interested in joining can contact Lucy Sehloho at SehlohoLP@ufs.ac.za

News Archive

UFS sets trend for higher education institutions

2005-09-21

The University of the Free State (UFS) offers more service-learning courses than any other higher education institution in the country and has the highest number of students enrolled for these service-learning courses.

This was the research findings on higher education institutions conducted between 2001 and 2004 by the Joint Education Trust (JET) into service-learning courses. These are courses which seek to integrate service to the community into the academic core of higher education institutions.

The results of this research indicated that the UFS is one of the few higher education institutions in South Africa that have made progress in integrating community engagement into the mainstream academy.

According to the findings 2 233 students at the UFS participated in service-learning courses supported by JET, while 858 students at the University of Transkei (UNITRA), 636 students at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and only 600 students at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) participated in service-learning courses.

In total there were 6 930 students participating in service learning courses supported by the JET at 10 institutions throughout the country.

The research also found that out of a total of 182 service-learning courses supported by JET countrywide, the UFS had the highest number of such courses at 42, followed by WITS with 28, the University of Kwazulu Natal with 26, UWC 24 and UNITRA with 22.

Nationally, most of the service-learning courses at higher education institutions are offered in the human sciences (62), followed by health sciences (37), education (26), agriculture (14), and economic sciences (11).

According to leading academics, service-learning is a credit-bearing, educational exercise in which students participate in an organised service activity that meets identified community needs and helps the student to gain a deeper understanding of course content and a sense of civic responsibility.

Reacting to the research findings, the Rector and Vice-chancellor of the UFS, Prof Frederick Fourie, said the university feels strongly that there should be integration of service-learning into the academic core of the institution.

“Through service-learning modules the UFS can give expression to its role of service to the community as an institution of higher learning, producing quality graduates who understand the communities in which they will have to function for the rest of their lives,” Prof Fourie said.

According to Mr Jo Lazarus, the project manager of the Community-Higher Education – Service Partnership (CHESP), which falls under the JET, a number of institutions have identified community engagement as a strategic priority and have allocated significant resources from their central budget towards its implementation.

Mr Lazarus said most students have an overwhelmingly positive attitude towards service learning.

“A large percentage of students surveyed indicated that their service-learning course helped to improve their relationship skills, leadership skills and project planning abilities. As significant is the fact that these courses also benefited them in terms of their awareness of cultural differences and opened their eyes about their own cultural stereotypes,” said Mr Lazarus.

“The key challenge still hampering the integration of service-learning as a core function of academic activity is that some institutions still see service-learning as an add-on, and nice-to-have activity,” he said.

According to Mr Lazarus higher education must demonstrate social responsibility and commitment to the common good by making available expertise and infrastructure for service-learning as a form of community engagement.

Media release
Issued by:  Lacea Loader
   Media Representative
   Tel: (051) 401-2584
   Cell: 083 645 2454
   E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
   20 September 2005

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