The Presser Pipes spring concert was all about memories.

Since 2018, the Presser Pipes Choir has celebrated the arts and community. The spring concert and canned food drive was held May 28 on the Presser Arts Center main stage. For some, it brought back memories and for others, it served as an opportunity to make some new ones.

Cara Miller, Presser Pipes director, said the theme of this year’s spring concert was inspired by a quote that she saw, “It’s funny how music sounds like a memory.”

The “buffet of music,” as Miller called it, featured a wide variety of artists such as The Beatles, The 5th Dimension and John Denver, who struck a chord with Matthew Kimble, one of the newest members of Presser Pipes.

“I’d never heard of John Denver before this, so I went back and listened to a bunch of his music on Spotify,” Kimble said.

At 24 years old, it’s Kimble's first year in the choir, so he may not recognize a lot of the songs he was singing, but the performance still brings back memories. When he was in college, he would come home from college to watch the performances and his father, Craig Kimble, is also a member.

“It’s really special for me because a lot of these people have watched me grow up throughout my life,” he said. “It’s really cool to be able to sing with a lot of these people who raised me.”

Aggie Deimeke has been a member of Presser Pipes since it began in 2018. For her, the music brings her back to high school. For Miller, most of the songs in the medley are tied to memories, but Downtown by Petula Clark is particularly special to her.

“I remember listening to that as a little girl and I loved that song and I thought she was the most beautiful woman,” Miller said.

While the songs may be familiar, this piece was one of the more “technical” melodies Presser Pipes has ever performed.

“It’s probably the hardest because we have our own way of growing up with this music and having our own way of singing it, and now we have to look at the book and do it,” Deimeke said.

Miller explained that in the 60’s melody alone, there are roughly 12 different songs, but they’re only singing half a page worth.

“When we started, they were like, ‘Oh my gosh, Cara, we’re never going to learn this,’ and I’m like, ‘yes you will,’” she said. “And they have.”

With so many different songs, it was difficult to pin down a single genre. While many agree it’s mostly pop, Fenlon said he has heard the style of music be referred to as “geezer rock.”

“This is like my parents and my grandparents’ age music,” Kimble said.

But regardless of age or background, the Presser Pipes choir came together as a sea of green and blue up on Presser’s mainstage, ready to invoke good memories for the audience.

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