Senior Academic Advisor Christine Norquest recalled a conversation with her colleague Kate Torno regarding an English department advisee who happened to play the cello.

When reminiscing on this student and conversations with other students who wanted to see more English-related engagement opportunities, an idea formed. It was Norquest’s background in music that inspired her and Torno to assemble a new organization that appeased these wishes.

“I think she knew that I’ve been very involved in music and my background with music, and we’ve both talked about how a lot of students do music,” Norquest said. After Torno approached her with the idea to create a string ensemble for students and faculty in the English department, she met it with enthusiasm and took it from there.

During the tail end of the fall 2024 semester, emails and interest forms were proliferated across the university. An initial meeting was held to gauge interest and see which instrument parts were represented, and a single rehearsal of sight-reading followed.

“That was a very small group,” Norquest said. “It was sort of a last-minute announcement just so that we could keep the momentum going from the survey and the email poll.”

In February, things started to pick up again. Another meeting was held to determine what kind of music members were interested in. On Feb. 28, the ensemble’s next rehearsal took place. Norquest sent out the music ahead of time, having selected pieces she hoped were playable and accessible.

English and creative writing student Savannah Mazas was drawn to the group.

“I was really involved in orchestra in high school,” Mazas said. “I’ve been playing since third grade, and I loved [it]. I was really involved, and then I didn’t really have a super clear avenue to continue playing here. It was a good opportunity to get back into playing.”

Mazas, a viola player, has deep ties to the Iowa City arts scene. In addition to joining the English Department String Ensemble, they are also a member of the English Society and the Nightingale Writer’s group.

“I love the community here with the English department,” Mazas said.

English faculty member and amateur cellist Jonathan Wilcox also expressed interest in the ensemble after speaking about it with Norquest. The two initially discovered they both played the cello when they participated in the UI Hospitals and Clinics faculty orchestra, a group that came to an end during the pandemic.

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“It is wonderful to make music in a group,” Wilcox wrote in an email to The Daily Iowan. “If there are enough string players interested within the English department, it sounds like this will be a good way of working in a community-building project where students, faculty, and staff can all work in harmony.”

Wilcox confessed he was too busy to join the ensemble this semester, but he hopes to be a full and regular participant in the fall.

Norquest hopes the group only continues to gain traction. She’s limiting the ensemble to string instruments for now, but if it finds success, she might open it up to more people in the future.

Norquest also has tentative plans to start a yarn arts group for the English department.

“One of my colleagues in advising used to get students together in a group she called ‘Spinning Yarns,’” Norquest said. “Just to talk about what we’re reading, what we’re writing, [and] if there’s any questions an advisor could answer, those could come up.”

Ultimately, Norquest hopes to combine various forms of art into experiences that bring English staff and faculty together.

“We’re in a department that’s all about stories,” she said.