By Mallie Riecken President, Cecelia Music Club 2025-2026

"Music is for everybody. It's a river we can all put our cups into, drink it and be sustained by it! ............ John Williams, composer of Star Wars
Did you know that Shelby has a music club???? Yes! It is probably one of the oldest organizations.in our city! It happened on October 22, 1913 at the home of Mrs. Pansy Fetzer, a fulfilled dream of two young piano teachers, Mrs. Madge Riley and Mrs. J. L. Suttle along with 13 charter members!
The Cleveland County Arts Council now houses all the records of the club, such as minutes, newspaper articles, histories by club presidents!
The purpose of the club is to promote musical culture among its members and throughout the city of Shelby. From the first organization and up to 1943, meetings were held every two weeks in the homes of the members, who also presented programs of live concerts, wrote and presented papers and gave talks on musical subjects. From the very beginning the club established a memorial piano fund to help purchase pianos for schools. Shelby High School received a piano in 1934 and another in 1949. Again in 1976 the club helped raise funds for a Baldwin Concert Grand for the Malcolm E Brown School /Civic Auditorium at Shelby High School. They also helped form the Community Concert Series held there. In 1986 the Music Club established the Cecilia Scholarship Fund to assist a high school graduate from Cleveland County to pursue music in college. It is still available tostudents today!!
Currently, our club holds short meetings (3:15-4:30 pm) on the first Thursday of each month from September through May at the Eugenia H. Young Memorial Library, 104 Howie Dr. Our membership is open to anyone who loves music. Our outstanding program director is Mr. Kenneth Brooks, retired choral teacher and conductor of the award-winning Crest High School Chorus and now currently conductor of the Cleveland County Choral Society. Mr. Brooks seeks out a wide variety of local and nearby musicians to present short concerts displaying their talents in different genres, instruments, and styles in solos or in groups.
The meeting also includes light refreshments, a short business meeting, a "feature" (a short talk presented by a member on a subject that is important to him or her), and a "hymn of the month", also presented by a member. Sometimes we might even have a "sing-a-long"! S0000........
Please come check us out on Thursday, September 4, 3:15 pm at the Cleveland County Library!!