By Joshua Robison / The Jambar
For the last two years, the Cornerstone Community Church in Austintown has been holding its Cornerstone Coffeehouse Recital Series, a set of volunteer music performances by Youngstown State University and local high school students. On Oct. 2, Coffeehouse celebrated its two year anniversary.
Madison Sheffield, junior piano performance major at YSU and pianist for the church, said she first started the recital series in October 2023, and has held a performance on the first Thursday of every month since then.
Sheffield said she started Coffeehouse with the motive to promote young musicians, specifically those going into music school.
“The original mission of [Coffeehouse] was to have a way to promote youth students, especially high school — that was my main target demographic, [and] especially kids going into music school,” Sheffield said. “My idea was to have a relaxed environment where students can first perform and get used to performing.”
Besides a time to promote youth students and their talents, Coffeehouse is also a time for friends and family to come together. Sheffield said she feels that Coffeehouse has a lot to offer to the community.
“For the community, it’s just a way to get people together once a month,” Sheffield said. “This is such a relaxed environment that people are very welcomed and it feels inviting for them to come and spend time together.”
Brad Bloomster, pastor of the Cornerstone Community Church, said Coffeehouse is a good way for the church to give back to the community.
“It gives us an opportunity to offer something to the community and invite them into the church — folks that might not otherwise come in through the door,” Bloomster said. “We’ve also been nurturing and encouraging our young people to continue the passion they have for music.”
Bloomster and Sheffield have been working together for over two years both at the church and Coffeehouse, and they have been able to help each other immensely.
“I always wanted to do a recital series but never had the capacity or the facilities to do it,” Sheffield said. “Once I had started my job and got settled into my job, I then reached out to [Bloomster] and he was very appreciative of the idea.”
Bloomster shared similar regards to Sheffield.
“We were very much in need of a pianist for our churches for Sunday morning worship,” Bloomster said. “We started talking to everybody we could think of who might know, and [Sheffield’s] name was given to us … she was a godsend I’ll tell you, and she has been a blessing to the church and to the community.”
Sheffield said her favorite part about Coffeehouse is accompanying the musicians and watching them grow as performers.
“Something that you can always look forward to as a young student performer is just the opportunity to practice performing. That’s not what a whole lot of people talk about,” Sheffield said.
Student musicians interested in performing at Coffeehouse can contact the Cornerstone Coffeehouse Facebook or Instagram page, or contact Sheffield directly on Instagram @madisonsheffieldpiano or Madison Sheffield on Facebook.
