Vacuum cleaners were used as musical instruments in a recent Downers Grove Music Club program. That’s right — vacuum cleaners. Three different sizes and models were turned on and off at the appropriate moments to create a “harmony” of sound.

This antic was just one of many that contributed to the audience-pleasing program, “Subject to Change, Part II.” The program took place at the Steinway of Chicago Store on Butterfield Road in Downers Grove in front of an appreciative audience. Most Music Club programs are more formal, featuring classical music, but the club will present one or two per year that are lighter in nature.

The quality of the talent doing the presenting, however, remains top-notch. In this show’s case, that talent extends to the writers of the material. The script was written in the early 1970s by Marilyn Wilgocki, Vivian Pearson Borrink and the now-deceased Elizabeth (Goldie) Zechel.

It purports to tell the story of one Paul Mor-Skoda, whose last name is a play of words on Morse Code. The fellow is described as an immigrant Hungarian composer who initially fails in his chosen career and must support his family as a vacuum-cleaner salesman.

Music Club President Todd Diehl served as the title character and narrator. Other performers included singers Wendell Borrink, Vivian Pearson Borrink, Greg Pearson, Allan Hins, Vince Walsh-Rock and Will Thoman; singers and clarinetists Cathy Eyberger and Dee Wyman; singer and double-bass player Dave Humphreys; singer and flutist Edith Larson; and singer, violinist and drummer Jann Mochelle.

Marilyn Wilgocki directed the program, which included six performers from the original cast. It has been presented once or twice in the interim since it made its debut in the 1970s. Comments from audience members following the performance indicate that audiences would be willing to see it again, even just a few years from now.

That’s because the performers were talented and funny, and the script was hilarious, with songs such as “Harmonization on a Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe” and “Cerealism,” which extolled the virtues of cereal. Yes, food as a topic was featured even more than vacuum cleaners, but that was appropriate since the whole program was “dessert.”

In other news...

The Downers Grove Library was the site of a music program in March, Women’s History Month, that presented some brief biographical sketches of women in music, from singers and instrumentalists to composers and music directors. These women ranged from Hildegard von Bingen and Clara Schumann to Downers Grove Choral Society founder Thelma Roe Milnes and Ethel Merman.

Participants in this program were Christine Myles, Helen and Mike Knueven, Ruth Niersbach, Sharon West, Laurel Swett, Terry Moro, Shirley Hiddleston, Susan Shields, Maureen Murphy, Char Poelsterl, Sharon Maher, Debbie Guptill, Jann Mochelle, Camille Budach, Joan Read, Patrick Cadman, Londa Golasky, Ann Springer, Elaine Albright and Marti Sladek.