By David Hurtado
Rock and roll melodies echoed off the walls of the cafeteria on Jan. 22, signaling the first performance of the college’s new Student Concert Series.
The series is an initiative of Student Activities featuring the talents of student musicians performing live throughout the spring semester. Performances will be held every other Wednesday at noon in COM 155. The next concert will be held on Feb. 5. Every concert is free of charge.
Keith Davenport, manager of Student Activities and Leadership Development, said a couple of different considerations steered the decision-making towards creating the event. He said Student Activities used to sponsor movie showings every week, but cancelled them in favor of allocating those funds elsewhere.
“We found that although we had relatively good attendance for those, a lot of the attendance for those events were from community members,” Davenport said. “All of our events are funded by the Student Activities Fee that each student pays along with their tuition. It’s important for us to use that money to go back and engage students. While we like engaging community members, we want to be using the Student Activities Fee to provide activities for students.”
Davenport said auditions for the Concert Series will be held each week on Fridays at 2 p.m. in COM 309 B. Students interested in participating are encouraged to contact Mpho Kekana or Samantha Skinner at the Student Activities Desk or call (913) 469-3807 to sign up for an audition.
Mpho Kekana, student ambassador, said once students have completed their audition, they will be notified within a week whether or not they have secured a spot for performing. Kekana also said for the time being, each music group will perform once a semester.
“Currently there will only be one act per semester from each music group,” Kekana said. “Depending on the response from student musicians, some acts have the possibility of coming back more than once. Individuals of a band can each perform their own solo act.”
The first concert of the semester was performed by Vela, a band founded in 2010 by student Jonas Birkel and Sean Cedillo. Birkel, who has been involved in music for about 16 years, said his favorite part about performing at concerts is meeting people who are interested in music.
“I really like getting people involved in music. I like talking with people before and after the show, shaking hands and getting connected,” Birkel said. “You meet a lot of interesting people, you really do.”
Birkel said the only concerns he had regarding the student concerts is the area in which the bands play. He said with the way the music reverberates off the walls, it distorts the songs and sounds much louder than it normally would.
Samantha Skinner, student ambassador, said Student Activities does not plan to move the concerts to another location, such as the Polsky Theater.
She said there are not as many students milling about in the area where the Polsky is, and people could feel like it’s a separate event from the Student Concert Series.
“If it’s in a theater and the doors are shut, people aren’t going to walk in and want to view it,” Skinner said. “They’re going to think it’s something they have to be a part of beforehand. We’re going to keep it where it is, where students are always circulating.”
Like at a professional concert, students will be allowed to promote themselves by selling merchandise.
However, Davenport said the college has to collect state sales taxes for each purchase, creating additional record keeping and accounting work. He said it might be easier to just give it away rather than sell it.
“I’m excited about the potential of it because it gives students an opportunity to perform,” Davenport said. “We’re paying students to perform at a real concert; legitimate contract and everything. It’s a good experience for them and it’s also a great experience for students to see their friends, hang out and have live music on a regular basis.”
Be sure to pick up issue 10 on Feb. 13 to read profiles about student bands performing this semester.
Contact David Hurtado, features editor, at dhurtado@jccc.edu.