by GABRIELLA DEPINHO, Asst. News Editor
On Thursday, Sept. 6, Student Government hosted auditions at 5 p.m. in the Box for students interested in being featured as a student performer at Quadchella, the campus’ yearly fall concert event on the quadrangle that will be taking place on Sept. 14.
On the judging panel of the auditions was Andy Bauer, director of music and coordinator of performing arts, seniors Erin Plitt and Alex Constantine, the two co-hosts of Coffee House, and members of the 2018-2019 Student Government board. Isabel Quinones, VP for Residential Affairs and Haley Nightingale, VP for Club Administration, sat through the auditions while other members such as Jaycie Cooper, Student Body President, and Kerry Cavanagh, VP for Academic Affairs, helped get students who were not signed up to audition to come in and give it a try.
“Jaycie [Cooper] contacted both myself and Alex Constantine and we are the co-hosts of Coffee House, which is a Manhattan Magazine sponsored Open Mic night, so the gist that I got was that Student Government wanted the feel of this year’s Quadchella to be very much like coffee house where it’s a very inclusive thing and people have the opportunity to share their talents and experience performing on a grander scale,” said Plitt.
With the atmosphere guides in the room, Student Government members also felt it was important to have Bauer in the room during the auditions and be there leading up to the performance.
“He’s a resource we’ve been using for equipment and knowledge of how to run a successful music event on campus,” said Nightingale.
Bauer also felt his presence at the auditions and in the process of deciding on performers was important.
“The main reason I’m here is that I’m the Director of Music and Coordinator of Performing Arts so it’s really my charge to make sure that all the music on campus is approved and appropriate.” Bauer continued, “The second reason is because we have so many people auditioning, we’re not going to be able to schedule everyone, inevitably there will be cuts so it’s better that I do it rather than students. Students cutting other students causes pain and misunderstanding.”
Student Government decided to have student performers this year to help out the yearly budget but also to get students more involved with their programs and events.
“We were trying to decide on who we were going to have for Quadchella and none of the artists really stood out insanely so what we decided to do was save money, do student performers for Quadchella and then reallocate that money from our budget to Springfest. Hopefully that will allow us the opportunity to get a bigger artist at Springfest,” said Quinones.
“One of our big platforms we ran on was ‘bridging the gap’ so we felt like a good way to do that and get things rolling,” said Nightingale.
The turnout for auditions was much higher than anticipated which may possibly cause some cuts. The night before the auditions, only five people had filled out the google form for an audition time; the morning of, 13 people had filled out. In actuality, approximately 20 people auditioned for a slot in the performance.
Cavanagh was even encouraging students walking past the Box to audition for a slot in the performance and some students did come in to audition because of her.
The auditions encompassed all different kinds of music, from disney songs, to original music, to ukulele covers and jazzy versions of classic songs. The auditions alone showcased just a few of the talented students that are here at MC.
“We had a lot more [people audition] than I expected and I think it just goes to show how much talent is on campus and I think this is a really good event to open the door to open the door to how much talent we have in different genres of music,” said Quinones.
If students are cut from the program, Bauer encourages them to seek out the other music opportunities on campus.
“Everybody that auditioned is really talented. Everybody has a particular talent that’s original to them, so if they don’t fit this particular program, I do hope they consider joining other performing arts ensembles and other opportunities like Coffeehouse for performance,” said Bauer.
Constantine also shared a similar sentiment.
“There’s Music Ministry, Manhattones, Singers, Players’ musicals, Coffeehouse. I mean after this, maybe this opens the door for all those other types of clubs that are on campus for kids to really enjoy and express themselves in,” he said.
Quadchella will take place on Friday, Sept. 14, from 4 to 7 p.m. on the quadrangle.