The Manhattan College album class takes on The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd,
scheduled to perform at the end of the spring semester. MC PLAYERS/COURTESY
By Karen Flores, Staff Writer
The Manhattan College album class is taking on The Dark Side of the Moon, an album by rock band Pink Floyd as their chosen repertoire for the spring 2024 semester.
The class had its highest enrollment this semester with a total of 18 students, including five students who had taken the class prior and were asked back. Each class period is broken into segments, including an hour-long lecture where students study the portion of the music assigned by analyzing and transcribing it, followed by two hours dedicated to rehearsal.
Andrew Bauer, director for performing arts, shared with The Quadrangle that student interest and the ability to execute the music from a technical standpoint plays a large role in the album chosen for the course. Bauer believes that this Pink Floyd album will be a great challenge for the students.
“While the technical demands of the album, from a musical perspective, aren’t really intense, getting that sound and achieving the way the album sounds is going to be very challenging,” Bauer said. “Aside from the music, we have to delve into settings of the amplifier, the effects processing, press processing, all of which is going to be really critical to getting that sound. It’s a great challenge for all the members.”
Matthew Regalado, a junior biochemistry major, has enrolled in this class every semester during his time at MC. For this coming performance, he will be playing the guitar and singing.
“For this album specifically, we bought a lap steel guitar because it’s critical to the type of sound that is characteristic of a couple of the pieces within the album,” Regalado said. “It’s placed on your lap and played with a steel bar named a tone bar. I’m excited to be playing it for this album, it’s a new experience.”
Regalado shared that he has seen the course grow in popularity and says it incorporates both teamwork and individual effort which makes it more interesting.
“Seeing how the number of people increase, it’s a testament to how much it’s grown in popularity, even since I’ve been here,” Regalado said. “It really is a class of teamwork and knowing how to work with people aside from the musical aspect. Seeing how we have evolved in terms of performance and the music in the past two years, compared to what we’re gonna do this year, it’s a really big step.”
Tess Nunan, a senior English major, decided to join the course but is taking on the role of dramaturgy, which is the different research that occurs behind the scenes to ensure the roles and parts of a show are executed as accurately as possible.
“I don’t play an instrument or sing but I’m going to be helping behind the scenes by applying research to the performance using dramaturgy,” Nunan said. “ I am doing this to keep accurate to the time period and apply interesting aspects that people may not directly connect to the album.”
Nunan has not taken the course before this semester but is excited to see how her role will play in the course and performance as a whole.
“I can help behind the scenes and use my skills in a performing arts setting and I’m really excited about it,” Nunan said. “I’m someone who’s seen I do other stuff in performing arts and I always come to see album class, it’s great to form part of the group.”
Bauer believes that this class sets Manhattan College apart due to the fact that it allows students to immerse and unpack music in ways that conventional music classes don’t.
“This album class that we’re doing at Manhattan College is not being done anywhere else that I know of in the United States that actually studies an album this way and then performs it note for note in a public performance,” Bauer said. “That makes us extremely unique here at the college as there is a fostering of creativity here that doesn’t necessarily happen in other institutions.”
He hopes that students come out and experience the work and effort their peers put into their performances. The album class is scheduled to perform at the end of the spring semester.
“We hope to see as many MC students at the performance, it is a performance where they can see the talent their peers and friends have. We are excited and looking forward to it,” said Bauer.
For more updates about the performance, follow the Instagram @mcalbumclass.