Music flows through Cheney Hall

by Nick Marro
edited by Molly Buccini

It’s 3:30 p.m. in Cheney Hall and several classes are well underway. The glass practice room rings with the sounds of a beginner piano student practicing scales. The door is shut as their fingers slide up and down the wooden instrument. Inside of the chapel, there are three guitar students troubleshooting through a classical composition with their Guitar Ensemble professor, Scott Sanchez.

Lou Bunk’s History of Electronic Music class is receiving a lecture on the influential pieces of the genre. He plugs his computer into the speaker system and loud pulsating screeches fill the room. The 1965 piece is titled, “Bye Bye Butterfly,” and was composed by Pauline Oliveros.

As the composition builds and the screeching gets louder, students look across the room at one another donning half smiles and exchanging witty remarks.

Students raise their hands to describe what they think they just heard. “The beginning was irritating,” laughs senior Jake Abbott. Other students describe the piece as space age and ambient. Professor Bunk explains the application of tape delay.

The door to the computer music studio is locked suggesting that a live recording is underway. The sweet and simple sounds of an acoustic guitar leak from under the crack of the door.

Short URL: http://www.fpujournalism.org/exchangespecial/?p=438