This Wednesday evening, Stamp Nation, a newly formed student organization, performed a concert on the diag featuring all student performers. The concert featured performers from a variety of genres: everything from acoustic guitar, to funk music, to hip-hop. The decision to perform at the diag was a great idea. Students walking by who were uninformed about the concert discovered it firsthand. I also admire the performers’ confidence—it takes a lot of guts to perform in such a public setting, in an environment where the audience is free to leave at any time. Performers had different levels of experience. For some, it was the first live performance they’d ever participated in, and they stuck to covering songs by favorite artists. Others, like student Brandon Canniff, performed music they had written themselves.
The Stamp Nation club deserves a lot of credit for organizing the event successfully. The club is a meeting point for students with interest in music at various levels of prior experience. Some of the bands at the concert actually formed after meeting at the club. The club also arranged for speakers, provided by the university, in order to conduct the concert.
Stamp Nation faced one challenge Wednesday night: concert had difficulty maintaining stable audience numbers for the entirety of the concert. I suspect this is because of the weather, but luckily, Stamp Nation plans to set up another concert near the end of winter term, when the weather has improved.
Although relatively new, the club has big plans for the future. They plan to create a music mentorship program. Students looking for instruction will be set up with a tutor skilled in the musical style the student wants to learn. Stamp Nation also discussed the possibility of setting up an online page compiled with music their members have recorded. I wish them the best in their efforts and hope they continue to attract student interest, if they continue to grow, they will be an excellent resource for aspiring student musicians. Keep an eye out for concert footage—the club also arranged for the concert to be filmed.
I had trouble tracking down online samples of student music. I did find aspiring hip-hop artist Brandon Canniff’s soundcloud page—here’s a link to an album he produced this summer.
