Bob Curry Archives - EMU News

Young alums and student musicians rock regional venues

Randi B. Hagi — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 14:54:00 +0000

From the stage in the Common Grounds coffee shop to the Richmond Coliseum, ��ݮ�� alumni and current students are foraying into the Virginia music scene. They make percussion, stringed instruments, and digital turntables sing. And some find avenues to perform professionally before they even walk across the commencement stage.

EMU News interviewed two recent alumni and a current student, thanks to tips from music department chair Professor David Berry.

Bruce Cypress ’20 is one such artist. Music has always been a part of his life, he says, starting with playing drums at age seven in his hometown church in Smithfield, Va. Then, during his junior year studying interdisciplinary music at EMU, he started DJing.

“At first it was more so another musical experiment. However, now, fast forward to today and it’s more than just a career. It has elevated my musical journey more than I could have ever imagined,” Cypress says. He’s performed all over the state, including at EMU, James Madison University, and Mary Baldwin University, but one performance stands out from the rest. In 2018, he opened for British singer-songwriter Ella Mai at the Richmond Coliseum, just months before she won Billboard’s “Top R&B Artist” award.

“Becoming a DJ has truly turned my dreams into reality. Each performance is one great experience after another,” Cypress says, but opening for Ella Mai “during VCU’s homecoming is an experience I will never forget.”

During the pandemic, he’s been limited to playing occasional small gigs, and has been using the time to create more of his own mixes and playlists. His go-to genres are hiphop, neo-soul, and Afro-beat.

“My style while performing really depends on who I am performing for,” Cypress explains. “I can truly say there has not been two events or live performances alike.”

Current student Ethan Beiler, of Cochranville, Pa., has been playing piano at community events with local group Just Jazzin’. His favorite memory of performing with the band was at a donor gala for a nonprofit in Staunton.

“The setting was very fancy and professional, so it made us feel pretty special as the band,” says Beiler. “We started with calm music while they ate, and then brought out the dance tunes when they were ready. Many were fast paced, and I just remember playing and finding chords as fast as I could while people danced around us. It was a ton of fun.”

Beiler is set to graduate this spring with a mechanical engineering degree and minors in music and business administration. He was recruited into Just Jazzin’ by Professor Bob Curry, who also leads the EMU Jazz Band. Unfortunately, Beiler hasn’t been able to continue playing with Just Jazzin’ during the pandemic.

“Our band, and typical audience, is mostly made up of older people who may be more at risk. This has made us extra careful,” he explains.

Joseph Harder ’20, who studied interdisciplinary music as an undergrad, plays drums in the three-piece outfit Prince Bellerose. They’ve been limited to playing gigs outdoors during the pandemic, and released their first EP, in August.

“We are anticipating that these [gigs] will largely dry up as the weather gets cold, so we are shifting focus to begin preparing to return to the studio to record some new material over the winter,” Harder says.

Serendipity brought Harder into the band – last summer, he got a last-minute free ticket to attend the Red Wing Roots Music festival. He joined an impromptu jam session with a few other musicians, and about a week later, Prince Bellerose reached out, asking him to audition. Harder describes their sound as “a marriage of moody 70’s soul and modern indie rock, with a hint of manic anxiety and dazed melancholy – all spiced with touches of classic rock.”

Harder is a 2020 fellow with the Center for Sustainable Climate Solutions, and works sporadically as a session drummer in recording studios, but he’s not exactly sure where his musical aptitude will lead him.

“There’s no denying that performance has a certain addictive quality – there is something fresh and exciting about every performance,” he says. “Creation draws me out of my head. However, the music industry is a fickle beast that I am wary of surrendering myself to. I love music, and am very much interested in pursuing it in some professional capacity.”

The band has played at area hotspots like The Golden Pony, Pro Re Nata Brewery in Crozet, and The Southern Cafe and Music Hall in Charlottesville, but Harder says that playing in Common Grounds last winter was one of his favorite performances.

“We’ve always loved playing in packed basements – they foster a certain infectious energy that is hard to create anywhere else. The Common Grounds show did a remarkable job of bringing that energy to a much larger basement than we were used to, and we loved it,” he says.

For current students who want to break the ice of professional musicianship, Harder encourages them to attend shows whenever they can (well, when we all can again).

“Get involved in the broader Harrisonburg community!” he says. “There are so many fantastic musicians looking for people to play with. Find people to jam with and dream with … Find a cheap old guitar and play whatever tickles your imagination.”

If you’re a musical student or recent alum who’s playing shows in our area or beyond, please let us know!

Check out our coverage of the new, student-produced hit single “Meatball Mac,” inspired by the culinary stylings of the EMU cafeteria team.

Earn credits for raising the roof with EMU’s Pep Band

Randi B. Hagi — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 15:47:50 +0000

Spectators and athletes during the final men’s and women’s basketball home games of the 2019-20 season enjoyed a rare treat. In the stands, pumping up the atmosphere in Yoder Arena, saxophone and cymbals screaming – the Royals Pep Band.

“The students really enjoyed the experience, and the crowd appreciated the energy it added to the atmosphere in the arena,” said Professor David Berry, who leads the group along with jazz band director Robert Curry.

Fall semester 2020 will be the first time students playing in the pep band will be eligible for an academic credit since the band formed in 2015.

“Our goal is for this to be the coolest, most swinging, most fun pep band EMU has ever seen!” Berry said.

Interdisciplinary music major and pep band member Amanda Kibler enjoyed getting to wail on the snare drum to the tune of “Seven Nation Army,” originally by the White Stripes, in the band before EMU moved classes online this spring. She also plays violin, piano, other percussion instruments, and a “little bit” of trumpet, guitar, ukulele, and double bass.

The EMU Pep Band at the final home women’s basketball game.

“If you want to get involved in both music and spreading school spirit, this is the place for it,” Kibler said. “You get to jam out during timeouts and pump up our players.”

Computer science major Josh Ayers called it a fun, “very high energy experience.” He plays soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone. “Getting to play something different than concert-based music is nice,” he said.

The aptly-named Rachel Lute, an early childhood education major, plays cymbals in the pep band as well as flute. She performed in marching band in high school.

Her favorite pep band song to jam out to? “Crazy Train!”

Director of Athletics Dave King hopes to see the band grow – maybe making it out to soccer and lacrosse games someday.

“Our dream has always been to have a pep band that played at home basketball games and would be available for other special events on campus such as Homecoming and LovEMU Day,” King said. “I understand it will take time to get there, but I believe there is potential.”

Annual gala to feature jazz and wind ensembles, orchestra and choirs

Christopher Clymer Kurtz — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 14:46:53 +0000

The fall 2018 music gala at ��ݮ�� will highlight the university’s many ensembles – and a “lullaby” requiem.

The annual event is 7-9 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17, in Lehman Auditorium, with a freewill offering to benefit the music scholarship fund.

The first half of the concert will feature the EMU jazz and wind ensembles conducted by Bob Curry and the orchestra conducted by Benjamin Bergey. In the second half, Professor Ryan Keebaugh will conduct the combined choirs and orchestra in a performance of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem Mass.

The evening ranks among concerts at EMU as “one of the biggies,” said Professor James Richardson, music department chair.

“It’s a uniquely combined effort,” he said. “You’ll see faculty performing along with students – part of the ethos of our department’s sense of community.” That community includes music majors but also other students, as “many of the people that make up our ensembles are doing it for their own edification – and we like that,” he said. “We have open doors.”

The mass text has been set by many composers including Mozart and Verdi, but Fauré’s version is unique, said Richardson, who will be a baritone soloist alongside junior performance major and soprano Kiara Norman.

“It’s a lullaby for death,” he said. “That might sound morose, but that term is very much meant to imply just the opposite.”

Fauré, an organist and therefore constantly around funeral music, excluded from the mass parts that “really had to do with the anxiety or fear or unpleasantness associated with death,” Richardson said. “It’s a very serene, tranquil approach to one’s end.”

Instead of the movement about the wrath of God, Fauré included a Pie Jesu section. He also used different text for the final movement.

As Fauré noted, “It is thus that I see death: as a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above, rather than as a painful experience.”

“In my estimation,” Keebaugh said, “It’s all about love, and what’s accomplished here during one’s lifetime. It’s more of a Requiem for the living who are coping with death.”