Sophomores belt out pop classics

From David Bowie to Destiny’s Child to Stevie Nicks and Elton John, this year’s sophomore pop music showcase featured an array of covers from the ’60s to modern-day. The groovy, stylistically nuanced showcase took place at Carson Center Friday night with captivating and energetic performances from a wide range of talented, confidently prepared Thornton School of Music sophomore student vocalists and musicians. 

Ted Bordeau, a sophomore majoring in popular music performance, opened the show, with “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears.

“Every week, we learn three new songs as a band, we rehearse [and] we present them to Sean [Holt] every Tuesday,” Bordeau said. “This performance is what he believes is the best material we’ve encountered throughout the semester and so then we work on it for a couple more weeks. So hopefully by tonight it’s really tight because we rehearsed it and we know everything in it now.”

Led by Holt, assistant professor of the popular music and music production programs in Thornton, performers continued to impress the crowd with songs that they had been fine-tuning for the last eight weeks. Daniel Leese, a freshman majoring in jazz voice, plays the trumpet for the bands in his class, joining songs such as  “Fire” by the Ohio Players and “Let’s Groove” by Earth, Wind & Fire. 

“My major is for voice, but getting to play trumpet in this band and getting to study all of the music that has informed popular music from the ’40s up until now and how the horns work into that music has been fascinating,” Leese said. “Every instrument in the band has a different function but every function is equally as important, so when a song has horns, they’re there for a reason.”

The students are placed into bands by their professors and play a variety of songs and material from various genres throughout the semester. Showcasing the songs that resonated the most with them, each brought their specific expertise and styles of making the original song work within their techniques of practice. They were able to give popular music classics of the past a revival. 

Band after band, artist after artist, the performances all felt refreshingly current. It comes as no surprise that the performers had been practicing for the showcase, which doubles as their midterm, for the past eight weeks. 

“We have to recreate every single part that’s on the record — every sample, every background vocal, every little percussion part,” said drummer and percussionist Dominic Anzalone, a sophomore majoring in popular music performance. “It’s a lot of keen listening. I think freshman year, we do a lot of Motown, James Brown, The Beatles, so they really have us listen in and make sure that every part is represented and the parts are right.”

The energy emanating from the audience and musicians was contagious. Seniors from the Thornton pop music performance also attended to support the sophomore performers. 

For bassist Andrew Pham, a sophomore majoring in popular music performance, being on that stage was both encouraging and frightening. 

“It’s terrifying but comforting at the same time,” Pham said. “We spend so much time in this room, so we’re very familiar with the room and how it feels to be in it. Seeing all the friendly faces … makes the room feel a little different, but we still have that advantage of knowing it very well … Seeing everyone show up, even before [the] music starts, that’s super rewarding that people make time to see live music and still support it. Even showing up early to grab a seat. That really does mean a lot.”

Singer-songwriter Sophie Feldman, a sophomore majoring in psychology and popular music performance, was elated to be back on stage. After spending the past few days on recommended vocal rest, Feldman sang covers of “Life on Mars?” by David Bowie and “I’m So Excited” by The Pointer Sisters.

“I steamed my voice, I took my supplements, did a wellness shot — all of those things we are told to do to keep ourselves healthy,” Feldman said. “I went on voice rest all day. I didn’t talk to my roommates, I didn’t talk to anyone until I started warming up. The first thing I sang, aside from warming up, was sound check.”

Feldman said the group’s teamwork and diligence allowed the work to come together.

“In our sophomore class, we have a saying where everybody is [a] music director, because freshman year we each get assigned a music director for the band,” Feldman said. “Now, everybody’s really responsible for keeping each other accountable and it’s been incredibly informative.”

All of the practice, time devoted toward studying the intricacy of pop music and relentless drive the sophomore popular music performance class manifested itself in the way they came together as musicians, and as peers, to deliver a powerful show.