Student creates 'Farm Lane Walk Sign' dubstep remix

The whole beat was built around the drop, the voice of the cross walk sign on Farm Lane.ka

Variety of music festivals coming to campus in coming month

Among the 35th annual Jazz Spectacular and the third annual Latin IS America Music Festival, which begins in mid-April, the 15th annual Cello Plus Chamber of Music Festival is coming up and will take place from April 6 to 12. 

Freshman looks to take first steps in music career

Starting out in the music industry isn’t easy for everyone and Aaron Pride, a fisheries and wildlife freshman, can back that statement up. Pride sat down with The State News to discuss why he picked his non-musical related major and what artists influence him the most in music.

Sounds of South Appalachia ring out in Snyder Hall

Chris Scales initially started the open jam session in Snyder Hall five years ago after a collaboration between the Community Music School and the Residential College in Arts and Humanities formed.

'Music shaming' a trend we should all leave behind

The question “what kind of music do you like?” sends me into a state of panic. That question has become something of a game. A trap to see who can mention the most obscure or unique artist.

Blue Man Group brings comedy and music to the Wharton Center this weekend

Blue Man Group wowed audiences with bright lights, loud music and a vibrant barrage of colors during their Friday evening performance, and they will continue their spectacle with more shows Saturday and Sunday.  Blue Man Group is a group composed of three men painted blue and various musical instruments and musicians.

Timeflies to perform at the Auditorium on Saturday

Timeflies will be performing at the Auditorium on Saturday, Dec.

People should purchase their music

Spotify allows you to stream a huge variety of albums for free with relatively few ads in between songs. With the convenience of having music available for free on their website and on their mobile app, many people are less likely to actually buy music off of iTunes or the physical CD.

MSU Opera performances go beyond just singing

Each time he steps on stage, vocal performance senior Jon OakleyOH acknowledges that it is an opportunity for more than just showcasing his talent. While most of his family and friends are unfamiliar with opera productions, Oakley finds purpose in using his skills to create a new experience for the audience. “It’s always great to give people exposure to a different art form that they have never really seen,” he said. OH“A lot of people have predispositions about opera and they think it’s just people standing and singing, but that’s not the case.

Visiting professor to give lecture on ties between music and mathematics

By Ian Martin imartin@statenews.com When hearing the words “music” and “math,” you may not think there’s much of a correlation between the seemingly contrasting subjects, which can be described as “expressive” and “analytical.” Dr. Jason Brown, however, would beg to differ. Brown, who is a mathematics professor at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, will be giving a lecture at 4:10 p.m., Tuesday in C304 Wells Hall, entitled “A Hard Day’s Math: The Connections Between Mathematics and Music.” The lecture’s title, inspired by the legendary opening chord of The Beatles 1964 hit song “A Hard Day’s Night,” stems from a sudden realization Brown had while thinking about the song in 2004, during the song’s 40th anniversary. Brown said the opening chord to the song was something people had tried to play for years, but could never ‘quite get it right.’ “Everyone had their own idea of what the notes were and I thought back then ‘maybe there’s a scientific way to approach it,’” Brown said. Brown, who taught himself to play guitar at the age of 12 by learning the songs to Beatles records, said when thinking about the song, he remembered a chapter in a book he had read as an undergraduate, on the sounds of mathematics. He has since used something called a Fourier transform, which is a part of Calculus, to ‘unravel that mysterious open chord.’ Brown has written a number of papers on the connection between mathematics and music. “I think on one level you can use mathematics to understand the physics behind sound in music and to see the frequencies of the notes that are played in chords.

Percussion ensemble creates music with handmade or unique instruments

While experimenting with new sounds and rhythms is a constant process for any musician,  percussion performance student Kelsey Tamayo said percussionists are recognized for approaching their music with limitless creativity and originality.  "A lot of composers like writing new music for percussionists mostly because we are game to do anything," she said.  As a teaching assistant and a third year member in the MSU Percussion Ensemble, Tamayo said the group is able perform pieces with diverse elements and sounds as a result of combining the skills that each member has acquired through previous ensemble experiences.  While the percussion ensemble is not a fixed group on campus, all of the students that study within the percussion program at MSU gather to collaborate on assigned pieces of music for various performances and events throughout the year.  Based on the instructions from the composers and the sounds that each group is trying to achieve, Tamayo said the percussionists often have the freedom to create their own unique sound by utilizing the mallets and equipment of their choice.

Indian heritage group celebrates high-energy folk dance

Name: charu ganesh (she comes up on people search as charumati but this is how she spelled her name/introduced herself so i assume this is what she wants to go by) Grade: senior Major: world politics what exactly is garbhangra? so today is basically a dance event, we’re not really performing or anything. garba is just a traditional indian dance that has roots in goodjruh which is one of the states in india. and hangra is a style of dance that has roots in punjob. so we’re just going to be fusing those two styles and events like this are open to everybody, we’re willing to give workshops and teach everybody how to do all the dances and everything, but it’s a lot of fun. it doesnt have any religious ties or anything, it’s just a traditional indian style of dance that we all use to celebrate. how do you get involved in garbhangra? so CIUS is a southasian organization and we do tons of cultural events and everything like this so if anyone wants to participate they can definitely come out to everything, theres no cover or anything like that, its a style that a lot of indian students do already know just from previous garba events and things like that so most people already are kinda familiar with what goes on but for those that arent, at least for myself, i didnt know how to do it or anything before college so, but we do have tutorials so it is accessible to everyone whats the goal of the event tonight? our main goal really is to give back to our members and throw a fun to event to kind of reel in semester, its our last big one, i guess, for fall, but our goal today is basically to get our members to come out and also sign up for our cultural show satrang which is happening in late march of next year, so thats basically a show where we have 7 different styles of cultural dance that we all perform on stage in this huge charity event and its large end of the year so we try to get people to come out to garbhangra and sign up for that so that’s today’s main purpose, we’re just kind of making it a fun thing for everyone as well is this something you do every year? yes, every year, every spring, usually late march or early april how long has this been going on for? this is actually our 25th anniversary, so this year is actually pretty special to us, our theme actually kind of revolves around the 25th year celebration kind of anniversary theme, so its a big year for us, we’ve been (down?) for a while, this show has never been as big as it is now so we’re pretty proud of that do you know how this started? i dont know for sure just because we dont have very good records of all the people that founded the organization, things like that, so we’ve tried to kind of trace our roots, we do have southasian descent, one of the founders. cultural organizations like this exist on most every campus in north america so i can imagine it started out as people wanting to come together and celebrate their holidays and kind of connect with people that (?) so CIUS is an all inclusive organization so by no stretch of the imagination is it only for southasians or only for indians, we’re actually really open to anyone coming and joining, we really encourage that as well so thats why our event is completely free tonight, we’ve kinda been hoping tonight that we get more people from brody neighborhood and (?) to come out and celebrate with us, so yeah we really love it when there are people that may not have a sort of background in india that come out and participate in celebrations like that Name: fhibani sanghvi (comes up as fenil atul on people search but this is how she spelled her name/introduced herself so i assume this is what she wants to go by) Grade: sophomore Major: finance can you explain garbhangra a little bit? so every spring CIUS puts on a cultural show called satrang and garbhangra is kind of our way to bring everyone together, its also where they can sign up for their dances, its just a really fun event that has different styles of dance that they do to garba, which are two dances from india, but its just supposed to be a really fun event where people can sign up to be in (?) how did you get involved in this organization? well i was in other organizations in high school so from that i knew a lot of people in CIUS so i kinda just joined because they did it, to meet new people and stay in touch with indian culture what do you like most about this event? i love to dance so i think that has to be my favorite part about this event, also its really fun to meet all the new members that we get this year , yeah its just fun, you get to dance around people and see what dances theyre gonna do is cius doing anything special since it’s the 25th anniversary? we are but its a secret Name: rachna chhaya Grade: junior Major: general management can you explain this event? so this event is called “garbhangra” and what we do tonight is we’re gonna have a few hours of just dancing. the indian culture is built on a lot of music and dance and performance and arts like that so it’s a very big part of everyone’s culture and so we have a dj that also goes here and he’s gonna play music all night and everyone’s gonna come and dance and also throughout the process we have a show called (?) every spring that we perform at wharton center, its a cultural show, and so we practice for that all of second semester to put on the show and so tonight our event, one of the main purposes is so people can sign up for that show, whoevers interested, so we have a list of choreographers and those choreographers have decided to create certain dances and so whoever comes today will choose whatever dance they wanna be in and sign up and hopefully we’ll all place them in the ones they wanna be in and then starting in january through march we will be practicing for that and our show at wharton is on march 28th what brought you to this organization? personally ive been dancing all my life, it’s something i really like to do, it would just be weird if it weren’t in my life and actually my roommate introduced me to this organization so once i joined we liked what they did, we enjoyed dancing, i choreographed the last two years’ for the shows as well, so i was really involved, and also on board as funding coordinator so (?) why did you start dancing? actually, not that exciting of a story, but my mom enrolled me in classes when i was little and it was a hobby at first but once you get deeper and deeper into it, it became something i really liked to do and wanna keep doing on the side for the rest of my life so this is a really nice way to be able to do that favorite part of the event? dancing, its great, and you meet so many people and its great because the show allows people from every ethnicity, from any level of dance experience, to join, just to have fun, just to put something on that we do every spring and actually all of our money that we make in that show goes to charities and so it’s like we make a lot of money for a good cause and everyone can enjoy (?) what charities do you donate to? we donate to two charities- one here and one back in india, so the one we donate to (?) and the one we donate to back from india is called (?), it’s for children who are blind, so we help them (?) anything else you’d like to add? not really, our show is free for msu students, (?) Name: manasa gummalla Grade: junior Major: biology can you explain this event a little bit? this is garbhangra so this is an event that we post for our members and its sort of a fusion of garba and hangra, which are two different types of dance. and its kinda a way to let them come and sign up for the dances theyre gonna participate for this event (?) and its like our huge event of the year now can you explain how the dances differ? garba is more like a classic dance in the northern of india and hangra is also from the northern part of india but its more of like an energy-ish type of dance what brought you to this organization? all my friends were all doing it and so i heard about it and then i heard that we have a dance show and i used to dance when i was a kid so i was like “oh it sounds like its gonna be a blast” how did you start dancing as a kid? my mom signed me up for dance and she would force me to go and then i guess i started really liking it how long have you been in this organization for? ive been in this organization for a few years, since my freshman year has it impacted your life in any way? it totally impacted my life, i feel like i made a whole new friend group, and (?) im really interested in indian culture so whats your favorite part of this event? dancing can you describe your show next semester? its a show with different types of dances, like indian dance, classical indian dance, (?) and we have other (?)

MSU professor balances law and passion for poetry

Brian Gilmore; Author of We Didn’t Know Any Gangsters (Third Collection of his poetry); MSU Professor of Law since 2010 When I got to college that’s when I wanted to write poetry. "I have always been interested in words, but really it was this teacher who said nice things about my writing and said it might be something I want to try. That's why I do what I do." “When I got done with this advocacy work, I realized I didn’t want to just write, but I wanted to be a citizen. I wanted to help out and actually try to make change and involve myself in this process.” “Music is really important for what I do,” he said. “Poets always say poetry is like music itself. We say the words are on the page and on the stage.” "I really have a great love for words," he said. "It’s hard to say what’s the best about writing other than knowing that people saw your work and appreciate your dedication to art; there’s a lot to say about that." “The message is the whole notion of loss of community. To a certain degree, I feel like a lot of cities have lost that sense of community where you had a family, but your larger family was within the neighborhood.” New book is more of a personal collection than my first two...my first book was more political and cultural related and the second book was about Jazz, Duke Ellington band This is more personal about growing up, my parents lives, neighborhood etc. “There’s something about growing up in D.C. It was a lot of fun, but it was also very mischievous kind of living. I think all writing is personal, there’s just degrees to it. I started this book many years ago and then got interrupted and started writing some other stuff (fiction, nonfiction, did some freelance journalism) Always said I would come back to it and finish it Went to Frostburg State College In the first book....I became a student activist; a big issue in my time was Nelson Mandela and South Africa; really big issues when I was in college, and a lot of us were involved in that It was an experience that I think shaped me in a lot of ways...being from DC from the urban setting I’ve been influenced by a lot of different things like music (jazz and African American music forms) It’s interesting because poetry is different...publishing houses don’t publish that much poetry (go through the small presses) Publishers might extend you an invitation...sent manuscript to this place in Maryland (knew someone there) Manuscript had been rejected a few times...this was the last shot! “I did say that”....Wayne State had strong interest in it but then at the last second they passed on it It must have been rejected about a dozen times by different contests and presses...mostly small presses I was just going to move on and do different writing projects Progressive Media Project...write on any topic you want and they take it if they want...election, abortion, anything Doing that for about 11 years...out of Wisconsin, affiliated with the Progressive magazine (more drawn to the historical/cultural pieces, things like that...did a piece on Maya Angelou, poverty, etc.) Used to do a lot of freelance journalism, wrote for the progressive, wrote for the Washington Post a few times, used to review new books for the Post, write for small weeklies in D.C. My law comes out of my student activism. I went towards law because of my desire to be an advocate on issues and it took off from there. Got to MSU in 2010...Howard University studying law and got recruited out here His first book is more cultural and politics of music and society Always been influenced by music...his brother has the most influence (musician), parents listened to a lot of jazz (Duke Ellington and Miles Davis), my brother listened to a lot of funk, R&B soul music, in the city.... it was a big deal Still doing some poetry every now and then...get invited to talk at law schools to talk about issues Go back to DC he goes to talk to class...American University talking to students interested in writing Social and political policy work right now, as well as short stories.... there’s always the “next” project and you are always a little bit ahead of yourself The big thing was divestment movement...trying to get universities to divest their assets from South African government and stop dealing with SA...students organized around that...long tradition of student activism This is what really drove me to law school, I wanted to be able to write, but also be involved

Spartans to show off their talents Friday night

Looking for something to do tonight?

ASMSU approves $100,000 for February concert, considers a country act

While nothing is yet set in stone, the bill to allocate up to $100,000 from special projects passed at the general assembly meeting with 25 voting yes, five voting no and one abstention after almost an hour of debate and discussion.

Lansing-based band with MSU alumni members signed to record deal

After a few years of impromptu gigs and experimenting in the local band scene, Lansing-based band Joe Hertler & the Rainbow Seekers are launching an album and a tour under their new record deal. “In the very beginning, there weren’t any expectations and it was just a super fun time,” vocalist and guitarist Joe Hertler said.

Award-winning piano professor to perform Monday night

Panayis Lyras, MSU professor of piano and artist in residence, will perform Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Fairchild Theatre in the Auditorium.

The Hacky Turtles, a band with MSU students, works to spread music and positivity

Wharton Center to host concert after homecoming parade

Although many students will likely be taking part in homecoming festivities Friday evening, those looking for a more cultured experience might find it at the Wharton Center.

Renowned jazz pianist joins ranks at MSU

The MSU Professors of Jazz performed for students and public alike Monday night in the Cook Recital Hall.