Here at Montclair State University, we pride ourselves on our music programs. There’s always attention being brought to them and the live shows we hold on campus, but one thing I have noticed is the lack of genre diversity within our concerts at Montclair State.
We hold primarily jazz and classical concerts, which are phenomenal, don’t get me wrong, but we need to open it up to artists in genres with wider audiences.
Recently some friends and I attended a concert at a college in South Jersey, and it was incredibly exciting. The show I went to was booked and held through their communications department at the school, which I think is so cool. It benefitted their music department and their communications department, so it is overall a great thing for the university.
The band I saw is named Millington and they are in the “ska-punk” genre. Millington is hardly a household name, but they have a solid following of almost 30,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.
Despite the show being held through their communications department, the actual show was in the school’s Student Center. There was a table set up at the entrance with individuals who helped put on the show welcoming people in.
The number of students who attended that show despite being unfamiliar with the band, or even the genre, shows how having something as simple as a show on campus can open students’ eyes to new music. Being well-versed in the world of music has made my life so much better. For me, music has been the thing I loved the most ever since I was little. Having favorite bands, and discovering new favorites brings me so much joy. I imagine others feel the same as I do.
In terms of cost, it wouldn’t take too much to hold these shows. Finding smaller artists who would love the chance to play to any sort of audience would be exactly the thing we need. As someone who works in the music industry, I know for a fact that artists would be incredibly eager to play somewhere on the Montclair State campus.
Picture this: its finals week and everyone is stressed to the maximum, what would help relieve some of our stress? Live music. Being in and around a group of people enjoying music is something I love the most in this world and I know it would do wonders for others as well.
As an on-campus resident at Montclair State, I think it’s safe to say that we need more things to do while living here. A lot of us don’t have cars on campus and it leads students to feel isolated and bored when they can not do anything even remotely exciting.
All in all, we need more to do here on campus that will actually make a difference with the students. With this, we can also branch out the live music we already hold here on campus by having more genre diversity.
