New Club Brings the Sounds of Music to ESF

04/26/2010

A common interest in music — playing it, practicing it, enjoying it — is the tie that binds the ESF Music Society together.

"The club started as a means of getting musicians I knew were on campus together because I knew they wouldn't play with each other otherwise," said Pavel Dimens, founder and president of the ESF Music Society.

Dimens, a junior aquatics and fisheries science major, explained the club enables ESF and Syracuse University musicians to keep their musical skills current while providing entertainment for their fellow students.

The ESF Music Society staged two performances in the fall 2009 semester, including a Halloween-themed concert at the October Coffee Haus. This semester they will perform at the April 30 Insomniacs event.

The Society tries to meet once a month to discuss the business aspect of the club: performance and rehearsal dates, playlists, who is playing on what song and, in some cases, costuming. The musicians donned costumes for the Halloween gig.

"It's a lot of fun," said Anthony Vicente, a junior environmental and forest biology major and treasurer for the group. "I never actually played an instrument before and this was a good chance for me to start playing guitar." Vicente received guidance from other club members and now says: "I can play a couple songs."

"There's an incredible amount of talent on this campus," said Dimens, "and I wanted to take advantage of that."

"Other people might be really surprised by how much musical talent is at ESF but people don't really explore those old avenues of performing because we have so much laboratory work and so much homework," he said.

"It's a lot of fun," said Jennifer Ma, a junior wildlife science major, "to have people come together from different musical backgrounds and enjoy playing with each other."

Information about the ESF Music Society can be found online and also on Facebook.