Southern Utah University’s Commercial Music program showed out with their “Eye of the Tiger” performance on Friday, Feb, 7. Performers included five local bands and the SUU Concert Choir. The band sang original songs as well as covers.
“I hope audience members take away that we’ve got some musicians in town that are doing some really cool stuff and that if they want to pursue music there are opportunities for them. It’s not only available, but it’s fun and hopefully [the performance] lightens everybody’s load as well,” said PJ Howa, guitarist for the band Big Rib.
Big Rib is made up of some of the first students to study in the Commercial Music program, most of whom will graduate this year.
“Anyone can do music, it’s a universal language that makes everyone feel something,” said Ember Moat, vocalist for local band, Alternate Currents.
The goal of the commercial music major is to prepare students with the skills necessary to break into the music industry such as audio recording techniques, songwriting and music entrepreneurship.
“There are no shortcuts, but that’s not a bad thing because if you really want to do it, you’re going to have a lot of fun along the way,” said Howa. “Don’t ever forget that it’s supposed to be a fun thing. It’s easy to get carried away with ‘I need to be better, I need to work harder,’ and working hard is good, but at the end of the day it really is about having fun.”
During a performance, Direct Currents member Joseph Morse told a story about a conversation he had with his mentor. His mentor taught him about looking for opportunities through a metaphor about not noticing yellow cars due to a lack of looking for them.
“I hope that [the audience] looks for their yellow car, for their opportunity and that they enjoy themselves whenever they’re at performances, because music is about connection and loving others. The whole point of music is community,” said Morse.
For more information on how to get into the music industry, visit the Commercial Music program’s web page.
Author: Brooklyn Beard
Photographer: Gannon Lovisa
Editor: Tessa Cheshire
arts@suunews.net
