Musicians found across all programs
With only 24 hours to put together an original song and a cover, five randomly assigned bands participated in U of G’s first Build-A-Band competition at Peter Clark Hall on Dec. 2.
Presented by the College of Arts Student Union (CASU), the event aimed to bring together students across different programs with a variety of musical backgrounds and skill levels.
“We really wanted to bring everyone together and show that musicians exist in bio-sci and business and every facet of university,” said Aiden Paskinov, CASU’s vice-president, who co-organized the event along with CASU’s financial officer Nathan Lehotsky and president Jack Fisher.
While there were a number of technical difficulties and last-minute dropouts, the biggest challenge both the bands and the organizers faced was finding practice space. Lehotsky explained that, if they were to run the event again, they would try to book practice space for each band for at least a couple of hours.
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After two rounds and a quick tally of the audience’s votes, The Renoir took home a cash prize of $340 for their original song and cover of The Lumineers’ “Ho Hey.” The band, consisting of Oren Furmanov, Munirah Hutchinson, Rebecca Zimmerman, David Armitage, and Graham Ragan, agreed that the experience was worth missing out on a few hours of studying.
“It was great to go and meet people and it turned out to be so much fun,” said vocalist and tambourine player Furmanov.
“I think we were waiting for something like this,” added Armitage, one of the band’s guitarists. “There are a lot of musicians who aren’t necessarily in a music program, so something like this gives them a chance to do something they love, but don’t necessarily major in.”
The Renoir plans to continue playing music together and hopes to perform a set at The Bullring in the near future.