Although not all are music majors, student musicians at Boston University are using their interests and passions to draw an energetic and harmonious music scene.
In honor of Record Store Day on April 12, The Daily Free Press aspired to highlight the music scene that exists here in our University community.
Alessa Bennardo, a senior in the College of Communication, is a solo artist under the name Lessa. Prior to her individual career, Bennardo was in a band called “Lessa and the Mores,” who brought her to some of the people she still performs with.
Bennardo said music has always been a focus of hers because she has been playing music since she was six years old.
“Coming to college, one of my main goals was to pursue it more professionally and get some of my music recorded and play around the city,” Bennardo said.
So far, she has released an album called “Jaded” on main streaming platforms.
“I want my music to be universally applicable to everyone,” Bennardo said. “I think the most beautiful thing is when somebody comes to me and tells me about how they interpreted my song and [what] it meant to them.”
Sachiel Chuckrow, a junior in the Duane Family Center for Computing and Data Sciences is a member of The Graduates, a punk-rock band composed of BU students.
Chuckrow said music is “a very powerful” tool that evokes emotions in audience members.
“Music conveys emotion in a way that not many other things can, especially as quickly as it does,” Chuckrow said. “A great movie is two hours long. A book can take 20 hours to read. A great album sometimes is as short as 30 minutes.”
Another member of The Graduates, senior Ronan Hughes said music has “got a way about reaching you. Anybody can take a song and make it about themselves.”
Hughes added there is value in the teamwork that comes with being a band.
“You can accomplish so much more when you have multiple people all together, versus just one guy with a guitar,” Hughes said.
Big Farmer, another student band, was born because the members share a community interest in music,” said Tony Santangelo, a member of the band and a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“It’s more of a group hobby for all of us to do together, and we just happen to enjoy playing with each other,” Santangelo said.
That shared enjoyment is what keeps the band connected, said Max Brown, another member of Big Farmer and a junior in CAS.
“It’s just fun to play music together [to] have that sort of chemistry. You can’t really replicate it when you’re just playing your instrument by yourself,” Brown said.
The first live show they put on made the members feel lucky to get support from people who watched us and recognized the songs there, Santangelo said.
Sam Unger, a sophomore in CAS and a member of Big Farmer, said their first live show was “one of my favorite moments from college.” He said there was a unique energy when he pointed up and looked at his friends.
“It made us want to do it again,” Santangelo said.
Cyrus Sadr, a sophomore in CAS and a member of the Big Farmer, said he felt support from the Boston music scene at different gigs.
“We also got a lot of support from the other bands that were playing, they’re really nice to us,” he said. “We connect with them and hear about other shows that are happening in other venues.”
Boston itself, Sadr said, is home to a “very tightly knit, expansive and supportive” music scene.
Unger added that the group meets a multitude of musicians from other places, like Berklee College of Music, in The Record Co. where they rehearse.
For the solo artist, Bennardo said “there’s a great DIY scene” in Boston. Bennardo met a producer who went to Berklee her freshman year of college and started recording music with him.
“As far as BU goes, there’s definitely [a music scene],” Bennardo said. “It’s not too big, which is nice because it’s not oversaturated.”
However, student musicians have also expressed a desire to get more support from the university.
“We do have practice rooms…but they’re only allowed for [College of Fine Arts] students, and they obviously should be the priority and get their own space,” Brown said. “But it would be nice to feel that we had the ability to use the same practice rooms because usually there are plenty available,” Brown said.
Chuckrow said he doesn’t have a practice space on campus and said he wishes “BU had practice spaces available to private musicians.” Even if there is a room available, he said he still cannot use electric amplification, as it’s prohibited by BU.
“It’d be great if BU would host an event, at the GSU or a theater, where a bunch of local bands could apply and play, and people could come and have fun,” Chuckrow said.
Santangelo said he thinks a lot of students at BU want to join a band or play music with their friends, but they didn’t start because they believe on-campus opportunities are limited.
“BU could do more to foster more interest in music from their student body, because I don’t know anybody who’s not passionate about music in some way,” Santangelo said. “I know tons of people who play instruments and who love to play instruments, and they’re not music majors.”
City Editor Truman Dickerson is a member of the band, The Graduates. He was not involved in the writing, reporting or editing of this article.
