Soundfest

A cornucopia of sounds—whether it be catchy guitar riffs, abstract techno beats arranged live, or the ringing of a tibetan prayer bowl, resonated throughout campus this past Sunday afternoon during Exeter’s first SoundFest.The four hour outdoor concert experience, hosted by the new club Democracy of Sound, took over the Wetherell Quad with its many eccentric installations, including a tunnel of love, a staircase modified to be a piano, a body painting canvas and the main stage. Although the show may have been the first of its kind at the Academy, SoundFest drew a huge crowd of students, faculty and the townspeople of Exeter.“It was really a bit of everything: food, live music, art and a surreal sense that you have been taken away from the Exeter campus to a soundscape unlike anything you have ever heard,” senior Will Vennes said. “Teachers, students, young kids, it was an event for everyone. My favorite parts were the giant piano stairs and the unique music that was played.”Indeed, the performance was nothing that the community has ever heard or seen before. Case in point, a tinfoil covered toilet that played recordings of Harkness discussions was installed in the Class of 2013 outdoor Harkness Table. On top of that, there was a “sound coffin,” in which people could lay down, close themselves up and put on headphones that were playing white noise.“I heard the community respond with ‘what is this?’ a lot,” upper Scott Hermenau, one of the co-heads of DOS, said. “Which was ideal and indicative of the possibly stirring nature of the event.”Senior Kwasi Oppong-Badu commented on the confusing nature of the event.“When the public asks why, DOS replies, ‘why not?’ I think that statement speaks for itself,” he said.After DOS hosted a similar event in Fisher Theater earlier this year, the club members began brainstorming ways to host a bigger, better version of the prior show that would have a sizable impact on campus.“SoundFest takes a very well known and well-worn space on campus and reimagines it: this time as a kind of hybrid of carnival ground and—using the vertical boundary of the various buildings that define the quad—a giant sound basin, or even canyon of sound,” music instructor and DOS adviser Jon Sakata said. “What if the Wetherell quad is populated with all types of sound-musical ‘attractions’ and ‘sideshows,’ from main stage performances of bands made up of students, staff and faculty to a host of off-the-wall interactive sound installations, not to mention food and drink? That was the concept behind SoundFest.”Oppong-Badu described the Democracy of Sound as “just a group that appreciates making noise.”“Music is just organized noise, but we like noise in all its forms, even if it is not music. I mean, all sounds are music, right?” he said.Even if the club’s mindset perplexed some Exonians, the extravaganza blew away all attendees.“Honestly, it was spectacular. The various installations that combined sound with space made the whole thing surreal and, especially, different,” senior Jordan Rohrlich said. “We have a lot of dances and open mic nights at this school, but we never have anything like this.”Prep Alan Liu shared a similar opinion of the unusual, fascinating show.“When people started getting up on the stage, everything got incredibly exciting. I have never seen anything like it before,” Liu said. “I especially loved Mr. Ibbotson's theremin. I have seen one before, but never used like he used it [that day].”The relaxed attitude of the event and performances also gave a fun, enjoyable, atmosphere to the day. “It seems like an anti-serious event in some ways, and I think we do not have enough of those on campus,” math instructor Jeff Ibbotson, who also performed at SoundFest, said.Not only did SoundFest take the Academy on a musical adventure, but it also gave students and faculty the opportunity to present their own, untraditional forms of sound.“I really enjoyed the music and the chance to go to an outdoor festival on campus,” senior Niklas Bergill said. “It allowed musicians who might not normally perform at the traditional shows on campus a chance to showcase their own talents.”Others saw the creativity and variety of SoundFest as its defining characteristic.“Mr. Ibbottson played with some sort of alien-radio, and later read mathematical poetry to electronic music,” lower Tom Appleton said. “There was also a ukulele ensemble that performed three different songs. All day long there was an enormous canvas surrounded by cans of paint, and hour-by-hour, different parts of the body were used to paint the canvas.”No matter the reason for loving SoundFest, all of campus is eagerly awaiting DOS’s next event, likely to be just as radical and fun.Music instructor Bob Squires said, “I hope we do this annually, because it just seems like a really fun thing for the whole faculty to participate in, and everyone seems to want to participate and add their own things, and it is just a great, relaxed event.”Vennes added, “What makes it unique? Mr. Ibbotson reading poetry while Scott Hermenau mixes electronic synth in the background. That is SoundFest!”