An EAR for Rock
On Friday night, Agora bustled with noise and activity. Kids filled the room with the sounds of excited chatter, tuning guitars, warming voices, claps and cheers. Exeter Association of Rock held its second concert of the year, its first acoustic one, following up the successful electric concert in the fall. Student musicians of all grades and abilities were able to use the concert as an opportunity to share their talents with the Exeter community.
EAR, a student-run club, organizes one or two rock concerts each term, open for anyone to attend or to play, according to co-head upper Sean Taylor. The club generally does not hold auditions, only doing so for events with stricter time limits, such as the EAR assembly held later in winter term.
“EAR concerts are a great time to bring the Exeter community together. People can come to support their friends, family or students as they step on stage and showcase their talents."
EAR hopes to provide students with an opportunity to showcase the talent and hard work that goes into preparing a song. Many students take guitar, piano and vocal lessons, and EAR “gives them the opportunity to play their instrument with a real group and to gain experience performing in front of a crowd,” according to board member and lower Will Ayscue.
EAR also provides the Exeter community with fun events and good music. “We want to expose students to rock music and to good music, though not specifically alternative or classic rock,” Taylor said. “Some people do more country stuff, some people do more folk, indie, blues, Americana, bluegrass, stuff like that. It’s kind of all-encompassing.”
Students and faculty who attended the concert were glad to support the performers and were surprised by the amount of talent the students showcased.
“I saw a bunch of my friends who I didn’t know could sing or could play. I think it’s really cool that I can cheer for them and find out more about them,” lower Stone Sulley said.
The talent, as well as the smoothness of the concert itself, impressed English instructor Ah-Young Song, “There was such a range of musical styles, personalities, instruments and vocal styles—something for everyone!” Song said. “The whole evening from start to finish was wholly entertaining, and I was so impressed by both the organizers and performers.”
Despite the quality of the event, some students were disappointed by the venue. Lower Majestic Terhune believed that because of the location of the concert, the audience was less attentive than the performers deserved. “When there are performances in the Agora area, people in Grill start talking and it’s rude to the performers because there is always constant murmuring in the background,” Terhune said.
Lower Aidan Wolff-King, who played at the concert with his band, thought that despite this, Friday night’s audience was an improvement from last year’s.
“My expectation was [that it would be] like the last concert they had, where everybody was chatting the entire time,” Wolff-King said. “But this time there were rows and people were silent during the performances for the most part, which makes the artist feel better, and makes it feel more like a concert.”
Taylor said that the casual atmosphere of Agora was partly intentional. “I think [when audience members talk during songs] it is a little disrespectful sometimes when you can’t hear the performer, but it’s just a more casual environment,” Taylor said. “It’s more like what you’d expect at a coffee shop performance or something like that.”
Upper Kyle Xia, a lower board member of EAR, agreed and said that while the crowd was more rowdy than anticipated, they were still very supportive toward the performers, as he expected from a concert in Agora. “There was a long round of applause after every performance which is always pretty empowering,” Xia said. “EAR concerts are usually like that: noisy with a somewhat supportive crowd and nervous performers trying to show off what they've prepared.”
Xia added, “The whole point of the concert was to create a chill and positive atmosphere.”
Similarly, Taylor said that he thought the performers would benefit from a safer, more casual environment. “It gives kids who are perhaps hesitant about going up there to perform more of a comfortable environment, where they’re still being exposed to a lot of their peers watching them, but it’s not like at assembly when everybody in the school is sitting there watching you.”
Prep Charlotte Polk, who played piano and sang harmonies alongside Wolff-King and lower Olivia Liponis, said that the while getting on stage itself was nerve-racking, it was easier to relax when she was actually performing.
“I tried not to be too nervous about it in my head before the show, because I knew that if I got on stage while I was really worried I would have gotten physically nervous. So, I tried to stay mentally calm,” Polk said. “In the end, during the performance I was pretty calm.”
Many people enjoyed their time at the concert; diverse friendship groups and personalities were able to come together, joined by a common love for music. “EAR concerts are a great time to bring the Exeter community together. People can come to support their friends, family or students as they step on stage and showcase their talents,” Xia said. “I think Exonians perceive the EAR concert as an event with a good vibe.”
Song agreed, “It was great to see such talent showcased and celebrated by the community, and I was happy to be part of the experience.”