Monique Arambula
Staff Writer
The music department’s Pep Band and Songwriting Club hosted their first ever live music showcase, “The Student and Faculty Show: A Night of Live Music” Thursday in Morgan Auditorium.
With about 35 guests, the students and faculty showcased a variety of musical talents, from high-energy band performances to soothing solos and even a surprise spooky song from a faculty member.
Students from the Cover Band and Pep Band performed songs they worked on all semester, along with solos and duets, showing off everything from vocals to flute to guitar.
Audience members included proud parents, students and friends, all cheering on the performers.
“I started putting this together about a month ago,” Elizabeth Valdes, a junior education and music major said. “We always support other performances on campus, but we never had a night for ourselves. I thought we deserved it.”
The Cover Band featured Melanie Zarco on vocals; Alex Gomez on bass; Joshua Perez on guitar; Logan Cruz on guitar, drums and vocals; David Raigoza on drums and vocals; and Morgan Esebag on vocals.
The Pep Band included Valdes on tuba, Orion Campos on trombone, David Rodriguez on snare, Isa Farias on tenor, Shelby Gonzalez and Angel Gutierrez on flute, Briselle Rivera on flute and Anthony Funes on trumpet.
Cruz, who played multiple instruments in the Cover Band, also performed two duet pieces combining guitar and vocals with Claire Kostich. Valdes, who played tuba with the Pep Band, returned to the stage to perform a trombone solo.
Other solos and duets were performed by Gonzalez and Gutierrez on flute, Jesus Hidalgo on clarinet, Trevor Martinez on piano, Catherine Su on guitar, Matt Marquez and faculty member Nikolai Galvan both performed a vocal solo.
Student performers also did several standout pieces by Hozier, Léo Delibes and Leonard Cohen.
“I took a songwriting class for fun,” senior theater arts major Melanie Zarco said. “Professor Michael Ryan was super supportive and encouraged me to join choir. I’d never sung in front of people before that.”
“You’re having a conversation with the audience,” sophomore music major Joshua Perez said. “You think one side is performing and the other is just listening, but it goes both ways. Whether there’s a big crowd or not, I’m still giving it my all.”
The night also included a performance by Galvan, who performed an original piece titled “Welcome to the Fog,” complete with dramatic lighting, spooky sound effects and a scary mask.
“I actually came up with the lighting and sound effects this morning,” Galvan said. “I work at Knott’s Scary Farm during my time off, so this was kind of my love letter to that community. If I’m going to perform, I want to go all out.”
Valdes said the faculty performance was a surprise for the student organizers.
“When we were rehearsing, Nikolai just had the lights and sang a little. We didn’t know he was going to go that hard,” Valdes said. “It’s always a fun time whenever we see any of our staff or professors do their things or what they really enjoy doing.”
“I think it was a dream for Matt. He’s doing what he really loves,” Greg Marquez, the father of student performer Matt Marquez, said. “I’m very impressed and very proud.”
“I was also a little scared of that song from earlier,” Marquez said.
Monique Arambula can be found at monique.arambula@laverne.edu.
Monique Arambula is a staff writer for the Campus Times. She is also a freshman communications major with a concentration in public relations and a minor in film production.
