The Revised History of Freesound and Campus Music – November, 2000

First, a summary of Freesound unfolding into the year 2000.

If you were at Grinnell College in the spring of 1999 you may recall Garrett Shelton and Jesse McClelland having written a Fund For Excellence proposal. President Osgood supported this proposal for the purchase of a PA, a drumset, and a keyboard, to be used by students and to be bought through the Fund For Excellence. In the fall semester of 1999 Garrett, Jesse, and Matt Warne placed an order for the PA with the administration. In the spring semester of 2000, the PA arrived, but when it was used in a concert it turned out that the system was not loud enough for the task of carrying most bands. New negotiations took place between the administration and the company we ordered from. In the fall semester of 2000, a settlement on the new PA specs was reached and the full PA system we had envisioned arrived. Matt Warne is carrying out training sessions on the PA to introduce interested people to it and you can contact him for more information about this (or check out the equipment page). In the spring semester of 2000, Mark Paulson had written a proposal for the drums and keyboard. And in the fall semester of 2000, the FFE drums and keyboard were ordered by the administration. No word yet on when we might expect these to arrive.

Another note on equipment. In the spring of 2000, Geoffrey Sparks, then Concerts Chair, allocated unused funds to go to the purchase of two Guitar Amps, one Bass Amp, and a Mini-Disc 8-track Recorder. These concerts-committee purchases arrived in the summer of 2000 and were donated to Freesound, which means they are open to student use. Matt Warne has begun training sessions for the recorder and you can contact him for more information (or check equipment page). This fall we have placed the amps and recorder in the Harris student storage space and anyone familiar with our policies outlined on the equipment page can enjoy them in Harris during practices, or even take them out of Harris for shows. If you go into the student music storage space at Harris you will notice that some changes have been made recently. A lot of general Harris stuff has been taken out and stored elsewhere so that musicians can have more room for their things. And to help organize the room, Facilities Management installed large wooden closets which separate Freesound’s equipment from the equipment that students themselves store there. See Sheree Andrews in the basement of the Forum if you are interested in booking practice times at Harris.

If you’ve been eagerly awaiting an updated Freesound website, please keep watching because Richard Walker is working on it. You can expect regular updates to the site based on upcoming events, musicians on campus, band photos and whatnot. As always, your comments are welcome as we try to keep this a simple, efficient site. Another Freesound project is the establishment of a permanent campus music archive which Jesse McClelland is working on with the Burling listening room. There are several recordings in the archive, and they will one day be available searching as a list on the library computers. If you have something to add to the archive, please email [freesoun].

Now a general run-through on campus music.

As you may be painfully aware, The Creature music magazine left Grinnell for good in the spring when its founder Kurt Orzeck graduated. The reviews and interviews in The Creature informed Grinnellians about independent music of many kinds and raised Grinnell’s profile in relation to touring groups. The two Creature Compilation CDs promoted campus groups of many different stripes, they were based partly on live recordings that Paul Robare had the foresight to make. If you are interested in seeing issues of The Creature or the compilations it sponsored, you can check the Iowa Room in the basement of Burling . . . By all accounts we have an active Concerts Committee this semester, and chaired by Hillary Mertaugh, they have brought us rock, jazz, pop, bluegrass and klezmer among other forms . . . Sarah Harlan, Josh Vickery, and will soon get KDIC online. It looks like the station will be available on the web starting in November, from 7am to 2am, the normal broadcasting hours . . . Like most semesters, Bob’s Underground has again hosted Open Mic Nights and many concerts with events coordinator Robin Kimball. They have a really high-quality sound system that is begging to be used . . . Music House at 1128 East Street is again offering practice space at two-hour time limits to campus groups and you can come talk to residents about policy. Music House has hosted several concerts and there are eight bands that have practiced there this fall, many of whom have yet to perform . . . Finally, this semester there have also been a series of Blues Jams, organized by Steve Merlan, that are open to blues enthusiasts of all skill levels and interests. Some musicians from town have even come onto campus to participate in these events; a fantastic thing.

This of course is only a summary of non-curricular music on campus. I have named only some of the students that I have noticed recently expand the role of music and I mean the mentioning of them to be a tribute. Though Student Services, the college’s President and Treasurer, and music groups that visit may support our efforts, the students are most important in creating a community. Music continues to be important to this campus because it is a way for us to come together and appreciate each other outside of prescribed roles we have at the college. It is a form of expression, but it is also entertainment whose parameters and purposes we decide.

Freesound wants to provide music makers and listeners with the resources that will let them be Grinnellians. I would like to close with a truism courtesy They Might Be Giants:

"Music self-played is happiness self-made."

-Jesse McClelland, Freesound

December 1999

I guess the genesis of freesound occurred on the porch of 913 Park Street during the Fall Semester of '98. There was supposed to be a show there with Elizabeth from Sarge, Gods Reflex, and some other band. Well, in true punk rock fashion, the money for the show fell through and only Gods Reflex showed up. The only reason this band showed was because Phil Goudreau, a guitarist in the band and also a Grinnellian, neglected to tell the other members of the band about the lack of money. In any case, God's Reflex rocked, the small living room was packed, the sound was muffled, and the keg beer didn't really taste like beer. It felt like college.

Of course, no Indie Rock band plays more than 40 minutes, so the show ended pretty quickly. It was a great show, but I was really frustrated that it was so short. Independent student concerts had been such an infrequent thing since I had arrived in Iowa. Apparently, the music life at Grinnell had been great a few years before I got there, but it had dwindled just to a few bands. Of course, the open-mic night at Bob's Underground always had a bunch of regulars (and still does), but one night every month hardly constitutes a vibrant campus music scene. Anyway, I walked out onto the porch of the house with this "idea" in my head. It really had no form, it was just this amorphous thing. When I got outside, my friend Jesse McClelland and I started talking about how this sort of thing needed to happen more at Grinnell. Why was the campus music scene "dying?" We both agreed that there ought to be a organization for musicians on campus. At that point, we locked ourselves in a passionate embrace and felt strangely ok about the world. We didn't see the parade of midgets coming though. That was totally unexpected. My favorite color is royal blue.

We both identified the major problem facing musicians on campus as the lack of "information." No one knew who played what instruments and what types of music people were interested in playing. Thus, the core mission of freesound was defined--making sure that interested musicians knew about other interested musicians.

After a short period of time, Jesse and I met again, this time with Matt Warne and Paul Chaikin. If I remember correctly, we thought that the more people involved in getting this organization started, the better. At this meeting, we added to the list of things we thought freesound should be about. We wanted to acquire equipment--no one seemed to have a drum set on campus and Bob's was really reluctant to loan the PA. The problem of places to play and perform also became an issue we wanted to tackle. So, the purpose of freesound began to grow--somehow provide a limited amount of musical equipment to the student body and make sure people had the necessary information.

I have no idea how I came up with the name for the organization. I may have thought of it in a dream, but I don't really remember my dreams. It stucks, I think, because it sort of a one word mission statement. I thought it was stupid at first but for some reason it just fit.

From there (in the Winter o' '99, I think), the Jesse McClelland publicity machine went to work plastering the campus with the announcement of our arrival. We asked campus musicians to e-mail [freesoun] with what instruments they played and what they were interested in doing. In return, we would e-mail them the list of musicians we had gotten info on. The rest was up to them. We got an incredible response from this. By the time we had our first meeting of everyone in the group, we had about 50-60 members. At this meeting we reiterated to everyone what we the organization was for--we weren't the music scene, just a resource for musicians. We also talked about possible goals, the equipment issue and also talked about a Fund for Excellence proposal. Afterwards, everyone introduced themselves and whatnot. I think within a few weeks, several new bands had already formed.

Next, those of us laying the groundwork for freesound began the process of writing the Fund for Excellence program. Our original proposal only requested a PA, a drum set and a keyboard. We felt these were the most crucial pieces of equipment that students did not have easy access to. President Osgood told us to "shoot for the moon" so we added some other goodies, but we ended up getting 20,000--enough only for what we originally planned. We didn't complain. For an organization that had only existed for a semester, 20,000 dollars ain't bad.

So, bands started forming and concerts started happening. We didn't have the equipment yet, but we made things work...

Independent student music has been a pretty regular thing a Grinnell this year. The Creature (the student music magazine) just released a 14-track student band compliation...freesound doesn't take responsibility for this (all credit goes to Kurt Orzeck and Paul Robare). The point being, the campus music scene has revitalized itself.

We're not just about rock either. We're not about maintaining "indie credibility." Classical, jazz, rock, fusion, polka, whatever. Anyone can be a member of freesound. Just as long as you play or love music.

I've probably left some things out in this history/mission but whatever. Hopefully, its given some insight into what the organization is about. If you're a current Grinnell student and thinking about joining/starting a band and don't know where to start, e-mail us. We'll help you as much as possible. If you're a prospective student, rest assured that Grinnell is a place where you'll be able to meet like-minded musicians. You'll also have places to perform and to practice (regardless if you're a part of the Music Department.) And if you play the drums, for the love god, come to Grinnell.

-Garret Shelton ('01), 12/27/99

 

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