By Jay Warnick
Last Saturday night in the Kirkham the lights were dimmed and crowds of people flooded the large theater for this semester’s last Talent Activities show: “The Best of Show.”
This show is the most unique of all shows out of the semester, it is a collection of fan favorites from all the shows this past semester. There were performers that originally performed at shows such as “Grand Piano’s Live,” “Guitars Unplugged,” “Acoustic Café,” “A Capella Jams,” and many, many others.
With 17 total performances ranging from self written piano solos to a performance of “Cat in the Hat” from Suessical the Musical, the variety was large.
The variety of performances was electrifying. Though there were some sound equipment difficulties which resulted in an outbreak of jungle noises from the crowd.
“I thought it was fun, I liked the variety, I think it helped draw a lot of people in,” said Kait Cox who was a first time attended of the show.
And draw a lot of people in it did. It was the second most attended event second only to “Guitars Unplugged.”
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Changing of the Shows
By Jay Warnick
If you attended school anytime before 2009 you might have noticed the trend of the Talent Activities and show selection here on campus was pretty much the same every year. Starting the past few semesters The Talent Performance Committee started brainstorming and creating new shows with the hope that there would be more student participation.
For next semester the committee has come up with a few more unique ideas to continue the trend of new shows from this semester. There will be a contest to see who can come up with the best idea for a theme for a performance show; the winner will get to put on the show.
Another idea is to have a “big band” social dance. Bands will be able to try out and perform at the dance where live music will enhance a “big band” dance atmosphere.
New shows will get people out of a rut of doing the normal shows and hopefully draw new and different crowds. And with the most popular shows like “Guitars Unplugged” that are already heavily attended will have new elements and twists added to keep any show from being the same.
If you attended school anytime before 2009 you might have noticed the trend of the Talent Activities and show selection here on campus was pretty much the same every year. Starting the past few semesters The Talent Performance Committee started brainstorming and creating new shows with the hope that there would be more student participation.
For next semester the committee has come up with a few more unique ideas to continue the trend of new shows from this semester. There will be a contest to see who can come up with the best idea for a theme for a performance show; the winner will get to put on the show.
Another idea is to have a “big band” social dance. Bands will be able to try out and perform at the dance where live music will enhance a “big band” dance atmosphere.
New shows will get people out of a rut of doing the normal shows and hopefully draw new and different crowds. And with the most popular shows like “Guitars Unplugged” that are already heavily attended will have new elements and twists added to keep any show from being the same.
Passing the Torch
By Jay Warnick
There is one person over Talent Activities, The Director of Talent Performance. For the last semester this role has fallen upon Krisann Leavitt. This is her last semester of doing so, and her last semester of school here at BYU-Idaho.
Brian Urbey has been a coordinator and a director in Talent Activities for many semesters; he has had many firsthand experiences as a leader in the organization. A committee of three members chose Urbey to be Leavitt’s replacement.
“It’ll be a smooth transition with him,” said Leavitt, who is confident in his skills and abilities.
Leavitt was a great leader and facilitator for the organization. She helped Talent Performance out of the rut of doing the same old shows and helps them create new show ideas to stimulate student participation in the future.
As a last hurrah, Levitt will be in a group performing a choreographed dance to a mash up of 80s music.
There is one person over Talent Activities, The Director of Talent Performance. For the last semester this role has fallen upon Krisann Leavitt. This is her last semester of doing so, and her last semester of school here at BYU-Idaho.
Brian Urbey has been a coordinator and a director in Talent Activities for many semesters; he has had many firsthand experiences as a leader in the organization. A committee of three members chose Urbey to be Leavitt’s replacement.
“It’ll be a smooth transition with him,” said Leavitt, who is confident in his skills and abilities.
Leavitt was a great leader and facilitator for the organization. She helped Talent Performance out of the rut of doing the same old shows and helps them create new show ideas to stimulate student participation in the future.
As a last hurrah, Levitt will be in a group performing a choreographed dance to a mash up of 80s music.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
iPod Idol?
By Jay Warnick
If you walked through the Crossroads on Wednesday evening you probably would have seen several performers up on the stage singing to no music.
Each with their iPod donned in their ears the performers took turns singing their favorite songs. No one could hear the music except them. The spectacle was strange and sometimes unnerving. You wanted to hear the music to the song, especially if you had never heard it before. But, undeterred by the previous performer, contestant after contestant continued to fill the near empty Crossroads with most often off key music.
The show was small and cozy, but something I didn’t really make me feel at home. Maybe a smaller room, or more contestants, or maybe just some regular karaoke would have done the trick.
After one of the managers of the show went up to do a song for the third time, I decided that it was time for me to do a little homework.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Follow Up with My Friend Court
By Jay Warnick
Last time we heard about Court and the band he is a part of; “Battle Cry,” was playing at the Thursday night edition of Guitars Unplugged. Thursday and Friday are technically auditions for the chance to play the final, Best of Guitars Unplugged show on Saturday night.
I went to the show Saturday not knowing if they had made it or not. To my delight, about half way through the next band was announced: “Battle Cry!”
Court went to Provo, UT that weekend to practice with another group he is involved in: “J.Wride.” He heard early that Saturday morning that they were playing the show that night and that he needed to be back in Rexburg for a meeting at 1:30pm. He left Provo around 8am in order to make it in time for the meeting. Right after the meeting, at 2pm, the group had sound checks which lasted for about an hour. They had to be back at 6pm to prepare for the show.
The Thursday night show crowd numbered about 500 people. The crowd on Saturday was in 4,000 people range. This was the largest group Court, and probably most others, had ever played in front of. Court was nervous, but relaxed as their song went on. At one point during their performance Court simply raised his fist into the air and the crowd exploded into cheering and screaming. Empowered by this, my friend felt at home on stage.
“With all the smoke and lights, you couldn’t really see the crowd,” said Court. This fact helped his nervous feelings fade.
So, what’s next for this newly formed group? “Battle Cry” will continue to play together and work on new songs, and probably record a few in the coming months.
Court is active in his other band in Provo and is soon performing a show at a venue of about 2,000 people. Guitars Unplugged helped him prepare mentally for this event. He was mostly nervous about his stage presence, about how he looked when he played. Now that he’s had some practice he’ll do better, he won’t be as worried and maybe look a little less rigid next time.
Last time we heard about Court and the band he is a part of; “Battle Cry,” was playing at the Thursday night edition of Guitars Unplugged. Thursday and Friday are technically auditions for the chance to play the final, Best of Guitars Unplugged show on Saturday night.
I went to the show Saturday not knowing if they had made it or not. To my delight, about half way through the next band was announced: “Battle Cry!”
Court went to Provo, UT that weekend to practice with another group he is involved in: “J.Wride.” He heard early that Saturday morning that they were playing the show that night and that he needed to be back in Rexburg for a meeting at 1:30pm. He left Provo around 8am in order to make it in time for the meeting. Right after the meeting, at 2pm, the group had sound checks which lasted for about an hour. They had to be back at 6pm to prepare for the show.
The Thursday night show crowd numbered about 500 people. The crowd on Saturday was in 4,000 people range. This was the largest group Court, and probably most others, had ever played in front of. Court was nervous, but relaxed as their song went on. At one point during their performance Court simply raised his fist into the air and the crowd exploded into cheering and screaming. Empowered by this, my friend felt at home on stage.
“With all the smoke and lights, you couldn’t really see the crowd,” said Court. This fact helped his nervous feelings fade.
So, what’s next for this newly formed group? “Battle Cry” will continue to play together and work on new songs, and probably record a few in the coming months.
Court is active in his other band in Provo and is soon performing a show at a venue of about 2,000 people. Guitars Unplugged helped him prepare mentally for this event. He was mostly nervous about his stage presence, about how he looked when he played. Now that he’s had some practice he’ll do better, he won’t be as worried and maybe look a little less rigid next time.
How Things Are Run
By Jay Warnick
Fifteen women and eight men sit scattered around an obscure conference room on the second floor of the Taylor building. All students, no teachers are present and things run smoothly. The meeting starts with an A Capella rendition of “Come, Come Ye Saints,” followed by a prayer and spiritual thought.
Becca, a young looking girl stands up and presents a spiritual thought about spiritual gifts, she asks what gifts we think we have and what ones we would like to have and what ones we would like to develop. She continues by saying that God has given us all spiritual gifts to serve one another and that we should develop our talents to help each other progress in life.
What are these young leaders gathered for? This is just the beginning of the weekly meeting that the Talent Activities Council holds each Wednesday evening. These dedicated individuals gather and discuss the progress that each event is making or has made over the semester.
Kelly and Becca (the girl who gave the thought) report on the event they managed last weekend: Grand Piano’s live. They review how well the event went, the good things that happened and the things that could have probably gone better. They implored the other managers present to focus on communication with other groups involved, like events management, who help with lights and sound.
These weekly meetings are not only to check up on each event but to train these student leaders to become better, and more efficient at what they do. They focus on what a good leader is and the qualities that they have and try to internalize them.
The next show that is happening is Acoustic Café. The manager of this event tried a new way of advertising this show to the student population. Instead of “chasing down people with fliers,” they wrote on clothes pins and randomly pinned them to student’s backpacks. When discovered the person learned about the time and place of Acoustic Café, and then was prompted to pass it on. Clever ideas such as this are spawned at meetings like this one.
Like a well oiled machine the group moves from topic, to topic, then to other concerns about the upcoming shows, like how much room should be provided for audience members to bring bean bags, and blankets to Acoustic Café.
Almost entirely student run, Talent activities is a model on how leaders progress, and set the standard for how student organizations should run.
Friday, February 26, 2010
My Friend Court and His Band
By Jay Warnick
I met Court my freshman year in 2006, we lived in the dorms together. He was always musically inclined; he even composed a few songs for a movie I made. We left school, and went on our missions, and I hadn’t seen him until last week. I saw him in the library, we caught up, and we got on the topic of bands, and that’s how I found out he and his group were playing at Guitars Unplugged.
Court, Ashby, Nate, Jaren, C.W., and Alyssa were all group together in a corner in the Kirkham building Thursday night. At first glance they all look like normal students here at BYU-Idaho, but last night they were something more.
Thursday night was the opening night for Guitars Unplugged, and for tonight this group of students came together to form “Battle Cry,” a young band formed to play this event. All of them crouched over instruments; guitars, bass, violin, a pair of drumsticks, a tambourine, and a violin, are preparing for sound checks.
A young red haired manager approaches the group and updates them on their spot in line and that she’ll come get them when it gets sooner to their time.
Nate, the leader of the band, gives Alyssa tips on tambourine rhythms as C.W. practiced his solo. All the members of the band have been playing for years two of them since 4th and 6th grade, the rest of them about 15 years combined, so they are no strangers to performance, yet all of them have a slight nervous look in their eyes.
“The Things They Carry,” is the name of the original song they wrote just for this concert. Named after the book “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brian, the song is about a person lost with no direction, but they find hope and meaning. With some personal meaning behind the song the group has a little more motivation than the rest.
The young redhead returned and led them down a long hallway and down half a flight of stairs where the group waited on the landing of the stairwell. The whole time while waiting they practice small parts of the song, probably the ones that gave them some trouble. Except now Alyssa is touching up her nail polish in preparation for their performance in a few short hours.
“This is the problem with having girls in the band,” Nate leans over and whispers to me jokingly. The group have only been together since the beginning of the semester, but they act and work together like a veteran rock band.
“Hey guys, do they have cables?” Court questions the group as he is taking his bass out of its bag. Court seems the most nervous to me, maybe cause he’s my friend and I worry about him too much.
“Battle Cry” is ushered on stage; this is where I left them. I was able to sneak into the back of the auditorium and watch their sound check. The stage turned green, and my friend and his band take their positions. They sound good, sincere, and this was just sound checks. I couldn’t stay for the real performance, but I’m sure they did great.
All I can say is that I’m glad I ran into Court in the library the other day.
I met Court my freshman year in 2006, we lived in the dorms together. He was always musically inclined; he even composed a few songs for a movie I made. We left school, and went on our missions, and I hadn’t seen him until last week. I saw him in the library, we caught up, and we got on the topic of bands, and that’s how I found out he and his group were playing at Guitars Unplugged.
Court, Ashby, Nate, Jaren, C.W., and Alyssa were all group together in a corner in the Kirkham building Thursday night. At first glance they all look like normal students here at BYU-Idaho, but last night they were something more.
Thursday night was the opening night for Guitars Unplugged, and for tonight this group of students came together to form “Battle Cry,” a young band formed to play this event. All of them crouched over instruments; guitars, bass, violin, a pair of drumsticks, a tambourine, and a violin, are preparing for sound checks.
A young red haired manager approaches the group and updates them on their spot in line and that she’ll come get them when it gets sooner to their time.
Nate, the leader of the band, gives Alyssa tips on tambourine rhythms as C.W. practiced his solo. All the members of the band have been playing for years two of them since 4th and 6th grade, the rest of them about 15 years combined, so they are no strangers to performance, yet all of them have a slight nervous look in their eyes.
“The Things They Carry,” is the name of the original song they wrote just for this concert. Named after the book “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brian, the song is about a person lost with no direction, but they find hope and meaning. With some personal meaning behind the song the group has a little more motivation than the rest.
The young redhead returned and led them down a long hallway and down half a flight of stairs where the group waited on the landing of the stairwell. The whole time while waiting they practice small parts of the song, probably the ones that gave them some trouble. Except now Alyssa is touching up her nail polish in preparation for their performance in a few short hours.
“This is the problem with having girls in the band,” Nate leans over and whispers to me jokingly. The group have only been together since the beginning of the semester, but they act and work together like a veteran rock band.
“Hey guys, do they have cables?” Court questions the group as he is taking his bass out of its bag. Court seems the most nervous to me, maybe cause he’s my friend and I worry about him too much.
“Battle Cry” is ushered on stage; this is where I left them. I was able to sneak into the back of the auditorium and watch their sound check. The stage turned green, and my friend and his band take their positions. They sound good, sincere, and this was just sound checks. I couldn’t stay for the real performance, but I’m sure they did great.
All I can say is that I’m glad I ran into Court in the library the other day.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Talent Performance Adapts
Jay Warnick
“It’s not about you!” This is the motto for training leaders for running talent performance activities here on campus. Krisann Leavitt is the director of talent performance, this semester she oversees ten different shows, four coordinators who oversee twenty-one managers who run the shows.
Leavitt spends probably about 5-6 hours a week just in meetings, this doesn’t include other outside preparations and on a busy week can spend up to 10 hours preparing and planning. Much of the time spent in meetings is to train the coordinators and managers to become better leaders and better people focused on helping other students.
Talent performance is not just to entertain the masses of BYU-Idaho but to give student opportunities to develop and display new skills. Talent performance not only offers shows for students to perform in but workshops to try new things; including dance, guitar, even writing workshops.
With the ever growing and diversifying population of our campus talent performance is growing and changing with it to try and create activities that appeal to everyone. They are trying out new shows and events that target specific crowds; like a new show called iPod Idol where contestants come and sign up and perform a song from their iPod.
Leavitt has been in talent performance for many semesters and loves it. “There’s more to this school than just academics,” she says. “Talent performance enhances your college experience, you get to meet new people and it makes your time here more memorable.”
So, whether you’ve been here one semester or ten, talent performance is your ticket to maximizing your college experience here at BYU-Idaho.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Calender of Events
Brigham Young University-Idaho has an increasing population of students and with that an increasing amount of activities. Here is a link to the university's online calender:
http://calendar.byui.edu/MasterCalendar.aspx
http://calendar.byui.edu/MasterCalendar.aspx
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
BYU-Idaho Activities
Hey folks! This blog is for my Communications 240 class, intro to journalism. For this class we are covering a beat for the semester, I chose to cover the changing venue of activities here on campus. I will be doing a combination of articles, pictures, pod casts, and maybe a video or two. Hope you enjoy!
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