When Al-Saadi and Kingfisher rock Milliken Auditorium on April 13, they’ll do so with a big assist from Northwestern Michigan College students handling every aspect of the concert experience.
Upping the Ante: Nationally acclaimed Laith Al-Saadi headlines the April concert. (Photo/Steve Baran)
When is a concert not a concert but a classroom exercise?
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The upcoming April 13 performance by Laith Al-Saadi at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City happens to be both.
“Rockin’ Into Spring: Dollars for Scholars” at Milliken Auditorium at the Dennos Museum Center features the finalist from NBC’s “The Voice,” with Southeast Michigan indie band Kingfisher opening the night.
While it is a chance for concertgoers to enjoy a show, it also serves as a real-life opportunity for students in the audio tech program at Northwestern Michigan College.
The students are taking on all the aspects of putting on a concert. That ranges from pre-show items like securing the venue, finding and signing the talent, handling lodging and meals and working on promotion to setting up the venue, providing the in-house sound, doing the lighting, shooting video – in short, anything and everything such a production encompasses.
Audio Techs: Ruby Bardenhagen and Will Lewellen. (Courtesy Photo)
That includes troubleshooting to make sure any problems are handled immediately. With that in mind, they’re taking no chances. “We’re doing a rehearsal concert the week before,” says Will Lewellen, one of the students.
Ruby Bardenhagen says an opportunity like this was one of the reasons she enrolled at NMC. “I looked into the program and it’s unique compared to others. There are smaller classes and it’s more hands-on,” she says.
Lewellen echoes that sentiment. “There are lots of opportunities I wouldn’t have otherwise,” he says.
The group has previously worked on live sound at other venues, including the Music House in Acme, a museum featuring old player pianos, Victrolas, fairground organs and accessories, which also hosts performances. The Music House is a much smaller venue than Milliken Auditorium, with chairs set up just a couple feet away from the performers. Milliken is a more typical setting for a concert, featuring a large raised stage and a sloped floor with permanent seats for the audience and a capacity of 367.
Bardenhagen says being able to adapt to such completely different setups and conditions is a great way for her and the other students to learn their craft. “It’s different here (Milliken Auditorium). The audience is a big part of it. There’s a different feel to the production. And more pressure.”
WORKING AS A TEAM ON ‘A REAL INDUSTRY TASK’
Traverse City native Kaysen Chown is a member of Ann Arbor’s Kingfisher, and her father, David, is one of the audio tech instructors at NMC. She says the band previously performed at the Music House and at her uncle’s barn on the Old Mission Peninsula, with NMC students providing sound and video for both shows.
“It’s great practice for them. It’s Dad’s assignment, a real industry task,” she says.
Chown, a recent graduate from the University of Michigan’s Sound Engineering program in the School of Music, says the show is a win-win opportunity – and something she wishes she had been able to experience in school. “I missed out on that at Michigan; there was no (similar) opportunity, so it’s really cool that NMC has that.”
Opening Act: Kingfisher (Courtesy Photo)
Chown plays keyboards and strings for the band, which she says operates in the indie/post-rock sphere. “The easiest description is indie folk-rock,” she says.
But as a seven-piece band with horns, it obviously goes outside the genre’s norms. “We all met at the U of M School of Music, so (the band) dips its toes into other styles, our jazz and classical knowledge,” she says. She and three bandmates now live in a house in the Detroit area with a studio setup in the attic, while one is in Chicago and the other two are finishing their schooling.
She says the group is relishing the chance to perform at Milliken and open for Al-Saadi, the gritty, bluesy rocker from Ann Arbor who was a finalist on the 2016 season of the reality singing competition “The Voice.” His stature ups the ante for the students, as does staging the show at Milliken, rather than at a tent outside as at previous such NMC shows.
Bardenhagen and Lewellen say that’s to be expected, where professionals may literally find themselves in a field at an outdoor festival, an auditorium like Milliken, a stadium, an arena – wherever a performance takes place. “What you are doing really matters. We’re all a team, all working toward the same goal,” says Lewellen.
All proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to NMC for student scholarships – hence the “dollars for scholars.” Tickets for the 7 p.m. April 13 show are $25 general admission and $10 for NMC students. Click here for tickets and additional information.
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