Warm and dimly lit, the room feels less like a school building and more like a friend’s living room. Well-worn couches face the door and a piano keyboard sits ready to play, with only the condition that you turn it off after use. When it’s quiet, which it always is, you can hear a steady loop of music from the TV layered over the ambience of voices in other rooms— sometimes talking, but more often singing.

Sound familiar? Unless you’re a music major, probably not.

The homey 800 building, where music classes are housed, is set apart from the rest of campus by a driveway and footpath. It’s not only geography that distances the music department from the rest of the school, though. Many students have never heard anything about the music department or their performances.

Many students were excited for the opportunity to come to campus these past few years—some hoped to experience student-created live music. This opportunity never came, though. If you visit the “Music Events” page on SCC’s website, it’s completely blank, save for a Spindrift release party from 2021.

SCC’s music community is alive and rich with talented, passionate students and faculty. Despite this, SCC’s music-related events aren’t on anyone’s radar.

Low attendance and publicity for SCC’s music events is a symptom of a broader issue. As the world returns to in-person events, touring has become increasingly expensive and inaccessible for even professional musicians, and the question is already being raised of whether live music will ever be the same.

So how can our community support the people who make it possible? In the most literal sense, we can show up for them! Live music can create a rich atmosphere for both music students and music enjoyers alike and the music department has much to showcase from their time in silence.

On November 10th at 3:30 p.m., the music department is hosting an event in the 800 building on campus: a jazz quintet consisting of Jim Rotondi, Dick Oatts, Marc Seales, Paul Gabrielson, and SCC’s own Music Technology instructor Matt Jorgensen. You can reserve your free ticket here.

Additionally, a department-wide Student Showcase will be held on December 8th at 12 p.m. The department hopes to close out the quarter on a high note and show off what they’ve been working on. More information about student performances will be available as December approaches, so keep an eye (and ear) out for that.