The Spirit of Rock N’ Roll in Santa Fe

This past Tuesday night, we had our end-of-semester collegium, a concert, open-mic night hybrid that takes its name from the latin for college, brotherhood, or society. And what a society it was. Performers on the program ranged from spoken word performers and acoustic rock bands to classical ensembles and operatic sopranos.

I put together a band earlier this fall with the aim of performing the Battle of the Bands song from The School of Rock. There was no way I would ever be able to perform in a real battle of the bands, or in a classical string ensemble, but here was my chance to have my long-awaited Jack Black moment anyway. Free from the strings of any official, bureaucratic performance art program, we are able to experiment with music, to play with our friends, to make fools of ourselves.

Of course, for those more seriously inclined, the St. John’s College Ensemble performed a piece by Mozart, and the small choir performed a selection of classic carols. Only a few freshman and assorted staff members remained in the audience as everyone who had been through the Sophomore music program at any point in their lives got up and sang Sicut Cervus to close out the evening.