By Lola Marks
The CIS University Music Room, a small yet beloved club among the students, offers a multitude of ways to express your love of music. Through singing and playing instruments or sharing artists and music, or even just analyzing and interpreting lyrics, this club does it all. There is, perhaps, a misconception that you have to play an instrument or sing to be able to go there, but you don’t. The idea is to include everyone, not just musicians. This crew genuinely creates a new and different sense of community with students and fosters their talent.
Anthony Verrecchio, Director of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Spain Foundation and professor of Human Rights at CIS University, created the club three semesters ago. He has been a musician since he was 14 years old, playing the guitar, mandolin, classical bass, trumpet, and singing. Even though he is the moderator of this club, he truly sees himself as an equal with the students once the music starts to play.
He states, “I’m just another person in the group. Obviously, students look at me differently because I’m very clearly not a student, but that room has an interesting way of greatly minimizing that sort of thing.” He constantly does his absolute best to make sure students feel his support and his undying passion for music, and through this club, he notices the great enthusiasm shared by students. He always finds himself pleasantly surprised when students have new music they want to share with him and everyone else, and claims to learn a lot from members of the group. He claims that it has always been one of his favorite aspects of this club: “I can now pick up nuances that I would normally not in production, intention, and composition that I might have completely overlooked just through outright dismissal of the prospect of listening to a certain genre.”
The CIS University Music Room is a great way to get out of your comfort zone and learn something new. This club was created to bring students together from all backgrounds in a relaxed and lively environment. Theo Svistunov, one of the students involved in the CIS University Music Room, said, “I met a lot of cool and talented people with diverse music tastes.” He also says it’s a great place to express his love of music: “I love music; it’s one of my passions, and after my serious degree, I’m probably going to do something with music.”
The Music Room usually has around ten members in each meeting, but it is always welcoming to newcomers. The club takes place at various times and days of the week, depending on member availability and schedules. Many of the students use this club to relax and really let loose from any external stressors. They think of it as a place where real connections can be formed, in a different way from other clubs on campus.
Moderator Anthony Verrecchio sees this connection being formed between students from an outer perspective, “It sounds cliche, but on a level that I don’t think we’re even aware of, you realize when you sit down with people and open yourself up to explain ‘this means this to me, what do you think?’ And they do the same thing. There’s this massive connection in an unexpected way that transcends all the superficial stuff,” said Verrecchio.
In summation, the CIS University Music Room can be a great way to relax after classes, meet new people, learn about new kinds of music, and just generally discuss and further explore your passion. It’s a wonderful club on campus that truly exhibits student talent and skill in a new light.
Here is one final quote from Anthony Verrecchio that truly conveys the meaning behind the experience at The CIS University Music Room: “Those important moments in your life when you’re developing and you listen to a song that was heavily in great rotation during that time and it just becomes a natural part of your own history. That’s what music has become for me, a way to access a deeper part of my memories.”
