Students and community members showed their own styles of music at the All Styles Night in the Pottle Recital Hall on Wednesday, April 4.

The event, put on by the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, was originally planned to be held outside in the Pottle Performance Circle, but due to the wet ground from rainy weather the night before, the event was moved indoors.

“The event has become very popular, however, this is only about half of the crowd we usually have. We usually have about 80 to 100 people. We had to move inside because there was water everywhere outside,” said Patrick Kerber, instructor and coordinator of guitar activities.

Performers were mainly students, but this year also included Associate Professor of Mathematics Danny Acosta and community member Emma Mosely.

Mosley, who is eleven years old, sang two songs. She played one on her acoustic guitar, and then she played “Find My Way Back Home” by Priscilla Ahn on her ukulele.

“Emma Mosley, a community member, studies with me. She came to Southeastern through the summer music camp, and she studies voice here as well,” Kerber said.

Another style shown was a duet of violin and classical guitar. The violin was played by Andreina Colina. Her partner, Jojo White, played the guitar. For their second piece, Colina changed to the cajon, which is a box shaped percussion instrument. It takes its roots from Peru. The instrument, which looks like a sitting stool, is played by slapping the hands on the face of it for sound. 

The last performance of the night was performed by The Telegraph Salesmen. For All Styles Night, the band went all out and made it a big band performance. There were eight people all together playing two original compositions. “And I Hope It Never Ends” written by Carter Patrick MacFarland and “Back Burner” written by Max McClintock.

There were two guitars, drums, two saxophones, a cello, mandolin and bass guitar played for the ensemble, and it can only be described as individual.

“For years, I’ve been trying to build my own orchestra of sorts. I needed a mandolin to play, and one just falls into my lap hours before the show. All I wanted was to build a sound that couldn’t be replicated,” MacFarland said.

According to McClintock, “This was the first time I got the chance to play one of my songs with a full band, and playing with what are now longtime friends, and fine musicians made it easy, in spite of how thrown together it was.”

“All I did was strike the balance, they did it all themselves. It started off with three or four guys, and it turned into eight. They know that this is their one chance to get off of the classical stage. I thought the jazz plan was outstanding,” Kerber said, “That’s the whole point; it’s all styles of music. Part of the whole thing is, in school we study classical music, but in reality, a certain number of the people are not going to be classical musicians. But the training they receive sets them up to be better musicians, and this is one of the venues where they can express that.”

The final event of the Southeastern Guitar Festival will be held on Monday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m. in the Pottle Auditorium. The event will showcase solo guitar, guitar with saxophone and guitar duets. Guest artists will include Jessica Davis Bryan and Patrick Kerber. The admission is free. If you are interested in finding out more about The Telegraph Salesmen visit their Reverb Nation site at www.reverbnation.com/thetelegraphsalesmen.