Bachelor students organised an online music concert last month - we wanted to know more about this great project!

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Music Committee

Could you please tell us a few words about the BX Music Committee?

I (Amelie) created the Music Committee in Fall 2019 upon my first months here at Ecole Polytechnique. My musical background is mainly one of classical piano music, so arriving in the Bachelor Program where I got to listen to people make music of all sorts of styles was really cool. I wanted to gather those people so we could share our experiences, play together and just have some fun. Basically, create a community among musicians! That first semester the Music Committee’s main activity was weekly jam sessions where people played for and with each other, the piano or other instruments, rehearsed or improvised. We also organized a performance for one of our Tripromo-Bachelor dinners.

In the second semester of 2019-2020 academic year, the Music Committee planned and organized an online music week during the first lockdown. It consisted of musical quizzes, challenges, video recordings and a live performance. At the end of the semester, I was joined on the board by two more skilled leaders, Remy and Elie.

How does your committee cope with the current situation?

Given the health situation, we are currently restricted to activities that do not involve large numbers of people.

Earlier this year, we focused on allowing students to individually practice their instruments by giving them access to music rooms on campus. We're also working to set up a studio for recording sessions and band practice that will hopefully be open with proper sanitary measures by the end of this year.

You organised a fully-online concert lately. Was it difficult to plan this event in such a challenging time?

The concert had been in planning for a long period of time. At first, we tried to see if the event could be held in person but the current pandemic situation ruled that out as an option. Considering that we had a lot of online events during last year's lockdown, making the concert fully-online came naturally as a secondary option.

Fortunately, there are many talented musicians within the Bachelor program so it was no problem at all to find performers for the event. Our initial plan of hosting it in person came with lots of concessions that we were not willing to make (limited attendance for example), but we retained many elements from our original planning such as location and the general format.

Surprisingly, one of our main difficulties was to get a drum set. So we would like to thank the orchestra here on campus for lending us theirs. Thankfully, we are investing in more equipment so organising concerts in the future should only be easier!

What was the program of the concert?

We were lucky to have a very diverse program ranging from rock to classical music. Here is a full list of our performers and what they played:

  • Eliott Sarrey/Filip Miljevic/Vincent Sietses: Enter Sandman, Metallica, and American Idiot, Green Day
  • Eliott/Filip/Milena Nedeljkovic: Teenage Kicks, The Undertones
  • Marius Ceribelli: Moonlight Sonata, 1st movement, Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Milena Nedeljkovic: Fantasia no.12 for Solo Flute, by Georg Ph. Telemann
  • Carolina Nina Matos: Monologue from “The Importance of Being Earnest”, Oscar Wilde
  • Hana Ephremidze: Waltz in C-Sharp Minor, opus 64, no. 4 Fréderic Chopin
  • Elie Attias: Daemon, Elie Attias
  • Amaury Jean/Antoine Majoie: Lascia chio pianga, Georg Friedrich Händel
  • Doan Dai Nguyen: Always with me, Joe Hishashi (arrangement by various artists)
  • Virginia Maria Smekal: En Prière, Gabriel Fauré
  • Amelie Koch: Prelude in G-Minor, opus. 23 no. 5, Sergej Rachmaninow

Any other events planned in the near future?

For the upcoming semester, we are planning a 2-week long preparation workshop in order to find and prepare next year’s Music Committee board for their tasks. This workshop will most likely include the organization of another music week & concert.

In general, the main organization of Music Committee activities comes from us, the three board members, with the generous support of about 10 other active members and a larger Telegram group chat involving a total of 53 members.