The Daily Gamecock

School of Music holds voter registration concerts on Greene Street

<p>Lead singer of Room XII Mike Stearns performs in front of Russell House on Greene street as part of the Play Your Part campaign. Play Your Part is encouraging people to register and vote in the upcoming election.</p>
Lead singer of Room XII Mike Stearns performs in front of Russell House on Greene street as part of the Play Your Part campaign. Play Your Part is encouraging people to register and vote in the upcoming election.

The School of Music held a series of concerts focused on registering voters on Greene Street Thursday. 

The organizer of "Play Your Part," assistant professor of cello Claire Bryant, said School of Music students strongly supported the event.

“I just kind of put a call out, and people jumped — I had the signup sheet almost filled in the first week,” Bryant said.

Students recognized the opportunity for a now-rare live performance, said Mike Stearns, a fourth-year sport and entertainment management student who’s the frontman for Room XII, a rock band that performed Thursday.

“My vocal instructor reached out to me and was like, ‘Hey this is a cool thing that they're doing out on Greene Street today,’” Stearns said. “We’ve been dying to get out and play. It’s impossible to play with COVID going on; so, you know, it’s just good to get out.”

In addition to Room XII, the event featured a wide range of music genres, according to third-year jazz studies student Seth Brock, who is also Room XII’s drummer.

“We’re kind of spreading the awareness of like, all types of music for people who enjoy it,” Brock said. 

A jazz band, the Gamecock Cellists and several small string groups joined Room XII to perform Thursday. 

Music wasn’t the only thing awareness was being raised for. Members of freshman council tabled at the event, distributing masks and answering questions about voting. Anna Maryniak, a first-year biology student, said voting is a large part of freshman council. 

“We immediately knew that we wanted to take on voter registration, we wanted to encourage voting,” Maryniak said.

Freshman council’s table also featured QR codes people could use to obtain their voter registration information. 

The combination of music and voter registration, Bryant said, drew people out.

“We're not just playing in a concert hall, but we're actually using music to engage in a deeper way, as sort of artist-citizens. And so, I think people were pumped about that,” Bryant said.


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