“Oh! Darling,” It’s the Performing Arts Album Class!

Anna Woods Senior Writer

This year’s album class is bringing the Beatles’ Abbey Road to the Bronx as they prepare for their end-of-semester performance. This class allows students a semester-long study of a particular album of historical and musical significance.

Andy Bauer, the director of Performing Arts, explained that the class came out of watching students hanging out in the performing arts room playing pieces of “Octopus’ Garden,” a song on Abbey Road. What began as a suggestion to perform the album transformed into the class it is today. Since the first class in the spring of 2017, it officially became a part of the curriculum last year.

“Before last year, it was an independent study,” Bauer said. “It had had consistency for several years now, so now it became an actual part of the curriculum. We’re really proud of that. [The class] happened, because people were screwing around and performing art.”

Aside from the performance, a significant aspect of the class is the critical study of music from composition to musical theory.

“It’s very easy to think, okay, we’re going to perform this album, and we’re going to hold concerts. But what can I do to structure it in a formal way so that we could look at it from an academic perspective? There are elements of all kinds of things that are related to formal music study, in almost any music, but especially Abbey Road,” Bauer said.

The three-hour class is split between a one-hour lecture about the songs they are studying that day with the remainder of the class reserved for live rehearsal. Bauer shared that this class is unique to Manhattan College because of the critical study of the album.

“We look at the formal structure, we look at harmony, we look at orchestration … So doing an album class is like studying music theory, formal structure and transcription. Then also bringing in the elements of performance. I discovered that this class, in the syllabus that I came up with, is not really being taught anywhere in this way. There are tons of classes about you know, albums, or you know, rock and roll history and things like that. But I have not yet been able to find any class anywhere that actually performs a notefor-note transcription, this material, so that’s really unique and wonderful,” Bauer said. Bauer shared that working with students is his favorite part of teaching the class.

“My favorite part is that we’re exploring really great music, with great musicians, and hopefully introducing this music to a whole new generation of people. I think that’s probably the most exciting part about it. And it’s the music that I truly love … it’s so rewarding,” Bauer said.

Sophomore Matt Regalado, shared his excitement as this is his second year taking the class. He is both a guitarist and singer and said that the class pushed him to grow as both an artist and performed.

Regalado shared that one of the most challenging aspects of the class is learning to play with other people. For him, it took some adjustment as he had learned how to play guitar at home by himself. However, he loved seeing the variety of play styles from his classmates.

“Last year, at that point I had never played in a band, period. So, there was a lot to learn about how to play with other people … All these other people have different ideas and have different play styles and each kind of put their own personality into the way they play. It sounds corny, but it’s true.

He went on to explain that there is a distinction between making music and playing instruments with other people.

“Learning how … to make music with other people, which is not the same as playing instruments with other people. It’s a holistic thing. It’s a unit and learning how to be a part of that with something that I learned and something that I’m not great at, I’m not The expert on playing a band, but now I have my own band,” Regalado said.

He shared that his favorite part of the class has changed in the last year.

“Last year, my favorite part of album class was playing the music. I felt like I had something to prove, you know, I had never played in a band with people … This year, the thing about album class is that we’re all friends …and it’s a big class, it’s about 15 people.

He explained that working with his talented classmates makes him feel like he is part of a united front similar to the Avengers.

“I feel like an avenger. All these people from different groups have all these different skills. So it feels like everybody’s sort of bringing their own thing and even though we all were all very different, it sort of comes together really nicely,” Regalado said.

He attributes the success of the class to Bauer’s leadership.

“A lot of that has to do with Andy. It’s his leadership and guidance and how to think about the song and how to sort of rationalize it mentally before going at it. It is really something that I admire.,” Regalado said.

Senior Luis Chavez, who took the class last year, echoed those sentiments.

“[Andy] is a very giving teacher. It’s very rewarding to learn from someone who is so passionate about the artists themselves and the genre and the era,” Chavez said. “The class doesn’t just explore the musical aspects. But it explores a full immersion into [the artist’s] stylings,” Chavez said.

Abbey Road itself has made a deep impact on many of the students prior to the class. For Regalado, his lifelong love for the Beatles makes that class that much more exciting.

“I’m a die-hard Beatles fan. I’m obsessed. The thing about Abbey Road is, I’ve loved that thing for years… I’d spent, you know, months learning those guitar parts, and learning all the vocal harmonies and all that cool stuff. So getting to play that album with people is a dream come true, Regalado said.”

He shared that guitar player George Harrison is his favorite Beatle. He went on to explain the impact that Harrison’s songwriting has on his work, especially when it comes to “Here Comes The Sun.”

“George Harrison wrote a song about being happy. I had never done that … I still haven’t. It’s not just like, I love the melody, or I love the chords, or I love the words, it’s all of it. What it meant to me as a guitar player and as a beginner songwriter. It’s a massive inspiration.,” Regalado said.

Senior, Pat Harnedy, has been taking the album class since his sophomore year and is also a huge Beatles fan. For him, this year is even more special as Abbey Road is his favorite album. Harnedy shared that he has grown and learned a lot since his first class.

“I was always like I want the base to be front center … because I knew my parts and I was like I can play this out,” Harnedy said. “But [Andy] taught me that, like, you know, on an album it’s mixed pretty well, but we don’t have that luxury. So you have to be aware of, like, how loud you are because other people need to shine … So being in album class has taught me to be a lot more mindful of playing with other people.”

Harnedy explained that learning the album with the time crunch that they face is one of the more challenging aspects. He also shared that he plays a unique role as a workstudy student who is responsible for setup and some audio engineering.

“I handle all the setup and that’s pretty difficult because there are so many instruments and so many people. [There are] so many things you have to consider so setting up used to take me like four or five hours,” Harnedy said.

He shared that his favorite song is “Oh Darling” because of the unique bass line. Harnedy, like the rest of the class, is fully committed to executing the performance. He even purchased a new bass to emulate the sound of the album as best as possible.

“I did actually just buy a new bass for this class, which was kind of cool. Paul McCartney uses a Hofner Violin Bass which is like very specific you like because it was so light. So I bought that bass just for this class because I think it gets the sound just right … I’ve always wanted one so it was a good excuse to buy it,” Harnedy said.

Harnedy shared that he is most excited about the live performance of the album.

“I’m just so excited that we’re doing Abbey Road. I’m so excited because the show last year went so well. My sophomore year, unfortunately, was during COVID so we recorded it but we did it live last year and it was just an amazing experience,” Harnedy said.

The performance brings together other groups from the Performing Arts Department from orchestra members to costume and set designers. The show dates are May 4-6 at 8 p.m. and May 7th at 2 p.m. There is limited seating so reservations are needed.