Page 4
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2013
CAMPUS NEWS Talking points: Roget Pontbriand By Megan Human Staff Writer
Talking with Roget Pontbriand is like downloading 40 years of music in half an hour. Pontbriand, the founder of Palm Beach Atlantic University’s popular music program, has performed with Aretha Franklin and Natalie Cole. He has composed for Firestone and Goodyear Tires, and has founded four collegiate music programs, including co-founding the worship leader program at PBA with Dr. Tim Thompson. Pontbriand sat down with the Beacon to discuss the major, his resume that speaks volumes and the shifting climate of the music industry. The Beacon: The popular music program helps college students go out and make a name for themselves among their peers. How is music a necessary element of youth and young adult culture? Roget Pontbriand: Music is young culture. Every young person that I know lives with music constantly around them. If they play video games, some of the best music being composed today is for video games. If they watch any kind of media at all, they are engaged with music. The music that they listen to defines them. You will invariably gravitate to the music that speaks to you. Occasionally, you may listen to music outside of that box. The Christian doesn’t always listen to Christian music, but for the most part you are going to select the music that you most identify with and that most identifies you. With the Internet and other new technology, it’s now
PHOTO BY HARLEY HUKE
Roget Pontbriand has an impeccable resume, from starting the Pop major at PBA to touring with a myriad of bands.
possible to promote yourself without the initial help of a major record company. How does this change the way the industry is handled? When we had an industry that was dominated by the record companies, there were some good points in that. The best point was longevity. The companies invested in an artist and they wanted to profit by that investment. So an art-
ist like Stevie Wonder or Aretha Franklin would have great longevity because the record companies invested in them. Relatively few individuals could benefit from that kind of system. Today, the student with the entrepreneur spirit can create a product, distribute it, self promote. The beauty of it is that instead of a mere 7 percent of the profits on what we used to call a single, the entrepreneur can virtually make almost a 100 percent profit. The record companies had a strangle hold on style and what the consumer was allowed to digest. And they were slow to make change because of insecurity. Today, the entrepreneur musician can create virtually anything his heart desires and he can hopefully generate a cult following, like Blue Oyster Cult and the Grateful Dead. And those artists worked outside of the old system? They survived outside the mainstream but still worked within the previous system. That now is today’s system, the group that generates a cult following. You’re not going to generate enough revenue from iTunes to make the industry like it used to be. With Pandora and Spotify, music has become virtually free. Is it more or less difficult for a young adult to break into the music industry with this new technology? It’s so much easier. How so? In the past you had to either be well connected or be related. It was very difficult to break in. Or you had to come up with a product that was ground breaking, To view the full interview, visit Readmybeacon.com.
Who’s Who in PBA music Ethan Parker
David Rogers
Lauren Graber
J ane l l e Jo rdan
Hantz Metellus
Born and raised in the U.S. music capital of Memphis, Tenn., Ethan Parker has already had some of his musical dreams come true. In addition to singing, Parker plays the guitar, ukulele, banjo, mandolin, piano and drums, with the guitar as his main instrument. Since his first CD’s release, Be Still, in Jan. 2012, Parker and his band have performed in over 35 concerts throughout Florida, anywhere from PBA to churches to high schools. Next year the band will release an album titled From the Mountains to the Sea. “God told me to dream big and try to do as much as I can because my life here is limited and short,” Parker said. “We think of how we can make a difference to people and that’s where we focus.”
Not many college students can say that they have performed for or had dinner with Maria Pia of Savoy (the Princess of Italy) or John Loring (design director of Tiffany and Co.) - but PBA senior David Rogers sure can. The performer is double-majoring in music composition and violin performance, averaging about 22 credits for each of his seven college semesters. Rogers started playing violin at age six, with composition coming at age seven. He has been making himself known around the world, having performed in various countries throughout Europe, the Caribbean and East Asia in the summers. “My goal in music as in life is to lift peoples’ souls to heights beyond their hopes,” he said.
It was nearly inevitable that PBA senior Lauren Graber would pursue music. “My family was the type of family that would sing hymns during dinner time,” she said. Her mother also studied opera in college and her father plays guitar, often leading worship at his church. Graber traces back her inspiration to chase her opera dreams to both her mother and PBA Professor Marilyn Mims, a former professional Metropolitan Opera performer. “When I met her at a summer PBA music camp, I immediately fell in love with her personality and the technique of how she teaches the music,” she said. Graber has competed in six vocal competitions, which is where she can make a name for herself as well as meet professionals who want to help her reach her goals.
Florida native Janelle Jordan never planned on attending PBA for her vocal music education. After auditioning for prestigious New York conservatories, the now senior instantly felt God telling her to not continue in that direction. “At that moment I realized that I had forced my future to be only what I wanted it to be, which was different from God’s plans for me,” she said. With a quick change of plans, Jordan auditioned into the PBA music program, immediately feeling that this is where she is supposed to be. “I strive so hard to be the very best I can be,” she said, in regards to the effort and time she puts into her singing.
Born and raised in his home country of Haiti, junior Hantz Metellus came to PBA with a variety of musical talents. He plays bass guitar, viola, violin, cello, drums, recorder, harmonica and trumpet. Although he only started playing bass less than two years ago, his skill level makes it seem like he has been playing his entire life. “I felt that God was telling me that bass was my thing,” Metellus said. “So I started playing and immediately fell in love with it, and then I caught up to the college level.” He currently is the professional bass player of a local jazz flamingo band called Urban Gypsy. He used to play piano for two years at a Jamaican church and can now be found playing bass for the Haitian church at First Baptist Church on Sunday mornings.