Jon Bellona, Instructor of Audio Production

SOMD faculty members Molly Barth and David Riley perform music from their new album "Thorn" with composer David Riley at New York's National Sawdust. Barth serves as associate professor of flute. Riley is associate professor of collaborative piano.

By Steve Fyffe

It’s after hours and most classes on campus are already done for the day, but students in the songwriting workshop course are just getting started.

First-year student Alivia Nelson steps up to the microphone in a darkened studio at the School of Music and Dance and starts to sing her original song “Make Some Room,” while acclaimed jazz pianist and associate professor Toby Koenigsberg records her vocal track into a laptop computer.

For anyone who’s ever wondered what it would be like to perform with the Oregon Marching Band in front of a packed crowd at Autzen Stadium, a new series of 360-degree “virtual reality” videos are about as close as it comes to the real thing.

“Stepping into Autzen is an awe-inspiring event,” said Nick Bonnema, a psychology major from Beaverton who plays trombone in the band. “(These videos) allow them to experience the game as if they’re there, instead of seeing just what the director of the video wants them to see.”

Five high school students from across Oregon were chosen to work with professional composer and Philip H. Knight professor of music Robert Kyr to compose variations on Beethoven's most famous work – the "Ode to Joy" theme from his Ninth Symphony.

Watch their reactions as the Eugene Symphony performs their finished piece in front of a live audience for the first time.

"Musicians must develop a consistent brand to help fans find them, but to also help them to distinguish themselves as artists,” says UO alum Mark Samples of Central Washington University.

"Branding consultants do it for you. I empower students to do it for themselves."