Students at the University of Mississippi are creating a brand new organization on campus for musicians.
The idea for Ole Miss Musicians came from current mechanical engineering student Kolbe Alsobrooks. While the members have been working on starting up the program since last year, it is officially beginning this semester.
“Organizations like this are important because it is so easy to get wrapped up in our own fields of study that we rarely connect with people outside our inner circle,” Natalie Minton, a member of OMM, said. “Music is a great way to relate to other people with whom we would not usually socialize. Music does not discriminate and calls people from all walks of life.”
OMM holdsevents both on and off campus; from open mic nights to volunteering with children through Leap Frog to help them grow their appreciation of music. According to Vice President MaKensey Sanders, OMM hopes to start fundraising to help purchase instruments for children. They also hope to begin offering free music lessons in the Grove.
Kolbe Alsobrooks, Alexandria Paton and MaKensey Sanders pose for a photo outside of High Point coffee. Alsobrooks’ goal of the Ole Miss Musicians program is to get students involved in music, regardless of their previous experience. (Photo by: Cameron Brooks)
“I’m sure that there is at least a hundred kids who’ve brought their guitars to their dorm rooms but don’t know how to play it at all, they just sit there and collect dust. So it would be really cool if I could get them to learn even just the basics, just to get them interested in it,” Alsobrooks said. “If I can get even one person to really fall in love with playing music that would be enough for me.
Currently OMM has around 70 members, and according to Sanders everyone is welcome to join, regardless of if they are a student at the university or not. Anyone interested in joining can sign up using the OMM OrgSync, or by contacting them through their various social media.
“I think that OMM and similar organizations are important because they offer students, who may not be a music major, the opportunity to participate in music,” Officer of Media Relations Alexandria Paton said. “A lot of people here in Oxford are music enthusiasts, but only a few of us get to pursue that full time. I love the idea of being able to provide a place for students to be able to get together and enjoy music.”
OMM is still in its early stages of development, and currently doesn’t have an official time or place to meet. However, the group is working with their current members to help finalize those details. According to Minton, during the 2016-2017 school year they plan on having a more precise schedule.
(Photo by: Cameron Brooks)
“We haven’t had that many meetings because we just started,” Victoria Paton, a member of OMM, said. “The times we did meet, we [just] got to know each other, talked about some future ideas, and even had an impromptu jam session.”
Though current members of OMM want to help grow their organization on campus, they have many larger goals as well. For Alsobrooks, creating this organization is important to create a sense of community not only for students on campus, but within Oxford as a whole.
“I think honestly to me it’s a success if people want to join this organization to really have that community feel with each other and talk to [and] learn from each other,” Alsobrooks said. “That’s really the main goal I want out of [all of] this.”
