 "Photo: Brandon Tan/Poly Post")
Candice Brown sat poised on a stool, microphone in hand, looking out over the capacity crowd in the Music Recital Hall during last Thursday's Songwriter Showcase. The crowd sat in anticipation as music began to emit from the grand piano situated next to her and Wayne Ingram's voice cut through the room, her clear high voice blending into beautiful harmonies as they sang Ingram's "Memory," a sad but powerful pop ballad.
Backing them up were Andres Aguirre - who provided an electrifying guitar solo midway through the piece - and The Polyphonics, the house band consisting of drummer Jeanette Lawler and bassist Nick Meade that was also featured at last quarter's Songwriter Showcase.
This sense of collaboration was in full effect throughout the night, with the various singer/songwriters accompanying each other for most of the performances.
"The first [Songwriter Showcase] focused more around individual songwriters … and occasionally we brought in other musicians. These past two ones, and especially this one, we really tried to have songwriters work with each other and sing on each other's songs," said recording technology professor Arthur Winer, the director of the show. "We're trying to make it more into a cohesive show than just individual singer/songwriters."
Winer first conceived the Songwriter Showcase last year, an opportunity for student musicians to play their original songs.
Brown collaborated with several musicians throughout the show, most notably Matt Matsumoto. The two are both veterans of the first two showcases and collaborated together during last quarter's performance.
Following the tradition they established at the last show, they played a humorous song. Entitled "Mother Earth," the song was a dedication to their maternal caretakers with nature-infused lyrics.
Because of the joint songwriting aspect of this show, the deadlines for material were tighter than before. But, under the gun, Brown and Matsumoto found the inspiration they needed to produce another memorable number.
"Matt and I actually didn't have a song yet, so I … made a random title," said Brown. "Since it was Mother's Day, I put 'Mother Earth' down."
The song was the second in Brown's set, which began just after the intermission that followed "Memory."
She began with the very moving "Into This Bliss," an intimate pop piece that found Brown alone on stage with her acoustic. The stripped-down version of a song she previously recorded in the music department studios was engaging in the way it relied on her voice alone to carry it along.
Brown said she is now considering re-recording it in the style of her live rendition.
Her final song, excepting the closing number that found all the participants sharing the spotlight at once, took the notion of collaboration one step further as she got the behind-the-scenes - Winer included - players of the show singing her song, "Don't Put Me on The Backburner."
With its third incarnation in two years, the showcase is starting to gel. This show saw a mix of veterans and first-timers that took the musical diversity one step further.
Saxophones and foreign language lyrics - elements that were unheard of just a year - fit nicely into this show.
"Taste of Love," a song about lovers who live in different countries, was sung entirely in Chinese. Li Lin Huang's soft soprano lifted the song's pop crescendos to dizzying heights with enough emotion to transcend the language barrier.
"The song is kind of bittersweet … it's kind of from my own experience," Huang said.
Huang, who graduates this fall, enjoyed performing and said she would return to the showcase if she could.
"I wish they would have one in the fall so I could do it again," she said.
Even for veteran performers, saying goodbye to the showcase was a difficult proposition.
"Just performing is so ecstatic … it's definitely a high," said Francisco Flores, a graduating senior who played the first show. "[If this is my last one] it's definitely a way to go, because it's so much fun."
Fortunately for fans of the show, not all of the performers will be gone when the fourth Songwriter Showcase, which Winer has planned for next winter, happens.
"I'm trying to grow the Songwriter Showcase and make it more visible on campus. There's a lot of demand; every time I do it I get a long of songwriters that approach me," said Winer. "I want this to grow to be too big for this venue."
With performers like Brown, who will be returning next year, Winer's dream is likely to come true.
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