Faculty Tuesdays event spotlights songwriting, individual expression
Associate Professor of Composition Annika Socolofsky and Associate Teaching Professor of Composition Mike Barnett are dedicated educators at Boulder’s College of Music who also play other roles outside of their status as professors.
Namely, both Barnett and Socolofsky are actively engaged composers and singer-songwriter artists who practice what they preach to their students when it comes to self-expression and creativity through music.
, Nov. 11, offers the duo the chance to spotlight their singer-songwriter sides for our campus and community concertgoers. More broadly, the performance will represent the ways that the College of Music is evolving: Even as Barnett and Socolofsky bring their original compositions to the stage, opportunities for students’ self-expression as musicians, songwriters and artists are continually expanding.
“We were excited when Mike and Annika proposed their event for the Faculty Tuesdays series because it gives us the chance to more fully highlight the diversity of work being done at the Boulder College of Music,” says Presents Executive Director Andrew Metzroth. “It also gave us an opportunity to stretch the boundaries of what can happen in Grusin Music Hall.”
Specifically, Metzroth helped support audio engineering and supplemental lighting—as well as the extra funds needed to support a rock-style concert. Presents in general manages event promotions and programs including for all Faculty Tuesday events.
“Mike and I are both so excited to bring songwriting to the Faculty Tuesdays series,” says Socolofsky. The event will feature 10 of her original songs as well as Socolofsky’s queer, country and Western alter-ego EmmyJean Jenkins.
“We’re starting two brand-new degree programs here at the College of Music:Songwriting and Music Production. We hope we’re the first of many songwriting Faculty Tuesdays that showcase the ways that the college’s offerings are branching out.”
Socolofsky will be joined onstage by an ensemble that includes Trace Hybertson on fiddle, isele phoenix harper on keyboards, alumnus Ilan Blanck (MM ’23) on guitar and Nicole Patrick on drums for a program including “a rather thorough needling of the patriarchy along with quite a few jokes about men named Brad ... or Brock ... or Brice ... or some name like that.”
Barnett’s portion of the program will draw on collaborations with Jazz Studies Lecturer Enion Pelta-Tiller on vocals and fiddle, Fritz Gearhart on fiddle and Assistant Teaching Professor of Percussion Carl Dixon on percussion for a showcase of eight of his original songs (plus one cover).
Barnett is an active musician in the Boulder community and beyond; he’s a regular attendee of local songwriting sessions and performs his self-described brand of “Outlaw Folk” in open mics and community performances. Like Socolofsky, he views this event as a chance not only to bring his music to the Boulder campus, but to contribute to a deeper shift—in terms of focus, access and expression—in the entire community.
“We’re launching these new degree programs and we’re also in the process of building a multitrack studio,” he adds. “That’s going to open doors for all of our students. I think these efforts all speak loudly to what we’re doing here, building a more diverse and inclusive body of artistry.
“I think these efforts all speak loudly to what we’re doing here, building a more diverse and inclusive body of artistry.”
“Music belongs to everyone. There are so many voices that traditionally haven’t been heard in academia. It’s an important part of our mission—and the college’suniversal musician approach to achieving that mission—to do these things.”
It feels fitting, then, that Barnett’s only cover tune during the performance will be Bob Seger’s 1971 folk ballad, “Turn the Page.”
As Barnett reiterates, this week’s event is part of a broader effort. “We’re helping to write a new chapter.”