Musicians flourish at City College

By Cailie Skelton
STAFF WRITER

Eloy Cipriano fell in love when he was nine and by the time he was 15 he knew he wanted to dedicate his life to his love. What he loved, of course, was Hip-Hop. Cipriano is just one of many different musicians at City College.

“I started making beats with my cousins and nephew when I was nine,” Cipriano said. “We would just make beats and laugh.” By the time he was in high school, Cipriano knew he wanted to make hip hop his career.

Cipriano is majoring in broadcasting and minoring in music. He is one of a large number of City College students taking music classes with  the intention of becoming a professional musician.

“City College has been really helpful. The programs are good and I’ve met people from all over,” Cipriano said.

The City College music department offers a wide variety of music classes including piano, woodwind, classical guitar, singing and percussion. City College also offers classes in music theory, musicianship and music appreciation.

“I like how you can take a classical guitar class,” said Alicia Fogarty, a child development major who’s also studying jazz. She has been playing music since she was three years old and is currently in a rock-influenced band called Social Sunday.

Almost every musician uses the internet for promotion and students at City College are no exception. Web sites like MySpace allow artists to post pictures, show dates, bios and even post MP3s for people to listen to. With so much Web traffic, MySpace has become a great place for musicians to network. “It helps us to promote and it gets us fans from all over the world,” Fogarty said.

Cipriano also uses Myspace to promote himself. He likes that people from anywhere in the world can listen to his music and know when his shows are. He recently used the Web site to promote successful performances, including one which city hall officials, a radio station and local vendors had attended.

The elements that influence the musicians on campus are as diverse as the musicians themselves. “I get my inspiration from life,” Cipriano said.

Information about Eloy Cipriano can be found at http://www.myspace.com/cipre.

Information about Alicia Fogartys band, Social Sunday, can be found at http://www.myspace.com/indiesafe.