A First Person View of Mayfest 2017

This year marks Weedsport’s fourth annual production of Mayfest, the final performance of Weedsport’s Music Industry program. Mayfest has become a very popular event for Weedsport, as well as surrounding areas, and anyone who goes to see it is always happy they did.

Performers at this year’s Mayfest included Have You Heard?, The Normalcy, Broken Echo, Walk Into Consciousness: A New Musical, Chris and the Pros, Jay and Sam’s Jamz, Suburban Dad(s), Somehow This Works, Us, Down the Road, Cool Jams, Three Roses, Drake Butler, Alex Kunkel, 304, Gwen Lastine, Courtnee Tortorici, Lance Davenport, The Traffic Cones, myself (as a solo act), and my band, Outlook.

During my time in Mr. Franco’s Music Industry program, I have vastly improved my skills in playing, performing, and recording my own music. I have learned countless covers and written dozens of originals. I came into the Music Industry program barely knowing how to play piano and can now play songs on piano, guitar, and ukulele. This is a common theme with many of the students who take on the Music Industry program; lots of students enter the program having never touched a musical instrument in their lives and leave the program with extensive knowledge about playing and performing their own music.

Near the end of every year, students show everyone their immense improvement in the program when they perform at Mayfest. Getting ready for Mayfest takes a lot of time and effort, but as someone who has taken both music industry (the class) and songwriting and recording, I can say that it is always worth it. Students work on their Mayfest sets all year; they learn to play an instrument, learn how to cover songs, write songs, record them, and perform them, all of which are far from simple tasks.

Students build their repertoire throughout the school year, then choose their best songs to perform at Mayfest. This class also gives shy students an opportunity to grow out of stage fright. When I started music industry, I was terrified of performing. But by my first Mayfest, I no longer had any trouble whatsoever playing and singing for an audience.

The last month or two of getting ready for Mayfest is always a scramble to figure out where all the misplaced copies of songs have gone, relearn all the songs you’ve forgotten how to play, and add a few last-minute numbers to your band’s repertoire. Sets need to be timed, bios need to be written, set-lists need to be printed, pictures need to be taken, and much more. It’s a rush and can be pretty stressful at times, but it is worth it in every way. Performers and stage managers get four hours of free music, the audience loves it, and it’s a blast being with (and performing with)people who are passionate about the same things as you.

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