New club discovers, shares music together

Photo provided by Music Discovery Club

Veronica Novotny
Editor-in-Chief

“(My new club) is sort of self-serving, in a way, because this is just an excuse for me to get to listen to music for two hours and get to hear other people’s tastes. But it’s still super awesome to be able to share that with other people,” said the student founder of one of Franciscan University of Steubenville’s newest clubs.

Junior Christopher Dacanay said he has been “toying around with the idea” for this club since the end of last semester, and was motivated to get the paperwork done so he could make his dream a reality.

“I have always liked music discovery … in a broad sense,” Dacanay said. “My favorite thing to do is every Monday go onto Spotify’s Discover Weekly. That’s sort of where I got the name (for the club) from, too.”

The club meets every Saturday from 8-10 p.m. in Egan 219, which is equipped with a projector and speaker system.

At the meetings, the policy is “first to come, first to share,” and each attendee picks a song that they would like to share with the group, Dacanay said.

“It all erupted from my idea, my desire to have another way that people could have community with each other, specifically centered around the universal love of music,” Dacanay said. “What better way to learn about other people than to have them share their own interest in music in a controlled setting, talk about it and just have a good time? Because everybody likes to just sit back and listen to songs, especially if you have input into what those songs are.”

Dacanay said he was helped along in the process by Ronald McNamara, coordinator of Student Leadership Development and advisor to Dacanay’s household, Fishers of Men. He has also been well-supported by his household brothers, who have come to the first three club meetings.

When describing the meetings, Dacanay said, “We get some consistent people who are coming because they like what’s going on. … I can definitely tell that at the meetings, that people come, they got a smile on their faces (and) this is something they’re passionate about.”

“We allow the person who shared (the song) to give their initial thoughts, and then discussion follows. It can be humorous, it can be a little insightful,” Dacanay said. “We usually don’t stay on a song for longer than 15 minutes, in terms of talking about it.”

Dacanay encouraged any student to come and check out the club, even if he or she can’t stay for the whole two hours.

“It’s really low commitment. Anyone can come,” Dacanay said. “(Like) if you’re studying late Saturday night, and you’re like, ‘I need a study break, I’m gonna go to the Music Discovery Club for just one hour, listen to some music, have a good time and then leave.”

At the most recent meeting Saturday, the club tried choosing songs based on a theme for the first time. Its first theme was “road trip songs.”

Dacanay himself shared “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” by The Police.

Dacanay told the story, “This song came on the radio during a road trip with me and one of my friends. I remarked, ‘Oh, The Police!’ and startled my friend, who shouted, ‘What! Where?’”

Junior Matthew Millenheft shared “Rocky Mountain High” by John Denver.

Millenheft said, “The thing I like most about the Music Discovery Club is that it is a vibe. … (It is) a good Saturday night thing to do that’s not studying or hanging out in my room — it’s a nice little get-together with a couple (of) other Frannies that I haven’t really met before.

“It’s interesting to kinda see other people’s (interests) in music and be able to share my own with people as well — be able to hear songs I haven’t heard before, share songs that, maybe, other people haven’t heard before. … It’s a nice, little way to move into Sunday.”

After sharing “Everything We Need” by A Day To Remember, junior Michael Garcia said, “It’s an enjoyable way to spend the evening if you like music. It’s fun, it’s interesting. Time flies by!”

After sharing “The Trooper (Overture)” by 2CELLOS, junior Justin Manzer said, “The Music Discovery Club is an amazing way to relax and enjoy music and share music with other people who enjoy (it).”

Senior Patrick Frazier shared “Rattlin’ Bog” by Carlyle Fraser.

Frazier said, “It’s a fun way to kinda just come together and bond over … something as simple as what kind of music (you) enjoy listening to. Particularly, tonight we had a theme of road trips songs. … That was especially fun (because) it’s really interesting seeing what different people consider to be a good road trip song, whether … it reminds me of mountains or it’s a fun beat to drive to or it’s just craziness about birds and eggs and bogs.”

The group communicates over a GroupMe chat, which has 73 members as of Oct. 8.

In addition to being president of his own club, Dacanay is also the sports editor at the Troubadour, has a radio show on Franciscan Effect Fridays from 6-7 p.m. and is a lab supervisor at the audio lab.

“I wanna use that time for, if I know people who want to get into some audio recording, they can come in during my lab time or something and record stuff,” Dacanay said. “The Music Discovery Club … is definitely dedicated to just sharing musical tastes right now, but I want to expand it at some point where people who are music creators can come in, and instead of playing music that they like, can play music that they’ve created, and get other people to hear it, get some exposure and get some feedback if they’re working on a demo.”