Kelvin Hawkins
Staff Writer
Draven Jackson
Arts & Entertainment Editor
POPulus is calling student songwriters to submit original works to be recorded and performed by the group.
POPulus is a product of Ilium Records, a class on Troy campus that presents students with the opportunity to understand the business side of music industry.
“Students have the opportunity to work with music professionally, and they understand how to market it. It allows students to learn and perform music within a short period of time,” said Ava Barrett, POPulus production manager and a musician with the group.
Ilium Records and POPulus have been a part of Troy for five years and have had a steady increase of student involvement during that time.
Matt Fulton, a senior music industry major from St. Petersburg, Florida, said he would definitely encourage students to join POPulus, as being a part of the group opens more opportunities outside of the university for the musicians.
“Troy is the only school in the nation that has anything like Ilium Records and POPulus,” Fulton said. “ I have been a classical trombone player, sometimes dabbling in jazz, for most of my career.
“I began commercial (pop) trombone playing with POPulus. People heard my playing with POPulus, and I about doubled my gig schedule.”
POPulus is currently accepting original works of music from students of all backgrounds until Sept. 15, which the group plans to record and perform at upcoming concerts.
“The recording project every fall is amazing,” Fulton said. “The songs are recorded in environments engineered by competent, high-level students, overseen by our industry professional faculty and recorded by high-level performing students.”
The range of genre for POPulus is not limited to strictly pop music — it also performs jazz, country and even rock ’ n’ roll. The organization is open to any type of music submitted to it.
Robert Smith, a professor of music at Troy, coordinator of the music industry program and producer of POPulus, said that POPulus is looking for original, real songs.
“We are looking for really great songs that express real, human emotion in any popular genre,” Smith said. “If you go onto iTunes and look, we have five albums up and every one of those albums, all E.P.s (extended plays), were all student-written by Troy University students, student-performed, student-recorded, etc.”
According to Smith, the group will choose, record and perform anywhere from three to nine of the submitted songs.
The group’s first performances are scheduled for Sept. 19 at the Dothan Opera House at 9:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
For students interested in submitting their songs, email Adam Diamond of Ilium Records at jdiamond129339@troy.edu.
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