A normal Tuesday evening of passersby trying to escape the biting cold wind was interrupted by a soft, relaxing chime that echoed across MLK Commons.
Members of the NIU Percussion Ensemble gathered at MLK Commons at 4 p.m. Tuesday to perform their Sound Garden as part of the homecoming festivities.
The Garden was a dangerously relaxing mix of gongs, windchimes, rain sticks, finger cymbals and handbells combined with a chill digital soundscape. The gentle tempo of instruments and hypnotic lull of the soundscape attracted quite an audience.
Such calming and hypnotic sounds drew the attention of more passersby as time went on, curious about such an oddly effective concoction and melting pot of various sounds and instruments and the soft twinkle of the windchimes that could even be heard as far away as DuSable Hall.
A group of interested audience members sat on the grass, enjoying the relaxing sounds despite the bitterly cold winds. Some audience members even laid down and stared into the endlessly blue sky whilst listening.
D’andrae Atkins, a member of the NIU Percussion Ensemble, sound designer of the soundscape for the Sound Garden and recording arts major, was surprised to have a bigger audience than expected.
“It was a surreal experience,” Atkins said. “The crowd was definitely bigger than I expected it would be and it’s pretty cold today so I didn’t think many people would come by.”
As the minutes ticked by, visitors were welcomed to walk through the sidewalk where the Sound Garden was held and experience the various sounds surrounding them and coming together into a relaxing tune.
As the garden came to a close, audience members were welcomed to observe the instruments up close and try performing with them while being instructed by members of the NIU Percussion Ensemble.
Jacob Parra, a member of the NIU Percussion Ensemble, composer for the Sound Garden and a second-year masters student, enjoyed interacting with and performing for members of the audience that stopped by.
“It was pretty cathartic,” Parra said. “Lots of thinking goes into the show and it’s nice to have people relax and reflect. We really wanted to make it interactive and have people included in the experience.”
The Sound Garden had quite the relaxing aura and made it very easy to forget about the various classes, deadlines and midterms needing to be dealt with.
