Following the Music in Summer
Media studies major Anton Cross used his audio equipment and sound mixing chops for an internship with the Turtle Creek Orchestra in Janesville, Wis., this summer. He worked alongside Ian Nie, music professor emeritus, who directs the non-profit orchestra and runs the Maple Tree Studio in downtown Beloit’s Center for Entrepreneurship, also known as CELEB. In his free time, Cross is also planning a television project with Assistant Professor of Media Studies Joe Bookman.
Tell me about your internship.
It started with me coming to rehearsals every week in Janesville—setting up gear, pianos, moving around amplifiers—and clearing up once rehearsal is finished. The first concert was held in Riverside Park in Beloit, which took the majority of the day to set up. Throughout the performance, I would have a mixing console and listen through a pair of headphones so I could hear each group of instruments and adjust the sound to make everything work together.
What’s it like working with Professor Ian Nie?
I’ve taken a lot of classes with Ian. He’s really great—I could go on and on about him. He’s a mentor. To many people, he’s almost an off-campus family member. He just retired but he should be teaching another year or so—he has some more business to attend to with his students!
Have you been up to anything creative or fun when you’re not working?
I had this idea with my advisor, Joe Bookman, to start a TV show, or at least start gathering footage for some sort of project. We’ve been planning to get into the Beloit Public Access Television station and start reaching out to people. Part of the idea was, “Let’s do this really low-budget, kind of crappy fake TV talk show and have people go nuts with whatever they want to talk about.” It’s partly for fun, partly to exercise creative abilities.