Name: Michael Buckstein
Year: Sophomore
Hometown: Plum, Pennsylvania
Major: Music and Psychology
Organizations he’s involved in: Pitt Band, Pitt Jazz Ensemble, Pitt Symphony Orchestra, Pitt Tonight, Kappa Kappa Psi
Her Campus: So you’re involved in a lot of stuff on campus! What would you say takes up most of your time?
Michael Buckstein: What takes up the most of my time is probably Pitt Band, only because Pitt Band encompasses a million things- and by a million, I mean three, but still, it’s a lot. Pitt Band overall has three different subsets: the marching band, the concert band, and the pep band, and since I do all three of those, that’s a lot of time. Basically every week, and almost every weeknight, I’m doing something with Pitt Band, so it definitely takes up the most time in an overall sense. I also work for Pitt Band so if I’m not doing an extracurricular for Pitt Band, I’m in the band room copying music.
HC: You said you work for Pitt Band. What do you do exactly?
MB: So myself and my friend Morgan McArthur are music librarians, so we basically do anything that needs to be done, but our primary goal- at least during marching band season- is to copy and distribute music, so whenever the band needs a new song for a new halftime show or something, Doc will come to us and ask us to make copies for everyone. It’s the same with concert band: we make copies and make sure everyone has different parts that they can take home and practice. We also do whatever else needs to be done, so we clean out the Dirt (a storage space for the band, located in the basement of Trees Hall), or organize the music library that’s already there, or clean spats. We really do whatever needs to be done, but our primary focus is music and copying music.
HC: So you’re involved in what I hear is a musical service fraternity! What’s the story behind that?
MB: Yeah, so I’m a brother of Kappa Kappa Psi, which is a national honorary band service fraternity. Pitt Band actually has three fraternities and a sorority- one of them is social and the other three are service. In Kappa Kappa Psi, we do a lot of really cool stuff: you may have actually seen us recently at our “Conduct Us” event! We were in Schenley Plaza with a music stand and a big sign that said “Conduct Us!” and we just invited people to walk up, pick a song they wanted to hear, and conduct us. We do a lot of stuff like that. We go to nursing homes and play music for people, we go to high school competitions and help out, and you may have seen us at our cookie sales on Atwood. We just do a lot of service both for the community and for the band. We’re also a brotherhood of course, so almost all of my best friends are in Kappa Kappa Psi, and it’s just a really good time.
HC: That sounds like fun, I’ll have to look into that! So clearly you do a lot, and a lot with Pitt Band, but you do a lot with music in general. I know you’re playing for an upcoming show here on campus- do you want to talk a little about that?
MB: Yeah! So the Pitt Theater Department is partnering with the Pitt Music Department in an upcoming musical called Nine The Musical, and from what I understand this doesn’t happen every year. In the first half of the semester we did normal orchestra stuff, but then after the first concert we started focusing on the musical, so the musical takes the place of any normal rehearsals or concerts we’d have.
HC: You also play for Pitt Tonight! How did you get involved with that?
MB: Joining Pitt Tonight actually came about in a really interesting way. Doc, our band director, approached me one day and was like, “Hey, I got this email from this guy named Jesse Irwin and he’s looking for musicians for some late night talk show. I gave him your email so he might reach out to you,” and I basically said, “Alright, I don’t know if I’m going to have time to organize that, but we’ll see.” So I didn’t hear anything from Jesse, but a couple of days later he came to jazz band, introduced himself, and explained that he was starting Pitt Tonight and wanted a house band for the show. I talked to some other people in jazz band and we let him know we wanted to join, and it just went from there! It’s mainly Pitt Jazz Band people, but there’s a few people not in jazz band that joined too.
HC: So, on another note, what would you say is the most distinctive thing about yourself?
MB: Would it be totally wrong to say my hair? Honestly, that’s the first thing that comes to mind. People are always like, “Oh, where’s Mike? There he is, I see the hair,” and when I wear it up it’s basically, “Oh, I was looking for the hair, I couldn’t find you.”
HC: That’s all I’ve got! Is there anything else you want to add?
MB: I think I’ll leave with an inspirational thing I’ve learned. So I think it’s important for people to remember that one of the most important parts of life is the relationships you have with other people, and for me that’s one of the reasons why I like music. Through music and playing in bands and different ensembles I’ve created really strong bonds with other people, and I’ve met all of my really good friends through music. It’s just important to remember that your relationships with people, not just romantic relationships, but friendships and everything else, is what makes life great. It’s the people in your life that matter because you can’t go through life alone. Make sure you make an effort to form good relationships with people because they are what make your day better when you’re sad and that sort of thing.
Fun Facts:
Mike is one of the helmeted trumpet players at pep band events!
He’s a lover of puns- a personal favorite is “When my boyfriend told me to stop impersonating a flamingo, I had to put my foot down.”
He was retweeted by Cleo Thomas (Zero from Holes) and Red Foo (one of the guys from LMFAO) #partytrain
PSA from Mike: “Owl City is not a band, it’s a person”
Photo credits: All photos are author’s own
If you’re interested in seeing Nine the Musical, more information can be found here: http://www.play.pitt.edu/content/nine
Mike will be playing at the showings on April 7th, 8th, 9th, 13th, 15th, and 16th!