As she closes her laptop and smiles from the other side of the tap-desk in Piano Row, I realize I am an outsider looking in on the busyness and beauty that is the life of Amory Sivertson, a senior BA Theater Studies-Performance Major. Although sitting behind the tap-desk may be a common place to sight Sivertson, she can also be spotted in a variety of other places on campus. Along with being the RA for the Living Green Community, she can also be seen and heard as a DJ and voice-over artist for WERS. She’s been on Emerson Channel’s Speechless, as well as on stage in a number of theater productions with troops such as Emerson Stage, Musical Theater Society, Rareworks, and Kidding Around.
Although Sivertson spends most of her time contributing to, and taking advantage of, the Emerson community, she still manages to do a few things off campus. She interns for the Humane League of Boston and attends classes at Berklee College of Music. As a Pro-Arts student, Sivertson’s been able to take courses such as ear-training, harmony, lyric writing, and jingle writing at Berklee in hopes of becoming “a stronger and stronger musician.”
Sivertson’s definition of a strong musician is actually the reason she chose to go to Emerson instead of Berklee. While taking workshop classes at Berklee the summer before her senior year of high school, she realized that maybe the school wasn’t the right fit for her. “I was kind of getting the sense from Berklee that they were into more of the commercial music market,” Sivertson said. “The main comment that I was getting is ‘I can’t hear this on the radio.’ If that’s their goal, I’m not going to be their kind of student.”
Sivertson learned a lot from the workshop, but one of the most useful things she learned was that Berklee was a Professional Arts Consortium member, which would allow her to study at another school, yet still take classes at Berklee. Since theater was another one of Sivertson’s interests, she decided to apply to Emerson. When they offered her a spot in the honors program, which provides financial support, she took it. “That made Emerson a realistic option for me,” she said.
Sivertson also chose Emerson because she felt that her other interests and activities played a major role in her music. “My other passions really do make me the songwriter that I am,” she said. “And I think that being a musician is a wonderful thing. But, if you’re just pouring your heart and soul into studying music theory, or just studying jazz, you’re missing all the things out there that are really going to inspire you.”
Being involved in the Living Green Community and Local Action has also made Sivertson value the influence community service has on art. “If you’re a musician, or an actress, or any kind of creative person, and you haven’t done community service, your art is lacking,” she said. “You are really lacking what it means to share the Earth with other human beings because you need that experience.”
Now that Sivertson is studying at Emerson, she is incredibly thankful for all of the experiences she has had here that have inspired her and allowed her to share her music. When she was a freshman, Sivertson came in contact with Mike Moschetto through Wax on Felt, who helped her produce her first album independently titled La Di Da. “Before that time, it never occurred to me that I could record an album here,” Sivertson said. “I always thought recording an album meant going to a recording studio and spending big bucks. But no, this is what indie music is.” The album was released in April 2008 at the Greene Theater to a full house. “It was really cool to have a big group of people there, and I am really grateful to Emerson for having such a supportive group of students,” Sivertson said of the experience. Since then, Sivertson has produced another album through Wax on Felt titled How to Run Away, which was released in March of 2010 at the Middle East upstairs. Sivertson is now working on her third full-length album with Wax On Felt.
So what type of music does Sivertson play exactly? “We’ve come up with the term ‘piano-based folk indie pop rock,’” she said while laughing. “I don’t really know what to call it at this point, because I’ve heard from other people that it often sounds kind of theatrical, which can be accredited to my theater background, but none of that is intentional. I’ve also called it ‘anti-folk.’”
Balancing five classes, being an RA, and performing and writing music may seem like a lot for Sivertson to be able to handle, but she is able to get through her days because she enjoys every second of it. “I really love what I’m doing and that keeps me positive,” she said. “I encourage people who don’t love what they’re doing to change something, because there really is too much at Emerson, and in Boston, and in the world, to grab onto what’s going to be worthwhile for you.”
Along with this advice, Sivertson asks for “a humble request to people out there who do listen to the music to pass it along.” She emphasizes that money and a record label can only get you so far. “I just want power of the people,” she said. “For art in general, if you find something you like, share it.”
Photo provided by Amory Sivertson