The Silence And The Sounds of Rush Rhees Library

[Mary Ann Mavrinac] I think there's a myth and a notion of libraries, what they really are about. You walk towards the Rush Rhees library, it was built in 1930, Greek Revival, and there's a reverence that strikes people when they walk in. And right away it's telegraphed, this is a library, this is serene, this is calm, this is a place of knowledge, this is a place of reverence. Very rapidly, libraries are really moving beyond the traditional. I think right now, more so than ever, we have to constantly be evolving what we're doing. [Matthew ***] Sound Exchange is an organization that strives to challenge the relationship between performer and audience member. Our biggest focus is redefining the way that audiences experience classical music, or I guess really any kind of music. We're playing in a library,which usually isn't a very loud space, but we're kind of trying to shake it up and make some noise. [Mary Ann Mavrinac] I've always really wanted to bring music into a library. I love music, for one, and secondly, libraries are really places of community and places of culture. In a library that is traditional, to some extent, like the Rush Rhees Library. I think it really busts a myth of being a very calm and reverent environment. [Matthew ***] To me it kind of parallels the mentality that people have surrounding classical music and that there's this kind of innate stuffiness you have to have, you have to wear your tuxedo, get in this really ornate concert hall. A library is, I guess along those same lines, it's a very quiet, peaceful, traditional space. But there's not really any reason for it to be quiet, it's just kind of an arbitrary rule. And we're all about breaking rules and making noise. [Mary Ann Mavrinac] Well our students do come here to do something they want to leave the library having performed some of their coursework, learned information for a test. However, diversions are great. Bringing joy and bringing smiles to people's faces, I think that's a wonderful thing. [Matthew ***] Shows like this in the library kind of challenge the way you think about a space to perform in or what music is. We're just all about mixing it up and making it fun. It shouldn't be stuffy. Nobody wants that. [Mary Ann Mavrinac] To have this occur in the Rush Rhees library, I think it tells people that we want people to enjoy themselves. They can go back to their studying afterwards. I think it's always fun to make someone question their beliefs, and to stop them in their tracks and realize that there is something new that can happen.