Zombie Choral Cannon and Music & Mind Symposium Review
It was in June 2013 that I was officially introduced to Call of Duty (CoD) zombies in the masterpiece of Black Ops II. The game had already been out for six months by the time I joined the fun as I unraveled the gems within. But it was only in August that everything would change
when the Vengeance downloadable content (DLC) containing the map Buried was released. I was already familiar with the music easter eggs hidden within each map, but Buried was different. Out of the chaos of the eerie western theme, the soft voice of the lovely Malukah broke through it all in Always Running. At that moment, I knew it was more than just a song.
Not being introduced to philosophy until much later, I pondered the meaning but wasbound by knowledge to relate it within the context of zombies. It would not be until Dr. Bill Anderson’s Pop Culture 111 course that I would return to my childhood and dive headfirst into the meaning and context outside the realm of CoD zombies. This month, Dr. Bill Anderson and Dr. Jamie Meyers-Riczu had over a year and a half of work pay off with Zombie Choral Cannon and Music and Mind Symposium taking place. Featuring the father of CoD zombie music, Treyarch’s Senior Sound Designer and Composer Kevin Sherwood, and Soloists Elena Siegman and Malukah, a beautiful weekend of spectacle and academics was inevitable.
The Concordia choir took the stage with Elena, Malukah, and alumni Hendrick Baerends to perform various songs composed by Kevin that were featured in zombie maps. With a crowd of over 300 people, everyone rapidly became entranced in the music, feeling the right notes delivered with powerful purpose, leaving us all feeling existential angst. Thanks to arranger Trent Worthington, the new choral twist to the music and an entirely new experience can be described as nothing less than a spectacle. With many singing and tears shed in the face of beautiful art and angelic voices, the standing ovation and thunderous applause left me wondering where the 01:15:00 of time went and craving more.
Thankfully, Saturday morning bore fruit as we gathered for the academic portion of the weekend following Kevin's precedent-setting keynote address on the Doctrine of Ethos the night before. With speakers from across the globe, we dove into how music is effective at communication, how it is used in therapy, and how it affects us. We even learned that Bach used easter eggs in his music long ago (sorry, you’re not the first Kevin)! Every presentation built off each other, sparking enlightening conversations through round-table sessions, ensuring everyone’s engagement. I was fascinated and electrified while surrounded by such incredible talent and wisdom, leaving me with many questions and topics to explore further. The day quickly concluded with a panel of those involved in bringing the marvelous weekend into existence and how even seasoned professionals learned something about their own music or how to reconvey a message through a drastically different mode. Even though the weekend was a spectacle, it showed that Concordia is, first and foremost, a place of academia where industry leaders and professors are always learning.
Thank you to the Concordia Students Association (CSA) for being a major sponsor for the event. I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Dr. Bill Anderson, Dr. Jamie Meyers-Riczu, Kevin Sherwood, Elena Siegman, Malukah, Dr. John Brough, Trent Worthington, the Concordia choir, all our incredible speakers, and the rest of the organization committee for creating a phenomenal event that is memorable for so many. I will carry this with me for the rest of my life.
