Colgate University’s liberal arts curriculum is built for students like senior Elijah Grant-Pereira, whose four years here have nurtured his passion for music while he completed a degree in economics by day. A non-traditional combination, Grant-Pereira’s experience speaks to Colgate’s mission in supporting student interests.
And at the end of the day, Grant-Pereira believes that music is where he made his mark at Colgate.
“I’m an economics major, but I don’t think my presence has been felt in that department very much. I do a lot of music stuff, I would say,” Grant-Pereira said. “I play in a band, I work in the recording studio in the basement of the library, which no one knows is a thing, I record the a capella albums. I produced, recorded, mixed and mastered [student band] Chalant’s EP that they released. I record a lot of original music myself in the music studio.”
For Grant-Pereira, economics and music were entirely two separate worlds — and he never planned to merge them. When he originally came to Colgate, he only ever wanted to get into the studio. That drive goes back to the eighth grade, when he began producing music. But it was during the COVID-19 pandemic that this trajectory really took off.
“My laptop broke. I had a guitar, and so I started learning the guitar,” Grant-Pereira said. “When COVID was happening, I was literally like: music. My whole day I was making music, because that’s when I started playing the guitar.”
While originally a part of Colgate a cappella group The Colgate Thirteen, Grant-Pereira left after his sophomore year to more actively pursue creating his own music, which he finds to be the most creatively satisfying.
“Writing my own stuff and producing my own stuff — that’s my favorite thing to do,” Grant-Pereira said.
Besides the Chalant work he did, Grant-Pereira remarked that he does not currently have anything on streaming services despite having a SoundCloud. Instead, he explained that he is currently working on an independent study with Ryan Chase, associate professor of music. He plans to release that on Spotify in the upcoming months.
Grant-Pereira also expressed that opening for Yung Gravy this past weekend during Springfest was a new and thrilling experience for him and his band, Julius.
“That was a lot of fun. The production of the whole thing was wild. I don’t know if I’ll ever play on such an expensive stage, with so many sound guys monitoring me, giving me reverb in real time,” Grant-Pereira said. “All respect to Mr. Gravy.”
Additionally, being both in a band and producing music, Grant-Pereira talked about the differing experiences in being on the production side versus actually playing the music, as well as the differences in interpreting the sounds.
“When I’m producing, I’m just thinking about myself. When I’m thinking about bringing stuff for the band, I have to think about what other people can do — what other people sound like. It’s different,” Grant-Pereira said. “Colgate was the first time that I started playing music in a band, so it’s honestly still a new experience for me.”
After Colgate, even if not professionally, Grant-Pereira is committed to music staying in his life and continuing to produce.
“I got some loans I gotta pay off, but I will always make music — I can’t not. I’ll always be making music, trying to find ways to grow as a musician and play with people,” Grant-Pereira said.
He placed special emphasis on Colgate’s ability to open his eyes to the value of connection among fellow musicians. When first coming to the University, singing in a band alongside others had never been the plan — he had wanted to simply continue to produce — but meeting others who were interested in playing together completely changed his whole outlook.
“I never thought that I’d be playing in a band, and then I met people who were interested in playing in bands and that happened. It’s changed my perception of music completely,” Grant-Pereira said. “It really has changed everything for me — meeting musicians shows me what it means to be a really good musician.”
He credited Colgate’s growing excitement surrounding original music and the band scene to the student band Chalant. They were also the inspiration for building Julius with his friends.
“We just felt like ‘we got to do this, like they are doing,’ because it was what we wanted to do. They’ve done such a good job of doing it, and it’s awesome,” Grant-Pereira said.
When asked what he will miss most about Colgate, he reflected on the resources he will no longer have access to, specifically the recording studio where he is able to make music. He explained that while Colgate’s music scene may not be as vibrant or active as that of a larger or more arts-focused institution, Colgate’s smaller pool of musicians means he did not have to compete for access to these resources. Colgate granted him the equal opportunity to play and grow alongside others.
“The resources of those schools are so competitive, because there’s so many people trying to do the same thing, whereas here it’s a smaller pool, but similar resources. I’m going to miss playing with people,” Grant-Pereira said. “That literally changed my life, wanting to play in bands.”
Still, there are limits to living in a small town like Hamilton for four years.
“I’m excited to meet new people — this is a pretty homogeneous place, I think, at times,” Grant-Pereira said.
His final piece of advice to those hoping to balance creative initiatives alongside their major is to put yourself out there and join different groups, such as WRCU or Broad Street Records, and meet others. After all, doing so changed his life.
“I’ve seen people do this so many times: ‘Hey, I play bass, and I’m looking to start a band.’ And then people form bands from that,” Grant-Pereira said. “Just put yourself out there as much as possible.”
