Story, image and video by Andrew Huska

Rock N’ Reel is back for the 10th year, but it’s got a new name.

The Reel Music Festival kicks off on March 24th and runs until March 27^th all over campus. There are plenty of events scheduled, like concerts, seminars and contests and everything has to do with music.

“It’s a four-day conference, a music conference,” said Tony Sutherland, the Music Business Management program coordinator and the coordinator of the festival.

“It includes a number of elements. We’ve got workshops; people can learn everything from how to play guitar, how to write a song. We’ve got a songwriting competition, something called Songs Revealed. This is where people have a chance to play their song in front of a panel of judges.  And we’ve got panel discussions about issues in the music industry.”

Music Business Management program coordinator Tony Sutherland.

This is something Sutherland is looking forward to particularly, even though he’s looking forward to the entire festival. One of the discussions will be about women within the music industry.

“I want to be a fly on the wall in the women in music [discussion],” Sutherland said.

“I’d like to hear what the women who are working in the business today have to say about the gender difference, if there is still a gender imbalance in the music industry.”

Besides discussions, there’s also going to be plenty of entertainment according to Sutherland.

There will be seven different musical genre showcases at E.P. Taylor’s on campus and at a few different clubs in downtown Oshawa.

“We’ve got some incredible bands…there are hip-hop showcases, there’s metal, rock, acoustic showcases.”

There’s even more, including a marketplace where industry insiders will pitch their wares to musicians . As well, there will be a contest where participants will have 24 hours to create a music video.

The festival is an assignment put on by first and second-year Music Business Management students.

Student Jaimie Milburn says that even though they get marked on it, it’s still a labour of love for many.

“Yes, this is technically an assignment for us but many of the students have been working on this weekend since the start of the school year,” explained Milburn.

“We all want to create something musical and memorable for Durham Region, and Reel Music Fest is certainly something unique in this area.”

For more information, be sure to check out www.reelmusicfestival.com.  That site will have plenty of information on prices and links to Facebook.

Watch the video to learn a bit about how the festival has changed over the past ten years.