If you take a walk across campus on any given night, you may catch freshman Sal Mastrangelo and junior Dan Robinson jamming out in the underpass that connects the academic side of campus to the residential side, a place they consider to have the best acoustics. Having grown up in musical families, the two cousins were bound to be musicians.
As children, both boys were forced to take piano lessons, and they didn’t enjoy it at all. Yet as they continued to learn how to play, their love for music grew.
Reminiscing, Robinson talked about how, as a surfer, he has always loved the beach, but his mother would make him take his piano lessons before he could go to the beach. What once seemed a punishment to him soon grew into a passion.
As the boys grew older, their involvement in music grew as well. Mastrangelo began playing the drums his freshman year of high school, and he is currently learning guitar.
Robinson began playing guitar about a year ago, and started singing about half a year ago.
The boys come from a close-knit family, so they have always had a good relationship, but their bond became stronger because of their love for music.
“That sealed the deal,” joked Mastrangelo.
About a year ago, they finally decided to team up and make music together. Although the boys initially had very different tastes in music (Mastrangelo listened to bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Green Day while Robinson listening to Pacifier Revolution and reggae.), they found a way to make their music work. “We just combine our tastes and form different stuff,” said Mastrangelo.
They spend many nights either covering songs or making up ones of their own. Robinson will simply start strumming notes on his guitar, and Mastrangelo just joins in on his Cajon, which is a portable drum he carries around with him.
“We just get along well and we think the same,” added Mastrangelo.
Music has become second-nature to them. Robinson doesn’t even need to read music anymore; he just plays.
“Like if I just listen to a song for two seconds I can pick up on it,” said Robinson.
Robinson then plays the song just as if he had the sheet music sitting right in front of him.
When writing music of his own, Robinson doesn’t need to write it down. He has the ability to just go back and play the same notes he played earlier.
Mastrangelo is a music industry and real estate major. He is sticking to a career that involves music, but he has decided to work on the business side of it. He stated that this is because it is so difficult to make money off of music.
Robinson is a software engineering major.
Even though these boys are super talented, fame doesn’t seem to be in the cards for them. This is not because they cannot acheive fame. However, it is not what they are in search of at all.
“If you play music you forget all your troubles, and it’s just like so relaxing,” said Robinson when describing why he plays music.
They strictly play for the love of music.
They are planning on playing at a venue very soon, but they just want to do it to share the music, not for anything more.
Keep an eye out when walking through the underpass, and listen for announcements on when and where they will be playing.
Correction:
Last week, two authors were listed under the incorrect stories. Amanda Kaplan is the author of “Katy Perry Spreads Light Through ‘Prism’” while Christina Termyna wrote “Student Spotlight: Sal Mastrangelo and Dan Robinson.” Also, Sal Mastrangelo’s last name was printed incorrectly in the story’s headline. The Outlook regrets this mistake and apologizes for any confusion, and all corrections have been applied to the online edition.
