Rough Draft hosts student band concerts.
Courtesy | Wikimedia Commons
Friday nights find Rough Draft full of music and patrons from 7-9 p.m., while weekly live-music concerts give students and community artists a chance to perform for their peers in a friendly and relaxed environment.
“We want it to be more of a jam session, not something super orchestrated and overly performative. But more that, if a student just wants a study break on a Friday night or doesn’t want to do a big thing and drive to Ann Arbor for a night out, they can just come in, sit down, and leave whenever they want,” said Nikoleta Klikovac, a junior who runs the coffee shop’s social media pages. “There’s no ticket to entry; just show up.”
Friday nights and live music have always played a part in the vision for Rough Draft.
“When Rough Draft opened, the goal was to be an off-campus hangout for students, and part of that was hosting live music every Friday night; the live music kind of dropped off during COVID,” Klikovac said.
Beginning in the fall, Rough Draft reached out to student and community artists to bring live music back to Rough Draft.
“We bring in a lot of people throughout the community. A lot of students play. We’ve had the college jazz band play and the community jazz band,” Klikovac said.
Sophomore Phoebe VanHeyningen said that attending concerts serves as a great study break.
“It’s really important to support music outside of the academic environment. It’s never something that you’ll come to regret, like ‘oh man, I wish I would have studied during that one hour,’ it’s just a nice break,” she said.
Concerts are very informal, with attendees sitting on couches or the floor, sipping on coffee or tea, VanHeyningen said.
“The vibe of a concert at Rough Draft is very low-key. It’s a low-pressure situation as a performer, as the setting is very social,” said Abigail Tizedes, a student artist with more than 16 years of performance experience. “It’s one of the most chill venues I’ve ever performed in.”
Phoebe VanHeyningen, Fiona Mulley, and Emily Griffith began performing three-part arrangements of popular tunes in the fall of 2022. They have performed at Rough Draft three times since they were initially invited after their debut at Concert On The Quad.
“We do some pop mixes that we arrange and some folk songs. At our last gig, we did some Irish folk songs and some Taylor Swift, so we go all over the place,” VanHeyningen said.
The relaxed vibe is the perfect venue for groups like Tuition and Fees to try out new arrangements and experiment with different styles.
“When we’re arranging pop songs, we’ll be like, ‘I think Rough Draft is the perfect place to try this out,’” VanHeyningen said.
Tizedes and VanHeyningen said they value the opportunity to perform and to listen to their peers outside of a college setting.
“I think events like these, though small, bring communities together to enjoy something really beautiful,” Tizedes said. “Music touches the soul in a way that no other art can. I think Hillsdale students are aware of this, thus why so many show up to music-oriented events.”
