If you walk into Seventh St. Café for a Friday afternoon pick-me-up, you just might have the pleasure of hearing some live music as well. Every week since his sophomore year, student musician Donald Engelhardt ’25 hosts “Tunes @ Noon” and strums and serenades café goers.
“Although, I typically start slightly after noon because of class,” Engelhardt joked.
The New York resident and psychology major “[plays] for anyone who’s willing to listen,” often his supportive friends and the occasional stranger or two “groovin’ in a booth.”
“Mostly, though, it’s fellow students who go to the café to get some work done, probably annoyed that there’s some guy up there, handsome might I add, singing about the world and making their ears ring,” Engelhardt told “The Bucknellian.” “At least, that’s what I think happens when I start strumming and they go to put their headphones on.”
Engelhardt’s love for music began at a young age when his father first introduced him to The Beatles, whose songs have become a part of his weekly repertoire at the café.
“Listening to The Beatles for the first time, who quickly became and still are to this day my favorite band, was a ‘gateway drug’ into the infinite world of sound to which I quickly became addicted,” said Engelhardt.
His interest in the guitar also began at a young age, with his first introduction to string instruments being a toy ukulele given to him by his younger brother. Years later, Don began playing guitar on a whim, being “somehow possessed to pick up a guitar that had just been lying around and collecting dust.”
“I soon learned that I was certainly not a natural,” said Engelhardt, “but that I loved to play, even if I sounded like I had feet for hands. The biggest reason why I started and continued to learn the instrument was to be able to jam out with my Dad. He plays the bass, so I learned guitar so that we could play our favorite songs together.”
“I’m fully self taught, and I learned mostly by listening and playing along to songs I liked and also watching other people play online,” he continued. “I play both acoustic and electric guitar, but only acoustic when the clock strikes noon.”
“When I started to improve enough to perform in front of others, I thought it could be a good way to attract the ladies and show everyone how cool and awesome I really was. But when even that couldn’t help me, I realized I didn’t have to prove anything to anyone, but to have fun with it instead.”
Besides The Beatles, Engelhardt treats café goers to other 60s, 70s and 90s acoustic melodies. He also plays “good old fashioned rock ‘n’ roll,” a personal favorite of his and sometimes recent pop hits.
“To keep it interesting for myself, my setlist is usually chosen on the spot, meaning I play whatever song I either feel like playing or think would fit well with the atmosphere in the moment,” Engelhardt shared. “So no one, not even myself, knows what I’m going to play until I actually play it.”
When he isn’t covering songs, Engelhardt shares some of his own work with the crowd.
“At this point, I have close to enough cover and original material to play either for a whole gig, but I like to mix in both,” said Engelhardt. “I try to make each set unique by learning new songs and this semester, I’ve challenged myself to write a new song from scratch each week to debut on Fridays. So far, it’s been going well.”
“Tunes @ Noon” isn’t Engelhardt’s only experience performing live at Bucknell. In his freshman year, he was a part of a band called Mayday, which began as a cover band but later started to play some of their own material. They’ve even performed songs that their lead guitarist wrote in Mongolian. Mayday has performed at frequented Bucknell music events such as Bison Sound and Fall Fest, along with the occasional show at Uptown and other campus events.
“Unfortunately, things didn’t work out, and we broke up after a solid run of fun times and rock ‘n’ roll,” said Engelhardt. “And for the record, it wasn’t due to any big fights or musical differences between us. We just grew apart, and by that, I mean our drummer and lead guitarist both graduated.”
Engelhardt hopes that he is able to continue his passion in some way after graduation, joking that he’ll “always keep on strumming, no matter how many tomatoes are thrown at me.”
He closed with his personal philosophy on music: “if you think your music is too loud, turn it up!”
