Rocking out onstage and in academia

"Science is like composing: the aesthetics of the paragraph’’

Joram Feitsma. Photo: Eus Driessen

"Hey, there's Job Roggeveen," says Joram Feitsma. We are sitting in a small pub near the Public Administration and Organisation Science building, where Feitsma works as a lecturer and researcher. He spots a familiar face passing by right after we meet. It's another musician in the neoclassical genre. "Just goes to show how small a world this is."

A world he has been part of since he was a student. “Minimalist, intuitive piano music”, as he describes neoclassical himself. He has been playing the piano since he was six. Back then, he dutifully played from sheet music, but in secondary school, he discovered composing. "In hindsight, it was more like imitation," he says with a grin. "You start with what you know." He recorded some songs and published them on Soundcloud. A techno DJ from Berlin picked it up, and Feitsma ended up releasing his first album, Under, under the DJ's record label in 2019. Since then, he has released an album every year, on average.

"Every time I make an album, I think: 'It could be even cooler.' This huge creative drive is not only expressed in his music but also in Feitsma's academic work. "And I do see a parallel there. Articles are creations, too: first, you come up with something, then you make it, and then you send it out into the world. And you think about the aesthetics of the paragraph." To him, “composing” an article reminds him of how he once started writing music. "It all starts by getting inspired. It's the same in science: when writing an article, you also look at how other articles are structured."

Even the topics can overlap. Part of his research investigates whether system change is possible in this day and age. "There is a theory about the cancellation of the future. Several philosophers argue that we are no longer able to truly imagine a different future. They say we live in an eternal now." Futuring is the current hype in science. "There are all kinds of institutions that say we need to become more gifted in how we think about the future."

Feitsma's music also reflects this uncertainty about the future. "A lot of neoclassical music is peaceful and sleepy, but that's not how I see my music. It's a bit spookier and darker, which matches the radical uncertainty that defines our times." One of his songs is called Entzaubert, which means “disenchanted”. Feitsma: "Max Weber already talked about disenchantment; the rationalisation of the world. My music also has something mechanical about it: lots of repetitive patterns, endless repetition. The alienation of modern existence is in it."

Feitsma also compares his teaching to a performance. "You do all your research backstage. The tension before ministering a class is comparable to what you feel before a concert." In both cases, you must be able to deal with uncertainty. You don't know what you'll encounter, but it has to happen." He learned a lot about this while playing at Popronde, the travelling festival that includes many venues throughout the Netherlands. "I learn a hundred things per concert. You have to experience it to know what works and what doesn't."

Feitsma played his first solo concert at TivoliVredenburg on 11 December.

Listen to Joram Feitsma on Spotify

"Composing and researching are both about trying things out to see what works"

Tom Gerritsen in Paradiso. Foto: Tess Janssen

When Tom Gerritsen completed his Master's degree in History at the age of 20, he felt far too young to start working. So, he took a plane to Canada to see “real nature”. It was both "fantastically cool” and something he would "never do again in my life.”

His year-long journey began in Toronto. He had hardly any money, so he hitchhiked and couch surfed his way around, buying second-hand books from the Salvation Army to distract himself along the way. "My hosts often had to work, so I would go to a café to read all day."

He bought a guitar and started busking to earn some cash. His loud, raw voice caught the attention of passersby. He then began writing his own songs inspired by literature, especially T.S. Eliot, who inspired the name of his first project, The T.S. Eliot Appreciation Society. He describes the music he made at the time as punk folk. "I liked how my voice frayed when I sang loudly." Bob Dylan was one of his greatest inspirations.

"In retrospect, my journey was romantic and adventurous, because I was also very lonely and didn't really know what to do with my time." But his love for making music remained once he was back in the Netherlands. He started performing here, too. "I wanted to become extremely famous, of course." He allowed himself to live off music until he was 30. He toured in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, among other places. "At the same time, I knew this was no way to grow old."

As he approached 30, it felt natural to switch careers. That's how he landed his current position in the History department's secretariat, where he manages two interdisciplinary communities within Pathways to Sustainability. His role is at the intersection of research and support staff, bringing people from inside and outside the university together.

One of the topics he addresses in his work is how people interact with nature and how to change that interaction. If we see a river as a living being rather than a utility, how does that affect our relationship with it? Just as he used to dream of making it big with the T.S. Eliot Appreciation Society, he now dreams of a big paradigm shift. "How we view the world around us is something we've learned. I hope we can mainstream the unimaginable to such an extent that it becomes imaginable."

His approach to science fits his lifestyle. "Iterative, isn't that what it's called? Trying things out to find out what works." That's how he approaches both his music and his work at the university. And his work hasn't harmed his music career, either. "When you have all the time in the world, you also spend a lot of time hanging around. Now I try to write for an hour every evening. You can get a lot done that way."

After his solo project, Gerritsen started the band Classic Water. In February, they played a concert to release their second album at De Nijverheid, in Utrecht. They are currently recording another album. Gerritsen says that his current routine brings him peace of mind. "The certainty that my salary will be paid around the 23rd of every month is a contributing factor to my happiness that should not be underestimated."

Listen to Classic Water on Spotify

Listen to The T.S. Appreciation Society on Spotify

Doing a PhD and making music: "Teaching is like performing’’

Karlijn Dinnissen's Honey Camp playing at Nijverheid. Photo: Charlotte van den Arend

"I think it's so rock 'n roll if you want to make it yourself," says Karlijn Dinnissen, laughing about the Popronde festival, which is a springboard for many young bands. With her band Honey Camp, Dinnissen makes indie folk, sung in English and recognisable by its two-part vocals and the acoustic sound of guitar, banjo and accordion, an instrument she learned to play at the age of 8.

The band played no fewer than twenty shows. It "went all out," despite all band members having full-time jobs. "We couldn't afford to go all out all the time, but we had a band outing three times a week. That was a lot of fun."

Honey Camp released its first album earlier this year. Dinnissen wrote the songs with bandmate and former classmate Daan Scherpenzeel. They first made music together at an event organised by the Communication & Information Sciences study association. Although she had given up the accordion at the age of 16, the instrument turned out to be a good fit for the music she wrote with Daan. "Since then, I've been integrating it more and more." The writing process is often an interaction between Dinnissen and Scherpenzeel. "Daan sends me chords or a melody. Sometimes I think: this gives me a feeling that matches that one sentence I once wrote on a scrap of paper."

She always made music alongside her work. After several years in the corporate world, academia began to appeal to her. As a PhD student in Information & Computing Science, she is now researching the fairness and transparency of algorithms in the music industry. One of the things she is investigating is the impact of recommendation systems used by music streaming services, "such as personalised playlists, autoplay, or what you see on the home page of apps like Spotify or YouTube." She discovered that many artists are aware of the importance of these things, but do not understand how recommendations work. "And they're often frustrated by that. At the same time, they are adamant about not letting their music be influenced by algorithms. Music remains a creative outlet."

She has interviewed both musicians and listeners for her research. Both groups would like to know more about how playlists are compiled: how diverse is the list in terms of gender, nationality, popularity and genre, for example? Streaming services could be more transparent about this, also towards artists. Dinnissen often presents the results of her research to streaming services at conferences. "It's great to know that I'm reaching people. It would be fantastic if streaming services would use this research to explain how their system works to artists even more actively."

Does all that knowledge help Honey Camp's listening stats? "No, it doesn't," she laughs. "You still have to promote it yourself. Usually, a song must be listened to at least 5,000 times before the algorithms pick it up." The band is heading in that direction, thanks in part to Popronde, but the world of recommendation systems still holds many secrets for her. "Streaming services also have their business model, so they don't reveal all their secrets. Their system doesn't consist of a single algorithm, but rather around three hundred."

Academic life and life as a musician coexist very well for Dinnissen. In fact, she sees quite a few similarities between them. "Both worlds are about experimentation. I don't know the outcome yet, except that I want an answer to my research question. With music, you also start with an idea that you think might work, but you still have to figure out exactly how." In addition, lecturing feels just like performing to her. "I've never had any trouble presenting. If I can express my personal life in front of a whole room full of people I don't know, then I can certainly give a lecture on something I know a lot about."

Listen to Honey Camp on Spotify

Six people from USBO in a band: ‘The whole community was dancing’

Jasmijn van Harten took to the stage in a glittery outfit. The band, consisting of five lecturers and researchers from Public Administration and Organisation Science and a former PhD candidate, was the surprise act at the party celebrating the programme's 25th anniversary. “People thought: this is going to be like an 8th-grade musical,” says Van Harten. "But by the first song, we had already exceeded expectations." The band describes itself as an upbeat party band that plays pop, rock and funk covers – so, definitely not boring songs.

The six UU students had prepared the show down to the last detail. Two years ago, Paul 't Hart, the drummer, planted the seed for this performance. "It took a year for us to build something together," says guitarist and singer Boselie, the other Paul in the band.

The band laughed heartily at Boselie's meticulous preparation. Jasmijn: "Paul made a complete script, including a visual representation of where the bottles of water would be on stage." Boselie: "I am the most outspoken control freak of us all. I bring a lot of band experience from the past, and I also play in a wedding band." Most of the other band members are also experienced music performers.

Making music together has allowed the UU students to get to know each other in a completely different way. "The hierarchy disappears completely," says Van Harten. Boselie agrees: "The way we give feedback is straightforward. At our jobs, we are used to doing that in a much more subtle way." However, they are still scientists, as the rehearsals make clear. "We had endless debates about the encore," says the singer with a laugh. Boselie agrees: "We keep questioning each other critically and suggesting new ideas."

Boselie recommends that every team try making music together. "You develop a completely different bond with your colleagues. I find it easier to get along with my bandmates." What's more, it's a welcome change from the day job. "It requires completely different skills," says Van Harten. "You're not thinking so much cognitively, but intuitively." 

Boselie adds: "I get tired after rehearsals, but it's different. You use a different part of your brain." He thinks that music can help bridge the gap between students and lecturers. "They see that we can have fun too; that science is not all we think about."

According to the two, music and science have more in common than one might think. Standing in front of an audience is primarily about entertainment, says Boselie. It's about getting and holding your audience's attention. Van Harten: "Many scientists forget to put on a good performance." Boselie agrees: "So much about science is terribly boring. We don't like boredom. It's fun to do something that could go wrong." 

In that respect, Van Harten finds that the USBand carries USBO's DNA. "USBO also started 25 years ago with the idea of doing something completely new and exciting.

*The USBand consists of: Paul 't Hart on drums, Erik-Jan van Dorp on bass guitar, Maarten Hillebrandt on guitar, Rosemarie Mijlhoff on keyboards, and singers Jasmijn van Harten and Paul Boselie.