Before every class recording, Communication Professor Bob Gershon gathers his Video Workshop II students and assigns them the various tasks they must complete during the class period. Every other week this semester, the class has filmed a broadcast entitled Castleton Video Magazine for PEGTV in Rutland, utilizing their skills as cameramen, news broadcasters, directors and graphic operators that they had honed in Video Workshop 1. But this week, the class got to experience something different, as professor Robert Wuagneux and two former Castleton Students presented a live performance to the class, allowing for a unique taping to occur in the video studio in Leavenworth Hall.

“I have done similar video shoots before with Bob’s Video II classes as a solo and those videos are available on YOUTUBE,” said Wuagneux. “It was extra special this year because I had both Ryan and Billy with me on the shoot. They were former students and I have watched them grow into the excellent players they are.”

On keyboards, was current member of the Vermont based rock band Twiddle, Ryan Dempsey. On bass guitar was Billy Comstock, who was Twiddle’s first bass player and who is now part of the band Suskatone that plays every Thursday at the Downtown Tavern.

Wuagneux played the acoustic guitar and sang.

“We all met in Wuagneux’s Introduction to Communication,” said Dempsey. “He was instantly my favorite professor and he has been awesome to play with.”

Both students spoke volumes about Wuagneux as a professor and as a musician, and noted how excited they were when he sought them out to perform with him.

The trio performed five songs, two of which they had written since collaborating only three weeks prior to the shoot. The other three were Wuagneux’s own songs, including his “classics” Grove Tune and Warm Weather Blues.

A few days before the studio shoot, the band played at Fireside Café in the Campus Center, yet they had only rehearsed together five or six times.

They never stopped playing, however, as they waited for the class to position cameras, get sufficient lighting and to adjust the sound system for a perfect shoot.

“I can’t sit still in times like these,” said Wuagneux. “I can in class.but not here. But that’s good because it’s all about the energy here.”

The production was managed entirely by the Video Workshop class, which received help with lighting and sound from members of the Music Department. Each student was issued a task such as cameramen, assistant director, technical director, or director.

The class recorded each song separately, doing multiple takes for each song to get the recording perfectly. The shoot lasted approximately three hours, and went without much difficulty. The footage will be posted on YOUTUBE and the Castleton Web site.

“I think the production went great,” said junior and director of the shoot Dan Shwartz. “Both the musicians and crew were able to mesh well together and I think everyone had fun and that’s a great thing to have in a production.