I am a member of a street percussion group at Tufts called Tufts B.E.A.T.s, which stands for “bangin’ everything at Tufts and then some.” (It is also President Monaco's self-proclaimed favorite student group...) B.E.A.T.s plays music on anything we can find from pots and pans to garbage cans and street signs. However, our main instrument is the good old Home Depot bucket.
During my first week on campus freshman year, I decided to try something new and “out there” by auditioning for B.E.A.T.s. Given my innate lack of pitch, rhythm, tone, and basically any other musical metric, this was something I never would have considered being involved in. Yet, once I was (somehow?) accepted after a series of auditions, my name, Sophie, was replaced with an unexplainable B.E.A.T.s name – Bell Pepp.
This group of 15 Tufts students with a quirky passion for trash has made me laugh harder than I ever thought I could, brought me out of my shell, and created some ~hot~ music. My recognizable green and yellow shirt, with "Bangin'" written across the front and my B.E.A.T.s name on the back, has become an essential part of my wardrobe. We usually play about one show per week, and whether it is at the Mayor of Medford's retirement party or a Somerville elementary school, B.E.A.T.s always has fun. Aside from these performances, we play one huge show every semester in Dewick (the better dining hall!) that brings in quite a large crowd.
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