The Tiny Desk concert, popularized by National Public Radio throughout the early 2010s, is a perfect blend of music, relaxation and intimacy by offering a unique stage for musicians to wow an audience in a small and laid-back setting. Looking for a challenge and aiming to celebrate student musicians, Woodside’s 199 Records club and Joshua De Bets’s film class are pairing up to bring the Tiny Desk to Woodside.
The concert will be in the school library on Friday, May 2, during 5th period and lunch. There will be two 30-minute time slots during 5th period where classes can attend via invite, and another set during lunch where anyone can come and watch. Students will have the opportunity to watch student musicians perform in small groups as they play covers of popular songs, and even some original songs written by Woodside students.
While the concept may seem simple, the logistics of a Tiny Desk concert bring many technical challenges for both musicians and the film crew. Raphael Kauffmann, the digital music and audio production teacher here at Woodside, is up for the task.
“I like to always take on technical challenges and push my students,” Kauffmann said. “There’s a lot to pull off, we’re going to have to load in all the equipment [on] Thursday and make sure that it’s all ready to go right out of the gate.”
Beyond the musical equipment aspect, filming a Tiny Desk concert brings its own challenges as well.
“We’re gonna have five or six different cameras set up, a camera that’s just on the entire band, and then individual cameras on individual band members,” De Bets said. “Then being able to cut those and sync it with the music, I think that’s gonna be the biggest hurdle.”
While the teachers and organizers of Woodside’s Tiny Desk have technical issues to worry about, the student performers have the spotlight to worry about. Despite the concert’s intimacy, the performance is set to be among the biggest of the year for Woodside’s student performers.
“There’s going to be probably more people watching, and it’s filmed, so a little more high stakes,” founder of 199 Records junior Camille Sonnenburg said, “But I think everyone’s excited. We’re practicing a lot every day at lunch.”
199 Records is Woodside’s very own music label, created last year in order to create a place where musicians can meet and organize under a cohesive record label, creating and recording music and then going out to perform. As 199 Records continues and develops, its performances become more and more advanced. Starting from one-man piano performances to open-mic performances, the Tiny Desk is 199 Records’ final send-off for the 2024-25 school year.
“The Tiny Desk concert is great because there are a lot of different groups that are involved. So kids are getting to work with people they’ve never met before,” Sonnenburg said.
That doesn’t just mean musical groups and musicians. Performers get to meet and work with filmmakers from Woodside’s digital film program in order to pull off the Tiny Desk.
“I’ve always been a fan of the Tiny Desk, and I know Mr. Kauffmann has been working to develop the 199 label. So it seemed like a perfect match to pair my class with his class again, to create something that we could show off musically and using video,” De Bets said.
Due to the high stakes and pressure to achieve a successful performance, Sonnenburg is making sure to maintain her sense of balance as a performer. Finding the equilibrium between her vision as the artist and balancing it with the wishes of the audience is an important factor for Sonnenburg.
“In recording music, we definitely try to just make it the artist’s vision, because that’s the most important. But when we’re performing, we take into account where we are,” Sonnenburg said. “If it’s in the quad, if it’s in the loading dock, if people are forced to listen to it or if they’re choosing to go there, we try to make something that everyone who’s listening will like. And I think if the musicians like it, then it makes it a more genuine performance.”
The Tiny Desk concert will most likely be the last 199 Records performance here at Woodside for the year. Kauffmann explained that as the school year wraps up, students hoping to celebrate music and the arts should make an effort to come and watch the concert.
“There’s always been a little bit of a stigma. I think kids are always a little worried. ‘What’s someone going to think about me if I am playing or I’m singing?’” Kauffmann said. “And we have really talented kids, and we should just celebrate it, because they’re dope.”
