Assistant Professor of Music, Jacob Bancks debuted an original composition to radio listeners across the country.
Musician and composer, Bancks was featured on American Public Media’s “Performance Today,” a nationally syndicated radio program.
Bancks’ composition, “Rock Island Line,” was broadcast to over 1.4 million listeners on Aug. 29.
The piece was chosen by American Public Media after Benjamin Loeb, Executive Director of the Quad City Symphony, submitted the recording.
In March, Bancks and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra performed “Rock Island Line” at Centennial Hall.
Bancks said the mental preparation for a radio broadcast differs from than that of a live concert.
“It feels really strange because I won’t be seeing each of the people who hear my music, so while it’s a really large audience, I’ll be sitting around wondering how it all went with no immediate feedback and that’s something I’m not used to,” said Bancks, who claimed that the largest audience to hear his music prior to the broadcast was 3,000 people.
“Rock Island Line” is a piece that Bancks said can be challenging for audiences to listen to, but will sound familiar as well.
The composition includes sounds that symbolize the Mississippi River, along with other sounds acquainted with the Quad Cities, such as a train whistle.
“Music is, what I would say, a sensory art and your senses do a certain thing when you look at the Mississippi river,” Bancks said. “So, hopefully what is heard connects someone to seeing the river.”
Having a professor with this experience is benefiting to the Augustana students as well.
Bancks, a professor since 2011, said he takes delight in the liberal arts approach of education,  and relishes in the opportunities to work one on one with students.
“Composers have to see the work through a really broad lens, and there are no fields of inquiry that are irrelevant to being a composer.” said Bancks.
He continued to say that he does not get overly excited when he tells his students about opportunities like being featured on a national radio program, stating, “I think they do a good job of keeping me humble.”
Bancks said he is looking forward to teaching both privately and in the classroom this year at Augustana.