Student art feature, quarantine edition: Karl Lackner

Quarantine has changed us all.

We were sent home from school early, took online classes, and sometimes cooped up with our families, of all people. While everyone had their share of troubles, Colby’s musicians faced some unique challenges. One such artist is Karl Lackner, ‘22.

Karl went to Princeton High School, which is renowned for its music program. At Colby, he has been a part of countless musical acts playing various instruments. But when quarantine rolled around, Karl’s motivation was tested.

“At first, I had a bunch of inspiration to do a bunch of different stuff [and] take on these different projects, but eventually it got too much. It’s just day after day, everything’s the same, and it was hard to find something to work towards, because like everything is uncertain. I didn’t know if we were going to come back to school or not; I didn’t know if I was going to get to play live for a concert anytime soon, so it’s hard to like find inspiration.” Karl told The Colby Echo.

While fighting the monotony that threatened all of us, Karl managed to sharpen his musical arrangement skills. He wrote, recorded, and released several jazz songs on Soundcloud, and is still working on other compositions that he started in quarantine. The lack of structure that quarantine imposed did its best to stop him, but when he learned that Colby was reopening, he immediately began to plan new musical conquests.

Now, Karl is playing in several small groups, including classical chamber combos, jazz combos, and contemporary student bands. His band, Wooden Jelly Spoon and Peanut, is playing this Saturday at Mé Lon Togo. Due to quarantine, the west African restaurant was forced to relocate from Waterville to Camden. Even the restaurants had to leave Waterville this spring.

Since this fall saw the return of students to campus, the music scene on campus is not the same. Karl told the Echo about the change he’s seen:

“I think the biggest factor is the limitations we’re going to have with live performances because you really can’t have the same kind of live performances. I know the CMI is planning to host an outdoor performance, [but] for a lot of larger groups, like jazz band [and] the orchestra, that’s not really feasible. [In jazz band], instead of having a live performance we’re going to be recording all our parts individually, and they’ll be put back together, but that really isn’t the same. You're not even going to be rehearsing together, so a lot of the camaraderie is lost.”

Life on campus this fall will certainly be different. Thanks to countless hours of hard work on the part of everyone in the Colby community, it has mostly gone smoothly. We may not be living in our preferred circumstances, but we can all learn from Karl’s persistence and discipline and do the best we can, given the circumstances.

~Milo Lani-Caputo `23