There are so many things happening on campus every day that it’s difficult for students to make it to all the events they would like. The OU School of Music realizes this, and is making it possible for the public to view live concert feeds on its Web site from the comfort of home.

Students can access the concerts by visiting music.ou.edu and clicking on the “Upcoming Events” tab. If there is a concert streaming at the time, click on the “Live-Stream” link. Within a matter of seconds, the music will start streaming onto your computer.

Stefan Ice, assistant to the director of School of Music, started the streams in the fall of 2007 as a way for people to hear students’ performances, even if they could not physically be in the auditorium.

“We have international students that have their parents listen from as far away as China,” Ice said.

Although it is possible to stream footage from any venue within the Catlett Music Center, only concerts in the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall and Gothic Hall are broadcast online. These are reserved for the major performances, including recitals of graduate students.

According to Seth Garrepy, Information Technology group technician and choral conducting graduate student, the process of bringing a concert from the stage to your home computer is not as difficult as it sounds.

Using equipment completely funded by the School of Music, technicians use the auditorium’s existing microphones to pick up the sound of a concert. The signal is then sent to an interface that converts it from an analog to a digital recording. After that, the recording travels via Ethernet to a large server, which translates it out of ones and zeros, into a language that QuickTime can understand. From this point, it streams freely on to the Web site.

In order for the stream to work, users will need a broadband connection that can handle at least 96 kilobytes-per-second and QuickTime 7 or higher. They will also need at least a Pentium 3 processor for a Windows computer or a G4 for a Macintosh.

According to Ice, OU is the only university in the Big 12 that streams live concerts.

“Until lately, [this technology] has been in the realm of radio stations. Its technology is something that hasn’t been exploited to its potential,” Alan Hiserodt, concert hall manager, said.

Hiserodt also emphasized that the streams can be used as a recruiting tool for the School of Music, especially as they target students that live outside of Oklahoma.

Hiserodt said that he hopes that, in the future, they will be able to stream video as well as audio online, but, he said, “that’s a long way down the road.”

Garrepy is similarly entrenched in the technological side of streaming live concerts, but he also thinks that what he is doing has value beyond technological advancement.

“[Live streaming] extends more of a feeling of community with OU students and their families far away,” he said.