y with the mainstream, pop-culture music, deeming it rare to find a student who speaks of loud and abrasive music as their first passion.  The intensity and unconventionality of progressive metal has fueled Pace student Conor Whelan since his childhood, as it gave him something to identify with.

Whelan, a senior criminal justice major, began playing guitar at eight years old and has been working on mastering his technical and dynamic skills since.

“My step-dad gave me one of his guitars, and I fell in love with it,” Whelan said.

Whelan was brought up listening to classic rock from his parents, but eventually transitioned into different sub-categories, such as metal and post-hardcore. He cites bands such as Killswitch Engage, Animals as Leaders, and Lamb of God as his main influences growing up.

“I was in a band in high-school and we played mostly metal. I really love the technical work in that genre of music, and I haven’t ever gone away from it,” Whelan said.

Along with receiving guitar lessons up until he was 17, Whelan annually attended a summer music program called National Guitar Workshop. The program helped students work on their skills in whichever direction they wanted. Naturally, Whelan chose to attend mostly metal seminars.

Currently, Whelan has stopped playing in bands, and has altered his focus on solo work. Surprisingly enough, he discovered a newfound interest in jazz music.

“One of the professors at Pace, Dr. [Nicholas] Catalano, took our class to a jazz club in New York City,” said Whelan. “After hearing some of the live bands, I gained a lot of respect for jazz and started playing it myself.”

Whelan, whose father brought up the idea of charging people for lessons, has also recently begun giving guitar lessons to his roommate. Although he feels that there is not enough interest for him to be charging, what Whelan has found was an unexpected challenge when revisiting the foundation of music.

“I started giving [my roommate] simple, open-chord diagrams and I’m showing him the basic mechanics,” Whelan said.

While he doesn’t currently play in any bands, Whelan still enjoys jamming with anyone who’s interested, and is even planning on collaborating with his roommate.

“My roommate and I were both into dubstep, and I thought it would be an interesting idea to converge the genres of dubstep and metal together,” Whelan said. “It’s a lot more difficult for me from a technical perspective, but it’s fun.”

Whelan believes that learning any instrument is beneficial in various ways, such as using music as a form of expressing oneself and as a healthy escape mechanism.

“I love playing music because when I’m playing, I’m not thinking of anything else,” Whelan said.  “Also, being able to play an instrument, whether it’s guitar, piano, whichever, helps you gain a lot of knowledge and a new perspective for music in general.”

Whelan’s identification and empathy with metal and music in general is genuine and earnest. He proves that music should not be discredited or put in a box because of its exterior, but instead be dissected and analyzed for what it really is: art.