Plates clink as they are tossed into the sink. The noise fills the tiny kitchen and suds fly as water splashes across the floor.
But above the sound of laughter, a voice can be heard projecting music from another room. Vocals vibrate as the pitch fluctuates, pauses and is perfected. His roommates laugh and elbow one another, pointing toward his room. They turn off the water and sneak to his door expecting the steam and sounds of a shower to greet them along with his voice, but there is no shower. There are only shirts on hangers, a soundboard and Mack Hedrick sitting in the center of his closet with his headphones on and a grin on his face.
Hedrick always has music on the brain and described himself as “pretty eclectic,” liking a broad range of music and styles. His iPod playlist ranges from the Dixie Chicks to DMX, and he is involved in a number of musical projects at the University.
He joined Grains of Time, an a cappella group established at the University in 1968 as a war protest group, the second semester of his freshman year; he is now a senior in industrial engineering. He’ll be the first to say the group and its music played a big part in shaping his life, as well as helping him define himself.
“It was always a big part of how I identified myself on campus,” Hedrick said.
He came into the group with six other guys, and he not only found a niche musically, but he also found a family among the falsetto. With the exception of three members who left early on his first year, he practiced and performed with the same people the whole time he was with the group.
“They were pretty much my closest friends on campus,” Hedrick said. “We became like brothers and we still are.”
Although Hedrick and five other members of the Grains had their last performance in the spring, he said the guys still get together and go out to dinner as much as they can, and they make sure to keep in touch with one another.
He said moving on was hard, and the last show, complete with goodbye songs and a slideshow, was emotional for everyone involved — even the fans were crying by the time it was over.
“We tried to make it so the audience could really connect with us,” Hedrick said.
According to the Grains of Time Web site, the goodbye show had the highest turnout of any of their concerts to date.
The feeling of brotherhood the group cherished doesn’t just encompass the old members, though; it seems to spread throughout all of Grains of Time.
Andrew Cherry, the new president of the group and a junior in industrial design, is one of the six members replacing the Grains alumni. During a year as “Grains in training” the new members had plenty of time to spend bonding with the old members, as well as forming their own identity. He said he feels part of the reason the group bonds so well is because they are all taken from the music department choir, and many already have classes together or perform in other ensembles.
“Really, we already had an idea of how each other sang, how we behaved,” Cherry said.
Hedrick said he feels that it goes beyond just seeing each other regularly though.
“When you connect with someone musically, it [brotherhood] just comes naturally,” he said.
And although Hedrick has one year of school left, he feels the decision to move on was a good one, because he wanted to end the experience with the people he came on with. He is also putting more time and energy into a group he founded along with two NCSU alumni, Soulfire Productions.
Having opened for Ludacris at the 2004 homecoming, the project is in the process of putting together their second CD, and Hedrick said he would love to see this become a business in the future, recording and working with local artists.
“A big part of music is not just the notes but the words and the message of the music,” Hedrick said.
And whether it’s from his closet recording studio, on-stage with a cappella or through a smooth meld of R&B and hip-hop, he’s sure to share that message.
