Saturday, December 19th I attended “Rockin’ Around the Town Square” at the Main Street Theater in Columbiana, Ohio - a Christmas concert organized and directed by Chris Bayda. Chris’ day job is as an electrical engineer here at Tec. You can read about that in a previous blog post.
Rockin’ Around the Town Square ran for three nights. I attended the middle show and it started with the local high school choir - the school Chris graduated from - each night had a choir from a different school. They performed for about 45 minutes with a slight interruption when one of the students fainted on stage. The choir was excellent performing mostly traditional Christmas carols. 
After a fifteen minute intermission the fog rolled in, the lights dimmed, then the guitars started. The rest of the show is reminiscent of a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert - holiday songs with a rockin’ twist. The band consisted of nine musicians and vocalists with a few more people working behind the scenes. Chris played lead guitar and had a fantastic solo about two-thirds into the show. The stage was decorated with a large Christmas tree and the stage lights were programmed with lots of red and green.
Chris spent months organizing the concerts, recruiting musicians, composing music and advertising the shows. Proceeds and canned food donations from the shows went to a local food bank The Way Station. His hard work paid off, all three shows had terrific turn-outs totaling about 800 people, and they were able to make a single largest donation to the food bank this year.
Congratulations Chris!
Apologies for the poor photo quality from my camera phone
Written by: Amy Lauria
By day, Chris Bayda—AKA Christopher Lee—bangs away on his computer
keyboard at Tec Inc. He blows into work each day, black bag in hand.
This is NOT an attaché case loaded with code manuals or client files,
but a duffel bag housing thousands of songs. Of course, the CD’s are in
alphabetical order, because Chris is an electrical engineer. As he gets
down to business, his headphones are in place and the music plays…
A
true Road Warrior, Chris has done fieldwork throughout the Midwest on
over 100 Circle K Stores, in his three years with Tec. He has also
provided his engineering expertise to projects in healthcare, higher
education and commercial office spaces.
Recently, I sat down with
Chris to talk about the 2nd Annual Rockin’ Around the Town Square, a
holiday rock concert that Chris is organizing again this year. The
concert runs three consecutive nights—Friday, December 18th thru Sunday,
December 20th at the Main Street Theater in Columbiana, Ohio.
Amy: Where did the concept for your Christmas Rock Concert come from?
Chris:
Before I moved away, I was in charge of music at my church in
Columbiana, Ohio. At Christmas, I always did a Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Song. In talking with friend who owns the local movie theatre, we
decided to put something together on the fly, so that we could play that
song again during the Christmas season. The tickets were free—it was
something to give back to the community.
A: Year 2….
C:
All three of this year’s concerts are food drives for The Way Station, a
local charity that provides food, clothing, and other essentials to
local families in need. We did the same at last year’s Christmas concert
as a community outreach - it was the single largest donation they
received in all of 2008, so they asked to be involved again with this
year’s concerts. Last year, we sold out one show in a matter of days,
with a waiting list to fill more dates. So this year, we planned for
three shows.
A: You said that a
family friend taught you your first cords and let you borrow his
acoustic guitar, though your parents were leery…
C: He introduced me to Van Halen’s-Eruption and I wanted to play that, so I told my parents that I wanted an electric guitar.
A: Their response?
C: No. It too loud. Too noisy.
A: But you got one, anyway?
C:
My grandfather went around them and got me my first electric guitar. My
grandparents gave it to me on Christmas Eve. My parents had no idea…
They told me it was staying at my grandparents house, to which I told
them they were going to have to take me down there all the time. I
couldn’t drive—I was twelve years old.
A: Did you take lessons?
C:
I kept practicing and getting a little bit better, and better. I
started working on my music at school and asked to participate in the
Band and Choir Concert held each year in March, for Music in Our Schools
Month. I kind of conned my parents into letting me bring the guitar
down to our house with the excuse that I needed to practice. My mom
agreed, but said that after the show was done, the guitar was going back
to my grandparents’ house.
A: And…
C: It never went back.
A: How long did it take your parents to come around to your interest in music?
C: They didn’t come around until a few years later.
A:
I can identify—my twelve-year-old son began playing the saxophone last
year. I have zero musical talent, so the noise didn’t bother me…I was
amazed by how quickly he picked it up. But it was very nails on a
chalkboard at first.
C: And the constant repetition of hearing the same thing over and over again.
A: There was that!
A: Have you ever marketed and sold your music, or a CD?
C:
Not really. I’m really picky and I take a long time to finish my own
recordings. I have so much music lying around—I could probably fill
three or four CD’s!
A: Do you ever plan to?
C: Oh Yeah. Definitely.
A: On the production side, you help others record…
C:
I love to record…to play with that side of music. Being behind the
console and making people sound good. Getting the best out of them.
A:
Is there some relationship between engineering and music? The two must
have a common skill set, for you to be so talented with both.
C:
Music theory is very mathematical, very pattern based. Music theory can
actually be turned into geometry. It is based on scales and notes and
the patterns they form. If a person can recognize patterns in math, then
the music theory side can be easier to understand.
A:
I could look at patterns all day long, and they would not resemble a
song. Or a building! There has to be a certain way your brain processes
information.
C: There is a creative side to engineering—that
I’m always trying to problem solve. To find the quickest way, or the
cheapest way, or the most efficient way to solve a problem. In music, it
isn’t really problem solving—but I’m still using creativity, combining
that with patterns and music theory and…Voila! You have art.
A:
As a musician, you create art. As an engineer, you take what architects
and owners dream up–make it workable–with the end result being art.
There is a relationship there. 
For more about Chris and to hear a thread of his original music, please visit www.baydamusic.com.
Season’s Greetings
Wishing everyone a wonderful and safe holiday season.
Please click here if you are having trouble viewing the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbCMq_ZmMQU