DENNIS CONROY'S MUSIC EXPRESSES UNITY OF LIFE By Donald J. McQuarie (For Carbondale Streets) Dennis Conroy's music expresses his belief in the oneness of all life, in the common unity behind the apparent variety of living things. "We are all important links in a web of life. To understand ourselves as part of a greater whole is an ever-expanding, growing experience. The whole and the individual are mutually dependent. One cannot grow exclusive to other life," he said. Conroy, 36, is a Carbondale composer whose feelings about the sanctity of all life inspire a music that can appeal to everyone. "I'm interested in music. I'm absolutely non-violent. The two go together because music has a universal appeal to people of widely different ideologies," he said. Support of Conroy's success with his aim comes from his listeners who represent a wide range of cultures. "I've heard his music, and I love the tone, the subject and the melody. It's sort of identical to some of the oriental music," said Fong Hui Xiong, a graduate student in computer science from the People's Republic of China. Conroy's musical career can be divided into several different periods of development. He began as a drummer. From 1966 to 1970, he played with The Cryan Shames, a group best known to people from the Chicago area. The group had a contract with Columbia Records and it produced several records. From 1970 to 1973, Conroy played the tabla and drums with two other Chicago area groups: The Rose Hips String Band, which specialized in inter- national folk music, and the Dooley Brothers, who played Irish folk music. In 1973, Conroy moved to Carbondale where he began playing with the Shawn Colvin Band, which played soft rock. In 1977, Conroy got completely out of music. "I was burnt out with playing in bars to crowds who did not want to listen," he said. Between 1977 and 1982, Conroy did a variety of things outside the music scene. for example, he attended Southern Illinois University awhile in the Design Department and he chauffered a limousine in Chicago. Finally, in 1982, Conroy came back to music, but to the piano this time. He only plays his original compositions, which he is refining more and more all the time. "For the last three years, I've been trying to get my music thing together," he said. Less than please by his previous experiences with audiences in bars, Conroy avoids public appearances as much as possible. "I've been offered severals gigs locally, but I don't fit into the bars because I'm into a kind of sit-down-and-listen-to music. I've been compared to George Winston," Conroy said. During this period of his career, Conroy is mainly interested in working in private to make some recordings of his music. "I've been isolated lately, trying to do some recording," he said. At this point, he has an idea of what he wants to do in the future. "I would like to work with recording and theme music for feature movies." he said. Conroy does give recitals occasionally. His last appearance was at the Student Center on April 12. He played the original songs that he has recorded on his album Spring. If you missed the recital, Spring is available only at Wuxtry Reocrds in Carbondale. Spring has an oriental flavor and it has an appeal to people from many different cultures, " from Irish to Chinese," he said. And this music's universal appeal is one way to get a view of that common ground of being that gives unity to all living things. This unity of life is the basis for Conroy's non-violence. But more than this, Conroy's music never tires the listener; it falls like a gentle spring rain upon the audience. It is also like a beautiful woman. Although delicate and serene in the concert hall, in the discreetly darkened chambers of the heart it embraces its lover with gentle vigor and powerful passion. This music expresses a truly forceful sense of non-violence.