This year's campus orientation, from Aug. 17 through 22, will introduce new students to the rhythms of life at Cornell through music-themed events.

Highlights -- open only to new students -- will include live jazz and popular music, performance poets, the Big Red Blowout at Schoellkopf Stadium, interactive workshops with faculty, and events within individual schools. Continuing the theme, the orientation guide will be laid out in the style of Rolling Stone magazine.

On Friday, Aug. 17, the daylong New Student Registration will be in Bartels Hall; President David Skorton's welcome reception will take place under a tent on Rawlings Green from 4 to 5 p.m.; and the music theme will kick off with the Name That Tune Opening Reception on Appel Commons from 10 p.m. to midnight, with music trivia, a disc jockey and prizes.

Saturday will begin with the New Student Convocation, at which Skorton will welcome the new students in Schoellkopf Stadium from 9 to 10 a.m.

Convocation update:
Originally scheduled to be held in Barton Hall, the New Student Convocation has been moved to Schoellkopf Stadium. President David Skorton will address the students Saturday, Aug. 18, beginning at 9 a.m. In case of inclement weather, check the Cornell home page at http://www.cornell.edu/ for information.

The day's highlights will include a presentation from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m., "Power Sleep and Peak Performance," given by Cornell psychology professor James Maas. The talk will cover the importance of sleep for thinking, productivity, general health and well-being. That night, from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., all the new students will parade from Balch Hall Archway to Barton Hall to watch comedian Ty Barnett of "Last Comic Standing" fame.

On Sunday, the New Student Reading Project begins at 3:30 p.m. in Barton Hall with a panel discussion on this year's featured novel, "The Pickup," by Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer. The reading project continues with small-group discussions and responses in writing on Monday, Aug. 20.

Sunday night will ring with a number of diverse events, including Jazz at the Johnson Museum from 9 to 11 p.m.; a Spoken Word/Poetry Slam in Bailey Hall from 10 p.m. to midnight featuring performance poets from New York City, Texas and Baltimore; a 10 p.m. showing of the movie "Blood Diamond," about the African diamond trade, followed by discussions. The day will end with a late-night dance party in Willard Straight Hall's Memorial Room.

Monday night features the Big Red Blowout from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. at Schoellkopf Stadium with competitions and prizes. Athletes, cheerleaders and bands will be on hand, and everyone in attendance will receive a free T-shirt donated by Kraftees in Collegetown.

Tuesday night will feature EzraFest 2007 from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Rawlings Green, featuring three local bands. Students can play volleyball or Frisbee while the bands Mike Brindisi, IY and the Tactylics rock out.

A new feature at orientation this year will be "Intellectual Explorations With Faculty," on Wednesday, Aug. 22. These interactive and informal workshops will allow students to investigate new topics of special interest to a faculty member while also interacting with Cornell teachers and other students.

For example, engineering professor Graeme Bailey will explore the question "Can machines be creative?" Similarly, ILR School professor Jefferson Cowie will discuss "Everything I Need to Know About Individualism, Democracy and Community I Learned From Bruce Springsteen," while Cornell art professor Buzz Spector will examine the concept of whether a book can be both an object and a subject.