Music 177 a.k.a. Creative Music: Advanced Ensemble Workshop began in January 2020 with nine undergrads and two graduate students. Under the fluorescent glow of Harvard's Holden Chapel and the muted hum of Professor Iyer's basement office, three trios and a duo embarked on a monthlong exploration. Most of them had never met or even heard each other play before. A sense of loss after the first magical concert ensued since the students were to be placed into new ensembles. But in retrospect, this feeling was only a mere foreshadowing of the shock to come two weeks later, when an email on the morning of March 10th announced that students would have five days to vacate their dorm rooms and leave campus. How would a class premised on realtime collaboration continue with students scattered across the hemisphere?
But Professor Iyer and I were astonished at the ingenuity and resilience of the students, again. They continued to make provocative music expressing their previously unthinkable circumstances on their own and then in collaboration across great distances. This mixtape represents one track led by each member of the class. Many students double on multiple tracks.
All proceeds from this mixtape will be donated to The Jazz Foundation's COVID-19 Relief fund. To donate directly, please go to jazzfoundation.org/donate/, select "COVID-19 Musicians' Emergency Fund" and indicate that your donation is "in the name of Harvard Music 177".
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