Live from Studio B

from Titan Trail (Fall 2020)

SENIORStudio

Trinity launches streaming platform to share compositions and performances by student musicians

If you’ve found yourself tapping your toes each morning as you wait for Virtual Morning Meeting to begin, then you can thank a group of talented Trinity musicians who have been composing, recording and producing music for a brand new online streaming channel, TESRadio.

From the orchestral sounds of Atesh Camurdan ’20 to the saxophone ramblings of David McCracken ’20 to rock ’n’ roll by V Talley ’20, TESRadio spotlights some of the best original compositions and performances by this year’s Titans. Hosted on SoundCloud, the site is available to be streamed anywhere.

The inspiration for the streaming platform goes back to the first days of the pandemic. When Trinity first began its distance learning program, Brian Rollins shared a photo of himself setting up shop in the music loft above his house, a spot he dubbed “Studio B.” He and his students were able to continue playing and analyzing music, thanks to collaborative software and the powerful MacBook computers that every student has through Trinity’s one-to-one laptop program.

“While it’s not quite business as usual, we’ve all managed to continue moving forward in our various pursuits,” said Rollins. “The IB music classes are busy analyzing and composing music, many of the seniors in that class are also preparing to present their recitals from their homes, thereby incorporating some additional recording skills into their class experience. They also are able to continue their compositional efforts unimpeded, thanks to the inclusion of compositional software on their school laptops.”

Rollins also continued to work with students to produce virtual collaborative performances. “The students will play along with the template, recording their individual parts and then share these back to me,” he said. “I’ll then stitch together the individual files to make a composite fullband performance, hopefully resembling what we would have presented to the public back on March 19.”