The following article was contributed by Kelly Lin
It started as a way to connect MIT musicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two years later, they were establishing their first music school in Kampala, Uganda. Now, they are an orchestra of college students scattered throughout the U.S., with music programs in five countries across the globe and plans to go on international tours in the coming months. Their goal is still to connect people with music – they are just working on a global scale now.
“I like to describe it as following the wind, so to speak. Where we are now wasn’t planned,” said Tatsuya Daniel, a percussionist and PhD candidate at Brown University who founded the orchestra and named it after himself. “But there’s just this internal drive, of wanting to do this and wanting to contribute to the world, that’s what’s driving me.”
The music that Tatsuya Daniel Orchestra (TD Orchestra) plays reflects this drive. With titles like “Legacy of a Generation” and “A Beautiful Life”, the pieces, composed by Daniel, have been described as reflective and surreal. The music does not fit into some preexisting genre though, combining elements of pop, rock, jazz, funk, and others. This experimental mix is enabled by the unusual instrumentation of the group, where a traditional orchestra is joined by a rhythm section and choir.
Moreover, having started during the pandemic, TD Orchestra’s musicians have mostly not actually played together in person. Instead, members have recorded their own parts individually, with later editing combining those videos to release on YouTube.
“A Beautiful Life” was recorded virtually by TD Orchestra in 2021.
It was this virtual format that brought TD Orchestra its international connections.
February 2022 saw the premiere of the Sounds of Percussion album, which reached audiences across the globe. Many musicians from developing countries, including Uganda, Ghana, Botswana, and Haiti, reached out, interested in collaborating with the orchestra. At first, Daniel thought of producing another album, the virtual format enabling contribution from around the world.
“They were all very interested in the idea,” said Daniel, “but one of the things that basically all of them told me was that they didn’t know how to read sheet music.”
Thus began TD Orchestra’s music lessons. Daniel started out teaching the group Modern Academy of Music and Art, from Kampala, Uganda, basic music theory concepts. But from the start, it was clear that the situation was not conducive to such learning. The musicians didn’t own computers, so Daniel was communicating via WhatsApp calls, with 10 to 15 people crowded in a tiny room trying to see off one phone screen.
So Daniel decided to help get those musicians the necessary materials and space, partnering with WWMU. Along the way, those music lessons became a music school, and today, those musicians who learned from Daniel have gone on to teach others in their community.
Left: Students at a school in Mankessim, Ghana, partake in a drumming lesson after math class. Right: Dexter Lansang, the primary music teacher of TD Orchestra Philippines, leads his students in a rehearsal of Daniel’s music.
It was a similar story in Botswana, where TD Orchestra now also runs music schools in collaboration with local musicians in Maun, and Ghana, although the musicians of Mankessim already knew basic music theory. In Haiti and the Philippines, the orchestra has partnered with preexisting music programs, working to give the student musicians more repertoire, including Daniel’s music, and more music opportunities. The orchestra is also working to obtain new instruments for students in Ghana and Botswana, as well as traditional Filipino instruments for the program in the Philippines.
But TD Orchestra has goals to form international connections beyond just their music schools. With COVID-19 no longer a global health emergency, they are planning to actually travel to other countries.
In March, the orchestra is headed to Germany, where they will be performing along with local students, teachers, and professionals in Dresden and Leipzig. With music as a shared interest, TD Orchestra aims to forge additional, interdisciplinary bonds with those they meet. They have already been meeting on Zoom with the group Architects of Music since October 2023. While in Germany, members of the orchestra will also attend outreach and networking events, as well as give research presentations on their academic projects. The orchestra hopes that the connections made on the trip will not end once they return to the U.S., but instead continue and grow.
Daniel visited Papua New Guinea in August 2023 to meet with TD Orchestra’s collaborators Morobe Arts Association, Inc. and the Jungle of Ghosts film team, along with members of the Lae City Authority and Lae City Tourism Bureau.
Looking forward, TD Orchestra plans to go on another tour in June, this time across Oceania and Southeast Asia. Further into the future, they want to visit Papua New Guinea, another connection made through their virtual albums, and to return to Germany in 2025. They wish to grow their music schools by student population, establishing permanent locations with larger facilities and obtaining more instruments, as well as reach out to other communities across the world.
But beyond that, Daniel is open to where the orchestra might go and what it might become.
“I think the path of TD Orchestra is really unique,” he said. “For a while I was like, maybe we should actually try to do things the way people normally do things. But then, I got to a point where I realized, this uniqueness of TD Orchestra, I think we should embrace that.”
To learn more and support TD Orchestra, visit their website: https://tatsuyadanielorchestra.org
Upcoming Events (to be livestreamed):
TD Orchestra performances in Germany: Thursday, March 28 and Saturday, March 30
TD Orchestra charity concerts in the U.S.: Saturday, May 4 at MIT, Sunday, May 5 at Brown University
TD Orchestra performs in Melbourne, Australia: Monday, June 24
