In the fall semester of 2022, I got the chance to perform, specifically piano, with some of my peers. This unique opportunity arose when my friend had the idea of creating Wesleyan’s first all black band, Black Raspberry, and he asked if I would play piano. I was fairly excited when first being told about it because I hadn’t played piano in a while, even though it was a large part of my life when I was a child. In high school, however, I lost some desire to play piano because I had to do it for a class. Being the pianist in Black Raspberry has helped me regain my love for piano. Since I was working with people who love to play, through watching and collaborating with them, I was able to remember why I enjoyed playing so much. The creativity, in the form of melodies, that came about the collaboration really stuck with me. The space provided a very relaxing and productive environment in which we were able to create covers by using our collective musical knowledge, and bouncing ideas off of each other. Over time we’ve become a fairly tight group, which allows us to be vulnerable with one another resulting in us being the best musicians we can be.
I have been able to develop my collaboration skills even more in this spring semester of 2023 because we added a second piano player to the band. Having another piano player on board with us alleviated the pressure off of myself and I was able to learn from his talents. We often brainstorm ideas together in a way that’s unique to the piano, resulting in creative harmonies. Along with that, I’m able to ask him questions that I might not have the answer to, such as how to play a certain chord progression, and vice versa. The process of adding him was also a learning experience due to his hesitation on joining because he didn’t want to take any spotlight away from me. I made sure to let him know that the more people in the band the merrier, and that getting to work with another piano player would be much more fun than doing it by myself.
