As a freshman in high school, I was offered a rather unique opportunity. A local playhouse was conducting a one-night live read-through of Rent as a fundraiser for the upcoming season of plays. The electric bass player who had previously committed to the role called out due to what I assume was a family emergency, however the gig was not paying so that very well could have influenced them. With three days til curtains, the orchestra teacher of a neighboring high school offered my burgeoning skill with the bass.
In those 72 or so I had listened and sightread the piece forwards, backwards, and on shuffle. Intensely, I studied the tune of La Vie Boheme and Will You Light My Candle as though no other songs existed (albeit not having a clue what any of it meant… perhaps for the better). When showtime did come around, I did hold my own, yet I was mystified at the prowess the vocalists and other instrumentalists displayed that night. Studying so fervorously and sitting in with such talented musicians, it all felt like a fever dream where I wake up with a sense of maturity and intellectual vertigo. A growth spurt of sorts.
I tell this story to illustrate how it might have felt finishing the final NPR Tiny Desk Contest submission on March 13th, 2022. In the span of about five weeks I had planned, recorded, preformed in, and edited five of these submission videos for projects I either am fully involved in or sincerely believe in. Having never truly colored a video before, or managed a video set to this scale, I had a lot to learn in a very short period of time.
In the late summer of 2021, just before the Takes Time EP release, Manny and I had quickly filmed a Tiny Desk submission at Ladder Coffee for that year’s contest. A single, stationary camera held up by a few books. My Nikon Z50 was set to “vivid”, and my post-production consisted of scrolling presets on Adobe Premiere. Despite all the flaws in its creation, the final product ended up being one of the most circulated pieces of Manny’s catalog at the time. Simply put: People loved it! The resounding positive response from that video really pushed me to prioritize the Tiny Desk Contest Submissions for future projects. With all the artists I came to be involved with, it really made sense to push my knowledge and limits to create a small collection of beautiful live performances to share with the world.
I do hope you can feel the heart that went into each of the videos, from the village of folks who came together to make them happen. Below is a Youtube playlist featuring all of the performances.