The Ambassadors’ Exchange: Improvising and Composing through an Online Relay

Last month the Ambassadors finished our third annual Online Pen-Pal Project, the last initiative of the year! We paired 30 students from five programs around the world, giving them weekly prompts to spark conversation around music, culture, and life. On December 10, we hosted a Zoom meeting for anyone who wanted to get to know additional pen pals outside their pairing.

During the call, we attempted a composition relay where the entire group tried to create a melody by “passing the mic” to each player. Each participant could play as long as they wanted or bring back tunes from a previous musician. After a few trial rounds and a slight learning curve, we were able to record two of our compositions:

Right away, we learned to set a key signature so that our work would sound more cohesive. More than that, though, this was an essential listening exercise; we had to pay close attention to one another in order to build on each player’s contribution. It was such a delight to enjoy each other’s company, despite never having met before.