The Tune-Yards exclusive virtual concert for Middlebury premiered Thursday, April 22, 2021, and was followed by a live Q&A with artists Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner.

Screenshots from both follow, as well as a summary of the original proposal by student host Francis Shiner ’23. Many thanks to Merrill and Nate for a great virtual residency!

Standard and Large-print programs available.

Tune-Yards
April 22, 2021
Proposing student: Francis Shiner ’23

Tune-Yards is an American, Oakland, California-based music project of musician Merrill Garbus, with long-time collaborator, bassist Nate Brenner. Garbus’s music draws from an eclectic variety of sources and utilizes elements such as loop pedals, ukulele, vocals, and lo-fi percussion. Garbus described their sound as “a patchwork of sound snippets, of history in a present tense. It is a composer’s commitment to the preservation of stories, however small and unassuming.” Merrill Garbus is a musician, producer and composer who slams, wails, strums and shakes with her band, Tune-Yards and will speak to students about composition, music making during the pandemic, decolonizing Western music, and much more.