My poor face is not doing this beautiful piece justice. I used this art song as one of my final juries in undergrad. By this stage in my musical journey, my relationship to classical music was being increasingly fraught. No longer was i able to absently study music. I had begun to question my relationship to the art I was making. Quite literally I was wondering who I was giving voice. In what way was I using my being, manifested in my voice, to give power to certain narratives. Classical music is a colonial force. It has historically been used to assimilate indigenous cultures into the image of European sentiments of civility.  Like I said, at this time I was about to be quite uncivil about classical music. 

This performance as one of my final classical piece of learned, back in 2020, however, serves as a reminder of some level of beauty I find in classical music. It is a double edge sword to have been raised in a colonial society and also feel like such an outsider to it. In whatever the future is, I still seek refuge in my creativity. Somedays that might mean classical music, but other days I use my creativity to imagine a world where my voice can be whole again. I like to imagine a world where my voice speaking on my own behalf is just as powerful. 

With Love, 
​David Garcia 

Here is a through back! We'll call it Christmas in July! 

This was an arrangement I did for MoCA's first Christmas! As it still is now, my goal back in 2020 was to build community amongst my peers, helping to strength our sense of community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Oddly enough this video was made for my music technology class, as editing the video and audio was no small feat at the time. I still feel grateful to all my peers who participated in the making of this video. It was arranged and performed with a quick turned. Not bad for our scrappy little club! Thanks friends! 

Many of this people I haven't spoken to in quite a while, but this experience still lives in my heart. Hope y'all are doing well! 

I hope you all enjoy a little Christmas during this off-season. 

With love,
David Garcia