i3º & MT (pronounced "thirteen degrees and empty") is a jazz quartet of music professors at Ithaca College featuring Nicholas Walker, double bass; Greg Evans, drums; Nick Weiser piano; and Director of Jazz Studies, Mike Titlebaum on alto saxophone. i3º & MT (pronounced "thirteen degrees and empty") is a jazz quartet of music professors at Ithaca College featuring Nicholas Walker, double bass; Greg Evans, drums; Nick Weiser piano; and Director of Jazz Studies, Mike Titlebaum on alto saxophone.
The faculty members of the quartet believe that music elevates the human condition, that access to music is a basic human need (like clear water and shelter), that the act of attending to music ignites the empathy sectors in the brain, which in turn releases oxytocin, building intimacy, and leading us all to compassion, morality, and love.
Over winter break, i3º & MT gave five concerts in three days in Houston, TX. The group began by playing a house concert as part of an InstitutionalAdvancement/Recruitment initiative for Ithaca College. The event was attended by some 30 members of the Ithaca College community in Texas, including alumni, students, professors, local professionals, as well as families and friends of Ithaca College.
The group then played a hospital concert at the Houston Methodist Center for Performing Arts Medicine and met with (and played with) doctors, neurologists, and surgeons about about the power and potential for music, sharing both scientific and anecdotal research together. "What a gift it was to us to feel the lift in spirits of the patients, visiting families, doctors and staff in the hospital," says Nicholas Walker.
i3º & MT then played a community concert for Hew Hope Housing's Rittenhouse residents, staff, and friends. NHH is nationally recognized as a leader in transitioning homeless people into stable and safe lives through access to single room occupancy dwellings. The NHH statistics and results are astounding.
"The experience of playing music for residents at Rittenhouse was both transformative and affirming for us: what other than music could so immediately and palpable turn a nearly deserted common room into a joyful space full of dancing, singing, clapping, hugging, smiling friends!?" says Walker.
Joy Horak-Brown, Executive Director New Hope Housing, writes, "At Rittenhouse over 60 residents participated, sipping hot cocoa and dancing for hours as the jazz quartet played their favorite tunes. Many even requested specific songs and sang along with the band. Through feedback from the residents on this successful program, music is now an initiative Resident Services hopes to bring to other properties."
i3º & MT also spent a day working with students at the legendary High School for the Performing & Visual Arts (HSPVA), where they listened to, played with and for the next generation of jazz luminaries (and possibly - en route to such - future Ithaca College students).
The trip culminated in a club concert at Ovations Jazz Club, where local musicians and some students from HSPVA joined i3º & MT at the conclusion of the evening.
"We so appreciate the support and partnership of our Dean, Karl Paulnack, and the involvement of Dave Brown in Institutional Advancement as we work to transform ourselves and our communities through the magic of social music," says an exuberant Nicholas Walker.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20150120101037942