October 12-December 20, 2026
AV Exhibit Space (Olin first floor, east corridor)
Olin Library, 252 Church Street, Middletown
Independent Declarations by Noah Baerman and Friends is a collaborative musical project serving both as celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the document’s ongoing relevance. Baerman, pianist, Wesleyan faculty member, and Artistic Director of the nonprofit Resonant Motion, enlisted fifteen musicians, ranging in age from early twenties to late forties, who had studied with him at Wesleyan University or at the longstanding summer program Center for Creative Youth (CCY). Nine of Baerman’s former students from these programs were commissioned to compose new works reflecting on the present-day relevance and impact of the Declaration of Independence. These composers are diverse in musical practice and philosophy, yet were all tasked with the common task of using the Declaration of Independence as a jumping off point. To bring these compositions to life, Baerman brought together two ensembles, each also made up of former students from these programs.
This was a novel experience for Baerman in the sense that, while ostensibly serving as the bandleader and producer, he let go of his standard practice of arranging and organizing the musical interpretations of the material, instead letting that process unfold communally in the recording sessions with an underlying trust in each performer in terms of preparedness, humility, and musical understanding. According to him “the experience of bringing these compositions to life was such a moving example of how collective action can result in a whole greater than the sum of the parts. So often in both musical collaboration and governmental democracy, the representation of different voices does not actually result in a truly openhearted sharing of ideas. I was heartened that, in spite of the potential sense of hierarchy since I was once their teacher, these musicians all brought their full selves to the table and made the music into something I could never have fully conceived on my own.”
In addition to the artistic stimulation of working with these creatively potent musicians, it was inseparable from the overall ethos of viewing the impact of a document once it leaves the hands of whoever formulated it. In Baerman’s words, “in the same vein that modern-day citizens and governments must contend with how to embody the Declaration of Independence in a manner that is at once faithful and relevant to the present moment, the composers involved in this process had to contend with the process being out of their hands once they passed the compositions along, and the performers had to contend with doing justice to that music while also being true to their own musical values and sensibilities.” The focus on Baerman’s former students as composers and performers serves as a further representation of the intergenerational alliances and torch-passing that we hope to see in society writ large.
This series of nine installations is being mounted in tandem with the October 16 release of Independent Declarations by Noah Baerman and Friends.
Baerman will be presenting a WESeminar “Democracy in Collaborative Sound: The Independent Declarations Project” on Saturday, October 17 from 12 noon to 1 pm in Smith Reading Room, Olin Library as part of Wesleyan’s Homecoming and Family Weekend. This event is free and open to the public.
This project was made possible by a Semiquincentennial grant from the Middletown Commission on the Arts and by the generosity of Resonant Motion’s donors. The installations and an accompanying WESeminar are sponsored by Wesleyan’s World Music Archives & Music Library (WMA&ML), with additional support from the Allbritton Center for Public Life’s Democracy250 initiative.
Installation calendar and details
The piece “We Are Home” was composed by Chad Selph (Asar the Ambassador), a keyboardist, composer, bandleader, and CCY and Middletown High School alumnus based in Jersey City. For this performance Baerman played piano and organ and was joined by Connecticut based vocalist Erica Tracy, Massachusetts based drummer Nate Mondschein’12 (Best Mann), and New York based vocalist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Spencer Hattendorf ‘12 (Spencer H), here playing saxophone and electric bass, for a session in West Springfield, MA at Ghost Hit Recording. Selph, co-leader of the New York progressive R&B/jazz fusion group Freelance, declares the song to be “a lullaby of reassurance, an anthem of resistance, and a declaration that redefines old narratives” before stating “our new narrative is simple: Black Americans belong here.” Tracy’s voice soars and weaves through the Latin-tinged neo-soul interpretation with an expansive organ solo by Baerman.
The piece “We Declare” was composed by Sam Friedman ’13, a pianist, harmonica virtuoso, multi-instrumentalist, and composer based in New York. For this performance Baerman played piano and was joined by Connecticut based drummer and bandleader Jocelyn Pleasant, (MA ’20, PhD candidate), New York based bassist Tim Norton, and Chicago based guitarist Alex Tripp ‘21. “We Declare” develops its anthemic melody through a variety of moods, with featured spots for Baerman, Tripp, and Norton, focusing on the “pursuit” part of the pursuit of happiness. Says Friedman, “It is that honest struggle, that act of united aspiration, striving together toward better worlds, rather than basking in an illusion of having simply arrived, that perhaps may come to define this great nation more than any single beat of Declaration.”
The piece “Mr. Jefferson Has Some Words About the Slave Trade” was composed by David Hanlon ’01, a pianist and operatic composer based in Washington, DC. For this performance Baerman played piano and Rhodes electric piano and was joined by Connecticut based drummer and bandleader Jocelyn Pleasant, (MA ’20, PhD candidate), New York based bassist Tim Norton, and Chicago based guitarist Alex Tripp ‘21. Perhaps the most musically ominous of all the album’s performances, Hanlon bases the music on a Jill LePore article on the Founding Fathers’ decision to omit reference to enslaved people from the Declaration. He singles out Jefferson, of whom he states in this context, that “his thunderous harangue amounts to sound and fury signifying nothing,” a sentiment represented through moments of gnarly dissonance.
The piece “Candid World” was composed by CCY alum Rachel Housle, a drummer and singer/songwriter based in New York. For this performance Baerman played Wurlitzer electric piano and acoustic guitar and was joined by Connecticut based vocalist Erica Tracy, Massachusetts based drummer Nate Mondschein’12 (Best Mann), and New York based vocalist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Spencer Hattendorf ‘12 (Spencer H), here playing electric bass, for a session in West Springfield, MA at Ghost Hit Recording. The piece provides some emotional respite through the philosophical examination of, as Housle reflects, “where we are now and who truly has access to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the present day.” Conceived as a folkish tune, it is reinvented here as a soul ballad in the vein of early Donny Hathaway.
The piece “If You Can Keep It” was composed by Sean Clapis, a guitarist and composer based in Madrid, and CCY alum. For this performance Baerman played piano and was joined by Connecticut based drummer and bandleader Jocelyn Pleasant, (MA ’20, PhD candidate), New York based bassist Tim Norton, and Chicago based guitarist Alex Tripp ‘21. Clapis conceived the piece as a reflection on the moral responsibilities aligned with bringing democracy to successful fruition, with the title representing a quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin about the then-new republic. Perhaps the most straight-ahead jazz composition on the album, it is an impressionistic, modern tune in 5/4 time that features solos by Tripp, Norton, and Baerman, who also opens this performance with a plaintive solo piano rendition of the melody.
The piece “The Declaration” was composed by Kwaku Darko, a drummer, pianist, and composer based in Boston, and CCY alum. For this performance Baerman played Wurlitzer electric piano and was joined by Connecticut based vocalist Erica Tracy, Massachusetts based drummer Nate Mondschein’12 (Best Mann), and New York based vocalist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Spencer Hattendorf ‘12 (Spencer H), here singing and playing saxophone and electric bass, for a session in West Springfield, MA at Ghost Hit Recording. A recent Berklee College of Music graduate, Ghanaian-American Darko is the youngest of the composers involved, and this shapeshifting composition features, among other components, prominent drums from Mondschein and a lush, soulful choral section layered by Tracy and Hattendorf reflecting on the reference to “enemies in war and peace” in the Declaration of Independence.
The piece “Upside Down” was composed by Johnnie Gilmore ’18, a bassist and composer based in Los Angeles. For this performance Baerman sang and played piano and was joined by Massachusetts based drummer Nate Mondschein’12 (Best Mann) and New York based vocalist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Spencer Hattendorf ‘12 (Spencer H), here playing electric bass and saxophone, for a session in West Springfield, MA at Ghost Hit Recording. A lyrically incendiary social critique, “Upside Down” is anchored by a strong boogie-woogie groove supporting caustic lead vocals from Baerman and a fiery saxophone solo by Hattendorf.
The piece “Let Facts Be Submitted to A Candid World” was composed by Anne Boccato, a percussionist, pianist, vocalist, and composer based in New York, and CCY alum. For this performance Baerman played piano and Rhodes electric piano and was joined by Connecticut based drummer and bandleader Jocelyn Pleasant, (MA ’20, PhD candidate), New York based bassist Tim Norton, and Chicago based guitarist Alex Tripp ‘21. Boccato conceived it as a reimagining of the Declaration’s words through the lens of a woman seeking to liberate herself from an abusive relationship. Perhaps the most epic of the performances on the album, Baerman, Tripp, and Pleasant all feature on this piece as it traverses numerous moods and grooves.
The piece “Roller Coaster” was composed by Joe Newman ‘09, a saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and attorney based in San Francisco. For this performance Baerman played piano and organ and was joined by Connecticut based vocalist Erica Tracy, Massachusetts based drummer Nate Mondschein’12 (Best Mann), and New York based vocalist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Spencer Hattendorf ‘12 (Spencer H), here singing harmony vocals and playing electric bass and guitars, for a session in West Springfield, MA at Ghost Hit Recording. The piece was submitted as a ukelele-based country ballad seeking hope while reflecting on the tenuousness of our democracy, and Tracy and company electrify the music and take it to church, with a groove suggesting Muscle Shoals or Memphis and lead and harmony vocals in the spirit of classic gospel-infused soul.
Email wma@wesleyan.edu for more information. To learn about future events, follow us on Instagram.
