This article was written by Trevor Dameika and Tasha Khosla.
After the onset of COVID-19, concerts and other music events were put on hold indefinitely. But despite the effects of the pandemic, Stevens students continued to create, produce, and publish music whether it be as an amateur or an experienced musician. Many current students and recent graduates have shared their music with the Stevens community through on-campus events and also ventured to share their music on social media and audio-streaming platforms.
Chris Nitti is a senior Music and Technology student who is a singer and guitarist. Nitti writes and plays indie rock and is a verified artist on Spotify. In an email interview with The Stute, Nitti shared that he “takes most enjoyment in writing, recording, and performing [his] own songs.”
When asked how his time at Stevens has shaped his artistry, his coursework came to mind. His courses helped expose him to different styles by requiring him to collaborate with others. This required collaboration taught him how to “blend styles and meet-in-the-middle.”
As far as his accomplishments go, “making the music itself” is what Nitti considered to be his greatest feat. “I know a lot of people who want to write and release their own music, but find it hard to bring themselves to actually do it. I’ve somehow been able to overcome that barrier and released an EP, a couple singles and 3 albums,” Nitti elaborated.
As he plans another album release, Nitti’s advice to aspiring musicians is, “It’s easy to get discouraged, and you may feel inadequate at times, but you must realize that doesn’t matter […] If you’re having fun, that’s what matters.”
Similar to Nitti, Zachary Berkowitz is a junior Music and Technology major pursuing a minor in Finance. Berkowitz has been creating music on an audio workspace called Logic Pro X for seven years. Currently, Berkowitz uses a drum machine that imitates the sounds of many percussion instruments rather than using his computer to make music.
Berkowitz referenced the heights he hopes to take his music to, stating, “I plan to take my act around the globe […] in a post-pandemic era we need as much togetherness as possible. I want my music to create a safe community for everyone by bringing them faith through beats and breaks, while honoring the local creatives in each city I play in.”
With his time at Stevens, Berkowitz had a daunting thought that peers within his own major were not “into” electronic music. “Most of them play acoustic instruments,” he stated. However, as he was listening to bands play in the Kidde 350 studio, and getting to know each member individually, he realized that they were all unified. Berkowitz asserted that “Stevens is a community full of budding creatives, and every year I get more and more impressed with the M&T majors and the risks they take in pursuit of their goals. It inspires me to keep going hard and doing what I do.”
On the other hand, Chaitha Dasari, a junior studying Quantitative Finance, just started creating music, under the name “Chaitha”, at the start of the COVID pandemic. Dasari is currently releasing music on all streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music. According to Dasari, “on Spotify I have amassed 1.5 million streams and 100,000 monthly listeners.”
The growth of Dasari’s music has exceeded personal expectations. Dasari explained, “It is my true passion and in just a year and a half of making music, I have accomplished more than I could’ve ever dreamt of.” Furthermore, despite his major being unrelated to his passion for music, Dasari remarked that Stevens inspired him to start sharing his music. Dasari met two friends at Stevens who led him to freestyling and eventually a song recording. His friends posted Dasari’s music on Instagram and “The reaction received was so overwhelmingly positive and from there all of this came to be.”
As an alumnus, Kiera Dillon, a Music and Technology major, is working as a live sound engineer and a freelance songwriter. With her music on all streaming platforms, Spotify gives Dillon around 125,000 streams. Dillon is planning a few personal releases for the end of the year.
Referencing her time at Stevens, Dillon reflected, “I’ve always considered myself a musician but never would’ve attached the title ‘producer’ or ‘engineer’ if it weren’t for Stevens.” Dillon dedicates her current professional mindset to the faculty of Stevens, which provided, “a lot of confidence to pursue music.”
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