A gutsy and talented freshman named Emily Spector synthesized her magic onstage for a show at the Queen’s Head Pub last Friday night with Eric Tarlin, a saxophonist and guitarist, and Naomi Vickers, a freshman at Harvard who translated the entire performance in American Sign Language (ASL).
Not only was the performance a hit due to the connection Emily fostered between the stage and high energy crowd, but also its excellent innovation. Throughout the entire night, Naomi Vickers remained on stage translating the entire performance into ASL, which provides accommodation for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Emily, a rock composer and performer based in New York, is enrolled in the five-year dual-degree program offered by Harvard College and Berklee College of Music. While she is a classically trained violinist, she has a passion for punk and rock music and a talent on the guitar and piano. She has big dreams, and she’s chasing them boldly, having already performed at Stage 72 in NYC and here at Harvard.
One day, Emily wants to be a touring musician, going from city to city. As she continues her career at Harvard, she describes her dual-degree program as a dream come true. In fact, her whole experience here, including performances, is a real-life dream. After the show, she was so pleased with how the show went that she stayed up super late afterwards. She says, “I didn’t want to go to sleep. I wanted it still to be the night of the gig.”
The crowd was pleased with Emily, as she was with them. At the end of the show, the room was filled with the reverberating cheers of “Encore, Encore!”