On Friday, the Horn Gallery hosted Scored Storytelling, a true stroke of genius by Ytamar Solomon ’29 and Evan Shafer ’27. As students packed into the room, we witnessed a beautiful blend of prose and music brought by Solomon on the piano and Shafer on the drums. Solomon and Shafer created a variety of scores to accompany the written stories of multiple students (submitted beforehand via a Google form shared in an all-student email). The two played their respective instruments behind each student as they stood in front of the audience to read their pieces. 

Mia Tribble ’29 was the perfect opener for such an event. She delighted the audience with a hilarious story, detailing her employers’ illegal business in the cannabis industry. As Tribble spoke, Solomon and Shafer followed her every word, playing along on the piano and drums. Their music-making was all in sync. Immediately, they caught each other’s eyes and beamed in delight as the audience roared with laughter. Their musical accompaniment effortlessly aligned with the trajectory of the story. 

Solomon and Shafer continued to stun throughout the event. While the rhythm and tempo changed with each story — fact or fiction — the musical duo stayed connected during each one. When asked about the partnership, Solomon wrote in an email to the Collegian, “[Shafer’s] a great improviser and he’s super good at reacting to changes in rhythm or form.” The Horn contributed greatly to the success of the night alongside their musical dynamic. “The setup was great as well since I was facing the audience, and could instantly gauge their reaction to what I was playing. … It was nice to be able to see and respond to the audience, as well as communicate with [him],” Solomon wrote.

I watched in awe as Solomon and Shafer established an appropriate theme for each piece. The music’s dramatic beat perfectly matched Dali Silverberg ’27’s hilarious story of a lost ear during a particularly traumatic childhood piano lesson. For Nick Kloor ’26 and Isa Braun ’26, the lively and fast-paced melody highlighted their imaginative short story. Solomon enhanced Braun’s second story as the tempo sped up to match her beautiful tale of sisterhood and her early childhood connection to nature. Braun spoke about embodying the woods and becoming a self-proclaimed “nature girl.” Her dream-like storytelling was a truly flawless end to the night. 

Sitting in the orange glow, the audience watched in amazement as Horn Gallery history was made and Solomon and Shafer’s creativity was brought to life on stage. “For the future, I’m hoping to do it every semester or so, or at least as often as people will show up,” Solomon said.