Video Gaming With My Violin: The Art of Virtual Collaboration

By Joshua Iyer: I recently played violin on a collaborative musical project for a video gaming event called vgmtogether. The event brings together various musicians and arrangers who play a set of their choosing, based on a featured video game. The final collaboration is a medley of music livestreamed on Twitch TV. The featured game last year was "Paper Mario: The Origami King." This year, we collaborated on "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild." I specifically played four violin parts in the track "Rito Village." Working with only one other violinist, our challenge was to make our individual tracks blend to ultimately sound like a full string section. While this is far from my favorite way to make music (I'd much prefer to play with people when we're all in the same room), there’s something quite nice about receiving, practicing, and recording my parts, knowing I'll be playing with my fellow musicians to create one beautiful track. This has been the predominant way I've made music since the pandemic: online in this virtual space. And while I’ll probably always prefer live music, I’ve come to embrace the positive aspects of this type of collaboration. What made working on this medley especially exciting was seeing how many unique arrangements and styles were represented. There were a few other string players on certain tracks, as well as jazz, big band, a brass ensemble, and lovely minimalist piano solos. And while the final product can feel a bit like whiplash, there's animation between each track to help smooth the transitions. Something that makes this online form of music-making unique as compared to concerts and recitals is the fact that there were so many minds behind one medley. It made the entire experience feel even bigger and more special to be part of. I'll share a video on YouTube once it’s uploaded. For now, it’s available on Twitch under vgmtogether.BELOW: I recently took my style of filming and recording game covers and applied it to an original piece: "Autumnal!" It’s a work in progress, but I’m quite pleased with how it’s shaping up. Check it out here: * * *

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