PASSING NOTES: Digital Artifacts

The digital artifacts on this page document Troy Anthony and Jerome Ellis’s music-ritual, PASSING NOTES, carried out on Zoom as part of The Shed’s digital series Up Close on May 17, 2020. With these artifacts the artists hope that you might build on the healing power of the work.

PASSING NOTES was divided into seven parts. This is a brief summary of each part of the ritual, along with the music that was heard during each section:

I. We cleanse and prepare: “Saxophone Invocation”
II. We honor healthcare workers: “A Lost Ship”
III. We condemn racialized and gendered injustices: “Numbers” and “I’d Rather Be Angry”
IV. We connect: “One Note Song”
V. We mourn and breathe: “Sparrow Part One” and “Sparrow Part Two”
VI. We affirm: “Serenity Prayer”
VII. We celebrate birth: “One Note Song #2”

Along with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler’s On Grief and Grieving and the hymn “His Eye Is on the Sparrow,” Anthony and Ellis were inspired by Assata Shakur’s poem “Affirmation.” These artifacts include audio and video recordings from the ritual as well as a poem by the artists.