Indigo Girls reunite with the OHIO Symphony Orchestra for a reprise in experiential learning

Two years after collaborating with the Ohio University Symphony Orchestra, the Indigo Girls returned to Ohio University on April 24, this time sharing the stage with the full ensemble in a sold-out performance that deepened both the musical partnership and the learning experience for student musicians.

For the orchestra, the performance represented a full-circle moment. In 2024, the Indigo Girls collaborated with a smaller group of students, performing alongside them in a sold-out concert. This time, thanks to faculty advocacy and planning, the entire ensemble took the stage, transforming the experience into something even more expansive and impactful.

“It was an incredible experience,” said Jose Rocha, director of the orchestra. “They are great musicians and it was amazing to sit and watch them fine tune the sound of their guitars through the sound system during their sound check. I think they used a different guitar for each song because of the particular timbre they sought! And then, to rehearse with them and experience the professional environment (sound crew, lightning crew, their manager) and yet, they were so positive and supportive of the students as they kept pointing out things they were doing right like dynamics, or other musical gestures.”

Students had only a short window to prepare, just a few weeks to learn the music before stepping into a full professional production environment. The schedule on the day of the concert moved quickly, compressing what might typically take days into just a few hours.

“I met with Amy and Emily (the Indigo Girls) by myself at 2 on that Friday, then we had a rehearsal with the orchestra and the artists at 3 where we ran through every song and did the sound check with the orchestra simultaneously, checking for the balance between the orchestra, the voices and the guitars, and then we played the show at 7:30,” Rocha said.

Roughly 60 students and three faculty members performed on stage, supported by a much larger team working behind the scenes to bring the concert together.

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“I am thankful for the whole music faculty because they all work individually, making sure we were ready,” Rocha added including that it takes a village to make something like this happen.

For third-year graduate student Marcis Bravo who is finishing up a Masters of Music in Music History and Literature and plays double bass, the April 24 performance offered a chance to reflect on growth over the years and compare this experience with the 2024 collaboration.

According to Bravo, one of the biggest differences between the performances included that this time around the entire ensemble was able to perform alongside the iconic duo, noting that Rocha, Drew Holzaepfel and other members of the School of Music leadership worked hard to advocate so all the students gained this important experience. 

That access to experiential learning is something Bravo connects directly to his development over time, both in and out of the classroom.

Returning to the same repertoire also gave him a different perspective on the music itself.

“There are several tunes that were on both setlists, and in the past few years, I've adopted some of them into my regular playlists,” Bravo explained. “Because I've been listening to the songs and I had some experience playing in a ‘pop’ style, which has a lot of nuances from a classical style, especially for string playing, I feel like I came to this performance with an internalized idea of how it should sound. This made me play in a more idiomatic way to the style.”

That preparation, he said, extends far beyond rehearsals and into the habits musicians build on their own time.

“These performances have given me such an appreciation for the behind-the-scenes work that goes into productions, as well as the behind-the-behind-the-scenes work as well in individual practicing and listening and learning that leads into the rehearsals and group sound. I hold myself to a much higher standard in practicing and listening, as well as ensemble performance, than I did before.”

At the same time, the experience underscored the stakes of performing at a professional level, where preparation happens long before stepping on stage.

“I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience twice in a lifetime! It doesn’t get much better than that,” Bravo said. “I hold myself to a high standard that I didn't before because the expectation isn't that you learn the music in rehearsal it's that you refine and balance during rehearsal. With things like this, you are lucky if you even get the one rehearsal before the show, and the work you put in beforehand either keeps you in it and lends success to you and everyone, or you lose your role pretty quickly. The Indigo Girls were some of the most gracious and kind humans I have ever had the chance to interact with. It also certainly doesn’t hurt my resume to say that I've performed with the Indigo Girls twice!”

For rising senior Sidney Garrett, the concert offered a different perspective, a first-time experience that brought both excitement and reflection.

“The only word to describe it is magical,” Garrett said. “The crowd was sold out, but they were so humble and talented that they were still human. I didn’t feel like performing for the crowd, I just wanted to play with them.”

Like many students, Garrett had limited time to prepare and only one opportunity to rehearse with the artists before performing in front of the sold-out audience. Even within those constraints, the experience reshaped how she thinks about music.

“This experience reminded me that music can be fun and that it should be fun,” Garrett said.

Garrett also described the challenge of performing within a large ensemble while trying to stay connected to the artists on stage. She explained that it was really hard to listen to the orchestra while you play and that although they couldn’t make out the lyrics from behind them, it was palatable how their passion was so infectious, that they didn’t need words to feel the songs.

Reflecting on the experience, Garrett also pointed to a brief interaction that left a lasting impression.

“Since I started music school, my relationship with my cello (by proxy, my career) has been challenged constantly. What do you do when your hobby, your escape, becomes your job and suddenly the bane of your existence? Enter the Indigo Girls. Two incredibly talented female musicians featured in the ‘Barbie’ movie, still playing their guitars on stage after all this time. Playing fun music, with deep poetry and passion,” Garrett said in an Instagram post. “I had the privilege of speaking with Emily about playing guitar, explaining that I play it, but I don’t want it to become my job. Giving one of her picks to me, she said guitar was, ‘like an old friend.’ She smiled, shook my hand and asked my name. The 30 seconds I spent with her rejuvenated me in such a way that I couldn’t help but pour everything I had into this performance. I didn’t know my brain could feel like it was smiling. Especially after years of it beating me up while I tried to fall back in love with playing cello.”

For Rocha, those kinds of moments, where technical training meets real connection, are at the core of experiences like this.

“The concert was something super special,” Rocha explained. “Their shows tend to be powerful and emotionally engaged, and this was totally that. The experience of having 2,000 people singing back at you is something pretty unforgettable. Their interactions with the audience were so friendly and down-to-earth, but full of energy and just powerful.”

He emphasized that performances like this serve as a reminder of the purpose behind the work students put in every day.

“It is quite incredible, again, to see how our performance moved a full auditorium to dance, sing and be joyful,” Rocha said. “Sometimes as we practice and study, we focus our energy on technique and perfection, and we forget that performing is about communicating, connecting and telling a story.”

Opportunities like these, rare enough to happen even once, let alone twice, are a clear example of classroom learning meeting real-world experience, giving students a more tangible understanding of the profession they are preparing to enter. 

“They are incredible artists that shared very generously their talent and musicianship with us,” Rocha said. “I cannot imagine a better learning experience for a music student.”

Elated to have this experience twice in his career at OHIO, Bravo added that it’s people like Rocha who make these opportunities possible.

“I just really want to thank Dr. Rocha for constantly advocating for his students,” Bravo said. “He works incredibly hard to make sure opportunities like this are available, and he cares deeply about his students, the program, the OHIO School of Music, and the field of music in general. He was one of the very first people I interacted with on my journey to OU, he has been a constant force for good throughout my time here, and he is one of the highest quality musicians, teachers, and human beings I have ever met in my life.”

The performance was presented by OHIO Live, part of the OHIO Performing Arts and Concert Series.