On screen text. Indiana University, Southbend. Fulfilling the promise. I U S B dot E D U.
>> I land in Miami on my way to the recording studio, and it's like all right.
This is a great experience and this is going to change your life.
A young man sits in front of a red curtain. On screen text. Juan Carlos Alarcon. Senior Music Education Major, I U South Bend.
But I didn't know how much of the impact it would have on me.
On screen text. Salvador Perez Lopez. 20 12 I U South Bend Graduate, Clarinetist.
>> The name of the album is American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom, and it features 53 different DACA recipients from 17 different countries in 17 different states.
On screen text. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
>> Salvador, my friend, wrote a opinion article for the New York times, and [inaudible] found it and he reached out to Salvador and that ball just started rolling.
A webpage scrolls down to a photo of Salvador playing a clarinet and later, scrolls over Salvador's article.
>> Hey, would you like to be part of a music project?
I said I read your article in the New York Times.
I see you're a clarinetist.
I also saw some of your music videos on YouTube of you playing.
Salvador assembles a clarinet. He blows into the mouthpiece.
I'd love to chat with you.
We want to raise awareness through music and your music -- a jazz album of all things because jazz I think, it's a melting pot of music.
It's a bunch of different cultures mixed together.
And it represents the whole project of South American dreamers it's all coming together.
Next thing I know I'm being flown down to Miami.
>> It was crazy.
We were flying [inaudible] first of all.
And you know, they're big instruments.
You can't just put them anywhere.
We found a church on campus.
We went to the church and we had about a couple hours.
Light shines through stained-glass windows. Juan Carlos sits at an organ, his fingers pressing at the keys. One of his feet presses down on a foot pedal.
So we had to get it.
You recorded the measure and then another measure and then another measure and then you know chunks of this music to be put together.
Knowing that this project wasn't just for me or just mine, it sort of helped me concentrate and plan.
So it was intense, but it was fun.
>> The album released and then we were being public about it.
Everyone was excited, but we never thought it would be this big.
And then they submitted the album for the recording academy, and we were like okay.
We'll see what happens.
>> Then I get a call and it said, did you read the news and everything.
I said, what news?
Well the CD has been nominated for three Grammies.
And so I'm like no.
it hasn't.
You know I'm just so surprised.
>> I felt a sense of accomplishment finding, you know, all this work paid off, you know recording was really hard and I'm glad -- I'm so glad the recording academy was able to see all this and nominate us for three different categories.
>> For me it felt sort of like the culmination of the project.
What I didn't know was what happened in February, you know.
In a photo, musicians sit with their instruments along the back of a stage. The lit backdrop of the stage reads, "Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony". In another photo, Salvador smiles at the camera while people take their seats in a theater behind.
>> We're like newbies to the Grammys, our group because we're all trying to get first in line and get in.
It's first come first served seating, and we just right away we're going to get front-row seats.
And then we look back and we're like, why isn't everyone else running to get good seats.
But what I think the people who had been there before sort of like, they know how it all works but we were just little kids of Christmas day you know.
>> You just felt this sort of familiar kind of feeling and it was not because of the music.
It was all because of what our common thread, you know, producers, writers, singers, musicians, instrumentalists.
We were all there for the music.
And so, to be there and to because part of that, was amazing.
In a photo, Salvador and Juan Carlos stand on stage with a large group. A man standing at a microphone holds a Grammy in one of his hands.
>> We went on stage and the last one he just kept calling up one after another.
And I think the speech went way longer than expected.
And we were let [inaudible] and going on stage seeing everyone stand up for us, clap for us.
I was really happy because they're seeing the message of American Dreamers and that -- and you know, awareness is being raised through music, you know.
I was just so happy.
>> I feel I came back with more responsibility to be better as a musician, as a person, and to be more involved in the community.
So it's not the end of a journey, but for me, it's a beginning.
[ Music ]
On screen text. American Dreamers: Voice of Hope, Visions of Freedom, was awarded the Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble, Best Improvised Jazz Solo, Best Arrangement, Instrumental or Acappella.
Photos of the band members run in a diagonal cluster across the cover of the American Dreamer's album over blue and red impressions of an American flag. On screen text. Available for purchase on Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play.
On screen text. Indiana University, South Bend. Fulfilling the promise. I U S B dot E D U.