Daniel P. Gurney ’09

During the week, Daniel P. Gurney ’09 learns theory and composition in the Harvard Music Department, where he recently composed a string quartet. On weekends, Gurney leaves the campus behind for Boston’s Irish pubs, where he plays jigs and reels on the accordion. “As far as the department is concerned, the accordion is my secret life,” he says. While tradition is important to Gurney and his music, he is eager to push at its limits. Over the course of his time at Harvard, Gurney has brought together traditional folk music with other musical genres, such as Classical. “Classical symphonies in class and Irish reels in pubs are much more related than I thought,” he says. Gurney is a professional accordion player, with several national awards and a busking license to his name, but he first met the instrument in a toy store. “I was seven,” he says. “I tried on a toy accordion and just kept playing it until it broke. I’ve since moved on to bigger and bigger accordions.” His childhood also exposed him to Irish music, now a focus of his performance. In his small town in upstate New York lived an Irish priest who played the concertina, a mini-accordion. “He would have concerts every week with great Irish musicians. Afterward they would have jam sessions,” Gurney says. “It was a lucky way to get into the music.” Gurney, who describes his heritage as “half-Italian, half muddy European question mark,” has since done his best to access the roots of the music he plays. “I’ll always be a poser. But I grew up hanging out with old Irish guys. From that perspective I consider myself to be an Irish musician.” When choosing colleges, “I knew I wanted to have an Irish scene nearby,” he says. After graduation, Gurney plans to live in Ireland to experience the land which informed the music he loves. “I want to learn how to help traditional music move forward without messing with what made it a tradition in the first place,” he says. As a co-founder of the Harvard College American Music Association, Gurney has worked to give such traditional tunes a place in the school’s wide-ranging music scene. The Association’s aim is to expose Harvard students to traditional music. Last year, the association invited banjo player Béla Fleck, this year bassist Edgar Meyer. The club’s weekly jam sessions, as well as performances by Gurney’s own band, The Hay Brigade, have strengthened folk music’s presence at Harvard. But while tradition plays an important role in Gurney’s music, he is not afraid to push at its boundaries. “We are trying to show how different kinds of music have more in common than you might think,” Gurney says. “Bluegrass, jazz, country and Celtic—they can meet up and find some common ground.” And just as traditional music has expanded its reach among Harvard students, Gurney himself has become a presence on campus. “I was in an elevator once and someone knew who I was because of my accordion playing,” he says. “It was weird.” —Staff writer Madeleine M. Schwartz can be reached at mschwart@fas.harvard.edu.