Any student who knows Asher Kerrigan and Gavriel Hofkin already knows music follows them everywhere. Whether it’s talking about a gig, helping someone with a performance, or just jamming to jam, music isn’t something they step in and out of; it’s just a part of how they operate.
Asher and Gavriel came into music in different ways. Gav started with 9 years of classical piano lessons that felt very structured at first, but ended up giving him a strong foundation for everything he does now. Asher talked about an experience he had at a restaurant when he was 8, when he saw a young drummer playing in a live band, which stuck with him and pulled him into playing.
Since then, both have built their musical lives around constant playing and collaboration. They’re not really tied to one group or setting; instead, they move between rehearsals, gigs, and jam sessions with different musicians depending on the situation. That flexibility is a big part of how they have grown.
When they play together, they are so easily able to lock in with the people they’re playing with, but even that feels less like a fixed band identity and more like two musicians who just get it. As they put it, “We just got tight because we played together like all the time.”
Their approach to music is heavily shaped by improvisation and rearranging songs in their own style. Instead of sticking to strict versions, they’ll take material and rework it depending on the setting and the group they’re with. As they explained, “We take songs that are not strictly within the lines and put our own twist on them.” That ability to shift things in real time is a big part of their sound.
They describe their sound in terms of feel rather than fixed structure. Asher said, “We’re playing stuff that isn’t just straight jazz, like rock, but we put like a jazz twist on it.”
Outside of their main performances, both of them are constantly taking on different opportunities and playing with new musicians. Their mindset towards opportunities is pretty straightforward: “Say yes to everything at first.” For them, it’s less about whether something is perfect and more about getting experience in different environments.
That approach has taken them from small local settings to bigger performances, including shows in New York and other venues. While the locations vary, they tend to focus more on how the performance feels rather than where it is. They talk more about how a set went, what worked musically, and how the group adapted in real time than anything else.
They also both emphasize learning from other musicians, especially those who are more experienced. As Asher put it, “Play with as many people as you can,” and as Gav said, “Go to jam sessions and learn from musicians that are better than you.” That idea of constantly learning new things shows up in how they approach almost everything they do.
Looking ahead, both are continuing their music journeys at Temple University. Gav is majoring in Jazz Performance for the piano, and Asher is majoring in Music Education. It’s a pretty natural step for both of them to continue what they’re already doing.
What stands out most about Asher and Gav isn’t any single performance or project, but the way they consistently keep showing up for music in different spaces and forms. As they move on to Temple University for music, they’ll have great success continuing down a path they’ve already been building: playing, learning, and figuring it out as they go.
Anonymous • May 4, 2026 at 7:58 am
this so tuff