By Kat Cardenas, Staff writer
Susquehanna student composers will premiere their works in a concert on April 10 at 7:30 p.m. in Stretansky Concert Hall.
Twelve music students are involved from the concert, participants of which range from first-years to seniors.
Although a majority of the students participating are composition majors, music education and music performance majors are also involved in the performance.
For some students involved, this also serves as an accumulation of the work they have done at Susquehanna.
After finishing their compositions, it is the job of the students to find performers for their pieces in the concert.
The concert will involve a variety of styles and aspects of music, including classical pieces, string quartets, piano solos and small ensembles.
There will also be pieces performed with multimedia and music technology.
Patrick Long, professor of music, advised students while preparing for the concert.
Most composition majors take one or two lessons a week with Long, who specializes in music theory, composition and music technology.
“With [music composition], you have to figure out what it all sounds like in your head and then you have to write it down and get other people to play it,” Long said. “You then have to sit in an audience surrounded by people and watch it all happen.”
“There are all these different steps to music composition and it’s scary, but when it works out I think it can all be exhilarating,” Long continued. “When it doesn’t work out it can be really disappointing, but failure is an important part of the process for composers.”
First-year Tyler Brown, who is participating in the concert, said this is his first time having his own work performed.
“I’m a little nervous for how it’s going to be perceived,” Brown explained. “I think every composer is worried about if people are going to like their work.”
“I think that it’s going to go well and even if it’s a flop, I’ll know what to fix for next time,” Brown said.
Brown continued that Long always thinks about how the audience is going to perceive the music and encourages students to be creative when composing music.
On his personal creative process, Brown said he is usually more impulsive.
“I tend to get ideas spontaneously,” Brown said.
“I’ll be sitting in class sometimes and have an idea and I will have to write it down somehow before I forget,” Brown continued. “A lot of my best work comes when I spill what I want onto the page.”
Senior Brett Heffelfinger, while a composition major, will not have any of his repertoire performed in the concert.
Instead, Heffelfinger will perform cello for two other student composers.
Heffelfinger described his style of music composition as “minimalist” with influences from the Romantic era.
Heffelfinger also said that his inspiration derives from his passion for film and video game scores.
“It’s about making new pieces of music people can enjoy in the same way that if you wrote a poem and someone read it and said, ‘Wow, that’s a great poem… It’s the same thing,’” Heffelfinger said.
“It’s about bringing the music department community together and having audiences be a part of it,” Heffelfinger continued.
Brown encouraged students and faculty to come to the concert with an open mind.
“Even if you don’t like it, just remember that these composers are putting themselves out there,” Brown said.
“You can learn a lot about someone’s personality and their music,” Brown continued. “Overall, you can find out a lot about people through music by sitting there and listening with an open mind.”
The concert is free and open to the public.
The student composers concert is also a part of the 21st Century Tuesdays series.
Recent student composers concerts took place in April and November 2017.
Other events presented by the music department throughout the rest of the semester include multiple senior recitals, performed by Dylan Little on April 21, Brett Heffelfinger and Darby Orris on April 22 and Alex Haggerty on April 27.
University music groups will also be performing concerts to wrap up the year.
The University Choir and Chamber Singers will perform on April 13, Chorale will perform on April 14, the University Jazz Ensemble will perform on April 26, the University Orchestra will perform on April 28 and the Symphonic Band will perform on April 29.
Student chamber music ensembles will also perform on April 24 and 25.
Guest artist pianists Christina Dahl and Oksana Ezhokhina will perform on April 23.
All aforementioned performances will take place in Stretansky Concert Hall.
