A Decade of Music, Part 3b

I applied to only three colleges. They were, in order of desire to go, Yale, Roosevelt University (in Chicago), and Webster University. Unsurprisingly, I was not accepted at Yale; I had applied early and was wait-listed, which was a little comforting, but no luck. I was accepted by the latter two. Roosevelt was a particular draw because it was right in the midst of downtown Chicago, and it seemed to have an excellent program. However, it was very expensive, and they only offered me a $30,000/year loan. There was no way I was going to owe that much debt for any degree, let alone a composition degree. So I must admit that the school I just graduated from was the third (and therefore, last) choice for me. They offered a very decent financial aid package, and I took it.

My audition pieces were Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2, No. 3, first movement, and Prelude and Fugue in D major from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I for piano. For composition, I used three pieces: "The Inspired Rag," for piano, "Annabel Lee," a song using Edgar Allan Poe's poem, and a string quartet. I think they were well received for what they are: quality juvenalia.

I was in choir all throughout college, and for the first two years we had a director who was also a composer. Learning that I was a composer, he asked me to write a piece for the choir to sing for an American music concert in my second semester. Astonished at how quickly I was getting into things, I agreed, and set Shakespeare's Sonnet 55, "Not marble, nor the guilded monuments." I think it is still a decent piece, and I pushed myself to use harmonies more daring for myself, even if they are a bit commonplace these days. Another venue for my works was the New Music Ensemble; I was in it for four semesters throughout college, and such things performed as two Poe songs, an adaptation of the chorale "Es ist genug," and a rock-inspired piece, among others. A violinist asked me, in my second semester again, to work with her on the second movement from Charles Ives' Violin Sonata No. 2, the movement titled "In the barn." It was one of the most difficult pieces I have ever learned, but I loved it, and still do.

Skipping over a somewhat uninteresting sophomore year in composition, my junior year contained an opportunity that was just what I was looking for. I had long decided that I wanted to write for the stage, hopefully in both the opera and musical realms. The head of composition at Webster, Kim Portnoy, was asked by a director from the theatre Conservatory, Jef Awada, if he had a student who would want to write music for the play he was to direct, Cloud 9; Kim thought of me, and I agreed without first looking over the play. I was taken aback initially by the very, very bizarre content and the mediocre lyric writing (there was one song, at the beginning, which introduced the characters in the style of a British march), but I persevered and wrote a bunch of incidental music. The music had to be recorded, and arranging that was a nightmare, but it was done. It all came together and worked wonderfully, I received good praise from several people, including my boss in the music office, Jean, and her boss, the Chair of the Department of Music, Dr. Carter.

Following the composition program layout, I also began having composition lessons with Bob Chamberlin. I don't know a kinder man, and he is very intelligent indeed. His approach, with me at least, was quite laid back. Sometimes I wish he was a bit more commanding, having me do composition exercises or the such, but I think he recognized that I was my own slavedriver and harshest critic, so that, frequently in front of him, I would see a problem and simultaneously work out a solution; even when I was a bit too busy with other school work to compose as much as I wished or should have, he let me run my own show. (Besides, I had two required composition classes which had frequent assignments, and I chaffed under them.)

I had another opportunity to write incidental music for a Conservatory show my senior year, The Wonderful World of Dissocia (I seem to be led into the weird shows), directed a by senior directing major who was assistant director for Cloud 9. Unlike my first foray, I was ahead of the schedule with Dissocia, and this show required me to write music only for four or five songs. One of the songs, "What's an hour?," actually turned into something I very much like. In the semester before this show, Dr. Carter asked me to write the music for the Webster University Christmas E-Card (I guess "Holiday" card, in the spirit of international-ness). I accepted, and working with the person in charge of creating it, I arranged the famous Shaker tune "Simple Gifts," for a "world music ensemble," per the request of the university president; I used piano, jingle bells, glockenspiel, maracas, congo drums, and maybe something else. Time restraints forced me to use an electronic version, but it was very decent, and because I had to fit the music to certain time (which was constantly changing) I had to learn to write in such a manner. The whole thing turned out beautifully.

My big project in my senior year was my one and only composition recital. It caused me much grief before any joy was to be seen. Hoping that I could get it out of the way in the fall semester, I had planned to have it in late November. November arrived, it was nowhere near ready, and I pushed it back to March. The main problem was getting together a chamber orchestra to perform my big piece, incidental music to Shakespeare's As You Like It, which featured an overture and four songs. That was an organizational nightmare, but I managed to scrap together to a group, even if the full ensemble couldn't be there until recital (I had barely a quorum for the rehearsals). In addition to this, I had three art songs, all performed wonderfully by friends, and a Dectet, which was a theme and variations on the tune "Awake, My Soul." All in all, a successful night.

And now I have graduated. Where do I go from here? In April, I submitted my first great orchestra piece, "Triptych Dance," to a contest, and I will here the results sometime this summer. Other than that, I don't have specific prospects yet. Some projects I have going on that moment: a piano quintet, a song or two, the beginnings of an opera based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Evangeline, and a symphonic tone poem inspired by the painting "Sadak and the Waters of Oblivion," by John Martin.

Some possible commissions include a fleeting request from the Director of the Webster University Choirs to send some choir work his way; another request in passing from a friend to write music for a guitar or a guitar ensemble he hopes to put together over the summer; and, in the same vein, I mentioned to another friend, who wants to set up a piano trio, that I would like to write something for them. We'll see how things turn out.