On Tuesday, March 19, some members from the Arts Concentration Chamber Orchestra performed pieces that were composed by students in the Music Theory and Harmony, Honors class taught by Mr. Matt McLean. Sabrina Hsu ’20, Ariel Kim ’20, Christian Boudreau ’20, Kaki Su ’19, and Eliana Kim ’20 performed a total of six pieces written by Alice Cai ’20, Edie Conekin-Tooze ’19, Mark Ma ’20, Sarah Bonnem ’19, Silas Walker ’19, and Annika Chiang-Boeckmann ’19.
Under the guidance of Mr. McLean, students worked on their pieces throughout winter term. The workshop was an opportunity for the students to experience the significance of their music being performed by other musicians and to reflect on ways they could improve their works for the future. Ma said, “I am satisfied with this experience, and I think it was very meaningful. I learned from this experience that it is okay to discard what I have created.” He explained, “It was interesting to see how the musicians interpreted differently from how I interpreted it while composing my music. Only a few of the ideas I had in mind for the composer reading were used during the composer reading workshop. A lot of the changes I made during the workshop was impromptu.” During the performance, Mr. McLean, Arts Department Head Ms. Kalya Yannatos, Symphony Orchestra director Mr. Phil Ventre, and the students bounced ideas back and forth about how composers could change their pieces to deliver their messages more effectively to the audience.
This workshop was not only a special event for the composers, who got to hear what their music sounded like, but also for the musicians who had the opportunity to interpret unfamiliar music. Hsu, who played the cello in the workshop, reflected, “From this experience, I hoped to have fun playing the original works of my peers and to gain some insights about the composition/theory course content. All of the compositions were all highly unique and reflective of the students’ personalities, thus it was definitely very interesting to explore what their creative processes were while playing. Participating in the composer reading allowed me to fully comprehend the amount of work that went into each piece, and that composer reading often requires a collaborative effort. It was a refreshing experience for me to play pieces that I am not familiar with. I was able to play new melodies and textures that I was never exposed to before.”
Mr. McLean hopes that this opportunity helped students to mature as musicians and composers but most importantly, that the students experienced the fun of sharing music with one another. As Hsu said, “Though there were some bumps in putting the music together, overall, I believe it was a pretty good first attempt and working with the composers allowed me to adopt a more open mindset regarding interpretation and to contemplate more about the composer’s intention before playing. This experience really showed me the ingrained presumptions I have subconsciously when I play.”
