A photo from the balcony of the Ludlow Town Hall Auditorium of our students, performers, composer mentors and teachers. May 2, 2012. Congratulations to All! Thanks to our supporters for making the event possible.
Listen to the variety of compositions, read the student descriptions of their work, and leave a comment.
Jacob Morton-Black
Grade 11, Colchester High School
Jacob at Colchester High School
“ Theme and Variation is a piece oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and strings. At the beginning, the woodwinds mostly carry the melodic line, with punctuations from the strings, who are outlining the chord changes. The theme from the first idea is carried into the second and third variations. The second variation is more syncopated, with jazzier chords and different rhythms. The third and last variation is done in the classical style, highlighting the theme using the articulations.”
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Nathan Chan
Grade 10, U-32 School, East Montpelier, VT
Nathan Chan at Opus 24
“ For the Better is a quintet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, and Contrabass. I composed the piece as a poignant musical interpretation of hardships leading to positive outcomes. There is no particular image or moment that the piece portrays; rather it is up to the audience to interpret it how they will. There are a few different sections with varying melodies and textures, meant to depict a range of emotions. This is my first composition to be performed, which is certainly a very exciting and groundbreaking experience for me in my composition career.”
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Ivan Voinov
Grade 11, Vermont Commons School, South Burlington VT
Ivan (far left) listens to Nathan’s rehearsal discussion with musicians
“ The old Norse Clockmaker sits in his dusty workshop and works on his beautiful clocks. His back is crooked, his grey beard – a silver waterfall flowing from his face down underneath the table. His cracked, old, parchment-like fingers shakily screw parts of a clock together underneath the warm loving gaze of his blue eyes. And when no one is looking, little elves and fairies pop and crawl out of nooks, crannies and corners and start playing with the Clockmaker’s tools. And, as usual, they end up making a mess.”
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Ben Hunt
Grade 8, Edmunds Middle School. Burlington VT
Ben and teacher, Betsy Nolan, listen to the rehearsal of his piece
“ This piece has a royal sounding melody as if to accompany a king marching proudly into his court. The next section is faster like a crowd cheering for their victorious king. Then it finishes with the king walking up to his throne and taking his seat.”
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Alyssa Shaw
Grade 6, Ludlow Elementary School
Alyssa at her tv interview at Opus 24
“ This piece is called The Little Bird because when I hear it, I think of a bird flapping its wings and flying. I composed my music using an ‘A B A’ pattern and my ‘B’ section is a little bit slower. I chose this instrument because I think the clarinet really suits my piece. I think my piece is very ‘different’ because I am different and I put a new twist on music! “
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Christian Torsell
Grade 7, Harwood Middle School, Duxbury VT
Christian discusses his piece with Steve Klimowski while other student composers listen in
“ This is my first composition and I’ve really enjoyed working on it! It began as a homework project for my band class. At its birth, Sixth Brigade was a duet for a pair of trumpets, but I changed it to a flute and clarinet duet for Opus 24. “
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Robin Goodwin
Grade 6, Stockbridge Elementary School
Robin at the tv interview during Opus 24
“This is a piece for flute, clarinet, and bassoon. I am 12 years old, play alto saxophone and I really like musical theatre. I think creating music is a good way to express your strongest feelings that you can’t express any other way, but this piece in particular is just a soft, quick melody with a light airy-ness. My classmates thought that it would be a good idea to perform my piece at our elementary school graduation “
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Emma LeMay
Emma and her teacher, Erin Villamizar, discuss her work at the rehearsal for Opus 24
Grade 8, Maple Street School, Manchester VT
“ Winter to Spring is written for violin, cello, bassoon, and clarinet. The instruments compliment each other. It is written in A minor and has some parts where it is happy and sad.
When I was writing my piece, I had an image of being outside when it is dark and rainy and sunny with clear skies. Different textures in my piece including call and response, unison, layered, and conversational to help make the piece interesting to the listener.” “
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Ethan Mosedale
Grade 6, Barnet Elementary School
Ethan at the tv interview at Opus 24
“I wrote The Dance of the Slugs so I could prove that music is beautiful no matter what. I did this by taking something that is not exactly favored by people and combining it with music. This piece turns slugs into elegant dancing creatures. I believe that this puts a completely different perspective on slugs “
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Jackson Macor
Grade 11, Guilford High School, Guilford, CT
“ This is an octet adapted from a fully scored symphonic piece in D major. It is of the classical style and uses a theme based off a Bach cantata (BWV 80). This large chamber work employs various textures using the various instruments in different ways. The structure of the piece is loosely based on sonata form, as it possesses both a development and recapitulation section. The first theme group is developed modally whereas the second theme group is developed counterpuntally in a brief fugue-like section. The piece concludes in the same manner as the exposition, but of course in the tonic to comply with traditional sonata form.”
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Martin Van Buren
Grade 9, Poultney High School
Martin and his teacher, Christina Roach, discuss his composition with the musicians at Opus 24
“ My piece Journey Home was meant to represent a soldier’s journey, from deployment, to his welcoming home. The piece has a way of linking the listener to the actual story of a soldier. The ending, signifies what a soldier trudges through to get home. The Cello was meant to represent the feeling of return, where the violin and clarinet show anxious or scared thoughts while away. “
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Molly Durling
Grade 6, The Grammar School, Putney, VT
Molly Durling at Opus 24
“I love Northern traditional music from contra dances and fiddle music from Ireland, Scotland, Canada, even Norway. I know some people don’t think of it as important music but it was important to the people who gave emotions to their songs. They found courage, joy and comfort in the simple tunes which have remained a part of their culture for hundreds of years.
Not every instrument is in tune, not everyone is at the same level of talent, some play a harmony part or drone, but it all comes together and sounds good. Even the stomping feet, clapping hands and dancers laughter create part of a great romping joy. This is the sound I am looking for. I want this piece to be a thank you to my grandparents, great grandparents, and all my ancestors who came from different countries, played different instruments and remembered the old songs. Each of them added something to the tune we call family and each gave a musical gift to me.”
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Ben Pennell
Grade 11, Springfield High School
“ I wanted a dissonant, unsettling feel with a slow moving feel in the middle of the piece. I based this piece around the Tcherepnin scale, which is based on Major and minor triads. I chose a string quartet because of the tone and overall sound. Strings sometimes have a raspy quality to them, and they can hold notes longer than a wind one. The sound of a dissonant chord being held by two violins has a creeping, disturbing feeling to it. The cello has a great sound for walking up and down the chords and scales. The viola is a great instrument for filling in the gaps between violin and cello because of its range. The combined sound and tone of the string quartet lends an eerie, uncomfortable feeling when partnered with the right dissonance and rhythm.”
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Forest Elliott and Ryan Mahany
Grade 8, Edmunds Middle School, Burlington VT
Ryan and Forest respond to a question by Sarah Briggs, violinist, at their rehearsal for Opus 24
“ It has some very creepy parts and some interesting scale patterns. It repeats a happy section in the beginning of the piece and then it grows darker and darker and ends really creepy. The beginning is kind of like baroque feeling. The end is more modern. It starts out in the key of G, and stays in G most of the piece, with some interesting accidentals in parts of the piece. For the ending it goes to the E Half-Whole diminished for the end. Hope you like the piece, enjoy. “
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Austin Pearo
Grade 6, Rutland Intermediate School
Austin is interviewed by his teacher, Marc Whitman, for the TV production of Opus 24
“ I wanted this to describe how quickly people can change their mind. I change my mind a lot and I felt like I should use my music skills to portray that. This trio consists of two violins and a cello “
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Daelan Roosa
Grade 6, Barnet Elementary School
Daelan and Liz Reid, violist, discuss an element of his piece
“This piece for violin, viola and cello starts with an A in the viola and cello, and then expands to an arpeggiated chord in all three instruments. Then, the violin plays a slow melody with the viola playing harmony and the cello playing descending whole notes. After that, the cello plays a melody with the violin playing its earlier melody as a harmony line. Next, the viola joins in with a counter melody which fills out this section. The cello, who would like to have a little fun, changes the mood entirely before the violin and viola rein him in and end the piece much like the beginning.”
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Adele Woodmansee
Grade 10, North Country Union High School, Newport VT
“String Quartet in A minor is energetic and fast. The beginning of the piece includes a base of sixteenth notes that moves between the instruments. It later moves into a short section in C major before moving back into A minor with a section that features imitative responses between instruments gradually building up before bringing back the theme from the beginning. The sixteenth notes gradually disappear into the ending.”
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Oscar Felcan
Grade 6, Edmunds Middle School, Burlington VT
“ My piece is meant to be jolly and happy. It is a duet for Flute and Bass Clarinet. I have had fun composing this piece. I named it Jester’s Pride because when I was finished composing it, my music teacher and I listened to it and she said it sounded like it was at a festival with jesters. “
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Bastien Gliech
Grade 8, Edmunds Middle School, Burlington VT
Bastien is congratulated by his teacher, Betsy Nolan, on his work
“I used only woodwinds for my instrumentation because I felt like this complemented the feel of the song. It is calm for most of the song, but in some parts, has a different mood than others. I chose a relatively slow tempo to accentuate the harmonies and chords. There are many swells of dynamics in this piece, to add more of a harmonic and less of a tempo-oriented feel.”
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Erin McGill
Grade 6, Moretown Elementary School
Erin and her teacher, Mike Close, discuss her work with the musicians.
“ This piece is for clarinet and violin. It sounds cheery. It has three sections, but the first one is the longest and the theme of the piece. I used a wide range of high and low notes, and also experimented with dynamics. It ends with the tune from the beginning section “
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David Morgan
Grade 12, Harwood Union High School, Duxbury VT
David at rehearsal with professional musicians at Opus 24
David says, “I wanted to catch the listener off-guard and capture a sense of mischievousness. The two main melodic themes are used in multiple variations, each building off the other to make organized chaos.
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Alex Wick
Grade 3, Champlain Elementary School, Burlington VT
Alex and his teacher, Betsy Greene, follow his score during rehearsal. Pictured is clarinetist Steve Klimowski
“I started the idea of this piece by writing some similar notes as a song I like called Jesu, Man’s Desire by J.S. Bach. Then I started thinking of a minuet. The piece meter signature was still 4/4. I realized that my piece wouldn’t be a minuet unless it had 3/4 as it’s meter signature.”
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Kaitlin Daley
Grade 12, Harwood Union High School, Duxbury VT
Kaitlin’s piece relates to the experiences of many high school students, and really hits home with her. This piece speaks to the pressures and anxiety that not only school, but the world puts on people- the pressure she feels from her own life. Hiding that anxiety which is where the ‘Shadowed’ part comes in.
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Donny Grenier
Grade 8, Black River High School/ Middle School
“This piece is for solo flute. The etude is a study in Bb major. There is a section in the middle that changes to G minor.”
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Claire Thomas
Grade 8, Dummerston School
Claire discusses her piece with Steve Klimowski, clarinet, while other students observe
“This is a piece in C minor, which modulates into E major. I named it Orange and Pink because those are the two main colors I hear in it. The A section is orange, and the B section is a sweeter pink. This piece is in A-B-A-Coda form, with variations on the A section the second time. It’s for flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, and it’s written in 4/4 time. The A section is fast, with many sixteenth notes in the melody, particularly towards the end. Even the other parts have mainly eighth and quarter notes. The B section is slower, containing mainly quarter notes in the melody and half/whole notes in the other parts. The Coda is fast. Enjoy!”
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Miranda Fuller and Ivy Dall
Grade 5, The Grammar School, Putney, VT
Ivy and Miranda wrote their piece together
Dream Stream, a clarinet and oboe duet in the key of F major. “Dream Stream reminds us of an orchestra or pond of stream critters. It came from a dream about a beautiful stream.”
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