Young Composers 2022

Last week we wrapped up our Summer Session here in the studio, and with it we also completed our 9th annual Young Composers project! 

What is Young Composers?
In this project each summer continuing students work on creating original music, from coming up with musical ideas to typing up sheet music and eventually recording a track of the completed work. 

This project is an excellent way to solidify the music theory knowledge that we learn throughout the year, while also getting to enjoy a little change of pace and focus for the summer months. Working on typing and recording the music also gives students a little experience with the digital side of creating music - an essential skill for many of today's musicians. I intentionally choose to use software that has free versions available for this project, so that if students want to continue to explore composing on their own, they've learned on software that is easily accessible to them. (We use Noteflight for notation and Garage Band for recording.)

The quote . . . 

Each year I choose a quote to go at the beginning of the book, and this year I chose this one by Beethoven:
"Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets.”

I felt this quote was very apt for this year, because as we dug into the creative process, we definitely saw some unlocking of musical secrets in connecting the dots from theory to practical application. When listening to the pieces you'll notice we have a good range of tonality, and within those you'll hear a few especially compelling harmonies and catchy rhythms. I also think we have some wonderfully creative and descriptive song titles this year. 

The music!

So without any further ado, it is my pleasure to release the finished works from Young Composers 2022. To view the book of sheet music, just click below to download the pdf: 

Young Composers 2022 Book

And use the player below to listen to the recordings. 

Most of these tracks were recorded in the studio by the student composer during our last week of the Summer Session. For those who were unable to attend lessons on recording week, or who take lessons online, audio has been exported from Noteflight - our music notation software. 

To learn more about this annual project, and to find the past Young Composers posts, click here.