Day 2: Wednesday January 15, 2014

So today was our first workshop, and perhaps more importantly, my first face-to-face meeting with Renee Baker--and I'm happy to report, that she does in fact exist! This workshop was at Midwest Christian Montessori Academy in Bolingbrook, IL, a pre-K-6th grade elementary school about 30 minutes outside of Chicago. Renee had a wonderful two-part idea for this workshop--first, we would each play some of our music for the children and show them the printed scores; mine as an example of traditionally-notated music, Renee's as an example of graphic notation. We then asked the children each to "compose" a short piece for us, following the model of Renee's graphic score, using paper, crayons, and markers. These children do have regular music instruction and some even play instruments already, so I was not surprised to see some of the scores they turned in contained symbols very much like the traditional musical staves and notes I had just shown them; the bulk of the scores however, were purely graphic. We then went on to "perform" the pieces in succession as a single composition--Renee sang, I played percussion on my knees and clapped, and Gregg, the principal flute of CMOP joined us. The children loved it! Their eyes lit up, they were smiling and laughing and singing along, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing along with them a few times as we "performed" this crazy music! Perhaps the best part of this event is that Renee and the orchestra are going to copy/bind/publish the group composition as a single book/score, make a recorded performance of the piece with various instruments/performers from CMOP, and present the score and recording to the teachers and students that were involved in our workshop. They were all very excited about this.

Thinking back on my own education in public schools and later in music schools, I realized although I was active musically from age five on, the first piece of contemporary music I heard by a living composer and the first living composer I actually met and was when I started college at 18, about two years before I started composing. It made me realize what an important and rare opportunity this was for these young students yesterday, and it made me hopeful that this early exposure to composers and new music might help later on, to either stimulate their interest in art music (or any music), or at least just to help them to keep their minds open as the invariable peer-pressure of middle school and high school sets in.

Perhaps most importantly, for these students, yesterday was not really about studying, lessons, tests, or classes--it was about having fun; the same kind of feeling I have when I'm working on my latest composition, because as Hemingway famously said about writing--"nothing else gives me the same kick." That "kick" is what has never gone away for me, it's what has kept me involved in music and composing for most of my life, and hopefully for these wonderful young students I met yesterday, it's what will keep them happy, having fun, and continuing to exlpore music.