Composers' Corner

We at World Projects are all about the educational experience, whether that involves taking your orchestra to a world famous performance hall like Carnegie Hall or the Sydney Opera House, or creating a custom European tour for your band and choir. We are constantly looking for new ways to offer more to our clients, and a few years ago, Deborah Gibbs and I had one of those wonderful, inspiring ideas that has proven to be a real game changer.

I was fortunate enough to be asked to write pieces for Woodland High School’s performances in both Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center on two of their tours with World Projects. After the performance in Washington D.C., I contacted Deborah Gibbs and asked her if there was any interest in encouraging a compositional element in some of their tours. To my delight, she took this idea and ran with it, and after many hours of excited phone calls, texts, and late-night conversations, the World Projects New Music Initiative was born.

When you apply to a World Projects domestic festival, you will receive a commission application in your packet. The application includes questions like, “What recent pieces are representative of the ensemble?” and “Please describe why you would like to be awarded this commission.” Along with the application, you submit a recent recording of your ensemble. When all applications are received, the materials are reviewed by Deb, the festival composer, and myself. We consider the applications not from the standpoint of “who is the best group?” but rather “which group will benefit the most from this collaboration?” In the end, our ongoing belief is that good new music should be played, heard, and appreciated by everyone, and not just those who can play a Grade 6 piece. To that end, the commissioned piece is offered to the winning ensemble free of charge.

Once your ensemble is chosen, you are put in touch with the festival composer and the collaboration truly begins. Honestly, this is my favorite part of the whole process. I love to hear what the ensemble is looking for, what they can do, and most especially, what the students themselves are interested in playing. This brainstorming period often poses compositional and creative questions to me that I would never have thought of, and allows me to really write a piece specific to the ensemble in question, instead of merely its instrumentation. Our composers want you and your students to have an active role in the development and creation of the piece, so during the creative process, you may be sent excerpts to try out, or you will probably be asked specific questions about your ensemble's unique capabilities (like "can your sopranos comfortably sing a high B-flat at a piano dynamic?"). Throughout the collaborative process, a firm line of communication is maintained between the conductor, the composer, and the festival manager so that any needs and concerns regarding the performance can be addressed ahead of time. We don't want any surprises when you get on stage!

Upon delivery of the piece (2 months prior to its premiere), the collaboration continues but in a different way. As you work through the piece with your students, the composer is always available for questions and concerns, and can often fix or offer advice on any problems that may arise. You may even schedule a "virtual rehearsal" via Skype so that your students can meet the composer, and so the composer can hear the piece and make any adjustments or clarifications necessary. These virtual rehearsals are certainly a unique experience: explaining how to execute a funk groove in the time signature of 15/8 to a wind ensemble in Malaysia is definitely an experience I won't forget!

Then, the moment we've all been working towards: your arrival at the festival! Your composer will give a 90-minute clinic with your ensemble to work on and explain the new piece, and answer any questions you or your students have prior to the premiere. But of course, the connection doesn't stop there! Composers have been known to give impromptu composition lessons and college advice, engage in deep philosophical conversations about music, life, history, baseball, and just about everything else. Composers have even been known to accompany ensembles on sight-seeing tours and meals, just to hang out with the kids and get to know them better. I'm still in touch with every group with whom I've collaborated, and have written other pieces for many of them. The personal connections made through World Projects' New Music Initiative are perhaps the most enduring and rewarding professional relationships I've made, and I look forward to fostering many more.

After the premiere, the music can live on via publication through World Projects' Publishing division, so that other ensembles and future generations can benefit by the collaboration. But more on that process in a future installment of Composers' Corner!

So what's in it for us? We at World Projects offer unique, educationally based experiences to our clients. What more unique experience is there than to have a bespoke work written for your students? In the end, musicians everywhere decry the state of contemporary music, pointing out the yawning gap between composers, conductors, and students. We are actively working to shrink that gap, and fix the problem, one ensemble at a time. Want to help change the face of contemporary music? Apply for a free commission through one of our festivals, and explore the world of new music with us!

Stay tuned for next month’s installment of Composers’ Corner when we get to know the winner of the 2016 World Projects Composition Contest—whomever it may be! The application deadline is December 1st, so there’s still time to submit your music for consideration!