The goal was simple: State the main ideas and develop from there.
For David von Kampen, a graduate student of music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, that was the path he took to compose a piece for tonight’s “Wet Ink” concert in the Westbrook Music Building, held for free at 7:30 in Room 119.
Being through-composed, or with little repetition or clear sections, von Kampen’s composition was guided through to completion by a sort of one-part-leads-to-the-next theory.
“There wasn’t an organized, formal structure to it,” von Kampen said. “I just kind of wrote it until it sounded like it was finished, and then I stopped.”
Every semester, students from UNL’s School of Music submit pieces to be premiered in concert. They are then reviewed by composition professors Eric Richards and Tyler White: It’s a sort of “quality-control,” graduate teaching assistant Garrett Hope said.
“I don’t know if there’s anything they wouldn’t allow,” Hope said. “The composition faculty is very open to all styles and genres, and they’re really supportive of student works. They just want to see students writing quality work, no matter what kind of style that is.”
After approval, composers choose performers to translate their work from the page to the stage. For von Kampen’s saxophone quartet, to be debuted tonight, he enlisted the help of Brandon Holloman’s quartet. The quartet’s preparedness, von Kampen said, is a testament to its ability to learn works quickly.
“I heard them several weeks ago when they were sight-reading for the first time, and it was pretty good at that point,” von Kampen said. “So I knew with a few rehearsals, they’d have it ready to go.”
Last year, Hope wrote a piece for a mixed chamber ensemble that he conducted in the fall, and in the spring, he wrote a setting of haikus for guitar and voice. He said the range of works is one notable aspect of “Wet Ink.”
“Some students submit electronic music, some are doing purely acoustic, from the very avant garde to pop music styles.”
Above all, it’s mostly up to the students. Hope said the professor/student dynamic for “Wet Ink” compositions is largely one-sided with students taking care of most of the work.
“It’s a very similar process as what would happen at the Writing Center,” Hope said. “If the student has a problem, then the professor would guide them along to fix the problem. But the music is written only by students.”
Hope said many, if not most, of the performers tonight will also be students. While some schools may have budgets to provide compensation for events such as “Wet Ink,” Hope said he and fellow student composers rely instead on colleagues.
“If you can offer your performers with some sort of incentive, it helps,” Hope said. “But for the most part, most of us just ask our friends and those who we know are really strong performers, and we hope for the best.”
For his two pieces tonight, Hope set to music two Oscar Wilde poems. He said the trick of transferring what he felt from reading the poetry to what he wanted those hearing the music to feel was a matter of trial-and-error.
“There’s no hard and fast rules for how to do that. So as a composer, you have to allow yourself to experience the full emotional range of poetry and then try to find a way to communicate that through music.”
No matter the musical path taken, the other selections for tonight’s concert will be the most contemporary and local music to be played in Westbrook this semester. This is what makes “Wet Ink” special, von Kampen said.
“This is music that is being created right now.”
michaeltodd@dailynebraskan.com
if you go:
where: Westbrook Music Building, Room 119
when: 7:30 p.m.
how much: Free
Be the first to comment on this article!