Otterbein’s student composition recital gives students a chance to showcase the music they have written and composed. Amy Gadd and Adam Garner gave Otterbein360 a behind the scenes look at the composition process.
Amy Gadd, a junior BA music major with a concentration in music composition and theory, has one piece in the student composition recital. From writing songs in high school, Gadd knew that she wanted to become a singer and a songwriter. She was unable to read music when she came to Otterbein. Ever since, music composition classes have helped her learn to read music and become a better songwriter.
Gadd has had music featured in student composition recitals for the past three years. This year features “Take My Hand”, which was written to be performed by a small vocal ensemble. Gadd describes the piece as mostly contemporary but it also follows some classical rules.
“I’m excited now because it’s debuting at this composition recital, and only the people in my class have heard it before,” Gadd said.
Gadd’s musical inspiration comes from her favorite bands, Good Old War and Lake Street Dive.
Adam Garner, a junior BA music major with a concentration in jazz studies, will also have music featured in the recital. Like Gadd, Garner started writing songs in high school. He created his first written work last year.
Garner decided on his major after taking a beginner composition class. A genuine enjoyment from writing music emerged and he wanted to do it more, which led to more composition classes.
Garner’s piece in the upcoming recital is titled “Invocation”. It is the first of his pieces to be performed in a student composition recital. However, last semester one of his pieces was performed in the Wind Ensemble concert.
As part of a class, Garner was challenged to create something different from the music he would typically compose. This lead to the creation of “Invocation”. Students in this composition class had to push their composition styles to new boundaries. Garner said he was not thrilled with “Invocation” when he started it but has since grown to love it.
“Invocation” is a modern piece made for three percussionists. It lacks the traditional aspects associated with classical music such as Beethoven, which gives it more of a modern quality. There are also elements of ancient chants integrated into the piece.
Garner said that “Invocation” took about two months to compose. Typically, the composition process for his pieces lasts at least six or seven weeks.
“I’ll stumble upon an idea and plan things ahead of time, even if nothing goes according to plan,” Garner said. “For this piece I was set on a completely different path, but my professor challenged me to change it.”
Fine tuning “Invocation” enabled Garner to capture a new idea, which made it better than the original version.
When it comes to gaining musical inspiration, there is not one particular place where Garner gleans from.
“Everything that I listen to I take bits that I do like and they get implanted to grow in my music,” Garner said.
Gadd, Garner, and other students have composed all the music for the student composition recital on April 16 at 8 p.m. in Riley Auditorium.
