By Adam Kelly
Southern Virginia University is known for many things, having talented musicians is one of them. This semester, six talented students will perform their senior recital.
Music will be featured from six students who have been a part of composer Andrew Maxfield’s teaching studio. Maxfield is Southern Virginia University’s Composer in Residence and is based out of Provo, UT. Maxfield makes time to teach his students over Zoom and flies into Virginia once every semester. Maxfield is a very acclaimed composer and recently had his setting of “The Lord’s Prayer” featured in the Southern Virginia’s Chamber Singers concert. If you want to learn more about Andrew Maxfield, check out his website.
The ensemble members are all Buena Vista residents, with participation from the University’s faculty and local musicians who are mainly unaffiliated with Southern Virginia. There are many Southern Virginia students who are generous enough to volunteer their time, despite having other concerts and recitals to practice for.
Here is what a few of the musicians have to say:
“I had never composed a full song before coming to SVU, and I only had a rudimentary understanding of music theory. While I loved music, I dismissed the idea of majoring in it for a while, because I felt that my skills were too inadequate to justify making it my academic focus. This mindset changed due to the encouragement of my peers and mentors, and I have since created things I never thought I’d have the capacity to.
While I owe more than I can say to Andrew, who has been my chief mentor in applied composition, I owe just as much to the experiences I’ve gained as a music student and ensemble member at SVU — particularly to my time singing with the Chamber Singers. By being part of such a dedicated group that performs such beautiful material, I have learned inside and out what a great piece of music should feel, look, and — of course — sound like.”
–Carter Gorham
“One thing I’ve really appreciated is that we’ve been able to coordinate to have our works performed live by real ensembles, either chorally or instrumentally, which really brings the composition to life. Just like a writer has to anticipate their audience, a composer has to anticipate the performer, and give them correct instructions to play it as you intended. A large part of composition is learning the language of those instructions and how to use them to create art, and these opportunities to hear it performed live is the best way of knowing if you’ve succeeded in conveying that idea.”
–Serina Franzen
“This is something we’re all excited about since it’s the first recital performing student compositions at SVU in recent memory. The pieces that we’ve written are all pretty short, since we’ve been fitting composing into our already rigorous school and work schedules, but at least for me I’ve been so grateful to have a chance to have fun trying to write for specific instruments for the first time, as well as really putting a piece of myself into the music. I hope Buena Vista community members will enjoy the opportunity to have a totally unique concert!”
-Julia Evans
The Composition Recital will be on Thursday, May 4 from 5:30–6:30 p.m. The Recital will include a variety of music, but mainly pieces of string quartet and orchestra. Attend and enjoy some great music!
What Music Composition Has Meant to These Seniors was originally published in The Herald on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.