The Online Reflector

The program for the Student Composers Forum performance on Nov. 8 in Ruth Lilly Performance Hall of the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center included an array of musical mediums.

The performance, which started at  7:30 p.m., included handbells, vocal cabaret pieces with student-written texts, digital audio tracks, original folk songs, live electronic dance music, a piano mini-suite and a dubstep-inspired suite.

A song entitled “Jellyfish Rant,” written by senior violin performance and English major Bethany Walters was especially important early in the program.

The piece provided some comic relief for the audience.

Junior nursing major Jillian Reisinger said she enjoyed the performance of  junior music technology major Hannah Holmes, who stayed in character the whole time.

Later, the room dimmed in preparation for a 2-channel digital audio track, “Storm,” by senior recording technology major Justin Rowland.

The performance incorporated guitar elements, which were arranged and manipulated to embody the nature of a storm.

“I didn’t know what to expect, but I liked it,” Reisinger said.

Senior music major Matthew Bridgham compiled his notebook ideas into a mini-suite called “Sketches.”

This six-part suite showcased Bridgham’s connection to music.

Reisinger said she felt Bridgham’s emotions coming through the pieces as he swayed during the performance.

According to Reisinger, Bridgham’s fingers danced along the keys, and it was entertaining to watch his body language.

“I liked the sound of dubstep on a piano,” Reisinger said. “I’ve never heard something played like that before.”

Assistant Professor of Composition and Theory at Stanford University Mark Applebaum was featured as a guest composer at the forum.

“Pre-Composition,” commissioned by Electronic Music Midwest 2002, is an 8-channel digital audio piece.

“His [Applebaum’s] piece was very interesting. It showed eight different personalities and how they would approach writing a piece together,” said junior vocal performance and music education major Zach Cardwell.

Many instruments were played simultaneously combining multiple sounds in a triumphant wave of music.  Furthermore,  students performed vocal pieces.

“I really liked all of the different sounds they made as a group. It was really funny how it all came together,” Reisinger said.

The conversational dialogue was created through the different characters, placement of speakers and changes in the volume of the voices.

Junior composition student Joseph Forte performed a live electronic piece.

He began by explaining some basics about the technology he was working with.

“It was definitely a new take on performing compositions,” Cardwell said. “It was partially improvised because of pressing the buttons, but it was also planned with the recorded tracks.”

According to Reisinger, the performance was a cool alternative to the other performances, something new to see live.

The performance incorporated many different students and their works in a diverse, musical environment.

Another concert like student composers is scheduled Nov. 13 at Wheeler Arts Community at 7:30 p.m.