I Won Young Composers' Competition

[thomas_williams]

Two days ago, at my composition lesson, my teacher notified me that I had won the Carroll Symphony Orchestra Young Composers' Competition (Carrollton, Georgia) which I had entered just barely before the deadline!

It was less than four weeks in advance of the deadline that I learned of the competition.  I had to work fast on a new piece-- the requirement was to write a piece for piano based on a given theme (all entries to be written on the same theme).  The winners are to have individual orchestration lessons with the conductor/music director and have their pieces played by the Carroll Symphony Orchestra.  It will be an awesome experience to have my composition played by a professional orchestra!

[DarkWind]

Cool! By the way, how old are you?

[Tash]

wow congrats that's excellent! you wouldn't by any chance want to compose my composition for an assessment that's due on wednesday would you?!!!

[sharon_f]

Way to go! Keep us posted on the orchestration lessons and the final concert.

[allchopin]

Great job Tommy!  Would it be too much to ask to post the midi up?

[thomas_williams]

I unfortunately do not currently have midi sequencing capabilities or any way to post the music  but perhaps I can find someway to get it done soon.  I will come back and post more when I know more details.

And as for my age-- I am 18 (you can see that by looking at my profile).  I will be 19 soon.

[thomas_williams]

Well, I met with my teacher (who is the orchestra's conductor) this morning about the orchestration.  Earlier this week we had discussed how to do the orchestration (e.g., begin with horns playing the melody, accompanied by trombones; double on strings starting at measure 9, etc.) and he simply took notes on my ideas, giving his comments and suggestions.  He later put all this in his computer.  This morning he showed me the score on his computer and let me hear the MIDI, we discussed it futher and made a few changes.  It is just about ready.

As for the performances, the main concert will be on Thursday, November 4 and Thursday, November 11 at 7:30 PM both dates but at different locations.  I am not yet sure about tickets and admission.  The concert will include the compositions by the four winners.  It will also be performed several times for school kids.

This is really cool! 

[janice]

Where will the concerts be held?  What city?  That is way cool, Thomas!

[thomas_williams]

The November 7 concert will be held at the Carrollton Cultural Arts Center (Carrollton, GA-- about 45 miles west of Atlanta and 90 miles east of Birmingham, AL).  The November 11 concert will be held at Copeland Hall in Bowdon, GA (the same area-- but I am not familiar with this venue). 

[thomas_williams]

Well, the final concert was last night and it went quite well.  At both concerts the young composers sat backstage and came forward after their pieces were played.  At the first one, we were sitting in the wings-- practically right beside the orchestra-- and AWESOME experience, hearing the orchestra so close, and watching them too.  But at last night's concert, we were in a room backstage, with a wall between us and the orchestra (and an open door to the side), as the wings were so small that there was only room for like one person to stand in them.  But as each young composer's piece was played, the composer would stand in the wings in sight of the conductor, and come out on stage afterwards, so I could both see and hear well as my piece was played.  Overall it was a great event, not only in my life as a composer, but the entire concert as well. 

The program was as follows:

Overture to William Tell by Rossini

Pieces by competition winners:
Hunter Allyn (age 11, though 10 when he composed his piece)
Juliann Head (age 13)
Joel Jackson (age 17)
Thomas Williams (age 18)

Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 43 by Terry Lowry (the conductor himself-- composer and piano soloist)

Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev

[Spatula]

Did you study like Harmony and all that theory stuff to get this? Or you just picked up a pen and start writting? I wrote some stuff... sounds like a watered down version of ...well Spatula.  I don't really go for any "style" per se of the famous ones or else I'd just be another Fred Handel! ( I hate that guy...plagaristic b@st@rd)

[thomas_williams]

Basically, I just started improvising at the piano, using the given theme, jotted down a few notes to help me remember what I composed, then wrote it down away from the piano.  Of course I polished my composition after having written the first draft (made a few changes and corrections, etc.).  As for my background study, I have studied some theory and such on my own in the past, and have a piano background (of course  -- why not? this is a Piano Forum), but I have only recently begun studying composition formally.  At my very first composition lesson, I showed the maestro some of my compositions and sketches, and I suppose he was rather impressed-- he informed me about the competition (on short notice, as mentioned earlier) and by the time of the next lesson my piece was pretty much ready.  As for "style," I didn't try to imitate any particuclar composer, but my piano teacher said my piece reminded him of Bartok.