Harrison Brown: I often treat composition like a puzzle because I love math.
James Stewart: That’s the voice of Harrison Brown, a junior at Stowe High School and this month’s featured composer for our Student Composer Showcase. Harrison has been involved with Music-COMP for several years now but his interest in music goes back even further.
Harrison: I've played piano for nine years, coming up on ten this summer. When I'm at school I play French horn in our band and most of the time when I'm at home, I'm playing guitar.
James: Harrison’s involvement with Music-COMP began when he was in eighth grade and his school’s music teacher found out about his interests in composition and arranging.
Harrison: I had arranged one of my favorite songs for the high school band. I wasn't in the high school band yet, but I had arranged a piece called “The World Revolving.” So that's what got me into it because I had been working on arranging and composing pieces for a few years by that point. So as soon as I saw it, I was like, “Yes, count me in!”
James: Music-COMP is Vermont’s premiere music composition mentoring program. They pair student composers, like Harrison, with professional mentors to help them realize their musical ideas. Harrison spent his first two years with Music-COMP working with Vermont composer Erik Nielsen.
Harrison: The first year I did Music-COMP, I really didn't know what I was doing. I had a lot of trouble getting my piece going and he helped a lot with that, and with idea generation, trying to put the thing together and making sure it all worked. I had never written a composition of my own for a real ensemble at that point. So it was all very new to me. I really like the idea of being able to create something new that no one's ever heard before. It's just really fun to compose.
James: Every year Music-COMP puts on a concert of original works by student composers called “Opus” concerts. Harrison’s had pieces featured for the past two years.
Harrison: For freshman year, I submitted a piece called “The Wandering Snail.” And then last year it was “Nocturne #1” a solo piano composition.
James: So let’s take a listen to Harrison’s piece “Nocturne #1” performed by pianist Alison Cerutti at Music-COMP’s Opus 37 concert, May 2, 2023 at The Cathedral of St. Joseph in Burlington, Vermont.
"Nocturne #1" by Harrison Brown
Piano- Alison Cerutti
Performed at Music-COMP’s Opus 37 concert, May 2, 2023 at The Cathedral of St. Joseph in Burlington, Vermont.
James: That was pianist, Alison Cerutti performing “Nocturne #1” by Stowe High School student Harrison Brown at Music-COMP’s Opus 37 concert back in May of 2023. This year, Harrison has composed a new piece with the help of another mentor, Kyle Saulnier.
Harrison: Since I've known him for a while, through multiple jazz bands that I've been in where he's directed, it's been really helpful having him look at some of my work instead of the other way around as it usually is. And it's just been nice to have somebody that I know look at my pieces. Usually that doesn't happen.
James: Sounds like a great relationship the two of you have. What’ve you been cooking up for this year?
Harrison: I wrote a piece called “Tugs” for this upcoming Opus concert. It's meant to represent two sides against each other, and then together. There's a more atonal and nontraditional side that clashes with a more classical, traditional style. They're kind of fighting each other the whole way through the piece. But by the end of the piece, they come together and work together instead of working against each other.
James: If you had a chance to speak with someone who might be interested in pursuing Music-COMP like you have, how would you encourage them to do it, to make that first step?
Harrison: Sign up, because it doesn't matter how much music you've written. The mentors you're gonna be working with know how to help you turn that into a piece that you'll be happy with. Even if you barely have anything written, they can help you make it something that you like.
James: If you, or a student in your life is interested in learning more about Music-COMP, Vermont’s music composition mentoring program, check out their website at Music-COMP.org.
The Student Composer Showcase is produced in collaboration with Music-COMP, the music composition mentoring program and Lake Champlain Access Television. The Music Composition Mentoring Program (Music-COMP) is a Vermont non-profit started in 1995 that teaches students in grades 3-12 how to compose original music. Students are paired with professional composers as mentors, and over 50 works are premiered each year with professional musicians.
Production support for the Student Composer Showcase is provided by Lake Champlain Access Television, a community media center serving eight towns in Chittenden, Franklin, and Grand Isle Counties, providing a free forum for expression, and a link to local government and training. More at lcatv.org
