Adalie McCann: My sister and I like to go online and hear the people's pieces as they're like, through the process and then hearing them in real life. It is very fun.
James Stewart: That’s Adalie McCann, an eighth grader at Orchard Valley Waldorf School in East Montpelier. Adalie is this month’s featured composer for our Student Composer Showcase. Adalie plays the piano and the viola and is a member of the senior orchestra with the Green Mountain Youth Symphony. Her work “A Waltz” premiered at Music-COMP’s Opus 38 concert back in April of this year.
Music-COMP is Vermont’s premiere music composition mentoring program, pairing student composers with professional mentors to help them realize their musical ideas. Months of writing, meeting and reworking culminate in a public performance called Opus concerts. Professional musicians are hired to play the student compositions in front of a live audience. But earlier in the day, the student composers have a chance to sit in on the rehearsal process itself, giving feedback and hearing their works come to life.
Adalie: I mean, all the parts are fun, but I get the rehearsal is a little bit nerve wracking because you're talking to the people who really know how to play instruments and at least I am someone who does it.
James: This year, the ensemble TURNmusic came to the Elley Long Music Center in Colchester to participate in the Opus 38 concert. TURNmusic is a professional performing arts organization dedicated to the creation and performance of new music. Let’s hear them perform the work that Adalie prepared for the concert. Here’s Adalie to introduce the piece.
Adalie: Hello, I'm Adalie. I'm a seventh grade student at Orchard Valley Waldorf school in East Montpelier. I want to thank all the people who made this possible. My mentor Mike Close, especially for helping me turn this piece into something playable for answering my questions, and for praising and encouraging me, even when I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. I'd also like to thank my family, my parents and my sisters and my brother for giving me the space I needed, sometimes and for loving and supporting me 99% of the time. Finally, I'd like to thank all of you for coming because really what is music without someone to listen to it?
"A Waltz” by Adalie McCann
TURN music
Violin: Jane Kittredge
Viola: Brooke Quiggins
Cello: John Dunlop
Performed at Music-COMP’s Opus 38 concert, April 30, 2024 at The Elley Long Music Center, Colchester, Vermont.
Performance audio recorded by Tank Recording Studio.
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.
