Harrison Brown: 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 Stewart: That’s the voice of Harrison Brown, a senior this year at Stowe High School and this month’s featured composer for our Student Composer Showcase. We’ve featured Harrison’s music on the showcase in the past. He’s been involved with Music-COMP for several years now.
Harrison Brown: I often treat composition like a puzzle because I love math.
James Stewart: Music-COMP is Vermont’s premiere music composition mentoring program that pairs student composers with professional mentors to help them realize their musical ideas. Harrison has worked with Vermont composers Eric Neilsen and Kyle Saunier and most recently with Michael Close. Michael has been mentoring Harrison during the creation of a new work for brass quintet called “The Great Ice Field.”
Harrison Brown: “The Great Ice Field” is a desolate piece. It feels like there's nothing stretching out in all directions as you traverse it. I wanted to write something that felt disconnected from the rest of the world.
James Stewart: This piece will be premiered next month by the VSO Brass Quintet as they tour around the region this holiday season with the Counterpoint Chorus. You can find venues, dates and times listed at VSO.org.
Harrison Brown: Writing for the VSO has been awesome. I've always wanted to write something for them, and I'm so happy that I finally got the opportunity.
James Stewart: It’ll be exciting to hear Harrison’s music as part of those concerts in December. But, for our showcase today, we’ll check out a piece that Harrison wrote for Music-COMP’s latest showcase for student works, their Opus concerts.
Harrison Brown: I wrote a piece called “Tugs” for this upcoming Opus concert. I had this idea one day to write a piece based on another piece like, infecting it. And, you know, I talked with some of my friends about it and they thought it was really cool. So I decided I'm really gonna mess up this piece. I'm gonna mess it up real bad because I really wanted it to sound super dissonant and alien because I haven't written anything like that before. So that was the inspiration, was an infection.
James Stewart: This year’s Opus concert featured the ensemble TURNmusic, a professional performing arts organization dedicated to the creation and performance of new works. They came to the Elley Long Music Center in Colchester back in April to bring to life dozens of new pieces by student composers from all across Vermont. So, let’s hear them perform this work by Harrison Brown, “Tugs.”
"Tugs” by Harrison Brown
TURN music
Violins: Brooke Quiggins, Jane Kittredge
Viola: Elizabeth Reid
Cello: John Dunlop
Bass: Kyle Saulnier
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.
