Last week, Capital University hosted its 2011 NOW Music Festival. The Conservatory of Music was responsible for the festival, which featured pieces from both faculty and student composers.
The NOW Music Festival was created in 1987 by composer Rocky J. Reuter as an attempt to showcase modern music currently being composed. The NOW Festival is often the premiere for the music performed in it.
Senior music composition and piano performance dual major Que Jones composed his own piece for the festival.
Jones’ piece is titled Life and was inspired by the works and ideas of Philosopher Bertrand Russell. More specifically, it was inspired by the Russell quote, “The most valuable things in life are not measured in monetary terms. The really important things are not houses and lands, stocks and bonds, automobiles and real state, but friendships, trust, confidence, empathy, mercy, love and faith.”
“My piece is meant to show all of the complexities within life. It takes his written works and breaks them down into 18 pieces,” Jones said. According to Jones, each piece represents a different aspect of life including faith, love, trust, empathy, and friendship.
“Each piece is set up individually as its own concept, and each could stand on their own as a song. But combining the pieces shows how they connect through life. Some of the pieces flow well together, some of the counterpart pieces fight and combat each other through layers of sound,” Jones said.
Sophomore jazz studies major James Macdonald III also composed his own piece for the festival.
“My piece was basically an experimental joke piece with the given title being, Untitled Piece for Apple Juice,” Macdonald said.
Macdonald explained that his inspiration for his piece came from contemporary composers John Cage and John Stump as well as from inside jokes with his friends.
“It was a piece I wrote during the summer, and it featured things such as mayonnaise, horseradish sauce, and apple juice as well as organized sounds and improvised rhythmic sections,” Macdonald said.
Students within the Conservatory discussed that there are people who may not understand, or dislike the NOW Festival.
Reasons for this may be that the music is too contemporary, doesn’t sound right, or simply that it wasn’t what one was looking for in a composition festival.
Jones mentioned that people have a negative stigma associated with contemporary music because they try to compare it to classical composers.
“People need to realize that when comparing it to classical musicians such as Beethoven, or Bach, or Mozart, that these composers have already had their music sorted through until all we have are the gems. When going to a contemporary music concert, one gets to hear the bad parts along with the good. It is part of the excitement because you never know when you will discover a gem of modern music,” Jones said.
Sophomore music education and composition major Austin Brown described the NOW Festival as a showcase for people who are into more modern genres and forms of music.
“A lot of people don’t under stand that composition doesn’t just have to be streamlined forms, such as a symphony or a typical band piece. It can be a mixture of timbres and instruments that are not necessarily seen as mainstream.
“There is more to the definition of what a composition can be, and the Now Festival tries to make this point,” Brown said.
Macdonald commented that the festival is important because it allows for the premiere of modern musical works that may not have a chance to be performed otherwise.
“It opens the eyes and ears of listeners to realize that there are a lot of different types and styles of music out there,” Macdonald said.
Junior music education major Daniel Mollett said that while the festival allows for people to hear some inter- esting pieces of music, he was worried that composers were not using the festival for its intended purpose.
“I feel that some compose for the NOW Festival solely to be edgy, or strange, or unique, without giving their music any true artistic value or aesthetic appeal. Doing this can cause them to misuse the opportunity,” said Mollett.
