Composing Together
Since 2008, the Composing Together program has introduced over 650 middle and high school students to hands-on chamber music composition. These young composers have created over 70 new collaborative compositions and heard their music performed by professional musicians and students in front of over 3500 of their peers, teachers, and administrators.
Small groups of students collaborate with Katrina Wreede, composer and creator of Composing Together, exploring the creative process and an entrepreneurial model made famous by Google: 1. Make space for creative ideas, 2. Use trial and error to develop ideas, 3. Test ideas through performance, 4. Learn from feedback and revise. Professional ensembles including the Del Sol Quartet and soon members of the Picasso Ensemble read the works-in-progress and give feedback during the revision portion then present a high-quality performance at each school, building true, working relationships between the students, composer, and professional musicians. Some schools choose to have the students perform their own music, taking their participation in the process even one step further.
The 2011-12 Composing Together theme is WORDS and MUSIC, emphasizing the cross-pollination of ideas across creative media. Participants will use their own poetry to inspire a spoken word and music composition. Focus is on deep understanding of the text and imagining equivalent musical elements, then constructing a complete work from this basic material. Composing Together always emphasizes and conforms to the National Performing Arts Guidelines.
Katrina Wreede, a former violist with the Turtle Island String Quartet, composer, and creator of Composing Together, has been introducing young people to composition since 1998 as a “Composer in the Schools” for the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Composers Forum, a founding faculty member of the John Adams Young Composers Program at the Crowden School, a San Francisco Community Music Center Comprehensive Musicianship Program teacher, a Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission certified Teaching Artist, and as a visiting artist and clinician in many schools and educational conferences.
del sol-ate for lunchThe Del Sol Quartet performs What I Ate for Lunch by members of the Martin Luther King Middle School Orchestra, Berkeley 2008
Composing Together collaboration the Del Sol Quartet
del sol-carnival
The Del Sol Quartet performs Carnival by members of the Washington High School Orchestra, San Francisco 2008-9
Quickie Composing Together-50-minute presentation
Composing Together is available as a one-time visit for entire classes or small groups. Perfect for keeping advanced students motivated and less enthusiastic students intrigued. Up to 60 students per visit.
Variationdel sol-blooming flowersMIDI version of Nora G.’s Variation on a Landler by Schubert, Bronxville, NY 2007
Blooming Flowers by members of the Washington High School String Orchestra, San Francisco 2008-9
For Special Education and Non-Musician Programs
“Katie’s presentation was unique and delightful. Through a process of asking questions and making decisions, the students, with no prior musical training, discovered how rhythm, pitch, texture, and tempo can express shades of feeling. It was exciting to see them start with a poem and end up with a musical composition with corresponding shapes and sounds.”
Breakfast Chorus DemoGael Alcock, cellist and teacher
New Worldnon-musicians create a “Breakfast Chorus” using their breakfasts to create rhythmic motifs
Computer-generated MIDI orchestra performs work by Hercules High School Special Ed students
Composing Together has been very successful with high school special education programs, offering musical creativity to students who are often unable to participate in traditional music programs. Composing Together workshops can also bring student performers and special education “composers” together for reading sessions and concerts of the new works. It is especially wonderful when non-musician students have the opportunity to be the “composer boss” with a professional ensemble. They learn to express their most intangible concepts and work together to make the best version of their piece.