Creating Young Composer Festivals and Showcases

When designing and implementing young composer festivals and showcases, it is vital to base the programs on the educational needs of the students and the professional needs of educators and to respect the commitment of the composers’ parents. The students will often have to travel a considerable distance to attend and will miss school time, and the parents will have to take time off from work to accompany their children. In many cases, parents will not be reimbursed for travel expenses.

It is not enough to simply schedule a young composer concert, present certificates, and send the students home. Successful programs showcase student achievement at young composer concerts, but they also provide a rich offering of educational opportunities such as composition workshops, seminars, and interactions with peers, performers, and professional composers—a full day of learning activities.

State music education association conferences are excellent settings for such programs because the conference venues and information infrastructure are in place, and the conferences already include statewide recognition for student excellence in performance. The young composer festival functions as a mini-conference within the state conference. Many of the program components can be adapted and implemented for smaller venues, such as schools, districts, and regional areas.

The details of the programs will vary depending upon the scale of the events and the available resources. The components of effective programs may include the following, each of which will be discussed in detail later in the chapter:

- Written evaluations with constructive feedback for all applicants
- Student composition concerts
- Composition coaching workshops
- Post-concert reflective sessions for student composers and conference attendees
- Participation of prominent composers-in-residence
- Coordination with honors ensembles to feature works by visiting composers
- Educational sessions for teachers.

Overcoming Obstacles to Innovation. Establishing state-wide programs like this can be a challenge. Large organizations often have considerable inertia and may be resistant to change. They have customs, histories, and standard procedures that new programs may seem to disrupt. Conferences are already filled with concerts and educational sessions packed into tight schedules; how can anything new be added? Associations often have many committees and chairs who are attached to their own turf and view advocates of change as interlopers in a zero-sum game trying to usurp power and resources. Colleagues may bristle at the idea of state recognition for student composers because they are not selected in exactly the same way that all-state performers are chosen, and the students may not fit neatly into band, orchestra, chorus, or jazz programs. For all of these reasons, establishing a new program often requires great perseverance and persuasion.

As more and more states create programs, however, innovators can point across state lines to illustrate models of success. For example, several state associations have invited me to consult and visit their conferences to discuss the NYSSMA program and to offer ideas on implementing new programs, and such efforts have been fruitful. Therefore, a good first step in creating a program is to reach out to other states and learn from their experiences. The NAfME Council for Music Composition is conducting an ongoing survey of state programs that it continues to update. The chair of the council is a good source for more information.

Another useful tactic for successful innovation is to assemble a team. Ideally each state should have a composition chairperson and committee. An effective committee should, if possible, include a diverse group of educators of all grade levels, from elementary school through college, with expertise in general music, performance, theory, and composition. To effect change in a resistant environment, it is useful for the committee to include some members who are esteemed particularly highly in the organization, such as well-regarded professors or former officers of the association. Fortunately, the emphasis on “creating” in the National Core Arts Standards has cast a bright light on the importance of composition and songwriting, so resistance to change may be diminishing as associations see the need to address the issue.