ECU music students compose for high school alma maters in new recruitment effort
Two new East Carolina University Pirate alumni will experience music premieres this month thanks to a new School of Music recruitment program.
New ECU graduates Brett Howard, left, and Brody Hilton stand outside Fletcher Music Center and the School of Music. The two composed music this year for their high school alma maters. (Photo by Steven Mantilla)
Brody Hilton and Brett Howard, who both graduated this spring, composed music this year for ensembles at their high school alma maters. Hilton wrote a piece for a choir at Northwest Guilford High School in Greensboro, and Howard wrote a piece for a wind ensemble at North Lenoir High School in La Grange.
They worked on their compositions throughout the fall semester, sending them to the respective high school music directors earlier this spring.
Hilton heard his piece, “I Can Do All Things,” performed May 8, the night before he graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in music theory-composition and vocal performance, and also shared the piece with an ECU ensemble. He will return to ECU for graduate studies in vocal performance and vocal pedagogy.
“This process has taught me a lot about the importance of connections during a collaboration,” Hilton said. “I have learned that as a young composer, now is the time to simply learn about how to use the connections that I have, and that sometimes the only way to learn the values of that connection is by trial and error.”
Hilton wrote for a small Northwest Guilford choir after visiting to meet the director and the group and hear them rehearse. He picked a Bible verse, Philippians 4:13, as the basis of his piece: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
He said the text was simple, and he liked it for two reasons.
“One, because for me personally it’s uplifting,” Hilton said. “But two, it can also translate to any person, whether they are religious or not. It’s a general message just about thinking about something or something that motivates you or uplifts you.”
He said the final piece has a joyful feeling, calling it “uproarious.”
Howard will hear his wind ensemble piece, “How Dreams Unfold,” debut on May 22. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in music education and has accepted a job as assistant band director at West Craven middle and high schools near Vanceboro.
While classes plus an internship kept Howard busy this semester, North Lenoir Band Director Steven Spear is a friend and alum from the same time. Howard said he visits throughout the year and keeps current on band events.
Howard came into the project wanting to create a piece just as good as a music composition major. He praised those ECU faculty members for welcoming his participation with open arms.
“Having the opportunity to write another work of music at this point in my life will be a wonderful chance to show my growth as both a musician and composer,” he said, remembering a piece he composed in high school that he called a stepping stone on his composition journey.
Howard said his piece for North Lenoir came together quickly, based on an idea he had on his mind for a few days. Most of the piece came together within a week.
“I think it worked out that way because, when you are writing just to write, there is this kind of aimless existence for the composition,” he said. “You’re not sure when it will be played, who will play it, or if it will even exist outside of your computer.
“But with this project, there was an extremely clear goal. I am proud of it.”
Joshua Bishop, the School of Music’s assistant director for student services, hopes the new program will continue annually, with a music composition senior or two creating pieces for ensembles at their high schools. He got the idea from a band director colleague in Maryland, then asked Dr. Travis Alford in ECU music theory and composition for student names: Hilton and Howard.
Bishop said engaging with North Carolina high schools makes the most sense, but that he doesn’t “feel limited by geography,” especially in other southern states. If an ECU student’s high school is further away, he said they can reach out to local high schools, even without the alma mater connection.
“Getting into high schools is part of a grander scheme of focusing more on outreach and focusing more on being in the community,” Bishop said. “It allows us to go to those schools, working on the piece, talking with their students, with the idea that they can come to ECU and do something similar, and in four years write a piece for this choir, or whatever ensemble.”