The Student Composer Society will be performing tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. at the Recital Hall in the Eliza R. Snow Building. It will be event dress and free to the public.
They will perform several original pieces and there will be different types of music for the audience to enjoy. There will also be some pieces from Music Department teachers Michael Wahlquist with Susan Neimoyer also improvising.
Some of the pieces will include piano, harp, an electronic piece of a video game concept, a lullaby and many others.
“We try to strike a balance between experimental and still nice to listen to,” said Alex Watson, president of the Student Composer Society. “We would like everyone to first of all enjoy themselves and have a good time, but also to maybe be a little bit stretched as a person and maybe have their preconceptions be challenged just a little bit.”
Watson will perform at the recital. He said he will play a “joke,” but he won’t say what he will be playing so the audience can be surprised.
The Student Composer Society meets every Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at the Snow Building in room 185, where students learn more about music and composition. Students have the chance to get feedback from their peers and professors about their original music.
You don’t have to be a music major in order to be part of the society. Watson said it’s up to you what you get out of the meetings. You don’t even have to participate; you can come and listen to the music and comments from other students.
There is not one specific type of music they focus on; they try to learn about all different types. Walquist is one of the faculty members who is active in the society and he wants students to learn more about modern music.
“In the music degrees we focus on music that was written, at the very latest, the 20th Century, like 1900, which is still super, super, old if you think about it,” he said.
In the Student Composer Society, they get many opportunities to focus on music that was written in their lifetime. They have put a lot of time and effort for the recital coming up tomorrow and they are excited to share it with BYU-Idaho.