Wiz Wiz Chop Chop The Instrument Maker is Hard at Work Leo Kim
U
pon arriving at the Austin Performing Arts Center, you check in with your ticket and quickly navigate your way into the main hall. You seat yourself into your respective spot and notice that there aren’t any musicians on the stage. ‘Strange’ you think to yourself. As you put your phone on silent and put your apple watch in theater mode, the conductor and musicians start to get into position. The lights dim down, and you applaud along with the crowd as the concertmaster walks into the room. Right before the concert starts, you wonder, ‘How did this all happen?’ Music is an arrangement and combination of different sounds (called notes) that create a melody, whether that is vocal or instrumental. This has existed among humans for tens of thousands of years and has become a universal trait for humanity. That being
said, music is a great way of expressing your emotions, and is considered as a form of art. Much like other forms of art, music has changed over time and modernized to what it is today. “Music composition is writing original music for voices or instruments, orchestras, ensembles, any kind of performing organization, and even electronic, synthetic music, computer music.” Donald Grantham explains. Grantham has been “teaching [composition] at UT, the Butler School of Music since 1975.” He is also a well-known composer and has received many awards for his work. “I primarily write instrumental and vocal music. I’ve written a lot of music for wind ensemble, 50 pieces or more, and I’ve also written music for chorus and orchestra and chamber music.” Grantham started composing when he was 13, when he knew how to play
Picture of Donald Grantham (Courtesy of Grantham)
the trumpet and piano. “It’s something I’ve always had a great interest in… I started out writing music for my own instruments and playing that.” He expanded on his interest onto other instruments, “writing for his friends who were also brass players, and wrote music for his high school band, high school choir, church choir, and just continued it from that point.” As long as you have the interest and the time for music composition, you can be a
