A Mind f for Mus i c

By Shala Hainer

Middle School Student Brings Music to Life with Award-Winning Compositions

Music isn’t just for singing off-key to in the car. Regardless of the music genre, it’s something powerful, something people don’t just hear – they feel it, physically and emotionally. The right song can instantly bring back an old memory as if it were yesterday.

It helps people bond through the shared emotions brought to the surface, like when two people dance their first dance together as a married couple, or when moms hear a song about how quickly children grow up.

But how does such a powerful medium begin? It all starts as an idea – a tune that a person just can’t get out of her head. A sound that sparks a thought, that then turns into a melody. Not everyone has the skills and knowledge to take those notes and put them on paper, to turn them from a tiny jingle into a full-fledged orchestral composition.

At age 12, West Georgia native Ada Lynn Key is one of those incredibly talented people who shares her gift and love of music with the world. Just finishing her 6th-grade year at Bremen Middle School, where she plays saxophone in the band, Ada Lynn is already a two-time winner of the statewide Carroll Symphony Orchestra’s Young Composers Competition: the 2021 Elementary School Division and the 2022 Middle School Division.

“The first role of the Carroll Symphony Orchestra is to enrich the lives of children through great music,” explains CSO Conductor and Music Director

Terry Lowry. “In this spirit, CSO sponsors an annual statewide Young Composer Competition. Each September, we send out a musical theme to every elementary, junior high and high school music, band and chorus teacher in Georgia, as well as to most piano teachers, and ask them to encourage their students to write a short composition based on the theme.”

The compositions are submitted as piano pieces. A university composition professor judges the submitted work, and the winners receive about three weeks of orchestration lessons directly from Terry, either in person or by video chat, depending on where they live. The CSO performs the finished compositions in their February concert.

Each year, the CSO receives between 20 and 40 original submissions, according to Terry. Since 2004, the CSO has premiered over 250 compositions by students in grades K-12.

Ada Lynn has taken piano lessons from Terry for several years. “She is an extremely gifted and imaginative young lady, and we expect to hear much more from her as she progresses with her music studies,” Terry shares.

“I started piano lessons when I was 4, but my interest and skill increased as I got older,” says Ada Lynn. “Mr. Terry, my piano teacher, first introduced me to the idea [of creating a composition], and I loved it! Even though I didn't think I would win, I thought it would be a great experience.”

Ada Lynn’s mother, Dr. Allison Key, says she first heard about the competition from her daughter a few weeks before the compositions were due. “She was so excited and was talking about music in a whole new way, using basically a new language!” Allison remembers.

“It’s fun as a parent to see your child’s eyes light up as they talk about something that challenges them.”

Why Music?

The CSO offers an extensive student outreach program intended to share the joy of music with as many area children as possible – thousands each year. And there’s a reason why enriching the lives of children through music is the CSO’s first line item on their mission statement: in addition to the joy music brings, it can also make people smarter.

Serious research began in the 1990s on what was dubbed the Mozart Effect, or how playing classical music for babies helped their brains develop. Many studies since have supported the idea that music helps not only brain function, but emotional stability and motor skills.

In 2016, a University of Southern California study supported that musical experiences improved children’s language and reading skills. Playing an instrument has been shown to increase mathematical skills, even improving SAT scores, according the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation. Memory skills tend to improve in children and adults who listen to or perform music regularly.

Children who are exposed to music early in life – ideally before the age of 7 – tend to have an increased ability to learn foreign languages, regulate their moods better, have more patience, enjoy more physical endurance and have improved self- confidence, in addition to a better ability to focus. But music at any age helps rewrite neural pathways for improved brain function.

The Process

Terry, who has led the CSO for 20 years, provides a theme for the compositions each year.

He sets the tone for the submissions by composing a short piece that gives the students something to use

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“For the competition, you are provided with a starter piece,” Ada Lynn explains. “From there, I play around with different things and ask lots of questions. I started thinking about what might sound good and the type of music I wanted to write based off the starter. I knew I was finished when I finished all the different sections and got the gut feeling I was going to mess it up if I added anything else.”

She says because the music was so different each year, it was difficult to compose the pieces. She relied on Terry and a close friend as her sounding boards. “Mr. Terry helped me a lot by answering my questions and giving me ideas,” Ada Lynn shares. “My best friend Madi was the only one who I bounced ideas off besides Mr. Terry. She helped me a lot as well.”

Allison gives all the credit to Ada Lynn, saying her naturally independent nature led her to work on the project without much family involvement. “She kept the whole thing close to her vest! I saw a few scribbled notes and overheard her listening to some ‘inspiration pieces’ that Mr. Terry had suggested, but she did not want us to hear even one note of her piece before it was submitted,” Allison says. “She has always been so independent and self-motivated, and very creative! We always joke and call her ‘MawMaw’ because she has such an old soul, so truthfully, we didn’t do much of anything to support her other than pay for her piano lessons. She makes us so proud – just a very special young lady.”

She gives credit to Terry for being a rock of support for Ada Lynn. “Mr. Terry has also been a tremendous blessing to and influence on our kids’ musical journeys, obviously, so we are very thankful for the way he has poured into them,” she relates. “He is one of a kind, so patient with them and makes it fun.”

Terry remembers watching Ada Lynn transform from a musician to a composer. “It was really cool watching her compose her very first piece, two years ago,” he shares. “Seeing her slowly realize that she can create something that no one has yet heard was a thrill for her ... and a thrill for me to watch.”

He says Ada Lynn is a bit of a perfectionist, willing to put in the work to make the piece what it should be. “She loves working a piece of music over and over again to get it just right. She is very determined in this way.”

A Family Affair

Ada Lynn came by her musical talents naturally –she has grown up hearing her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother play piano.

“I started piano lessons around 8 years old and continued with lessons until my late teens,” Allison states. “I play most Sundays at our church, and definitely at home, but my skill is certainly limited. I have a banjo that I want to learn to play, but I just pick around on it now – I couldn’t play a single thing on it at this point, but I am going to learn!”

Allison believes watching the other women in her family play at church has normalized playing music in front of others for Ada Lynn, and helped her love of music grow.

Ada Lynn balances music with other endeavors. Her brother, Luke, is 10 years old, and between them they play soccer, baseball, tennis and football. She also loves to draw.

The family stays busy – Ada Lynn’s father, David, is a civil engineer who owns a commercial retaining wall company. Allison is a physician and owns 3:16 Healthcare, which now has nine locations between the 3:16 Family Medicine and Spa 3:16 family of services. They live on the farm where David grew up in Bowdon, and they raise cattle.

“We recently opened Key Farms Meats & Mercantile in Carrollton where we sell our beef, and we started offering you-pick strawberries on the farm in Bowdon this spring,” Allison shares. “So, we work for fun! Mostly kidding! We love to travel, especially on our family National Park trips, and split our time between churches (Southern Hills in Carrollton and Bethlehem Church in Bremen).

“We love our community and feel so blessed to be raising our children here where we both grew up. Having the CSO and an opportunity like the Young Composer’s Competition are just two of many, many reasons we love to call West Georgia home.”

The Performance

Although winning the statewide competition comes with its share of bragging rights, one of the most exciting parts of the competition is that the Carroll Symphony Orchestra performs the winning pieces.

“When I first won, I couldn't believe it. I was so excited!” Ada Lynn recalls. “Mr. Terry knew first but it was during the school day, and he told my mom. She couldn't wait to tell me, so she told me after school.

“The second time I won, it was 100% as big of a surprise if not bigger! I was still amazed! I didn't think I would win the year before, and especially not two years in a row.”

She attended the CSO performances both years. “I was honored to hear professionals take time to play my compositions,” she admits.

Her mom felt a bit more emotional hearing her daughter’s music performed by professionals. “It is so hard to really express that in words, but I suppose proud would be a good place to start,” she says. “It was so moving. We were all in tears. Hearing your child’s heart being played by an orchestra that fills an entire stage … it was overwhelming. I also loved watching her face as she heard the orchestra play her piece. She’s never been more beautiful!”

The Future

Ada Lynn hopes to continue participating in the competition in the future as her musical skills grow. “Composing music makes me feel amazing and in control of something that I can create and make completely my own,” she shares.

“Composing

Allison plans to support that dream by continuing to share the gift of music with her children.

“Our hope is that music provides her a creative outlet, a place to connect with her Maker, a sense of peace, and a place to find calm or clear her head when life gets hard,” she says. “Music is such a gift, and being able to create it is not only a gift to yourself but to others as well. We have never been the parents to try and force our kids into extracurricular activities or sports; we wanted them to explore things that interested them as they became their own people, but music was my one exception.

“I put both of our children in piano lessons at age 4, and we have always exposed them to a wide variety of musical styles, both live performances and at home. I believe music is just so important for intellectual and emotional development and has been shown to help students academically as well. It is something they can enjoy for the rest of their lives. Piano is where we started, but as long as they are taking lessons or playing any musical instrument, we’ll be happy!”

Terry feels Ada Lynn has a bright future where music is concerned. “I believe Ada Lynn will play music her entire life,” he says. “I imagine her playing piano for her church, or teaching piano lessons and accompanying her friends for many years to come. And who knows? She could do whatever she sets her mind to.” WGW