On March 18, I attended the UBC Composers’ Concert from the UBC School of Music. The concert showcased songs composed by the UBC music students, and it was my first time attending consisting only of student-composed songs. At first, I found that some of the songs seemed a bit more abstract and rough around the edges when the concert first started, but I found many of the songs endearing and to have a charm of their own, even if they’re not as ‘perfect’ as the songs we may be used to listening to. Regardless, it was undeniable the amount of talent and potential the students had, and I really do look forward to attending more or these student-composed concerts later in the future.
The repertoire consisted of five songs: “29th Avenue Station”, “Second Beach”, “Night Piece”, “Chance Encounter”, and “Avdiutt”. These songs were mostly not performed by the composer, which I found very surprising, with the exception of “Chance Encounter”, but she also had accompaniment. I was really surprised at the amount of talent, as I noticed that some of the student composers had composed different songs performed by different instruments. I found that for their young age, they had great musical sense to be able to compose songs for various kinds of instruments.
My favourite piece probably has to be Avidutt. While the other songs had only about one to three performers, Avidutt had seven, making it the largest ensemble of the concert. There were three singers that produced very interesting sounds, some even imitating laughter. They also would repeat after each other in a manner that would remind one of imitative polyphonic texture. While, there was a short intermission as we had to wait for the string players to arrive, I think it was very worth it as the mimicking done by the singers, and the accompaniment of the strings seemed very abstract, but also representative of the creative nature of the composing student. It was a good way to end the show by displaying how talented the UBC music students really were, both the composers and the players.
I would definitely like to recommend this concert to other people and other students, as I think it’s very eye-opening to witness the amount of talent we have at our school, and it’s very inspiring to see other students be able to make contributions, such as producing new music, in their field of study from such a young age.