Sometime in the 2000’s, Alfred Watkins and I had the idea to start a summer band camp for the middle schoolers in our cluster. We wanted to encourage them to keep playing their instruments into high school. It was a five-day day camp, basically an off-shoot from the Sixth Grade Band Carnival, which he had started a few years earlier.
So in addition to masterclasses and full band, we wanted “special topics” classes – mostly guest performances, but also music technology. I volunteered to do a class on Finale Note Pad. We didn’t have a computer lab available, so I went around the department collecting all the computers I could find, which was maybe 6 or 7. I made 4.5” floppy discs for the students, and had them huddle in 2’s or 3’s around the computers with a little printed guide on how to set up a blank document with music staves, and enter notes by clicking on the screen.
I remember thinking I did a terrible job teaching the class, because I spent most of the time helping fix problems with the computers, or decoding the many issues with operating a program for the first time. But each student had a floppy disk with the program on it, and I thought that at least I had opened a door for them.
That was the first day Viet Cuong got his first copy of a music notation program. It was funny to hear him tell the same story, which included that as a pianist from a young age, Viet had been informally composing for years, but just had never written anything down. Jump forward a few years and this soft spoken Vietnamese-American percussionist is now in the high school band at Lassiter, and he comes into the band room office with a full band score of a composition he’s written.
I went to Alfred and mumbled in a stunned voice, “uh…. Viet wrote a band piece.” I paused. “What do we do with it?” I had no idea how to mentor a young composer. We had no classes in music technology, offered theory only occasionally and I wasn’t confident I could offer him any guidance in composing. “Tell him to write for his friends,” Alfred said in a cool voice. “Then he’ll have someone who will play his pieces and he can keep learning.” I felt reassured with this little gem of advice, and went back to Viet to encourage him for his work.
Fast forward to yesterday, after many more pieces, many college degrees, and tremendous opportunities that have come his way, Viet has an amazing career as a composer and college professor. Watching him work with the fantastic musicians at The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra as part of the Sandbox Composer Residency, I couldn’t help but think about this summer camp story, which honestly I hadn’t thought about in a long time.
Pride doesn’t really describe it. I’m pretty sure Viet would have found his way whether I was there or not. I think it’s just gratitude. I feel lucky to have been in the same place at the same time, to be a part of the many friends and mentors he’s had. I’m genuinely delighted to watch an artist with so much creativity share his ideas with the world.
So it was a real treat to watch Viet and the SPCO workshop his new comp in an open rehearsal yesterday. I took the drive from St. Cloud with Brendon and a couple students from my conducting class. The premiere will be in November, the week of Thanksgiving. To see the performers and composers work together, trade ideas and truly collaborate creatively, was a joy and wonder to watch. My students loved hearing a brand-new piece, watching the rehearsal process and seeing how engaged everyone was. It’s very unusual for composers to get this kind of time and investment from an organization. As the audience we were invited in to hear little changes in the piece develop right in front of us. I’ve always been a fan and admirer of the SPCO, in its mission to empower its musicians creatively and artistically, and their commitment to their communities and composers.
Congratulations, Viet and SPCO! “I’ll be watching from the stands!” (NU friends will remember that one!) Link to article from Star Tribune, September 2022).
