Inspiring Students

SJU student's musical composition wins competition

By Mike Killeen

Charlie McCarron has never seen the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra perform.

But that will be changing – soon.

McCarron, a sophomore at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, won the orchestra’s James and Paula Nelson Young Composers Competition. As part of the winning prize, the orchestra will perform McCarron’s composition, “The Singing Bone,” at Young People’s Concerts at 9:20 a.m. and 10:40 a.m. April 6, and at a Family Concert at 3 p.m. April 9, all at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center Auditorium. Tickets remain for all three concerts.

“It’s still kind of sinking in that I’m actually going to be up there in Duluth and (hear the orchestra) play it,” McCarron said.

“I think I’ll be beaming (when they play it),” McCarron added.

Entrants were asked to submit a tone poem in three connected tableaux, inspired by a favorite fairy tale or an original fairy tale, and had to be between four and seven minutes long. A tone poem is “music that represents a story,” said Brian Campbell, an associate professor of theory and composition in the CSB/SJU music department, and McCarron’s composition teacher.

The competition, in its fourth year, is believed to be the only annual composition for young people sponsored by a symphony orchestra in America, according to Terry Dunham, director of development for the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. The contest was judged by a jury.

“Actually, my orchestra teacher and music skills professor – Dr. David Arnott – was the one who told me about the contest. He actually plays in the Duluth Symphony,” said McCarron, a music composition major at Saint John’s. “Then, I was in Brian Campbell’s composition class last semester, and I decided I wanted to take on a big project. So I took this on, and that was my final project in composition class.”

McCarron selected an obscure Grimm Bros. fairy tale, “The Singing Bone,” as the basis of his composition. The fairy tale is “not very happy,” he said.

The fairy tale, in a nutshell, involves a king who offers his daughter in marriage to whoever can bring him the wild boar that is troubling his country. Two brothers decide to go after the boar, and the younger brother succeeds with the help of a magic spear. The younger brother is then killed by the jealous older brother, and buried under a bridge. Years later, a shepherd finds a bone flute, which sings a tale of the younger brother’s life. He brings the bone to the king, who hears the message, finds the bones of the younger brother and orders the older brother killed.

As the competition specified, McCarron wrote the piece in three connected sections or tableaux, each of which depicted part of the story.

“I guess the first (theme) is innocence, with the two brothers. I actually used two separate themes, and kind of wove them together,” McCarron said. “Then, in the second half, after they killed the boar, the older brother’s theme starts to get more intense, and they start clashing, and that’s kind of a jealousy/betrayal thing. Then, in the end, it’s kind of an inevitable event, vengeance, of the younger brother.”

McCarron composed the piece on a computer connected to a synthesizer and estimates that he spent about 100 hours composing the piece, including a 12-hour day sitting in front of the computer. He also submitted a CD of the piece generated from a computer program.

“It’s basically all the instruments, and it sounds pretty good. It (the sound) is not as bad as you’d think. It’s great,” McCarron said. “The ‘Finale’ (computer application) program that we have on campus … I don’t know really how I could do this without having the computer.”

“What he did was very complicated, writing an orchestral piece for maybe 80 players – woodwinds, brass, strings and percussion,” Campbell said. “Charlie has not yet taken our orchestration class, so he is really ahead of the curve. In fact, it is rare that an undergraduate student has the skill to successfully compose for a full symphony orchestra.”

McCarron says he has a “pretty wide base” of interests musically. He plays guitar and sings backup vocals in a band, Gambit, which is made up of players from the Stillwater and Woodbury, Minn., areas (McCarron is from Stillwater). The group, which largely plays during the summer months (all the musicians attend various colleges and universities in the region), is in the process of recording a demo CD. He also plays violin in the CSB/SJU orchestra.

In addition to having his composition played by the orchestra, McCarron also received $1,000.

McCarron paused when asked what he learned from the experience.

“I guess persistence – sticking to a task and seeing it out until the end. That actually always pays off,” he said. “The actual concerts will be good, too.”

And, he’ll finally be able to hear the symphony play.

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