The EMU club scene, though not as vibrant as the one down the road, attracts many students each year. As school picks up and routines fall into place, students are reuniting with clubs and considering new ones. Students had the opportunity to sign up for clubs at the Ice Cream Social in the campus center this past Thursday. The Composer Collective debuted at the social, offering students a new and exciting opportunity this fall.
The Composer Collective is a student organization centered around the craft of musical composition. In this space, students have the opportunity to share their projects with others and recieve peer encouragement and feedback.
Many students enjoy the process of making music but have trouble finding time. Due to tight schedules, students like sophomore Josh Overacker may not be able to attend regularly scheduled music lessons; however, with the Composer Collective starting up, he sees another option. “I think it will be a good alternative [to lessons],” Overacker said.
Senior Luke Mullet, one of the club’s principle architects, hopes to foster an environment open to all backgrounds and levels of expertise. The club will not only be for sharing one’s musical creation. Students are also welcome to come and enjoy the creative process while learning from one another. Others are welcome to attend meetings to offer support.
The club will provide a necessary step in the craft of musical composition.
Through his time in a New York film score workshop, Mullet began to see the field of music as “a world where you need to have connections.” Students will experience the process of collaboration and connecting through exchanges of values, ideas, knowledge, and wisdom.
The Composer Collective is an idea that Mullet has held onto for a few years. “I longed for this space,” Mullet said.
Last spring while on cross-cultural, Mullet and fellow student-musician Joseph Harder began “pulling strings from afar.” After brainstorming the idea for the club, Mullet, Harder, and others drafted a constitution. Students on campus with whom Mullet and Harder had been conversing via email then delivered the constitution to the Student Government Association to have it approved.
As of now, the leaders plan to have their first meeting later this week where they will lay out the remaining logistics. The club plans to gather once a month, thus giving students time to create and prepare.
Once the group has had time to meet and work on compositions, Mullet aspires to organize a concert of only EMU student compositions.
There are also aspirations to collaborate with the VACA department and musicians in the surrounding area.
Faculty advisor Ryan Keebaugh sees the club as an opportunity to establish connections at a broader level. Keebaugh wants to help connect the club with national organizations centered around the creation of music, specifically through conferences. “I feel that it will be imperative to the creative development of the students to experience one or more of these organizations by attending one or more conferences in the spring,” Keebaugh said.
For now, students are encouraged to keep their ears open for more news regarding meeting times, upcoming events, or chart toppers.
