Teen learns to write own music

Kate Nolan

Thirteen-year-old Kate Nolan has been playing musical instruments for nearly half her life. But, her best musical experience happened just last summer.

That's when she attended a unique music camp at the Webster University's Community Music School. The 10-day camp was called Kids Alive Summer Composition Initiative.

This was the first year for this new style camp. However, the music school has a wide range of year-round music programs for kids and adults.

Of the Initiative camp, Kate said, "It was fun. I learned a lot of stuff about music I didn't know before."

The camp involved more than just playing music. She worked on reading and writing music. Then there was "ear training" and finally composing her own original music.

Of the composing, Kate said, "It was kind of tough to write in the different clefs. The hardest was writing it all out in score form. We did it in pencil in case we made mistakes."

In the end, she got to play her own compositions in a camp-ending concert. She said the performance "was the best part."

Kate is a seventh grader at Sperreng Middle School. She's been taking piano lessons since she was in second grade. She also started violin lessons when she was in fourth grade.

She played the piano when she was at the Webster summer camp. The kids were divided up into ensemble groups. Kate's was in a quintet.

In addition to her piano, other instruments in the ensemble were a flute, guitar, saxophone and cello. There were four girls and one boy in her group. In all, there were four ensembles at her camp.

Kate found that she was the only student from the Lindbergh School District at the camp. So, she got a chance to work with kids from other parts of the St. Louis metro area.

Each kid at the camp composed her own piece. In the closing concert, that meant Kate's group played five original compositions.

And, before the concert, the kids got to record their music. She's got a souvenir recording of all the 18 pieces played at the concert.

During the recording, she said ensembles got a chance to start over if they made a mistake. "But, I don't think we did have to do that," she said.

Kate isn't thinking about being a composer. But, she said the camp experience helped her understand music better. "It made me feel more comfortable with my music," she said.

Most of the work at the camp was in the classical music. When asked about her musical style, Kate said, "I like to play fast."

But, she also plays more than classical music.

For instance, she's a member of The Fiddlers music group at her school. That's a group of violin players who tour to play more country-style tunes.

Last month, the Sperreng Fiddlers traveled to West Lafayette, Ind., for a "Feast of the Hunter's Moon" festival performance.

Kate takes her music pretty seriously. She takes a private piano lesson once a week at the Webster Music School. She also practices 30 minutes five days a week at home.

Then, with the violin, she has daily classes at Sperreng. She's also expected to practice at home for 30 minutes a day on that instrument.

Kate said she likes music best when she's playing. "It's more fun to play it than to just listen," she said.

Music isn't Kate's only activity.

"I think I'm going to work on the school newspaper this year," she said. Also, she participates in the school's Science Olympiad program. She hopes to enter district and state science competitions this school year. She's active in Girl Scouts.

And she's proud of being a 4.0 student in school. "I like every class," she said.

Kate said she "isn't exactly sure as yet" about college or a career. But, she is sure she had a very fine musical experience last summer.

To learn more about the Webster Community Music School, you can call Julie Walbridge at (314) 961-2660, Ext. x4448. Or log on: www.webster.edu/depts/finearts/cms.