Student composers in the Hayes School of Music will present their original compositions for short films Wednesday.

The event, titled “A Night at the Movies,” is different than the usual recitals held by music composition majors once a semester.

“Usually, we compose concert music to be performed live,” said junior composition major Connor Cook. “This recital is special because we each had to write, direct, film and score a short film.”
Daniel Bukin, another junior composition major whose work will be featured at the recital, said that six of the seven films feature pre-recorded soundtracks that were written using sound editing programs such as Logic Pro.

The seventh film is Cook’s and will feature her original piano score. Cook described her film and score as “conceptually a modern take on an early silent film.”

“The film is black and white and has only written dialogue, and I will be performing live piano accompaniment to emulate silent film,” Cook said.

This semester’s film-score theme has been the most unique so far in his time at Appalachian, Bukin said.

The other composition majors whose works will be featured in the recital are Bradley Green, Ward Francis, Shawn Milloway, Christopher Florence and Joseph House.

The students have to find musicians to play their original music on their own, but this generally isn’t an issue for them.

“The Hayes School of Music is abundant with talented musicians who are more than willing to participate in these concerts, so it isn’t very hard to get an ensemble together,” Bukin said.

“It’s encouraging how many performers are excited to play our music,” Cook said.

The hour-long recital will be held in the Recital Hall of the Broyhill Music Center at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Admission is free and concert credit is available for music majors.

Story: COLIN MOORE, A&E Reporter