For students who are interested in collaboration, learning, and talking about musical composition, look no further than the Composers Collective Club. They meet on Thursdays at 6:30 in Wilson 204. 

The meeting this past week was a more casual one where members and the board would sit down to have conversations on various topics, from performances and experiences with composers to providing advice on how to be better. 

This is exactly what President Emile Chevere wanted when he co-founded the club. He is a senior music composition major who created the club as an environment that encourages discussion about composing in general. This includes writing for instruments, arranging music, and studying and creating music. 

He realized that there was not a set place he and his other friends interested in composing could go to communicate these ideas they had.

“What I wanted to do was kind of create some kind of environment and have some kind of club so that we had some more organization to what we already did… We all kind of got together and formed this club just so that we would have something to do and meet and work on our music,” said Chevere. 

During that meeting, you could see how Chevere was positively affecting the members. The members were taking in the advice. He even would do some demonstration on a piano to put some sounds to the words he was describing. 

The community is small at the moment. He says there are about 12 music composition majors with just a few students doing compositional cugs. The club is open to more than just music majors, with other students being interested in music composition. 

“We have a lot of people that aren’t necessarily majors, non-majors, that want to learn more about music, and they’ve been coming in because they want to learn about arranging or they just like to write their own music on their own hand,” said Chevere.

It’s not just limited to one type of genre of music. He understands that everyone has different tastes and styles. Encouraging all different types of music. There are people in the club who write jazz and then others who want to work with rock and heavy metal.

For Chevere, that’s all the club is really about. That’s the type of environment he wants to create for students.

“What we really want to do is create some kind of environment so that people who have interest in composing, even if they’re non-majors, have an environment where they can go ‘hey, I want to get some feedback on what I’m working on’ or ‘I just want to be in an environment which kind of encourages people to write and compose. We just wanted to create that and hope this environment continues forward,” said Chevere. 

Club member and music education major Shaun Henderson found exactly that when joining the club. He says he enjoyed the laid-back meeting with eagerness for the future to be able to pick people’s brains. He spoke more about his interest in joining the club. 

“I’m just looking for better skills and knowledge of like how to compose things or like how to take a simple idea and blow it up into something really big… But I feel like I don’t take any composition classes, and this is a really good try to actually put the theory into action,” said Henderson. 

He thinks it’s terrific that there is a club to be able to communicate with other musicians about composing. He was most excited about being able to get feedback on his previous works. 

“It’s going to be really beneficial to hear the outside perspectives of how you can make something even better so that more people come together and go ‘Oh that’s awesome,’” said Henderson. 

This reaction is what Chevere was hoping for when members would come along to join the club. Wanting to keep the students motivated. 

“This club gives people an offering so that they can come and collaborate with other people, talk, and get immediate feedback. Just really have an environment that encourages them to do more,” said Chevere. 

The future of the club looks eventful with Chevere wanting to incorporate score studies where you analyze master composers, instrumentalists will be coming in to talk about their instruments, and some more interactive, hands-on work. 

If you would like to check on the Composers Collective, you can follow them on Instagram @composers.collective and check out the proflink.

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