My First Midwest Experience
This blog post was originally posted on Dec. 24th, 2021
Hey gang, it’s been quite a while since I’ve written on my blog about anything. After my long hiatus, I’ve gained many valuable experiences and learned many new things which I’d like to share.
This month, I attended the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, which is one of the biggest networking events for music educators, performers, and composers. It’s held at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL. To be completely honest, until last year, I’ve never heard of Midwest until it popped on my radar from both colleagues and interviews I’ve watched online.
My credentials for the conference.
They print out your information during registration, and it was super cool to have!
Why Did I Attend The Midwest Clinic?
As a student composer, why would I go attend a conference that’s primarily meant to benefit music educators? There are many reasons. First, the conference not only contains a massive convention booth area, several useful clinics, and amazing performances, but it is perhaps the best networking event to go to as a band composer—or at least an aspiring one. My goal of attending was to get reinvigorated to write band music, and to see what the band and orchestra field was like in the “flesh”.
Due to some conflicts on my calendar, I could only attend one of the three days of the conference. This was fine, however, as it was a pain to commute from my home in the Chicago suburbs, to the bustling downtown area. So I recommend anyone attending, to book a hotel near the convention center, so that commuting there is not an issue.
Anyways, I attended a variety of clinics, meet-and-greets, and stunning performances by high school bands/orchestras, and some professional military bands, like the United States Army Field Band. In addition, I met up with some people that live across the country, and whom I’ve never met in-person.
What Did I Do?
The first performance I attended was the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts, which showcased their high school orchestra playing various selections, including a new adaptation of Eric Whitacre’s October for full orchestra—the premiere of this piece was also conducted by the man himself. For those of you how do not know me well, I am a huge fan of Eric Whitacre; he is such an amazing composer and genuine human being that inspires me constantly to be the best version of myself, so seeing him conduct October, which is my favorite Whitacre piece, was one of the guiltiest pleasures in this world. I could barely hold me smile beneath my mask watching him conduct so fluidly and easily. Later in the day, I attended a Q+A session that he held, which was also fantastic. In between these two events, I bought one of his scores at the Hal Leonard booth which I will inevitably score study soon. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to meet Mr. Whitacre this year, but I hope to in the future.
Eric Whitacre Conducting LVA
I was smiling so much under my mask seeing him conduct live.
On the other hand, I met two other composing idols of mine. Namely, Julie Giroux, a fantastic band composer and John Mackey, another industry-leading composer. I cannot remember how many countless hours I’ve studied and experienced their music in private, but finally seeing these legends and talking to them, though briefly, was undoubtedly the highlight of my first Midwest experience.
Julie Giroux and I
She’s such a friendly human being and a fantastic band composer.
John Mackey and I
Although I could only briefly meet him, it was a huge honor to be able to be next to the great John Mackey. He’s my favorite band composer by far.
Closing Remarks
I urge all you aspiring band composers to attend the Midwest Clinic next December if you are able. It truly is a fantastic event and I hope to attend each year from now on.
