9/1/2021 ACDA Brock Composition Competition Results

Last spring, I entered my composition, The Rose that Bare Jesu into ACDA’s Raymond W. Brock Memorial Student Composition Competition, and late last week, I learned that it received first place by unanimous vote of ACDA’s Composer Initiatives Committee. Needless to say, I was absolutely floored and overjoyed by the news. It is such an immense honor to be counted among the composers who have won this competition in the past, and the great composers who will win it in the future.

I have always enjoyed writing music, and I believe that I learn more with each piece that I write. Knowing that I am still young and just starting, I am extremely excited to continue refining my musical voice. My composition career, to me, has been a project to which I have dedicated a great amount of passion and effort, but one in which I doubted that I would achieve recognition or notable success before, say, 2025 or so. To have a work of mine be recognized for its merit by committee judging without names or reputations attached to it, and be unanimously selected for first place in a competition of such a caliber is nothing short of shocking to me. It has caused me to tear up on more than one occasion within the past week. It has validated all of the effort that I’ve put in to get myself this far in pursuit of my passion, and it has motivated me to continue working even harder to continue writing and striving to create music worthy of hearing.

I encourage everyone to follow their passions; to create their art, to immerse themselves in their interests, to perform, to play, and to pursue all avenues which make them feel like their best selves. Whether it is a career aspiration, or a personal pursuit, take the time to feed that love. Make mistakes, learn, and grow!