For Will Whitten, composing music is like completing a challenging puzzle.
He shifts and adjusts different parts until it fits with his ideas. “It’s been really fun to dive into,” he says. “How do I make the composition the most effective? Picking a certain instrument over a different instrument might be a certain choice. Or playing it really fast versus really slow.” At NAU’s 2024 Undergraduate Symposium, Whitten will do “composer talks” on his process. Later, with NAU’s Wind Symphony, he will premiere an original music piece.
Whitten, an Honors College student, is ready to graduate in May 2024 with a double major in Music Education and Music Performance. However, he didn’t grow up in a musical household. Whitten started playing saxophone in his elementary school band and transitioned to trombone in college. He laughs as he explains, “For my music ed degree, in order to be a teacher, we have to know how to play every single instrument, but I am proficient in trombone and accordion.” If you live in Flagstaff, you may have seen him perform as he is in multiple popular bands and orchestras, from the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra to local favorite F-Town Sound, as well as NAU’s Symphony Orchestra and Wind Symphony.
Introducing klezmer music
Whitten’s partner, fellow music education major, and clarinetist Kaia Guscott introduced him to klezmer, the traditional music of Ashkenazi Jews. You can hear examples of this celebratory music in the musical Fiddler on the Roof. In 2021, Whitten and Guscott started the Flagstaff Klezmer Orkestra (FKO) to highlight this music genre.
That’s when he began to compose original music. “I found klezmer really interesting. We did a lot of research because we wanted to make a band about this music,” he says. “When we created our group, it needed music. I was like, ‘I’ve always wanted to write music, so I’ll give it a shot.'” He admits his first few pieces could have been better, but he kept working with other musicians and friends. So far, he has two published pieces.
Funded through an NAU Student-led Projects in the Arts, Creative Activity, and Scholarship (SPArCS) award, Whitten researched the history and background of klezmer music while completing the composition that NAU’s Wind Symphony will premiere. Before he started the music composition, he sought out his mentor, Honors College Associate Teaching Professor Robert Wallace. They had played together in a band and Whitten admired his research approach. “He knows the right people and books and articles to go to,” Whitten explains. “He believes you need to understand the history [of the music] before you can start writing and performing it.”
Whitten appreciates the mischievous and complex nature of klezmer music. “With klezmer music, there’s a lot happening at the same time, but it works well together because the musicians listen to and play off of each other. I was really attracted to that,” he says. “And the whole goal of writing this piece is to bring that to light, but I also wanted to write it out in such a way where people who are not used to playing like that can just play the notes on the page, yet the overall effect of klezmer still comes through.”
New music to debut April 26 at Ardrey Auditorium
Whitten is excited to share his passion for klezmer music during his composition talks at the Undergraduate Symposium on April 26. He will share sound clips and his inspiration and process of writing the piece. Later on, the premiere will take place during NAU’s Wind Symphony concert at Ardrey Auditorium. “It’s such exciting music that everybody should know about it,” he says.
He also hopes his experience will encourage others to explore their interests. “I’ve been in music for so long, and I never thought I could write music. But I hope that with me sharing my work, it influences people so they can say, ‘I don’t know much about this, but I can do this.’ Whether it’s music, cooking, or anything,” he says. “I didn’t know how to write music, but took a leap of faith and hoped for the best. There was a lot of trial and error. Hopefully, that inspires people to do the same thing with whatever they’re passionate about.”
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