Schools

Ward Melville Student Musician Wins Composition Contest

John Adam Strub wins Metropolitan Youth Orchestra contest.

John Adam Strub studies piano and violin and dabbles in guitar and mandolin, but it's safe to say the Ward Melville tenth grader has now made a name for himself as a composer rather than as a player.

Strub's composition "An American Dream" was recently named the winner of the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra's Composition Contest in Strings, Division II. He won a $500 prize and his piece will be performed by the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra next March. Two youth orchestras in Wisconsin have also planned performances of Strub's piece.

Daniel Deutsch, the director of the district's student composition program, played a recording of Strub's piece by the Ward Melville High School chamber orchestra, conducted by Phil Preddice, at Tuesday's Board of Education meeting. He received a standing ovation from the trustees, administrators, teachers and community members in attendance.

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"It belies his age," interim superintendent Neil Lederer said of the piece.

Deutsch helped his student a little by transcribing the parts which Strub sang and played on the piano during the composition process. He said Strub paid particular attention to giving parts of interest to all the instruments in the orchestra so that the musicians would enjoy playing it.

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"It started with a very simple, clear, sincere idea, but he had to work for hours and hours to bring it to fruition," Deutsch said.

Strub said the piece was composed between summer of 2009 and February of 2010, when he was still a ninth grader at Gelinas Junior High, and described the process as happening organically starting with the basics.

"In 'An American Dream,' I have tried to communicate the simple grandeur and mythic image of America," Strub said. "Even if it is not the America I know, it is the America I believe in."

Music is "definitely an interest" for Strub, who is also a member of the Ward Melville Players and plans to join the Model Congress as well.

"I'm taking it one year at a time," he said.


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