Listening to music is not
the only way students
incorporate music into
their teenage lives.
“Music is a part of everyone’s
life,” Kelly Parmenter,
Performing Arts Department
Chair, said. “Many of our
students find that choosing
to actively participate in the
performance of music as an
avocation fills their need to
create.”
Senior Luke Morton has
been playing and composing his
own piano pieces for about a
year and a half.
“At this point, I have
only [composed] two pieces,”
Morton said. “One is entitled
‘Meditations on a Storm’ and
was written to embody the
ebb and flow and the sound
of a storm, while the other is
entitled ‘Tears, Idle Tears’ in
response to Alfred Lord Tennyson’s
poem of the same title.”
Though this is quite an
impressive feat, Morton doesn’t
want to stop there.
“I would like to compose
far more than just piano at
some point in the future,”
Morton said. “Perhaps, if I
learn enough about music, and
I study musical composition
in college, I’ll eventually write
pieces that could be played by
an orchestra. But at this point,
that is still to be foreseen.”
Despite the talent that
Morton possesses, he said that
this would not be his optimal
career, if he had his choice on
how to spend the rest of his life.
“I don’t think piano is a
potential career,” Morton said.
“Whoever made a living playing
piano? As for my dreams for the
future, I love to write and hope
to become an author. Though it
seems economically unwise, I
would love nothing more than
to make a living writing music
and writing stories.”
Morton, however, is not
the only talented musician in
the school. Sophomore Taylor
Heideman is a very gifted guitar
player, who also composes her
own music.
“I love [composing my
own music],” Heideman said.
“I will play to myself for hours,
just singing in my room. It’s
actually caused me to get
behind in school, because I
would rather play than do my
homework.”
However, she describes
her love for playing the guitar as
more of a recreational activity.
She said that she loves
writing her own songs even
more than playing songs written
by others.
“If I wrote it myself, I feel
pretty accomplished,” Heideman
said. “I enjoy learning new
songs, but I would rather write
my own.”
Sophomore Grant Larson
is also a very gifted musician.
He plays the percussion in the
school marching band, as well
two other instruments: the
piano and the trombone. Larson
has been playing percussion for
three years, and has been playing
the piano for 10 years.
His interest in music
began when he started to play
the piano.
“I just started playing
the piano, then I kept on going
[in music],” Larson said. “I
enjoy playing music more than
anything in my life. It’s one of
my greatest interests.”
Larson said he has aspirations
to continue his life with
music, in hopes of pursuing an
instrumental career.
“I definitely think I’m going
to pursue music in college,”
Larson said.
These students are just
three examples of the diverse
array of musical talent that exists
at Arapahoe. Each of them
has incorporated music into
their life without the use of an
iPod of MP3 player.
“With vocal music many
times the text or lyrics become
something that the musician
or listener can really relate to,”
Parmenter said. “But also in
orchestra,s a masterwork can
render an emotion because of
the beauty of the composition.
[Music] is a very personal
expression of emotion.”