by Chrissy Sollenberger

Producing a 44-page orchestral piece is not a requirement for all senior music composition majors. Senior Pete Valente began conceiving his ideas over the summer and finalized his Fantasia for Orchestra in C minor in February. Tonight the Earlham Orchestra will perform his piece during their final concert of the semester.

Ten years ago, a 12-year-old Valente began playing the drum set because his brother and best friend wanted to start a band. He liked the drums and began to get a feeling for making music with other people.

When he reached high school, his computer broke and he was forced to teach himself the piano in order to continue his musical interests. Now, awaiting graduation, Valente eagerly anticipates hearing the orchestra play the piece that took over seven months to construct.

“I had to get it done by March 1, the department’s deadline,” said Valente.

The orchestra then sight-read the piece and recorded it. Valente said that the feeling of listening to it for the first time was “indescribable.”

He was explaining it to his senior project faculty advisor, Bill Culverhouse, who responded that this was the reason to compose.

Culverhouse helped the project along by meeting once a week with Valente and assisting with stylistic aspects of the piece. Also fostering help in the process were music professors Pavel Polanco-Safadit and Forrest Tobey.

“I received private composition lessons from Pavel and we worked on ideas to form the piece to make it work well,” said Valente.

“Pavel and Bill have very different styles and it was a challenge to get approval from both sides,” he added.

Tobey had more of a hands-off approach, because he will be conducting the orchestral piece.

“Because of the creativity at Earlham, many [students] have taken to composing,” said Tobey about senior composition projects.

“It was ambitious for Pete to write for the entire orchestra,” he added.

Tobey also added that a unique feature about Valente’s piece is that he was able to write for specific people. “He knew this group of students and could tailor the parts for actual individuals,” he said.

Valente attributed a stronger learning component than any class to this process.

“It was helpful to get feedback from individuals in the orchestra,” he said. Through practicing, the orchestra members were able to ask questions about how to articulate individual sections.

“There’s a lot you wouldn’t think about if you haven’t played the instrument,” he added.

The piece is written for 20 instruments and the orchestra is composed of about 40 students. Valente will be playing the glockenspiel in the ensemble due to the strong influence of percussion in the piece.

Valente described the style of his piece as rock-influenced and modern.

“People say it sounds like film-score music,” he said. He wouldn’t call it classical, due to the lack of emphasis on long-flowing melodies.

Valente’s favorite composers are Mussorgsky, Beethoven, Sofia Gubaidulina and Charles Mingus.

After graduation, Valente is hoping to apply for graduate school, but not right away. Right now he’s applying to programs to teach in another country. Ideally, he’d like to teach math in Micronesia.

“I want to get out of the U.S. and feel like I’m doing something in the world rather than sitting in a class,” he said.

Due to the difficulty in traveling with a piano or drum set, Valente is hoping to learn about an entirely different musical culture.