Upper School Students Compose, Perform Music Inspired by Moby-Dick

A quintet of students performed an original music piece composed by senior Gillian Mann that artistically captured the plot, emotions and symbolic meaning of the classic novel Moby-Dick.
 
A quintet of Upper School students performed an original music piece composed by senior Gillian Mann that artistically captured the plot, emotions and symbolic meaning of the classic novel Moby-Dick.
 
The instrumental piece was performed at Upper School Chapel this week to a rousing ovation. Gillian composed the music as an artistic response to the novel for an English III honors assignment last year.
 
“We were exploring the concept of ekphrastic art, of art in response to other art,” Upper School English teacher Jamie Bunch said. “Gillian asked if she would be allowed to compose music inspired by Moby-Dick for her assignment, and I agreed. But she went beyond that and ended up putting the entire novel to music.”
 
Gillian said she has an interest in music composition, specifically in string quartets, and appreciated the opportunity to make the assignment interdisciplinary.  
 
“I realized that this would be a perfect assignment to allow me to explore my passion,” Gillian said. “When I sat down to start writing, the beginning melody just flowed easily and I knew that this would be my project.”
 
Fast-forward a year, and three Upper School juniors—Angela Mendoza Ortega, Lauryn Wilson and Bella Karahalios—were brainstorming the same assignment for their English III honors class. They were aware of Gillian’s composition and asked if they could learn and perform the piece as their creative response to the novel. Mrs. Bunch agreed.
 
Gillian worked with the juniors to rehearse and arrange the piece as a string quartet. A fifth student, junior Brayden Windes, joined with the saxophone to make it a quintet.
 
The excerpt performed at Chapel cast a wide net of emotions, shifting from lively to somber to unsettling to uplifting, depending on the part of Moby-Dick the music was portraying. The audience could follow along as the parts of the book were shown on the video screens while the music played.
 
“I feel so honored to have been able to present my work to the school and I feel so lucky to have received such a positive response,” Gillian said.
 
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