The Student Composer Association is operated by students from the Jacobs School of Music composition department; typically 4-8 composers serve as officers for two-year terms, with an annual rotation among the student body. Funding for SCA initiatives is drawn from grants awarded by the IUSA (Indiana University Student Association) and the SCA is very grateful for their ongoing annual support. The SCA is integral to the composition department, helping imagine and organize many programs including the three below, assisting with receptions for prospective students on audition weekends, providing partial funding for guest composers, and more. Officers gain valuable experience in producing events.
2022-23 Officers:
- Jack Szczuka (jszczuka@iu.edu), President
- Pierce Baruk, Treasurer
- Daixuan Ai, Secretary
- Sy Anderson, Erin Blake, Joe Chrisman, Sam Parnin, Alexander Toth, Vice-Presidents
Collaborations are listed below. Sign-up sheets for these opportunities are available to current students at the beginning of each school year.
NEW ART / NEW MUSIC is an annual fall concert produced by the Student Composer Association and held in the School of Fine Arts Grunwald Gallery. Composers write pieces, typically for solo instruments, and the compositions are performed next to the art that inspired the music. The (standing) audience moves from piece to piece around the gallery.
HAMMER & NAIL is an annual collaboration sponsored by the Student Composers Association involving IU composers and another department in the school or campus. Previous collaborations have been with the IU Department of Theater, Drama, and Contemporary Dance, and the Jacobs School harp, percussion, organ and band departments.
The BALLET COLLABORATION is an annual collaboration between the Composition Department and the Ballet Department. Composers are paired with choreographers and they work together to construct a new piece for a small instrumental ensemble and a number of dancers. That piece is then performed on a future student composition recital or as a separate event.
The STRING QUARTET COLLABORATION is yearly opportunity to compose a new work for string quartet and have it performed by a quartet-in-residence.
DOUBLE EXPOSURE is an annual collaboration between filmmakers, composers, instrumentalists, audio engineering majors, and the IU Cinema, producing a truly unique concert experience. In fall, composers are paired up with filmmakers from IU’s Media School at a “speed-dating” session. The films and scores are created during late fall and early spring; then during the film screening, musicians perform the scores live from the pit at the IU Cinema. The scores are also recorded separately by students in the audio engineering program.
Past Double Exposure Collaborations
Wreaths Of Violet from IU Composition Coordinator on Vimeo.
Austin Criner, Filmmaker
Louis Goldford, Composer
Grief Stricken from IU Composition Coordinator on Vimeo.
Russell McGee, Filmmaker
Ryan Chase, Composer
Cyrus from IU Composition Coordinator on Vimeo.
Mark Totte, Filmmaker
JunYi Chow, Composer