This week, JustArts sat down with Travis Roy '16 who wrote a suite that was performed at Saturday's Compsers' Collective, put on by New Music Brandeis.

JustArts: How did you get interested in composition and when did you start writing?

Travis Roy: That's pretty hard to say actually. I guess I got started because I started off as a performer as you might expect. I started playing flute when I was 10 in fourth grade. And back then I really didn't think anything of it because that's just something everyone does when they're younger, but then people kind of dropped off and I stayed with it and I started to realize that music was my passion and my interest. So then I started to think more about the expressional mode of music so from learning theory ... I guess the next logical step was composition. It sort of helped me understand music and as I went along it sort of helped me understand myself.

JA: On average, how long does it take you to write a piece?

TR: I guess it depends on what you're going for and sort of what emotions are in that piece ... Because I think that there's sort of a spectrum. There's mechanical writing to a certain extent that's based on pure theory, and then there's this more emotional type of writing that's kind of intuitive. So it depends on that. This [piece that was played on Saturday], obviously there was a deadline and there were some formal expectations for what we were all doing because it was a class of us and we all had to have relatively the same assignment. So this one was like two or three weeks.

JA: Can you tell us a little about your inspiration for the piece that was performed on Saturday night?

TR: So basically the assignment was to take these four diverse forms; one was an ostinato, another was a chorale. There was a miniature and there was a re-harmonization of an existing melody. So I wanted to take those four forms that I had to work within and create a consistent thematic environment. I think it was tough to inject more of that intuitive type of composition into it but I probably did so subconsciously anyway. So I'm not sure about what emotions are in it and what the inspiration was as much. That one just kind of came out. It was really weird. I've never had that before.

JA: Can you describe the experience of listening to your piece being played?

TR: It wasn't the first time I had heard it played but it was still pretty emotional actually, surprisingly. Because seeing a performer putting so much of himself into it is pretty interesting. And then to hear what came out of you, [hearing] something I just had vaguely abstractly in my mind coming to life [was] a strange reality.

JA: Did you work with Nate Schaffer '16 when he was practicing the piece?

TR: Yes, we had a couple meetings. He helped me with some of the notational things because I'm not a pianist myself. I'm sort of just getting into that. So some of the challenges with the notations that I had, I fixed that. It was optimized for what he felt made sense. And then from there I helped him with interpretational things.

JA: Can you tell us about your writing process?

TR: I think the process is always different probably with every piece to a certain extent. And since I'm just starting out I haven't found a consistent process and I don't know if I will. But one thing that I've always done is that I think of a few adjectives that I wasn't to get across effectively and maybe a few forms or a vague outline of some harmonic structure that I think I want to work with. And then going from there it usually develops a mind of its own.

JA: Do you plan to do a composition master's program or compose music professionally?

TR: I'm not necessarily sure that I want to study composition any further because that's always been sort of an educational thing for me. I certainly am most passionate about music though so I might pursue composition or I might pursue education.

-Emily Wishingrad