Composition students at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music saw their work come off the page, out of the classroom and into the world at April 19’s New Art / New Music. The biannual event encourages students to write compositions based on the current exhibition at the Moody Center for the Arts. This go-round, student composers responded to “Breath(e): Toward Climate and Social Justice,” filling the galleries with sound and giving audiences a different way to experience both the music and the art.
The project is supported by the Moody Experience, a university-wide initiative supported by the Moody Foundation to encourage “beyond the classroom” learning. Programs like New Art / New Music help students apply their talents in real-world settings while building connections across different creative disciplines.
“New Art / New Music is the ultimate collaboration between sound and visual arts,” senior Jaylin Vinson said. “Whenever a provocative exhibition is brought into the space of the Moody, I keep longing to see how composers from the Shepherd School respond and engage in dialogue with such installations.”
Vinson said the experience taught him to approach composition differently, thinking not just about his own ideas but about how music and visual art could speak to one another.
“It has done so much for me as a composer, developing empathy, humility, how I can really listen to what the art is saying, how my music can not just accompany it but may also truly be in conversation with it,” Vinson said. “How can the work elevate each other or emerge a new way of creating meaning that wasn’t achieved with just the music or visual art alone? It’s this synergy of the different disciplines that really excites me.”
Moving beyond the concert hall and into the museum space also changed the way Vinson says he thinks about sharing music with an audience.
“What you learn in class or hear from the textbooks doesn’t prepare you for this type of experience,” Vinson said. “It ruptures that fourth wall of the notion of a concert, and suddenly it seems much more dynamic, much more alive.”
Doctoral candidate Victor Tswei, who organized New Art / New Music alongside Vinson, said that composing for a museum setting allowed him to reach audiences who might not normally attend traditional performances.
“I really enjoy putting music in the museum space, because it’s a great way to engage people who are not traditional concertgoers,” Tswei said. “Visiting the gallery multiple times to really understand the unique exhibition every semester has been such a rewarding experience to me.”
Tswei and Vinson agreed that New Art / New Music offers a creative outlet that stretches beyond typical coursework.
“I think as a composer, I’m always doing ‘beyond the classroom’ experience because I want my music to exist in the world independently from academia,” Tswei said.
Working outside traditional structures comes naturally to Tswei, who often writes for unconventional instrument pairings and unique performance venues. Having the Moody’s support has made it easier to pursue those ideas.
“There’s nothing more uplifting than working with an administration that believes in what composers can do and tries their best to make things happen,” Tswei said. “At the Moody Center for the Arts I have never once felt like I needed to justify my craft.”
Vinson also emphasized the importance of having spaces like the Moody where creativity and community are equally valued.
“Experiences like these keep me going in what is otherwise a very harsh environment for the arts,” Vinson said. “Deep down, it’s not so much about producing super-cool art but about producing them within a community.”