Composer in the classroom

As the strings swelled and voices joined in, composer Victor Rosenbaum left the stage to take in the sound from the front row of the auditorium.

Rosenbaum is the first of three composers to visit Cary High School for the Composer in the Classroom Project, part of the school’s Innovative Teaching Practices initiative for 2011-12. In March 2012, Robert Nosow of Jacksonville, N.C., will visit and share his work, and in May, both band and orchestra will perform a piece by Raleigh composer Tom Lohr.

“It is exciting and energizing to work with students on a path of youthful discovery,” said Rosenbaum. During classes on music theory, orchestra and chorus at Cary High, he answered students’ questions about his career as a concert pianist and composer.

“Students asked about the possibilities of a career in music, how to prepare, and the possible pathways a musician can take,” said Rosenbaum. “My eclectic life is an example of how you can put many things together. My main focus has been performance, with composing being secondary. But music is multifaceted. I hope students took away from our talk that music is a language we can use to express the human condition.”