OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Franklin Elementary School student has won a composition contest for young composers held by the Omaha Symphony.
Fourth-grader Kendra Jurek’s piece, “Thanks to You,” will be premiered by the symphony this spring during its virtual Link Up concert for elementary students. The symphony will record a video of the performance and send links to Council Bluffs-Omaha metropolitan elementary schools, according to Liz Kendall Weissner, the symphony’s director of education and community engagement.
Kendra’s composition was chosen from more than 200 entries, Weissner told the Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil.
“Kendra wrote a great piece,” she said. “We had some good submissions.”
The competition is open to all grades, but fourth- and fifth-graders comprise the majority of the participating composers, Weissner said. It usually attracts more than 300 entries.
The winning composition was selected in three phases, she said. First, she went through the submissions to make sure they were playable by recorders and xylophones, which many schools use in elementary music classes. Then a group of musicians played them and chose some finalists. Finally, they passed them along to the conductor - for this concert, Ernest Richardson - who selected the winner.
The piece has been arranged for orchestra by John David Beasley, who added an introduction and interlude based on Kendra’s melody, Weissner said. The middle part of the arrangement features a section with just her melody being played by recorders and a xylophone, which is repeated at the end. Schools are encouraged to have students play along with those sections when showing the video.
“We can’t wait to perform with them in person again, when it’s safe to do so,” she said.
Before the link to the concert is sent out, a musician from the symphony will make a virtual visit to participating schools to talk about music and a particular musical instrument, Weissner said.
Most people probably don’t know that Kendra is a budding composer, but it’s no secret that she’s a music lover, according to Heidi Kirsch, her music teacher at Franklin.
“Kendra really enjoys music - both performing and writing,” she said. “She is in both Franklin’s (after-school) chorus and guitar clubs.”
Last year, the chorus got to sing the Star-Spangled Banner at an Omaha Lancers hockey game, according to Kendra’s mother, Tammy Jurek.
Kirsch assigned students in music class to write a composition, and Kendra entered hers in the contest.
“I have noticed that Kendra is very purposeful and deliberate in her writing,” the teacher said. “Her piece, ‘Thanks to You,’ has a very sweet, smooth, gentle and lyrical melody.”
The simple melody has five different notes in keeping with contest guidelines, which asked students to limit pitches to G, A, B, C, and D “so more students can successfully participate in this premiere,” according to the symphony’s website. One-measure rhythm patterns were also provided, but Kendra chose her own rhythms. It took her three or four days to write the 12-measure work, Kirsch said.
Kendra, age 9, writes music outside of class, too, and wrote lyrics over summer break, she said. The student listens to music at home and likes Ariana Grande and Gavin Magnus (a boy who posts his music videos on YouTube). She likes to sing along with Alicia Keys’ recording of “This Girl Is on Fire,” some of Justin Bieber’s songs and “A Million Dreams,” from the 2017 movie, “The Greatest Showman” (probably the recording by Pink).
Kendra used to sing with her late father and enjoys singing in church, where her grandpa sings and plays guitar for worship services, although the church is currently not operating, her mother said. She also likes to sing with her sister, Lillian, age 7, and with the family’s karaoke machine.
“When it’s summer, they do take their music outside,” Tammy Jurek said.
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