{"id":3111,"date":"2018-07-31T17:03:16","date_gmt":"2018-07-31T17:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/?p=3111"},"modified":"2018-07-31T17:03:16","modified_gmt":"2018-07-31T17:03:16","slug":"meet-the-11-year-old-musical-prodigies-who-made-their-composing-debut-at-the-new-york-philharmonic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/meet-the-11-year-old-musical-prodigies-who-made-their-composing-debut-at-the-new-york-philharmonic\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet The 11-Year-Old Musical Prodigies Who Made Their Composing Debut At The New York Philharmonic"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Camryn Cowan, left, and Jordan Millar. Photo credit: Caitlin Ochs\/The New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At only 11 years of age, Camryn Cowan and Jordan Millar are already on a promising journey as composers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This summer, the musically gifted pair debuted two originally composed works, \u201cHarlem Shake\u201d and \u201cBoogie Down Uptown,\u201d at the historical New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. \u00a0The audience was highly impressed with the performance, awarding the girls with well-deserved standing ovations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Photo credit: Caitlin Ochs\/The New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Brooklyn students are part of the Philharmonic\u2019s Very Young Composers initiative, which was founded by composer and principal bassist Jon Deak. The principle of the Very Young Composers program is that \u201call children are creative,\u201d Deak told The New York Times<\/a>. \u201cPeople ask whether I\u2019ve found the next little Mozart, and I say yes, I\u2019ve found dozens of them,” he continued. \u201cThey\u2019re all over the place. We just need to listen to them.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

Participants in the youth program begin from scratch, starting with rhythmic exercises and music theory. Once aspiring composers graduate, they can begin writing original, complex scores, which are then performed at Young People\u2019s Concerts for feedback. The classroom is filled with support and encouragement as students share their works. \u201cSome kids write pieces that have legs, that really take off,\u201d said Mr. Deak, adding that Cowan and Millar \u201cwrote the hit tunes.\u201d \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Photo credit: Caitlin Ochs\/The New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Outside of Very Young Composers, Millar sings for the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and plays the clarinet and piano, while Cowan is a pianist and violinist. At home, however, neither of the two are keen listeners of classical music. Cowan shares with the New York Times that she enjoys Bob Marley, Cardi B, and Beyonc\u00e9. Millar is more drawn to \u201890s music, expressing an interest in TLC and Destiny\u2019s Child. \u00a0In the future, the two may incorporate these musical styles into their works. \u201cI will definitely try it at some point,\u201d said Millar, \u201cbut so far I\u2019ve done it in GarageBand, just messing around.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

As women of color, the two girls understand the challenges that they can potentially face in the world of classical music. However, Millar remains optimistic, noting that having their pieces performed by the Philharmonic is a sign of change, and that \u201csociety needs change.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWomen are sometimes put down in orchestras, or they\u2019re not noticed enough for their great talent,\u201d said Cowan, \u201cso I think that me being onstage is a good change. Other people, other kids or adults \u2014 maybe they don\u2019t have this same opportunity. I think we can be inspiring for them.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At only 11 years of age, Camryn Cowan and Jordan Millar are already on a promising journey as composers. This summer, the musically gifted pair debuted two originally composed works, \u201cHarlem Shake\u201d and \u201cBoogie Down Uptown,\u201d at the historical New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. \u00a0The audience was highly impressed with the performance, awarding the girls […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[35,294,291,293,31,292,271,290],"class_list":["post-3111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-black-excellence","tag-black-girl-magic","tag-camryn-cowan","tag-composers","tag-featured","tag-harlem-shake","tag-inspiration","tag-jordan-millar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}