Student Composition Wins National Music Award

Darien High School musician Zachary "Zach" Heyde has captured one of the top awards for an original composition by a 16-to-18-year-old from a national organization devoted to fostering talents of young composers.

Zach's six-minute "Finale," written a year ago when he was 16, won state, regional and national competitions and a total of $500 in prize money. He was notified in May by the National Federation of Music Clubs.

As exciting as award itself were comments shared by the professional judges who selected the piece for the annual Laura K. Wilson Award.

The judges gave accolades for the "frantic energy" of the piece, its "grandiose breadth … sweeping harmonies and melodic themes. … use of harmony and rhythm to convey different moods."

DIVERSE INFLUENCES

"My music is a way of expressing myself and it's very gratifying to have this recognition by others" who are experts in the field, said Zach.

In "Finale," Zach fuses diverse musical influences from classicist Sergei Rachmaninoff to Ira Gershwin to Keith Emerson, a contemporary composer and keyboard player.

Structurally, the composition has three movements.

"The first is the attack; it's grandiose. The second is confessional, romantic. In the third, I'm trying to have those two emotions, fire versus romance, coexist," he explained.

HEAR ZACH ON YOUTUBE

You can watch Zach playing the award-winning piece on Youtube, where he has uploaded 83 videos of his performances of pieces ranging from original compositions to Schubert, Beethoven and Chopin to jazz and popular.

According to his father Barrett Heyde, Zach's YouTube videos have been viewed more than 400,000 times and Zach has fans from all over the world.

Barely out of toddlerhood, Zach started playing melodies on an 8-key Little Tikes Piano according to his dad.

"One day I heard the theme to the Flintstones coming from the playroom ... and there was Zach playing it on this little toy piano. I was shocked!" he wrote in an email.

"His elementary music teacher Didi Emerson confirmed his abilities and even told us that he had perfect pitch. So at seven years of age, we started him on piano."

Since then, Zach has studied with Tina Buonomo, a private instructor in Darien.

PLANS TO CONTINUE GROWING

Currently a student in AP Music Theory, Zach will take up Music Technology II as a senior. He hopes to study at a music conservatory after DHS, majoring in musical composition.

Young Zach has become a prolific composer and popular musician-for-hire among his contemporaries as well as charitable functions.  He's also written music for student productions, student films, jazz workshops, other young composer competitions and concerts. His eclectic tastes run to classical, jazz, progressive rock and pop.

Zach also participated in many ensembles including the DHS Jazz Ensemble, solo classical piano, orchestra for musical productions, accompaniment of vocal soloists and his progressive rock band.

"Finale" was one of 15 pieces from young composers from across the country considered by the judges. All submitted scores of their composition as well as performance CDs.

"In order to reach the national level, a student's composition must pass two judging events," said Karen Greenhaigh, Junior Composer Chair, first at the state and then regional levels.

"The judges are published composers and teachers and must come to a consensus as to the student winners," Greenhaigh said in an email. "It is a long process, for students and judges alike."

Musical ideas are constantly swirling in Zach's head. In creating his compositions, he records fresh ideas and then tries variations at the piano.

"The ideas come in blocks," he said. "It's basically an experiment." His style of composition is less theory-based than "how it sounds."

With his classical grounding over 10 years, "how it sounds" will often be a variation on a classical riff.

Playing the piano during our photo session, Zach launched into a rich tapestry of musical chords and melody.

Asked to name the piece he was playing, the gifted Zach said in all modesty, "Oh, it's all improvisational. It just came to me."

Download the movie