Affton-Raised Composer Makes Music in Michigan

Composer and trumpet player David MacDonald knows his profession is a bit esoteric.

“The biggest problem composers have is explaining what we do,” MacDonald said. “There is a whole world of contemporary classical music that is almost completely unknown to most people.”

But MacDonald, who went to , has had his music played in Bangkok and New York City, among other locations. He also sells his music on iTunes.

This year, MacDonald has started teaching at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. He also has a graduate assistantship at Michigan State University (MSU) while studying to get his doctorate in May. One of the reasons MacDonald chose MSU was to be able to study under the highly regarded composer Ricardo Lorenz, who has had pieces performed by the Detroit Symphony and Minnesota Orchestra among others. This summer, MacDonald will begin work on a solo saxophone composition.

MacDonald was familiar with Michigan, as his family spent time there in the summers there when he was a child. His parents, John and Jan MacDonald of Affton, would golf in Boyne, MI while he and his brother Kevin were at Camp Miniwanca in Shelby, MI, he said. “Every once in a while I'll see something that reminds me of when I was younger that makes me smile. This week, I saw a billboard for a ranch where some of us used to go see a rodeo on days off from camp,” he said.

MacDonald got his start in music at as a teenager. When he was 13, MacDonald was in a Christmas pageant at Union United Methodist Church in St. Louis. The performance was a contemporary version of the birth of Christ. There were several children in middle school bands, so the director had ‘Mary’ and ‘Joe’ run into a “band of angels,” a group of the church’s youth dressed as angels and playing their instruments. It was such a hit with the church people that they formed the “Angel Band” at the church with MacDonald taking a leadership role, choosing the music and directing the band. He began playing his trumpet at church on a regular basis, and at 14 he played in the Compton Heights Band.

Much of the music MacDonald writes is for schools' bands, but he hopes to focus on writing chamber music. The target for this kind of music, he said, is performers more than listeners.

“I like to work with performers while writing. I write better music, which gets better performances that way. Hopefully, my music appeals to people with or without musical training. I like music that is stimulating on its surface, while still being intellectually engaging, and that's how I hope my music is perceived.”

MacDonald likes to try new things, and he sees each piece he writes as an opportunity to try something new. His love of art is sometimes difficult to contain.

“I make art and then sneak it into buildings at the university and hang my work on the wall under a pseudonym," he said.

David MacDonald is one to keep your eye on. Check out his blog: http://davidmacdonaldmusic.com/