The acclaimed composer talks about his new Project Imagine commission, available for free as an online download now through November 15.
For many composers, the title of a work is often an afterthought. But in the case of Tyler S. Grant’s In Your Wildest Dreams, those four words led the way.
“I knew I had a title so I had something to latch onto,” Grant explains, “as far as This is about imagination; this is about dreaming; this is about aspiration. Once I had that, after I knew exactly what I was going to aim for, then actually finding the musical notes was fairly easy.”
In the end, Grant created a piece of music that perfectly reflects the concept on which it is based. Running a bit over two minutes, this grade 2.5-3 piece for full or string orchestra is pure optimism in sound. With soaring strings and rousing melody, In Your Wildest Dreams feels like film score to a scene of triumph—or, better yet, a scene in which a young person dreams of a triumph to come.
In Your Wildest Dreams is the latest commissioned work to be offered to schools and educators free of charge, courtesy of Project Imagine. Helmed by Music & Arts and the Guitar Center Music Foundation, Project Imagine is a continuing advocacy program that provides middle- and high-school ensembles with new original music by renowned composers. Each piece honors the program’s theme of imagination.
In Grant’s case, it’s hard to think of another figure in contemporary orchestral music better suited to the Project Imagine task. Based in Atlanta, he’s a composer, conductor and clinician specializing in music for student concert bands, orchestras and chamber ensembles. Over the past decade, his credit has become ubiquitous in the music-education space, as an indicator of ambitious, serious music that carefully considers the strengths and limitations of students at every stage of their development.
But even in a career as impressive as Grant’s, this Project Imagine commission provides a special thrill. For the first time in Project Imagine’s history, the score will be available for online download—which means that, from October 1 to November 15, any school or music program that wants to perform this wonderful piece this year will be able to.
“I’m most proud of what I have done as an educator and what I’m now doing as a composer, publisher and conductor in music education,” Grant says. “If I can write a piece of music like this, that is able to reach hundreds of schools and thousands of students, that to me is the most gratifying part of [my career].”
Music & Arts recently caught up with Grant to learn more about the meaning and methods behind In Your Wildest Dreams.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Music & Arts: Let’s talk about your process for composing In Your Wildest Dreams.
Grant: I think we often assume that composers sit under palm trees all day and the musical ideas just float into their heads [laughs]. But usually I start with frustration before inspiration. So usually my process involves spending several days just playing around on the keyboard, or trying to write some ideas down.
I actually started three pieces before I got to the one that ended up being In Your Wildest Dreams. The last piece had the most uplift and tied in to the initiative of imagination.
Uplift—that’s a great way to describe what’s happening here musically. What strategies did you use as a composer and arranger to help you realize the emotional content you’re aiming for in this work?
For me, it all stems from a couple of things. Number one, I really believe in melody. I believe in this being a piece that when students play it, they’re able to hum and whistle the tune as soon as they’re walking out of their classroom. Instantly memorable, instantly tuneful.
I also think there’s a balance between writing something that’s tuneful, melodic and cheerful and writing something that sounds predictable. So what I’m constantly doing is yes, it’s something that’s very easy on the ear—but I also changed that up with little moments of harmonic interest, or I might not go to the most obvious chord next. I may play with people’s assumptions. It always keeps it musically interesting, and makes sure that everybody’s part is interesting too. That also adds that element of imagination, achievement and overall teamwork that is really happening in orchestra classrooms.
In terms of difficulty, technique and performance, you clearly have a well-developed sense of how far you can push things in music composed for certain age groups. How did you gain that skill? Is that something you have to learn the hard way?
I’ve been writing for bands and orchestras now for probably 15 years. So there’s a lot of trial and error that comes at first.
It also comes from my background. I have a music education background; I don’t have a degree in composition. So I was not taking composition lessons in school, but I was taking string methods. I was sitting in a classroom with a professor having to learn violin like I was a fifth-grade beginning orchestra student, or I was taking classes on woodwinds and brass.
It also came from my own time as a teacher. I was a band director for four years and had a lot of great collaboration with my orchestra colleague across the hallway, so there was a lot of opportunity for me to see what students were both struggling with and resonating with. Because I think sometimes we assume that these [middle- and early-high-school-age] students can’t do something—they don’t have as much skill as, say, advanced-high-school or collegiate-level players.
But they have things that they can do really, really well, and that pique their interest. And so I’ve always tried to find ways of making these pieces sound like music that happens to be playable by students—not a student-style piece. I try to make sure it’s always about the music: It’s musically expressive and just as sophisticated as it would be if it was written for the Atlanta or Chicago Symphony. That’s always been my goal.
When you listen back to In Your Wildest Dreams, where does your mind go? What does this piece conjure up for you personally?
For me it conjures up the fact that when you’re so young there’s so much opportunity out there. That’s the thing I loved when I was teaching the most: You’ve got these students in front of you and there’s endless opportunities to think about, as far as what they’re going to do in their lives.
The title is a little bit of a play on words too, because sometimes we think of this phrase “In your wildest dreams” as a snarky response. But the truth is, whatever your actual wildest dream is when you’re a middle school or high school student is not impossible, you know?
Sometimes we have self-doubts, or we have a well-meaning parent who says that something’s not possible. But this piece is of the spirit that says, “Let’s not just say that something’s not possible because somebody told us that. Let’s see if we can reach our true potential.”
This piece presents a breakthrough for Project Imagine: It will be distributed online, so that it’s accessible to a far greater number of educators and ensembles. How do you feel about this?
Any opportunity we have to reinvest in teachers who are investing in students—and in the future of our profession, and in the future of music—is a wonderful thing. I’m just excited that this piece is going to have a far reach, and that it’s going to be able to serve students and teachers across the nation. It’s just really, really amazing.