My junior year of high school, an Austrian exchange student
visited, and while it was not uncommon to have exchange students, it was
uncommon to have one join the band. Patrick H. Hahn wasn’t just any exchange
student, in his spare time, he liked to compose music and he is very good at
it. In my high school band, he played percussion as well as piano, whenever it
was needed.
About halfway through the year, Patrick informed our band
director that he had composed a piece for our ensemble. Upon hearing this, I
assumed it would be a short piece with a few instruments, but I was wrong. He
composed a piece that was about ten minutes long and was completely unique,
including all sections in the band. Soon, the band received copies of his piece
because our band director wanted to play it in our concert. The piece
commemorated his time in the United States and is aptly named, “Ameraustrica”, with the world premiere occurring at
Eastview High School.
(The World Premiere of “Ameraustrica,” Hahn is conducting)
What is most amazing about this is that Patrick Hahn was 16
years old at the time of the world premiere. He was born in 1995 and has been involved
in music ever since birth. At the age of 11, he began studying piano at the
University for Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria. From there, at the
age of 12, he composed an opera called “Die Frittatensuppe” (“The Pancake
Soup”) that he conducted with a 30-member professional orchestra.
(The World Premiere of “Die Frittatensuppe”)
Today, Patrick conducts numerous ensembles, writes
commissioned works, holds rehearsals, and gives concerts. The piece that he
wrote for my high school went on to win 2nd prize, out of 170
submissions worldwide, at the 2013 Penfield Music Commission Project Contest in
New York. Additionally, “Ameraustrica” was a compulsory piece for the
competitive concert season for Austrian Wind Bands in the 2013/2014 season,
chosen by the Austrian Wind Band Association. Patrick Hahn currently studies
Orchestral Conducting and Piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts
Graz in Austria.
Creating Minds, by
Howard Gardner highlights many essential creative minds in the early 20th
century and I can’t help but compare Patrick Hahn to Stravinsky, whom Gardner
features as an exemplary creative. Gardner’s description of Stravinsky includes
the detail that music was not a huge part of his family, which is similar to
Hahn’s childhood, and despite this fact, both composers ended up in the music
industry. Stravinsky even went outside of his father’s wishes because his dad
wanted him to become a lawyer (Gardner 177). However, one major difference
between the two is that Stravinsky was no child prodigy, while Hahn appears to
be one.
According to Andreasen’s article “Secrets of the Creative
Brain,” creative people are usually very persistent, even when they are
confronted with skepticism (Andreasen 20). Despite the fact that Hahn was only
12 when he composed an hour-long opera, he continued to persevere and ended up
conducting the piece in front of professional musicians. While Andreasen
wonders whether creative people have more ideas or just more quality ideas, it
seems to me that Patrick H Hahn has both (Andreasen 20). He continues to
compose in a variety of musical genres, even composing pieces for concert
choirs, which is especially important because his career is only beginning.
Patrick Hahn definitely appears to be on his way to becoming
“Big C” creative because the pieces that he composes are no small feat.
Furthermore, even as his career is just beginning, he has shown ample promise
in the music world. Kaufman and Beghetto differentiate between different types
of creativity in their article “Beyond Big and Little: The Four C Model of
Creativity” and highlight that “Big C” creativity involves “eminent creative
contributions” which Hahn has shown definite promise for, and continues to
contribute to the music industry (Kaufman and Beghetto 2).
While Patrick Hahn’s music career is just beginning, he has
already accomplished a lot for his age. The fact that he started composing at
such a young age demonstrates his commitment to his future career, leading me
to conclude that Hahn is definitely a composer that you should keep your eye
on.
Sources:
Sources:
Gardner, Howard. Creating
Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen through the Lives of Freud, Einstein,
Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi. New York: Basic, 1993.
Print.
Thank you so much for sharing! It is really interesting to hear about Patrick and his time at your high school, and amazing what he has gone on to do so far. It sounds like working with him would have been an incredible experience, and I think that it's really cool that he is someone that you remember and view in this way. The piece that you shared is really impressive, especially when considering that he wrote it at such a young age, and his is definitely a name I would be interested in looking up in the future.
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