Young composer’s work to debut at Mat-Su concert

WASILLA — The young man behind Mat-Su Concert Band’s first commissioned piece is a locally grown composer chasing big dreams.

On Sunday, March 13, Palmer High School graduate Sterling Maffe’s “Alaska: Crest of the Hinterland” will make its world debut in the Glenn Massay Theater, played by the Mat-Su Concert Band for its Alaska-themed, mid-winter concert.

“It’s not a simple piece,” Maffe said of his latest work.

That’s in part, he said, because Alaska is “such a big subject.”

The composition has three basic ideas behind it, he said. The first pays homage to the state’s ethereal and seemingly magical phenomena, such as the Northern Lights, which are “not necessarily unique to Alaska, but are definitely associated with it.”

“Of course they have a scientific explanation, but they also have this silent substance, this presence that’s really powerful and compelling,” Maffe said.

The second movement is Maffe’s interpretation of “The Last Frontier” as a sort of “wild west of the north,” he said, with elements that may sound familiar to Western film fans.

Finally, the piece concludes with a sweeping portrayal of the “sheer beauty of the state,” Maffe said.

“From the mountains to the glorious, sun-drenched valleys and all this beautiful poetic stuff, it’s just gorgeous,” he said.

While each aspect describes the Alaska he calls home, Maffe said that “sewing these all together” was a challenge.

“It took a little longer than I expected, but hopefully the end result captures all those snapshots of those little ideas that I wanted to (express),” he said.

Though Maffe has yet to hear the piece performed in any fashion, he said he’s gotten a few updates on the band’s progress from his mother, who plays flute in the band. He said he knows the multiple key changes and time signatures in the piece can be tricky, but that he has confidence in the band’s ability.

“I think they’ll perform it really well,” he said.

About the composer

The upcoming concert won’t be the first occasion in which Maffe’s work has been performed by a live band.

At 15, Maffe was asked by Colony High band director Jamin Burton to arrange (and conduct) a piece, which Maffe said took him three months to complete. The final composition, “Alien Armada,” was one of 14 Sci-Fi-themed tracks in a collection he called “Planet X.”

He said he wrote the songs because he wanted to diversify his music selection — there weren’t enough songs in his iTunes library that started with the letter “x.”

“It’s the most ridiculous reason to start writing music but it ended up working out,” Maffe said.

“Working out” meant a number of things. Shortly after writing “Alien Armada,” Maffe wrote a concert suite based on the Bible’s book of Revelation that caught the attention of Mat-Su Concert Band Director Gleo Huyck. After reviewing the music, Huyck put Revelation Op. 2 No. 7 in the hands of the band, which performed the song a month after Maffe’s debut at Colony High.

Three years later, Maffe won the Young Composers Challenge — a contest for U.S. musicians age 13-18, which he’d been trying to win for years — with his composition, “The Water Phoenix.”

“I got the call saying that I had won and it was really surreal,” he said.

Even more exciting was being able to see and hear the piece performed by professional musicians in Florida that fall.

The process

Maffe said his composition process has evolved greatly in some respects, while certain aspects have stayed the same.

The biggest improvement is probably how quickly he can compose now, he said.

“It used to take me two weeks to write two minutes of music ’cause I didn’t know how any of it worked,” Maffe said. “On a really good day I can write four minutes of music in a day now.”

He said the technology at his disposal has also improved — he’s no longer using an app on his iPhone to produce his music, for example — as has the flow of ideas, he said, since taking private composition lessons and learning more music theory.

One thing that hasn’t changed as much is the mind behind the music. Maffe said it’s important for composers — and really all artists, he said — to maintain “a childlike imagination” to fuel their creativity.

“In order to bring forth a scene or an environment ... you have to have an imagination and be able to put yourself not only physically in world that doesn’t actually exist, but emotionally,” he said.

However, composing goes beyond simply having an idea and visualizing or hearing it in one’s head.

“A lot of people have fantastic ideas, but if you don’t know how to articulate your ideas, you’re not gonna communicate them well and be taken seriously,” Maffe said.

Goals

Currently a sophomore at Biola University in California, Maffe said his dream is to write film scores for a living, the “crowning achievement” of which would be winning an Oscar, he said.

He said he still has much to learn, however, and that starts with remembering his place in the world at the moment.

“The thing I’ve learned is to remember that you are a student,” Maffe said. “Remember that you're allowed to make mistakes, and that’s how you’re gonna grow.

“If you want maintain this image of perfection in your work to impress your friends or keep this sense of pride in yourself, you can do that, but you’re not gonna learn anything.”

To preview some of Maffe’s work, visit sterlingmaffe.com.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.