When Albion College senior Amy Riske’s mother asked her if she’d like piano lessons, her main goal was to keep then 14-year-old Amy occupied during summer vacation. As it turned out, Riske’s mother had found the key to her daughter’s future. “I started playing the things I heard in my head, then I learned how to write them down and that was it,” says Riske. “Since I was a freshman in high school, I’ve known what I wanted to do with my life.”

Riske graduates from Albion College this May with the College's first-ever music composition degree -- and an impressive portfolio that she's currently showing to graduate schools.  Riske composed the entire program for her senior recital, to be held March 26, which includes solo piano works, a chamber ensemble piece, and the full Albion College Symphonic Band. 

"It was an unbelievable feeling to finally be able to share my music with an extended audience," says Riske of the world premiere of her band piece.  "I realized that I had not chosen this career solely to produce my own music, but to be able to enjoy experiences like these with so many people. I hope to have many more of these experiences in my life."

Once at Albion, Riske found a great deal of support for her academic path, unique among the other music students on campus. The College’s Foundation for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity (FURSCA) offered her ten weeks of funding during the summer of 2005, when she composed and arranged her band piece, and music professor Andrew Bishop oversaw several independent study projects which contributed to her major. As a result, Riske graduates with a large portfolio of work, including several jazz compositions, which she hopes will win her acceptance to a master’s program in music composition.

Studying music at Albion, she says, she has been “just like a science student learning everything they can about biology or physics, and applying that knowledge. You can’t expect to go on and get a higher degree and become a professional without the background information.”

And while Riske looks forward to an eventual career as a composer, she is already experiencing some of the rewards of that profession. At the Elmhurst College Jazz Festival held last month, Riske received an Outstanding Recognition Award for jazz compositions she wrote for the Albion College Jazz Ensemble, and has been approached by other schools interested in playing her pieces.

In May, Riske travels to Holbrook, Ariz., where the Holdbrook Middle School commissioned her latest work. "It's based on Navajo melodies, with some very challenging instrumentation,” Riske says of the piece. “I’m going out there to help them learn the piece and then I'll be the guest conductor for the world premiere. That should be really fun.”

Riske knows that there is no clear career path for an aspiring composer. What is clear to her is her motivation for continuing on that path. “I remember at the third or fourth rehearsal session for my Albion Symphonic Band piece, we finally got all the mistakes worked out and just for a moment, I first heard them play what was in my head,” Riske recalls. “That moment reminded me why this is what I want to do my entire life -- just to get that feeling.”

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