Dr. Derek Jenkins, an assistant professor of music and coordinator of music theory and composition, has been named a finalist in the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles composition competition. WASBE is an international competition featuring submissions from all levels of music composition.

The entries are sorted into three categories. Category one is for pieces intended for a middle school to junior high band. Category two is geared toward high school and early college bands. Category three’s pieces are written for upper level college and professional bands. There are a total of nine finalists, three for each category. Dr. Jenkins’s piece falls under category two.

WASBE occurs every other year with this year taking place in Prague. The submissions are rated by a panel of judges and audience voting. First, second and third place winners are announced.

While each category has its own standards, all submissions are judged by some agreed upon benchmarks, such as range, instrument availability, difficulty of rhythm and the ability of any musician in the ensemble to solo. For example, a category one piece would be expected to use fewer types of instruments and range, while a category three piece would have greater range, more difficult rhythm and a wider range of instruments. 

 Jenkins submitted his piece titled “Rock Bottom” to WASBE himself. 

“It popped up on one of the sites that I normally frequent, as far as competitions and things like that go and so I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve got a piece that could probably work for this,’” Jenkins said. 

“Rock Bottom” was written for the 90th anniversary of A-State’s band program. Jenkins was inspired by the stock market crash of 1929 and wanted to juxtapose that with the creation of the band program.
“The imagery of the stock crash was exciting as a composer,” Jenkins said. “Imagine that system that seems very complicated, crashing. Those images seem very ripe for a kind of a musical depiction.”

The piece starts off fast-paced to symbolize the rise of the stock market, before becoming frantic and eventually turning into just a few background solos. “Rock Bottom” ends on an uplifting note to represent how one can only go up after hitting their rock bottom.

Jenkins says that this compares to the journey of A-State bands, who started off with just 16 members. Over the course of 90 years however, the band program has grown to include athletic bands, three different spring bands, alongside regional and national performances. 

“I was thinking if it’s truly the worst, if that’s the bottom that we’re gonna hit, it can only get better. If you look at the 1929-1930 year, that’s kind of the rock bottom moment for the bands and they only went up from there,” Jenkins said. 

This is the first time Jenkins has been nominated as a finalist for an international competition. He said the competition would provide him exposure, which could lead him to more opportunities in the music world, such as writing pieces for international composers.

“It’s kind of exciting because it’s like the piece has grown beyond a little bit. It’s out in the world doing its thing,” Jenkins said. “That can lead to some really exciting exchanges between myself and conductors in the United States or even beyond.”

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