The Nomination "Your Honor", I decided to take my lunch to Room 109 to hear music club performances one day, rather than risk dripping tomato juice from my sandwich onto my computer keyboard (again!) or try to make space on my desk. To my delight, James Prell and Chris Otto performed a spirited, definitely non-traditional, ditty for piano and violin. While much "new music" is branded by critics (somewhat justifiably, in many cases) as noise, and even though James' composition certainly did not fit into a more reserved category, everyone in the room enjoyed the magic of lightly delivered dissonance. With any modern art, a quick glance gives the observer an impression of randomness, and the question, "What kind of jerk calls this junk art?" pops to mind. So it is with painting, sculpture, poetry, and music. It takes a real artist to wrench this first, gut-level reaction into a sincere appreciation for the beauty underlying the artist's work. Though I have been (almost) thoroughly innoculated against modern music (I really like some of the bizarre stuff), I usually see that gut-level reaction on the faces of others hearing a contemporary piece in performance. I did NOT see that with James' music--almost everyone in the room was smiling peacefully by the all-too-soon end of the piece. Craig Russell Executive Teacher, Mathematics University of Illinois Laboratory High School Endorsement by Rick Murphy, Uni's Fine Arts Department Head Jimmy Prell's piece is an exciting composition for the piano that falls into the avant-garde, tongue-in-cheek category. Although he has written a fair number of works for class, this piece was not one of them. He has written many types of music and really enjoys composition. He has been experimenting musically with several of his classmates for the past few years. Jimmy, a sophomore, is a first-rate performer, concert-goer and avid listener as well as a charter member of The Uni Music Club, a group that meets regularly at lunch time and performs several recitals during the school year. In short, I would say Jimmy's musical knowledge and level of interest is extremely advanced for someone so young. Jim Prell writes: I wrote the piece on my own, for fun. There are four total sections to the piece, and III is the one I submitted, because the other three are much longer, and III is the most playful. On the recording, Chris Otto (also a sophomore) plays violin, and I play piano.

"III" from "Suite for Violin and Piano" Composed by Jim Prell Performed by Jim Prell (piano) and Chris Otto (violin) View the score Listen now: Jim Prell