Beyond composition: A collaborative approach to creativity
For composer and arranger泭 (MM 23), collaboration is integral to his creative identity and career success.泭When he reflects on his time at the 勛圖厙 of Colorado Boulder College of Music, what stands out most is an approach to music making grounded in curiosity, openness and collaboration.
I feel like my experience at CU Boulder really reinforced an approach based on an equal type of collaboration, says the recent alum. So much of that was influenced by the faculty and the composition department.
Specifically, Blanck traces that mindset to the culture modeled by composition faculty members Professor of Composition Carter Pann, Associate Professor of Composition Annika Socolofsky and former Associate Professor of Composition Michael Theodore whose willingness to engage with unfamiliar ideas left a lasting impression. Blanck said his mentors treated each project as an opportunity to learn alongside their students.
I spent so much time as the recipient of their curiosity, he notes. They were curious about things I was doing or conversations wed have about all sorts of random things. That really stuck with me.
That openness mattered especially because Blanck arrived at CU Boulder via an unconventional academic path: After completing his undergraduate degree, he spent a few years working in genres outside traditional classical music, including pop and fusion projects that emphasized arranging and producing as much as composing.
I never felt like I was the most inspiring contemporary composer, shares Blanck. So I wasnt sure who would be interested in what I had to offer. Being accepted into the College of Music felt like a clear endorsement of his broadly based creative identity. What I was told was, We think what youre doing is cool and wed love for you to keep doing that here, he recalls. That felt like explicit encouragement to continue to develop my skills beyond composition.
While completing the formal requirements of his degree, Blanck was also able to bring his ongoing professional work into conversations with faculty. He sought advice on arranging sessions, production logistics and the interpersonal dynamics of working with musicians outside academic settings. Even when projects fell outside faculty members areas of expertise, the response was consistent. When I came to them with projects that were unfamiliar, theyd say, I dont really know about that, but lets find out together, he says. Being around people like that made me willing to say the same thing to others.
Teaching Introduction to Music Technology for two years further shaped how Blanck thinks about music technology, music theory and popular music. The experience clarified his belief in learning through doing, particularly across genres that are often separated in formal music education.
The opportunity for musicians to explore their own musicality by actively composing, producing and writing songs became really important to me, he continues. Doing the work helped me develop a clearer sense of what feels meaningful, not just creatively but pedagogically.
That philosophy continues to guide the projects Blanck pursues today. On Feb. 21, hell present泭, a concert featuring four artists closely connected to Boulders acoustic and Americana music scenes: Megan Burtt, Jayme Stone, Emma Rose and Alexa Wildish. Each artist will perform newly arranged versions of their songs accompanied by a string and bass ensemble made up entirely of CU Boulder-affiliated musicians.
The ensemble includes alumni violinist Jordan Grantonic (MM 23, AD 25), violinist Laura P矇rez Rangel (MM 25, DMA 28), violist Ryan Drickey (BME 01, MM 06), cellist Sophie Stubbs (MM 23) and double bassist Will Kuepper (MM 26). All of the string players are CU Boulder people in some capacity, Blanck says. These are artists I love, who are also my friends Theyre people I associate with Boulder, not just geographically but musically.泭
The project took shape slowly, beginning nearly a year in advance as Blanck aligned schedules, arranged 24 songs and managed the logistics himself. While he has extensive experience arranging and booking performances, taking on the entire scope of the project was a personal challenge. I was honestly just trying to take a big swing, he reflects. This was the first time I really took on all of it. He likened the arranging process to designing a machine: Arranging is kind of like designing a spaceshipyou make the plans and then its someone elses job to figure out if it can fly.
Beyond ChamberSongs, Blanck continues to collaborate with College of Music alumni on other large-scale projects including泭The Song of Pueblo, an oratorio portraying the history of southern Colorado. Orchestrated by Blanck and fellow alumnus Max Wolpert, the work brought together the CU Boulder Chamber Orchestra and the El Pueblo Ensemble, and is泭. That project keeps resurfacing in ways that remind me how much sustained effort and cooperation it took, Blanck says. It was meaningful for everyone involved.
Looking back, Blanck sees a clear throughline from his time at CU Boulder to the creative life he has built since graduatingone shaped less by individual milestones than by long-term relationships. Its very easy for me to trace specific opportunities to specific people, he notes. Someone mentions someone else, who connects you to another personand suddenly youre doing work you care about.
That belief shapes what he hopes audiences take away ChamberSongs. For Blanck, the Boulder event is not only about the music on stage but about the act of gathering itself. I hope people come away feeling inspired to keep leaving their houses and gathering in rooms together, to listen to other people make music and have shared experiences. Those things feel at risk right now.
As advice to emerging composers, Blanck resists offering prescriptions. Instead, he points to the practices that have sustained his own career over time. To the degree that Ive gotten anywhere figuring it out, its been by finding people whose work I admire, learning from them and keeping those connections going.
For Blanck, connection is ongoing and deeply personal: The relationships he formed at CU Boulder continue to grow into new collaborations, new projects and new ways of listening to one another. Its not even that theyve been valuable to my career, he concludes. They泭are my career. All told, a creative life driven by the generosity of collaboration often leaves behind its greatest imprint in the community it builds.