Senior Nathan Howard began his choral writing journey during his freshman year at McCallum during COVID. Through the hardships of COVID and director turnover, Howard was still able to further his musicianship and choral composition skill through music competitions such as TMEA and music composition camps at universities in Boston. Among his many musical accomplishments, Howard placed first twice in the All-State choir competition and he wrote his own piece that premiered at McCallum. According to his teachers and his friends, Howard has been humble about these achievements, curious with his music composition and kind to everyone throughout his high school career.

At first, when Howard started using notation software to play around with music arrangements, the songs sounded very similar to songs in the musical community already. But, Howard developed a unique sound by continuing to write more and more songs and asking his teachers for guidance.

“As the years went on I spent more and more time developing what I was writing, holding myself to a higher standard,” Howard said.“ I started bringing my compositions around and asking, almost begging, directors I have worked with to listen and give me feedback.”

Fast forward to the TMEA convention in February 2024 where Howard was inspired before rehearsals for All-State choir. Howard had already found a poem that spoke to him and started to think up a melody to go along with it.

“I used my ear to sketch out the notes and rhythms on a single staff in my notebook,” Howard said. “That’s where I left it. When I got home from the convention I started on building a work around that tune that McCallum could pull off.”

When Howard returned to school at the end of February, he showed the piece to McCallum choir director Nathan Thompson. The piece that was introduced was titled “Vigil” and was adapted from “His Vigil” by James Whitcomb Riley.

“What really struck me about the piece was the level of intention that he had in setting the text and the level of care that he was taking in his writing,” Thompson said. ”It’s something that I haven’t really seen a lot of high school-aged composers do particularly well, but he navigates it well in this piece.”

According to AP Music Theory teacher Jeff Rudy, Howard applies the same attention to detail in Rudy’s classroom. Howard’s accuracy of pitch and rhythms aids in his musicianship and general understanding of music.

“He is able to look at a piece of music, and I’m assuming even with the stuff he’s probably not as familiar with,” Rudy said. “He’s able to figure out leaps and things like that when he’s looking at it, and kind of process all that stuff in his head, so that when he does it the first time, it’s pretty accurate.”

While Rudy and Thompson both believe that Howard possesses a high level of musicianship, Howard admitted that when he started writing it was tough. He especially struggled to find his musical “voice.” Howard said the key to overcoming these early obstacles was to trust himself.

“The practical step there that’s so difficult is learning to trust that ‘voice,’” Howard said. “If it feels right to scrap what you have and start again, you can’t keep going. There’s a kind of symbiotic relationship that has to exist between your gut and your brain.”

Howard’s attention to detail in musical text has also helped him be successful, especially at TMEA auditions, according to Thompson, who has blindly judged Howard at TMEA auditions. Thompson believes that Howard cares deeply about every piece of music he gets to analyze, and that emotional investment transfers into his auditions.

“He’s very intentional about his dynamics, his use of consonants, and everything that he does is always in service of how best to express the music,” Thompson said. “That level of care and intention has just served him really, really well.”

While Rudy agrees with Thompson about his level of musicality, Rudy also credited Howard’s exceptional talent and his work ethic, qualities that Rudy says will serve Howard well as he studies music in college.

“He’s very talented, and he works hard,” Rudy said. “The fact that he was the first last year coming back, that’s harder to do. Usually that’s a pretty good indicator of what’s going to happen in the future; and he reads really, really well.”

Howard believes that he has made first chair in the choir two years in a row because he sets high standards for himself. In his view, practicing every day and paying attention to all the little details in a piece have enabled his success.

“Success in the process comes from a heartfelt connection to the music,” Howard said. “There are moments when the hardest thing is reminding myself why I’m singing in the first place: because I love it.”

Senior Helena Loomis has worked with Howard throughout his whole high school career in different choirs and through the TMEA process. Loomis first met Howard when they were sophomores and the only two students in a vocal studies class.

“He’s at just a level that’s so beyond other high schoolers, but he’s never made me feel like that,” Loomis said. “My sophomore year, I didn’t know how to sight read because of all the choir director drama, but Nathan would sit there and help me sight read.”

Howard is also a member of PALS. Teacher Richard Cowles, who sponsors PALS at McCallum and taught Howard AP Stats last year, feels that his supportiveness translates over into the PALS community.

“[He] gets along great with his PAL-lies, the kids that he mentors,” Cowles said. “Clever is a good descriptor as well. I think a lot of that comes from his musical background; music kind of adds a different perspective from the typical student.”

According to his colleagues, Howard’s wisdom has also been an asset to his academic and extracurricular pursuits. Thompson and Loomis both shared Howard’s humility has served him greatly throughout his high school career in both academics and fine arts. Howard will be able to achieve great things in the music as a performer or as a future educator, Rudy said, as long as his drive remains the same.

Howard will be majoring in music education at St. Olaf University in Northfield, Minn. One of the reasons why Howard decided to pursue music education was his TMEA experience.

“I met and was inspired by so many different directors,” Howard said. “There’s something special about a director who can ‘unlock’ something in the music for you; I want to become that person.”