Jonathan Howie

From Young Composers

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Jonathan Howie

Jonathan Howie was born in Marquette, Michigan, on September 19, 1983, to Thomas and Catherine Howie. At age one, his family moved to West Chazy, New York, where Thomas began working for WCFE-TV, a public television station. Catherine, being a music student herself, taught Jonathan in music at an early age, and began piano lessons when he was five years old. When he was sixteen, his parents decided to join the para-church missions organization Campus Crusade for Christ, and as a result, the family moved to Fishers, Indiana in August 2000. Jonathan had recently taken an active interest in piano, and after moving began taking lessons from Anna James.

In September 2002, Jonathan began studies in Applied Music at Indiana Wesleyan University with an emphasis in piano. After studying piano for four years under Dr. Eunice Rickey, Jonathan performed his Senior Piano Recital, which included an original work for piano, as well as an arrangement of one of Catherine's songs for brass quintet. He started writing music in May 2004, during a may term at Indiana Wesleyan University. After writing a three-part piano suite, Jonathan stopped writing until September that year, when he began his first piano duet.

Now graduated from Indiana Wesleyan with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music, Jonathan is studying composition under the guidance of Eric Wilson, who lives in Anderson, Indiana. He is currently finishing his first two orchestral works: an orchestral transcription of his piano duet, and a film-style work for the Young Composers Film Competition.

Jonathan hopes to someday write music for films.

Contact Information

Jonathan is reachable via email or via the Young Composers Forum.

• Email: jonathan.howie[at]gmail.com
• YCF Name: johannhowitzer

Compositions

Jonathan writes music with pencil and paper, and also using the popular music notation software Finale. His style is strongly influenced by music in the Impressionist style, as well as music from popular movie and video game soundtracks. Most of his piano works were completed in under a week, and works for orchestra will take anywhere from two weeks to a month to finish.

Completed works by opus number:

• 1. Day Suite - a three-part Impressionistic piano suite
• 2. The Waterfall - both a piano duet and a work in progress for orchestra
• 3. To Good Friends - a piano solo
• 4. A Heart That Stands - an arrangement for brass quintet of a song by Catherine Howie
• 5. Take My Life and Let It Be - a three-part choral setting of a hymn
• 6. Toccata - a modern piano solo
• 7. Journey to the Oasis - a film-style work for small orchestra, winner of the 2006 Young Composers Film Competition

Current Piano Repertoire

Bach, Carl Philip Emmanuel

• Solfeggieto

Bach, Johann Sebastian

• Praeludium I, WTC 1
• Praeludium II, WTC 1
• Fuga II, WTC 1
• Praeludium IX, WTC 1

Brahms, Johannes

• Waltz in Ab, Op. 39 No. 15

Debussy, Claude

• Arabesque No. 1, from Deux Arabesques
• Clair de Lune, from the Suite Bergamasque
• Reverie
• La Fille aux cheveux de Lin
• La Cathedrale engloutie
• Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, from the Children's Corner suite
• Serenade for the Doll, from the Children's Corner suite
• The Snow Is Dancing, from the Children's Corner suite
• Golliwogg's Cakewalk, from the Children's Corner suite

Ellington, Duke

• Day Dream

Gershwin, George

• Rhapsody in Blue (piano transcription)
• Prelude No. 1
• Prelude No. 2

Grieg, Edvard

• Zug der Zwerge, Op. 54 No. 3

Hamauzu, Masashi

• Decisive Battle, from the Final Fantasy X Piano Collection

Joplin, Scott

• Maple Leaf Rag
• The Entertainer

Liszt, Franz

• Liebestraum

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

• Rondo alla Turca

Palmgren, Selim

• May Night

Rachmaninoff, Sergei

• Prelude in C# Minor, Op. 3 No. 2

Uematsu, Nobuo

• Fighting, from the Final Fantasy VII Piano Collection
• The Castle, from the Final Fantasy VIII Piano Collection
• Final Fantasy VIII Ending Theme, from the Final Fantasy VIII Piano Collection
• Vamo' Alla Flamenco, from the Final Fantasy IX Piano Collection
• To Zanarkand, from the Final Fantasy X Piano Collection