Listen to Johnny’s original composition submitted with his entry.
Johnny Turner (Age 16, SA)
FANFARE: Fanfare in G
Music is something that I not only play, not only enjoy, but live. Since I was a little kid, I annoyed my parents by singing Achy Breaky Heart repetitively in car journeys to and from school. I started learning the piano in year 3, and since then my love for music has only grown. Now I play multiple instruments, enjoy composing and arranging, transcribing, and music theory.
I started saxophone in 2017 at Yarra Valley Grammar in Melbourne, and this is where my love for composing came from. My saxophone teacher encouraged me to employ my love of music in a way in which I had never done before – by writing music. In 2020 I moved to St Peter’s College in Adelaide where I was further exposed to manifold opportunities. One of these opportunities was to start playing the pipe organ, which unfortunately due to the amount of music I do I had to give up. I also started playing the flute in 2021, and bassoon in 2022. My biggest achievement in my musical journey so far was definitely when I gained the position of alto saxophone 1 in the Generations in Jazz Superband Division 1 earlier this year.
I play saxophone in my school’s big band 1 and senior sax ensemble, bassoon in senior concert band and orchestra, and sing in senior choir and small jazz choir. I also play saxophone in JazzSA’s Superband 3. I am currently working towards my Certificate of Performance in Piano.
Composition Inspiration
My fanfare, Fanfare for G, is inspired by triumph. I was sitting down at my computer late one night wanting to compose something, so I composed a short fanfare for four trumpets. From this, I expanded the instrumentation to include winds, strings, and more brass, which helped further highlight the theme of triumph. Over a couple hours of work, I made Fanfare for G!
My inspiration for this fanfare was the different of triumph. This cheerful tune is my attempt at embodying triumph, through the typical fanfare sound. Throughout the piece, different sections have the melodies, each describing a different type of triumph. The first four bars of the piece the brass play the melody in a very fanfare-y style, announcing a big triumph. This is meant to symbolise a big win for a football team for example, or someone completing a PhD – a large achievement. The second four bars is meant to focus on a smaller victory – maybe a struggle with a particular topic in maths. From bars 9 to 14, the type of triumph highlighted was something in-between these two. Perhaps getting a good grade on a test, or finally playing a really hard piece of music the whole way through.
The name of the piece, Fanfare for G, derives from a person. “G”, is my band director at school, Mr Max Grynchuk. It is a meme amongst the band that his name is G after a year 8 called him that. After struggling to come up with a name one of my friends suggested I call my fanfare Fanfare for G.