Matt Henning, a senior music education major, presented his senior project to Monmouth College students and the public on Sunday, Nov. 4. Henning showcased seven original pieces of work which he spent long hours writing, perfecting and rehearsing.

The senior project began with a piece entitled “Requiem,” in which Henning conducted a string quintet that was entirely made up of Monmouth College musicians. Henning had to rely on the participation of many different student musicians and singers, and Henning noted that, “The performers went above and beyond what I expected and created the desired sound that I was trying to acquire.” Throughout this piece, junior Raleigh Moon strummed a bass rhythm on his double bass that resembled a heartbeat, which was a great display of Henning’s creativity in his works.

As Henning introduced his next piece, he joked about bribing his student volunteers with pizza to get them to participate. Henning did a wonderful job throughout the presentation of including humor and gave the audience a little taste of his personality. “Emotion” was Henning’s second piece, as he was once again on time with his conducting.

Henning showed the audience his own abilities as a musician with the next two songs, “Sad Love” and “Alone,” in which he played piano and sang. Both of these pieces are a part of a musical that Henning hopes to finish sometime next year. Borrowing the chord progression from the beginning of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata,” Henning put a modern twist on the chord progression and made it his own. Each of these songs was very easy to picture as part of a musical with Henning singing and playing heartfelt lyrics backed by some solid piano playing.

Finishing out the concert were three vocal pieces that Henning wrote and directed,  “Ubi Caritas,” “The Dark Knight” and “Journey in b-minor.” “The Dark Knight” proved to be one of the most impressive pieces of the entire project, and it was coincidentally Henning’s proudest moment of the presentation. Henning stated, “I was proud of all the pieces, but the piece I felt that I put the most emotion into was ‘The Dark Knight,’” adding that he, “really enjoyed the harmonies and the text to this piece.” As stated before, Henning had to rely on student musicians to convey the right emotions and feelings of the texts, and the students most definitely delivered on this piece.

Throughout the entire presentation, Henning was relaxed, and he had much reason to be. Henning presented some very impressive music and was on point throughout each and every piece. Henning explained his feelings after the presentation, stating, “I felt a huge sense of relief and elation.”  Those feelings were justified due to his accomplished conducting, writing and performing.

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