BLUM, JUSTIN (b. 1998)

Justin Blum (born 1998, Dubuque, Iowa) was born and raised in Dubuque, Iowa. He started his musical career when he was 6 years old. As he learned simple melodies on piano by ear, eventually his passion for music grew stronger. Consequently he chose to take cello lessons when he was 9 years old. The cello teachers he has studied under include Michele Mentz, Karen Geyer, and Kevin Price-Brenner.

 

As a musician, he has had the pleasure of playing in the Iowa All State Orchestra all four years of his high school career, performing at a multitude of weddings with a local string quartet, and playing original music for school theater productions. In the process of learning his instrument and becoming exposed to classical and instrumental music, he took an interest in composition.

 

The origin of his interest in composition lies in his middle school years, when his orchestra teacher, Mrs. Tracy Rush of Eleanor Roosevelt Middle School, taught him the foundations of his music theory knowledge. He used the composition tools she supplied him with throughout his high school career. During his senior year, he learned even more under the instruction of Mr. Bill Rowley of Dubuque Senior High School and Dr. Amy Dunker of Clarke University. As his composition skills mature, he finds his music is often inspired by specific visuals or feelings, and so he tries to tell a story with every piece that he composes. He admires the works of Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Shostakovich, Chopin, Dvorak, and Rimsky-Korsakov, which is sometimes evident in the music he composes.

 

A 2017 graduate from Dubuque Senior High School, Justin Blum is continuing his education at the University of Pennsylvania as a biomedical engineer- ing major, but plans to compose music for the rest of his life. He thinks he will always have something to say, and has yet to find a better way to say it than with music.

 

"Nocturne" for Two Harps was composed in 2017 and published by Alliance Publications, Inc.