(Courtesy photo)
By CATHERINE DONNELLY
Special to the PRESS
In August, band member Adrian Jimenez Murat was recognized by the PI-ISD Superintendent and School Board for composing Port Isabel’s first Alma Mater.
An Alma Mater is a school’s original song to give students and alums a distinct sense of identity. Most schools seem to have one and the band commonly plays it at important ceremonies and football games to instill pride in the school that the group represents.
When Murat was a freshman, he noticed at away games that the other schools all had a distinct Alma Mater in addition to a fight or victory song. Some schools seemed to play their fight song more slowly, but a vision started to take hold for what he wanted to accomplish for Port Isabel.
He didn’t know why his schooll only had a fight song, which they sometimes played twice to make up for the lack of an Alma Mater. This made him curious, and he started to research the matter. The result was that no one ever seemed to take on the task of writing the musical portion for one, though the lyrics already existed.
Murat has always loved composing music, which he sees as a language to communicate a message. He wants every senior graduating from now into perpetuity to remember that song and have it bring back great memories of their time in high school.
Over his first two years, Murat took on the daunting task of writing 17 distinct music parts for nine different instruments. So, for instance, the clarinets had three distinct parts, as did the percussionists. He would get up in the middle of the night to write down the music in his head. Even at this age, Murat has the ability to see all the different elements in his head come together to make the melody. At performances, the music is accompanied by a vocalist who sings the existing lyrics.
Murat also sees each note and each piece as representative of something. For instance, when creating the part for the low brass, he envisioned the notes as the football players. Every part was created to unite and inspire everyone on the field. “When the low brass play their parts, I imagine the football players bursting through the giant football helmet out onto the field at the beginning of the game,” said Murat.
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