Summit
The Final Level — Ascent Level 50
Summit is the eighth and final Tier of the Dennis Frayne Ascent. Unlike the first seven Tiers, which each contain seven Levels, Summit consists of a single culminating Level: Ascent Level 50. It brings together performance, musicianship, composition, orchestration, technology, conducting, collaboration, production, and public musical leadership in a series of substantial culminating experiences.
Summit - The Final Level (Ascent Level 50)
Dedicated to Sergei Rachmaninoff
Repertoire: Present an all-Rachmaninoff recital. Perform one complete Rachmaninoff piano concerto, including all movements, as piano soloist with a full orchestra. Complete the recital with additional works by Rachmaninoff on piano, voice, or other instruments.
Instruments: Piano, voice, and at least three distinct additional instruments other than piano or voice are required. Students may work with more than the required minimum number of instruments.
Technical Skills: Perform 20 minutes of technical exercises on piano. Perform a separate 20-minute technical demonstration on each of the three required additional instruments, using technical exercises appropriate to each instrument. The four demonstrations together comprise at least 80 minutes of technical work.
Musicianship: Sing the defined scalar vocalises using movable-Do solfege and again using scale-degree numbers.
Project:
Original Concerto: Compose a complete original concerto for solo instrument and full orchestra. Rehearse the work with the orchestra and present it in a complete live performance at an event separate from the Summit recital. Serve as the conductor for the performance. The student may also perform the solo part when practical, but the student’s primary required role is conductor.
Film Scoring: Create a complete original musical score for an animated short or film clip lasting at least 3 minutes and less than 10 minutes. Score the entire selected visual work rather than selected portions only. The visual material must be original, public domain, licensed, or otherwise legally authorized for public presentation.
Use professional digital audio workstation software and related production tools to record, edit, dub, synchronize, mix, and produce the completed soundtrack with the visual material. The project may be collaborative: the student may work with an animator, filmmaker, performers, recording musicians, or other collaborators. The student remains responsible for the original musical score and for completing the music-production process.
Present the completed synchronized film-scoring project as part of the Summit recital.
Performance:
Summit Recital: Present a 110–120-minute public recital devoted entirely to the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff. Perform the required complete piano concerto with full orchestra and complete the program with additional Rachmaninoff repertoire. Include at least 10 minutes total of singing, with the student’s primary language and two secondary languages all represented. Include at least one performance on each of the three additional required instruments.
Present the recital before a live audience and record the complete event. Prepare and provide a recital program, plan and provide appropriate hospitality or a reception for the audience, and include an intermission. Present the completed film-scoring Project during the recital.
Live Film Conducting: At a separate outdoor public event, serve as guest conductor of a community orchestra performing live music synchronized to projected film. The music may be existing film music and does not need to be the student’s original film score. This requirement is a separate musical experience from both the Summit recital and the Film Scoring Project.
Major Musical Production: Produce, rehearse, and direct a major concert, musical, or opera. Carry genuine production leadership from planning through rehearsal and public presentation rather than participating only as a performer in another person’s production.
Include at least one technical rehearsal and one dress rehearsal, followed by three complete public performances before live audiences. The three-performance requirement applies whether the production is a concert, musical, or opera.
This production must be a separate undertaking from the Summit recital and the outdoor Live Film Conducting event.
Celebrate!
Summit marks the completion of the formal fifty-Level Dennis Frayne Ascent.
The achievement represents far more than the completion of a final recital or collection of requirements. By Summit, the student has performed as soloist and ensemble musician, sung in multiple languages, developed multiple instruments, composed and arranged substantial works, collaborated with other musicians, conducted ensembles, worked with music technology, taught and led others, organized public events, and brought ambitious musical projects from conception through performance.
The formal Ascent ends at Summit. Musical becoming does not. The experiences accumulated across fifty Levels become part of what the student carries forward into a continuing life of learning, creating, performing, teaching, leading, collaborating, and sharing music with others.
Open to all. Earned by each. Celebrated by everyone.