By Shannon Neu, Staff Writer

Published in print Jan 14, 2015.

As a junior in UNCG’s music composition program, Clay Westman invests much of his time with projects for his classes and lessons, such as creating pieces of music that feature various combinations of instruments. He channels his creativity into works that stand out.

Right now he is planning arrangements of pieces of music that feature only ukuleles. Another one of Clay’s current artistic endeavors is the development and implementation of the new UNCG Spartan Gamer Orchestra.

Inspired by the work of the Gamer Symphony Orchestra at the University of Maryland, Clay is combining his passions for music and video games by establishing a similar ensemble at UNCG. The UNCG Spartan Gamer Orchestra, a student-run musical ensemble, will be comprised of volunteer student instrumentalists and its repertoire will feature arrangements of music from video games.

“The work that Mahito Yokota and Koji Kondo did with the ‘Super Mario’ always amazed me, so I felt like that was a great place to start,” said Clay, reflecting on what it has been like to work with their music Regarding the music he is arranging for the ensemble, he stated, “Even just beginning to work on arranging pieces like ‘Good Egg Galaxy’ and ‘Gusty Garden Galaxy,’ I can already feel the nostalgia running through me.”

Though he has many arrangements planned, in progress, and completed for the ensemble to perform, Clay also welcomes anyone to suggest pieces they would like to be arranged, as well as to submit their own arrangements. He mentioned that other members of the ensemble are currently working on arrangements of pieces from games like “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask” and “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim”.

Clay’s ensemble is presently composed of 24 members and is still growing. It consists of students from a wide range of majors, such as various ones from the music department as well as others including psychology, business, and nursing.

Anyone is welcome to join, “as long as they’re a student at UNCG, loves video games and is passionate about making music,” Clay said. The main criteria to play in the orchestra is that members must be current UNCG students or UNCG alumni, be able to play an instrument, and be enthusiastic about playing music. He added, “We’re especially looking for more string players.”

Concerts for the spring semester are still being planned. One show is currently being planned for the second week of March, and potentially another in late April.

Anyone who is interested in learning more about the orchestra, participating in it, or attending concerts are encouraged to e-mail uncggamerorchestra@gmail.com or follow the ensemble’s official Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/uncgspartangamersymphony.