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Willie Cornish ’22.<\/p><\/div>\n
Cornish, you see, started playing horn in junior high school because he liked its sound better than the trumpet, which he picked up in fourth grade. Now, Bocook says, \u201cAt least we have a bass instrument because he\u2019s back there.\u201d<\/p>\n
And on April 13, Cornish will present his composition, \u201cThe Butterfly Effect,\u201d during Furman Engaged <\/a>, a virtual celebration this year of the immersive learning experiences available through The Furman Advantage. At the center of the day\u2019s activities will be the public sharing of students\u2019 work, representing the final step of these deep learning experiences, which include internships, research, service learning, study away, creative projects, first-year writing seminars and capstone experiences.<\/p>\n This year, more than 650 students, including Cornish, will share their experiences.<\/p>\n In his notes about his six-minute piece, he cites the \u201cmetaphor of a small action, such as a butterfly flapping its wings, completely altering the direction and behavior of a large tornado\/storm.\u201d<\/p>\n Adds Cornish: \u201cWith storms, I’m just really, really interested in the idea of the \u2018butterfly effect,\u2019 like how one small action can cause a huge chain reaction.\u201d The music major lets his works \u2013 and others\u2019 words \u2013 do the talking.<\/p>\n Lyrics for his two-song cycle come from the poems excerpted here:<\/p>\n Emma Lazarus<\/a>: \u201cStorm\u201d\u00a0(1884)<\/p>\n O’erhead still flame those strange electric thrills. And Jean Toomer<\/a>: \u201cStorm Ending\u201d (1923)<\/p>\n Bleeding rain His choice of poets was deliberate: one, a renowned female writer, whose work appears on the Statue of Liberty<\/a>; the other, a Black man, a \u201ccanonical writer\u201d during the Harlem Renaissance, according to Henry Louis Gates Jr<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully, people will be able to experience pretty much those dramatic things that happen in life, and then the more subdued things,\u201d says Cornish of his composition for piano and soprano.<\/p>\n
\nA moment more, – behold! yon bolt struck home,
\nAnd over ruined fields the storm hath come!<\/em><\/p>\n
\nDripping rain like golden honey\u2014
\nAnd the sweet earth flying from the thunder.<\/em><\/p>\n