Joseph Earp Wins National Music Composition Contest

Limestone College Assistant Director of Bands Joseph Earp has been selected as the winner of the Thornton Community Band Composition Contest to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their ensemble.

In May, Earp was one of the band’s guest musicians and guest conductors as he premiered his winning original composition, Migrate to Gyrate.

“Migrate to Gyrate was written to celebrate the Sandhill Cranes of Monte Vista, Colorado,” Earp explained. “The Sandhill Crane puts on an elaborate courtship ritual to attract a mate. As part of this ritual, the cranes bow, flap their wings, leap, and twirl in the air like rhythmic gymnasts. This work was written to embody the spirited movements the cranes create.”

The Thornton Community Band Composition Contest is the second national composition contest Earp has won as a published composer. In 2010, he was the winner of the Claude T. Smith Memorial Composition Contest for his original composition Robinson Suite.

Earp has a long list of achievements and is a proud member of National Association for Music Education (NAfME), North Carolina Music Educators Association (NCMEA), North Carolina Bandmasters Association, South Carolina Bandmasters Association, National Band Association, College Band Directors National Association, and American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).  He is also an active clinician, adjudicator, and commissioned composer.

Prior to coming to Limestone in 2017, Earp taught high school band for 11 years, with eight of those being at Cox Mill High School in Concord, NC, where he served as the founding Director of Bands. He has enjoyed numerous achievements during his career, including top performance ratings and awards from his instrumental ensembles. Earp has also gained recognition from various organizations on the local, state, and national levels.

(By Marena Camby, Limestone College Communications & Marketing Department)