Williams Baptist University senior Alexander Robbins will present his research on composers Henry Cowell and Conlon Nancarrow April 11 at WBU.   Cowell and Nancarrow were experimental composers of the 20th Century, and Robbins plans to discuss their music and the reasons they were considered innovative.

“Each composer experimented with music and ways to perform it,” Robbins said.  “Cowell used unique ideas from non-western cultures, and Nancarrow used an old instrument, the player piano, in a brand-new way. Both unique in their own ways, they never let the world change their minds on what they should write.  They always wrote for themselves.”

Robbins will share the research in his senior music presentation, which is one of the requirements to complete his Bachelor of Arts in Music at WBU.  It will take place Thursday, April 11, at 7:00 p.m. in the choral room of WBU’s Maddox Center. The presentation is free of charge, and the public is invited.

Robbins, who is from Helena-West Helena, Ark., is the son of Robbie and Tracy Robbins.  

The WBU Department of Music offers bachelor’s degree majors in music, church music and P-12 music education.

Williams is a private, Christian university in Walnut Ridge, Ark.