Most people consider having a song stuck in their heads to be an annoyance.

But when Coldwater sophomore Philip Rice gets a song stuck in his head, he does something about it. Rice has composed more than 130 pieces of music, ranging from choral pieces to instrumentals, and his work has garnered several awards.

Among his many honors, Rice was selected in 2006 as one of seven winners of the biennial Chanticleer Student Composer Competition for his piece, “Three Celtic Blessings.”

“It’s a three movement piece and each movement is a different prayer from ancient Ireland. They selected the third movement,” Rice said. “I heard one of the Celtic Blessings randomly on a poster somewhere and then I just kind of got interested in the Celtic literature. The inspiration was really the text.”

For winning the contest, the Grammy-winning, California-based a cappella group Chanticleer will perform the third movement of Rice’s piece, “May The Road,” today at the Youth Choral Festival in San Francisco.

Rice planned to fly to San Francisco this morning to attend the performance.

Coldwater junior Raquel Brauker attended high school with Rice and has heard many of his pieces and seen his music evolve.

“He was really excited about the competition when he found out he won,” she said. “But he hadn’t heard anything about it until the beginning of the semester when Chanticleer’s director got a hold of him.”

Sunday was the first time Rice has heard his piece performed live, during a CMU Choir concert.

Rice began his musical career at age five, playing on his parents’ piano and performing in his church choir.

“My first piano teacher encouraged me to write music and make up little songs,” he said. “So that kind of got me started.”

Rice also credited his parents for helping nurture his musical growth.

“They’ve always been really supportive of my musical endeavors,” he said. “They never really pushed me in any other direction, so I’m thankful for that.”

He won his first musical award in 2002, receiving an honorable mention from the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra for a student composing contest.

The opportunity to study under world-renowned Composer and School of Music Professor David Gillingham was a major reason Rice chose to attend CMU. Rice said Gillingham has a lot to teach him.

Gillingham hasn’t had Rice as a student for long, but said he already is impressed by his work.

“Philip brought in his orchestra piece to his first composition lesson. I was absolutely stunned by how well the piece was written and how effective it was,” Gillingham said. “The best thing about this was that Philip was very humble and not in the least bit arrogant.”

Rice said he draws from several sources of inspiration, including philosophy, poetry and historical events.

Sometimes his inspiration comes in reverse. Such was the case when naming his song “Icicles.”

“I was writing it for one of my friends that I met my freshman year here that played violin,” he said. “It reminded me of something slowly growing. It kind of sounded cold.”

Gillingham said Rice has the potential to go to the top of the composition field.

“He hears the music in his head and he simply writes it down,” Gillingham said. “I think that at this point he simply feels that this is what he does and that it isn’t any more special than someone who goes to work every day in a factory. But of course, it is very special.”

In the future, Rice hopes to continue his education at a conservatory on his way to making a living composing and perhaps teaching at a university.

“Juilliard would be nice, but I’m not sure if I can make it in there,” he said. “I’ll probably end up getting a doctorate.”

For more information on Rice and his music, visit philiprice.net.

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