Clarkston Chiefs Mitchell Miller has a talent to captivate an audience just by doing what comes naturally to him – playing the piano and composing music.
He used his talent to win an Award of Merit for the Michigan PTSA Reflections contest.
‘My mom showed me the letter a few weeks ago,? said Miller. ‘It was great and it inspired me to create more music.?
His winning piece, ‘Performance Live? was created keeping this year’s contest theme in mind – ‘Wow? and it could be anything that made the entrants think ‘wow.?
‘It was very exciting,? said mom, Lynn. ‘The award ceremony was held at Livonia Stevenson High School, where I went to high school. He missed it because he was skiing in British Columbia.?
The Springfield Plains Elementary student began playing the piano when he was five and hasn’t stopped composing since he started three years ago.
He has picked up a few more skills when he started the guitar a few months ago and is now playing an acoustical and electric guitar.
‘It’s great,? said dad, Dave. ‘If anything it will make him a better musician and he will probably pick up more instruments.?
Mitchell has composed over ten songs, including a classical symphony in which he uses a keyboard to mix in different instruments for different sounds.
He has played in school and church performances and is looking forward to his next performance at Sunrise.
Mitchell has two goals he is working on. He plans to continue his progress with the piano and will try to achieve more and better things and to expand on his talent and skill.
His second goal is to go to Interlochen Center for the Arts and participate in their summer camp.
He is helping with his dad at Castlewood Custom Homes by doing a bit of carpentry and cleaning up. He is putting what he earns towards Interlochen.
‘Mitchell is pretty determined,? said Dave. ‘It’s awesome and he is pretty self-motivated.?
Students from Springfield Plains, Bailey Lake and Pine Knob elementary schools, Sashabaw Middle School, Clarkston Junior High School and Clarkston High School were presented the theme in November.
They could submit works in musical composition, literature, photography, visual arts, dance choreography and film/video production in different grade levels.
Each piece was judged at the school level. The first and second place winners continued to the state level to compete against all of the state wide entries.
Mitch was one of three Clarkston entries to win in musical composition. The other two winners are from Sashabaw Middle School.
Matthew Dahl won an Award of Merit and Malcolm Hill won Award of Excellence
Springfield Plains will hold an award ceremony for Mitchell on April 28.