by Douglas Abrams

Senior Sam Mayer won “Songwriter Search,” a competition through Carnegie Hall, and will be going to South Africa on Nov. 30 for ten days to play in a music festival.

The competition that Mayer participated in is part of Carnegie Hall’s Musical Exchange Program, a venture that seeks to form an online community “where young musicians ages 13-23 connect with each other, share their musical performances, and participate in groups and projects led by professional artists from Carnegie Hall,” according to the program’s website.

For the competition, Mayer submitted an original song “Hey There Hurricane,” in which he plays both the guitar and harmonica. He was accompanied by senior Alex Fabry on the keyboard.

Mayer said that he wanted to enter the competition because Dave Matthews was one of the judges, and because he had seen ads on Facebook posted by Carnegie Hall.

According to Mayer, applications for the competition were due over the summer, and applicants had to send a video of their original song, a personal statement video and responses to application questions.

“The first round of the competition was judged by a panel from Carnegie Hall,” said Mayer.  “The second and final round was judged by a celebrity panel.”

Mayer said that one of the best parts of his experience was getting feedback from the panelists, especially from Mathews.