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What began as a music project for Noah Seim has grown into an ambitious research effort to bring the music of composer Rossetter Gleason Cole - his great-great-great uncle - back into the public eye.

"My dad is really into genealogy, and he said to me, 'Oh, you know you have a composer on your mom's side?'" Seim said. "I didn't think that this would blossom into the massive project it's become."

The connection became more meaningful after Seim's grandmother heard one of his performances and texted him about the familial connections to Cole.

"That's when something clicked," Seim said.

Born in Oakland County in 1866, Cole was a professor and director of the schools of music for Ripon College in Wisconsin and Grinnell College in Iowa. By 1902, he had moved to Chicago, where he built his career as a teacher and composer.

Cole died in 1952, composing more than 90 pieces of music. While most of his work was published decades ago, most of it has remained in libraries and collections around the world.

Seim hopes to bring his relative's work back into the spotlight.

"Nobody has access to his work nor the ability to play them because they're almost all hidden away in libraries or niche corners of the globe," Seim said.

"So, nobody even knows about his music, let alone him."

Under the mentorship of Sookkyung Cho, associate professor of piano, Seim has scoured libraries, like Chicago's Newberry Library and the Library of Congress, in search of Cole's manuscripts.

He's focused on not just finding these documents, but transcribing and arranging for performances on the Valley Campus for the upcoming year.

"The most surprising thing was how willing other people were to help me," Seim said. "I thought this was a niche subject, but so many librarians and performers were on board.

"Never in a million years did I think that all these other people would be willing to work with me and be excited about it."

Majoring in music, international relations and French, Seim continued the project while studying abroad in Morocco.

After spending his days in class and at work, he devoted evenings and weekends to formatting Cole's compositions and contacting libraries and conservatories around the world in search of additional works.

"The end goal is I'd like to publish his works in the public domain," Seim said. "I'm making my own recordings, and we're planning about six performances over the next school year. I'm also planning lecture recitals as well as speaking at conferences."

For Seim, the project has become much more than a study of family history. He said it has transformed both his academic experience and his confidence as a researcher and musician.

"There are so many opportunities for those who want to pursue them," Seim said. "I never would have thought I would have done half the things I've done."