Senior Micah McFadden dreams of creating music that impacts people all across the world. Ever since he was five years old, McFadden has had a passion for music. Over the years, that passion has blossomed into his ambition to become a composer, with video games greatly influencing his composing.
“I pivoted towards video game music in high school. I started playing video games for a while, and a lot of the time I’ll just stop what I’m doing and listen to the soundtrack. That especially happened with Minecraft,” McFadden said.
Christoforo LaBarbera, McFadden’s piano teacher, has accompanied McFadden through his journey in music from the beginning. His influence led McFadden down the path of composition. From there, McFadden started seriously composing music outside of his lessons, enrolling in three summer camps that exposed him to working in group settings with “like-minded” individuals, helped develop his leadership skills, and allowed him to understand the structure of working in a studio.
“He’s always been very passionate about [music], and interested to learn new things. It was what made him a great student, always hungry for more information. He has always shown the initiative to go out and learn things on his own without me. He’d come back with even more information that I had given him from the previous week on whatever the subject was,” LaBarbera said.
Being a composer means that McFadden has to get out of his comfort zone and collaborate with other people in the music community, which can be difficult.
“The hardest part is getting people [in person] to record it. With a lot of synths, a lot of mallets, keys and percussion, you can get away with virtual instruments. [However], strings, horns and woodwinds need to be recorded in person. So I’ve had to find people who could play it, [which can be challenging,]” McFadden said.
While his music is his top priority, it’s not for the people he collaborates with, resulting in him “working around their schedule.” However, McFadden embraces the opportunity to learn from others while in the studio.
“There’s a lot to know and I don’t know all of it, especially when it comes to how to perform specific instruments. You can do a lot of fun things on the guitar that I know nothing about because I’ve never touched a guitar. Same goes for drums,” McFadden said. “For those instruments and for other instruments I don’t have experience in, I defer to people who actually play the instrument on how to write a guitar for them.”
For McFadden, a lack of knowledge about instruments isn’t a roadblock. There are plenty of resources, such as charts and other musicians, that can assist him in writing for certain instruments. Still, McFadden hopes to learn how to play an instrument from at least each instrument family. Although collaboration requires sacrifices and compromises, LaBarbera acknowledges the importance of working together in the music community.
“Initial ideas can come into full fruition on your own. But what really makes it interesting is when you start to add other people’s ideas and interests into the mix, or their take on whatever it is that you wrote,” LaBarbera said.
Currently, McFadden is working with a group of people to produce an extended play, a mini album, for a community challenge issued by Game Groove. The mini album consists of five different cover songs from varying video games, all written by five different people. Junior Ava Barnum, a friend of McFadden and a musician in Redondo’s Jazz Band, has worked with him to record bass pieces for the extended play he’s producing. Barnum has been a friend of McFadden’s ever since freshman year, meeting him in the marching band. She characterizes him as a talented musician.
“For how long he’s been doing music, it’s expected for him to be at such a level where he can write his own music, and I’m happy that he’s doing that. I’m glad that he’s pursuing it in college. He’s a really skilled musician. He’s young, so he’s got so many years ahead of him to improve,” Barnum said.
Although McFadden plans for this extended play to be his “debut into the music world,” he doesn’t feel too much pressure releasing it.
“There’s no external drive forcing me to do this. I’m doing this for the sake of it, and also to get my feet wet. Producing this extended play has been trial by fire for me. [I’ve had to learn] how to find solutions to certain issues,” McFadden said. “Maybe a part isn’t playable, maybe a schedule falls through. I’ve had several technical issues trying to [prepare] my own recording setup so I don’t have to use the expensive studio.”
Through Spotify, iTunes and Youtube, McFadden hopes to gain revenue from his music and get his name out there for potential employers.
“You have to talk to a lot of people if you want to get a job [in the music industry], because it’s so connection based,” McFadden said. The way you get a job is you get a potential employer to like you. And the way you keep a job is you do a good job with the work, but you have to be able to work with them. And then they’ll invite you back. They’ll hire you again. They’ll pay you again.”
Writing music has helped McFadden become more outgoing and meet new people, from producing music with teams, to recording song pieces with musicians.
“Going into this, I would have very much considered myself an introvert, because I don’t usually talk to people outside of my circle,” McFadden said. “This has changed that because, as part of problem solving, I’ve been forced to reach out to a ton of different people that I haven’t spoken to or just don’t know, like technicians, performers, teachers, and more. I’ve become a lot more outspoken and social because I’ve had to. It’s had a positive impact on my life. I’m not nearly as isolated or lonely as I was before, and that social connection definitely helps keep me sane.”