CINCINNATI — Playing in a high school band and mastering an instrument is already quite challenging- but one Ohio high school student is taking his responsibility of being in the band to a whole new level.
What You Need To Know
- Lang Chen has always enjoyed playing instruments
- In sixth grade, the percussion player began composing his own music
- Chen approached his band teacher who helped him tweak the piece
- Chen's song, Arctic Exploration, was played by Chen's classmates at their fall concert
A high school band is made up of many parts, like the trombones, trumpets, drums, and much more- but it’s in the back with the percussion group where you find junior Lang Chen.
Chen has always had a love for music- so much so that when he was in sixth grade, he decided to make his own music for a school project
“I couldn’t find any music for it, so I decided to write my own to avoid copyright and also to make it so it suits the project that I was working on," Chen said. "So I found that writing my own music allows me to express what I want it to be.”
This sparked a true passion for the musician, he continued composing music until he decided to bring his creations to his band director, who worked with him to get it to a level to perform.
“Eventually I said hey would you be interested in performing it just because it really did work well as a piece," said Andrew Karr, the director of bands at Lakota West High School. "By the time he went through all that process and really had that perseverance to stay, it was well worth having other people hear it.”
“It was awesome," Chen said. "The first note is really distinct, a very low and a very high B Flat. It sounds very surreal to hear it real and live.”
The song was revised many times by Chen and his teacher- and was even performed at Lakota West’s fall concert. The project spurred by passion- done all in his free time.
“This is really unexpected for me," Chen said. "So unexpected things just happen if you do what you like to do. This is something that I was passionate about and it just miraculously managed to happen. So don’t be afraid of taking the opportunity to try something.”
So what’s next for this young composer? He says he’ll keep it as a passion project, but his band director thinks it’s something he could pursue if he wanted to.
“It’s really fun to watch students get to fuel their passions and get to see that come to pass," Karr said. "He said earlier that he was maybe interested in pursuing this and I think he might actually have a chance at that.”
