The Fremont Podcast
The only podcast dedicated to telling the stories of the people and places of Fremont, CA. The diversity and integration of people and cultures of Fremont truly makes it a special place. This podcast explores these stories.
The Fremont Podcast
Episode 126: Composing together.
The Future Composers United series is a local, teen-run music workshop for high school students within the Tri-City Area (Fremont, Newark, and Union City).
Founded by Navya Tyagi this year, the group meets once a month to discuss and workshop their compositions (any music genre). Navya hopes that meeting in real life will lead to future collaborations.
FCU have partnered with with the Bay Philharmonic Youth orchestra.
Future Composers United wants you to join. It's free.
They will meet up on September 21, 2024 at 5:00PM
at 1301 Mowry Avenue, Fremont, CA 94538
[inside Christ the King Lutheran Church]
Let them know you are interested by filling our this RSVP.
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Founder: Ricky B.
Intro and outro voice-overs made by Gary Williams.
Editor: Andrew Cavette.
Scheduling and pre-interviews by the amazing virtual assistant that you ought to hire, seriously, she's great: your.virtual.ace
This is a Muggins Media Podcast.
Is that a good feeling?
Speaker 2:It is a good feeling.
Speaker 1:Tell me about it.
Speaker 2:I did that one time, like I was making this piece during spring break and I had an idea for it. And then when I got it down on the MuseScore Notation online software and when I heard it played, I was like, oh, this is exactly what I wanted. I'm like it feels good.
Speaker 3:Coming to you straight from Fremont, california. This is the Fremont Podcast, dedicated to telling the stories of the past and present of the people and places of the city of Fremont, one conversation at a time.
Speaker 1:So we are here at Suju's Coffee on Thornton. Can you tell me your name and the name of this project?
Speaker 2:Okay, my name is Navya Tyagi, and this is called the Future Composers United series that I'm hoping will launch this month.
Speaker 1:Tell me a little bit about the group, including what you're trying to do with it. What's the point?
Speaker 2:Okay, so this group is meant for people who compose their own music and they want to promote that music to other people and from my experience I know it's a little hard to do that. And performing your own music, I think, is really cool to let other people hear the music and give feedback about it, and I have a lot of pieces of my own that I haven't completely finished, but I think it's a cool way to get other people's ideas and you can add more to your own pieces with other people's feedback.
Speaker 1:Would it be similar to a writer's workshop?
Speaker 2:Kind of.
Speaker 1:But for music, of but for music. Just a completely different language. You touched on it a little bit, but what really inspired you to take this from a minor complaint of like I wish I could, to like forming a group?
Speaker 2:I just got really inspired by a performance I saw online during COVID, where there was this composer who played a lot of his works through a like a Facebook live stream, and then I thought I think I should like try implementing that and like for high schoolers, because I know there's like a lot of high schoolers out there who compose music and they can do. They can do it on a pretty advanced level, but like a lot of them don't get recognized and I just wanted to like open that up. Actually, I actually sort of inspired from like the music salons that used to exist in like the 20th century, where like composers like Chopin and Schumann and they all gathered out of like public restaurants or like somewhere else and they would just like talk about their music composers, like their musical works and they would perform at like local spaces. That's actually where I think most of this stemmed from. I wanted to kind of bring that back.
Speaker 1:Let me ask what may seem like an obvious question. You said that there are a lot of high schoolers who do this and don't get the exposure. How are you aware of them? Like, if they don't get exposure, like, how do you know about them? I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:Okay, because at my school we had, like this fine arts fair and there were a lot of like talented musicians who were playing their own pieces, but like I and there were a lot of like talented musicians who were playing their own pieces and but like I've never heard of them. So like I think I feel like there are musicians out there who want to like promote their music so, as I said at the beginning, we are here.
Speaker 1:Uh, as everyone can kind of hear, we are here at Suju's Coffee on Thornton. You, you were here a couple of days ago for the initial meeting.
Speaker 2:How did that go? So I mean, I don't think a lot of people know about this club yet, so there weren't that many, but I'm hoping that as time progresses there will be at least a few more that join. It's like a small club right now, so it's in its beginnings, but hopefully it can like expand a little bit what has been some of the, for you, unexpected difficulties about starting such a sort of ambitious project oh my god, the communicating with, like the principles and like getting them to be on board with the stuff.
Speaker 2:it's still very challenging. A lot of them, I don't even think, have seen my emails about this program yet, so just reaching out to people these days it's much harder than I feel like it used to be.
Speaker 1:How many people showed up for your first meeting. I know you said it was small and this is all in the fledgling stage, but how many people showed up for your first meeting? I know you said it was small and this is all in the kind of fledgling stage, but how many people showed up?
Speaker 2:Just one. There was another person who wanted to show up, but they couldn't, so it was like two people who came for a long meeting.
Speaker 1:Was it a good meeting? Yeah, it was a good meeting.
Speaker 2:They seemed pretty enthusiastic.
Speaker 1:Tell me about it.
Speaker 2:They seem pretty enthusiastic, tell me about it. So yeah, like the kid who came, like he makes music, like online music, but like he seems pretty enthusiastic about this club, like we were talking about when we were going to meet and where we'd meet and we were just discussing like dates and potential, like potential performance opportunities throughout the year, and I think it was a pretty good meeting overall.
Speaker 1:Awesome. I'm going to guess that you haven't booked anything, but in terms of just the ideas, where can you play here in Fremont? What brainstorming about where to play did you come up with.
Speaker 2:Fremont, what brainstorming about where to play did you come up with. So we're actually thinking of doing like a spring performance opportunity with the Bayfield Orchestra in the spring, yeah, and then in the winter we're maybe thinking of doing like a performance gig with like partnering with a cafe or some other place, and I mean we actually already have the church booked for this like program. So that's where we'll be having our first meeting.
Speaker 1:Where's the?
Speaker 2:church, Lutheran Church at Maury Avenue Hi.
Speaker 1:Christ, the King Lutheran Church at the corner of Mowry and Peralta. You mentioned the Bay Philharmonic. Is that a wish list or do you actually have a contact with the Bayfield?
Speaker 2:We actually already established a contact.
Speaker 1:Tell me about that contact.
Speaker 2:So over the summer I wanted to contact the Bayfield Youth Orchestra. So I contacted Carlos Hernandez, the new head of Bayfield Youth Orchestra Hernandez, the new head of Bayfield Youth Orchestra, and we had a long chat about it through emails and, like I contacted other people in that thread and then so it's gonna be like, depending on how many people in the spring there are by then, we're hoping to like have a partner with their like concert in the spring and where, like Bayfield Orchestra members can collaborate with our members, and then it could be like the composer get to perform their own compositions at that concert.
Speaker 1:So this is much more than just a few teenagers hanging out and, you know, hoping to play you really, the people who join the club really will have an opportunity to be heard.
Speaker 1:That's great. Every single episode of the Fremont podcast is now on YouTube. We put it there in case playing it from YouTube is easier for some people. Enjoy. Please consider donating $1 a month on a reoccurring basis to help this podcast that you enjoy. Buymeacoffeecom. Slash TheFremontPodcast. Slash membership. This is going to be a difficult question because I'm asking about something that doesn't exist, and those are always hard. But if this club is meant, in part, to help foster community in the music-composing youth world, what is lacking Like? Why does this group need to exist? Where are you not receiving support just without the club?
Speaker 2:I just think in terms of recognition and being able to have avenues where you can play I don't it's as a composer myself who's been trying to release my own music. It's not been easy and like getting promoting that awareness about like music composers. It's not very it's very kind of unheard of. So it's kind of unheard of.
Speaker 1:What do you feel the difference is between, say, like an online platform, because anyone can post anything online and then someone can see it. So you don't lack in that.
Speaker 2:No, no. What's the difference between, say? I kind of want to bring that traditional aspect back a bit. I think it's much different playing in front of actual people in person rather than just via Zoom, meeting online.
Speaker 1:Give me your best version of the next year for this club. How often are you meeting who shows up? How often do you perform?
Speaker 2:Okay, so it would be like we meet once a month, starting like September 21st at 5 pm, and hopefully we can keep that same day, same time, ideally, and then in the winter maybe we'll do like a performance gig and then in March we maybe we would like depending on how many people that are there by then we would be able to like have some idea of like which compositions or like which composers we want to like perform at the Bayfield Orchestra, because, like not everybody is obviously inclined to like go out there and like play in front of like a bigger audience, like that. So it just depends, but like, hopefully, if there are enough people, by then we would be able to like select which works would move forward and be able to be played at the Bayfield Orchestra concert in like May or June.
Speaker 1:How long have you been playing music?
Speaker 2:Since I was four.
Speaker 1:And what do you play?
Speaker 2:A lot of things like Chopin Debussy sometimes.
Speaker 1:And what's your preferred instrument?
Speaker 2:Piano.
Speaker 1:Do you play any other instruments?
Speaker 2:No, but I've composed like one or two works that have strings in it, but I don't play strings.
Speaker 1:Have you performed any of your works ever for an audience?
Speaker 2:I have, but it hasn't been like it's been at my school or like at like local senior homes, hasn't been that like any like. Oh, I have performed one time at the Young Recitalist. I remember being extremely nervous there because, like, the mayor was there too, so then, but it was fun, I really liked it what stood out for you.
Speaker 2:I think just like how big that audience was and like it wasn't just like people at my school, it was like a lot of different people of like different ages from like different cities too, I think. So that was pretty cool and like I got a lot of compliments after that, so that was nice.
Speaker 1:What's your next step in terms of the administrative side of this group? What's the next like heavy lifting thing that you feel you need to do to make this group happen?
Speaker 2:I think we need to just publicize this as much as we can for this meeting and just get the word out there, get any interested students to come and actually attend this first meeting, even if they aren't completely sure. If this is something like they want to do for the rest of the year, they can like at least give this a try for this first meeting um.
Speaker 1:You're a student yeah uh, how much are the schools encouraging music and how much is it outside of school like a tutor or something like that that your parents have hired or something?
Speaker 2:I mean, my school does encourage music but I don't think they encourage composing. They definitely encourage. There's a school band in my school and they're really good and they play a lot of cool pieces, but I don't think I've actually seen, I haven't seen my music teacher promote the idea of making your own music.
Speaker 1:Like. What kind of musician composition can join the group?
Speaker 2:All types, Like it doesn't have to be just like piano or like we're actually like you can have like a violin composition I don't know a trumpet composition like all types of instrumentals and like even vocal vocalists are welcome, and some people actually have some music stored online and that's also something we're open to.
Speaker 1:So classical, but also jazz and also rock and roll and EDM and hip-hop beats and anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1:What do you think the through line is on all of those things? The what? Well, what's the connective tissue between someone who's producing, say, a beat to have rap over and the person who's, you know, producing some classical music piece for violins and cellos and pianos and things?
Speaker 2:I mean, it's still the act of making your own music. So it doesn't matter like what type of music it is, like you're still trying to make, express yourself, or, like you, if you enjoy like the music you're making, like everybody's sharing, hopefully, that same process of like you making your own music, you're enjoying it and then you get to like hear how it sounds. Maybe you had like a vision in your head and now when you actually play it, it sounds kind of like what you wanted. So I think everybody's kind of united in that way is that a good feeling?
Speaker 2:it is a good feeling tell me about it. I did that one time, like I was making this piece during spring break and I had an idea for it. And then when I got it down on the MuseScore notation online software and when I heard it played, I was like, oh, this is exactly what I wanted. I'm like it feels good.
Speaker 1:That's great. Why is music important?
Speaker 2:Why is music important Music? I think it relieves you from tensions. It's not stressful, at least for me. It's something I can just sit down at the piano or something and I can just do whatever. There's no rules like, oh, you can't do this, you can do whatever. There's like no real, there's no like rules, like, oh, you can't do this, you can do whatever you want. And like composing allows you to be free in that way, like it's you, it's like your own music, you can do what you want with it. Like there's no like like structure or anything you have to follow necessarily. So and I think music brings a lot of people together, like you said earlier, like this is like a different language, but like it's a language everybody understands. Everybody listens. A lot of most people listen to music and like when there's music, some everybody really likes it. Like brings them all together, so brings them all together.
Speaker 1:I have one more question, but before I ask it, tell me something that the audience would want to know, like give me when is your next meeting.
Speaker 2:Okay, our next meeting will be on September 21st at 5 pm at the Lutheran Church. There will be. On the flyer there's a link to like RSVP for this meeting. So if you're interested, please join. And this is for all high school musicians who compose music.
Speaker 1:Awesome, and we will have all of those links in the show notes below this episode.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay of those links in the show notes below this episode.
Speaker 1:Okay, to end, I was just wondering recommend to me the best piece of music that you've heard, no matter what it is. I just said piece of music, but it could be a pop song.
Speaker 2:What's the best music?
Speaker 1:you've heard recently. You just heard it and you're super jazzed about it and you want to share it with the world. Can't stop telling people about it. What is it?
Speaker 2:Okay, so I listen to a lot of Emily Bear's music and I feel like one of her pieces is called the Bravest Journey and it's so good, Like it's one of the best pieces of music I've ever heard it like it, it pulls, like it strikes your heart I don't know how else to explain it like you feel very emotionally moved when you hear it and it's beautiful what's that?
Speaker 1:what's that little moment in the song? If there is one that really just just gets you, there's always something.
Speaker 2:I think when it starts transitioning from like the beginning part of the music to like the main chorus, that transition is like indescribably beautiful.
Speaker 1:Is there anything else that you would like the audience to know about Anything that I've missed?
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you're a musical composer of any type, any genre, please consider joining. We'd love to have you.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you very much for your time today. I hope this group like takes off. I hope people take you up on the offer. It sounds like a nice one. We'll we'll do what we can to get people, to get people to join. Well, thank you very much.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:When I was in high school in the mid nineties, we had a ton of bands among the students, among my friends, and basically no place to play. We played once in Irvington in the space that is now made-up theater. Before it was a theater. We went out of town to play at the Hayward Hempery and back in Fremont we had to book the senior center at night in order to play. And as we graduated and went into college, some of my friends, who are better advocates than I was, worked with the city and, among many other deciding factors was one of the reasons that we now have a teen center. I'm not saying my class did it, but we certainly influenced its existence, and so now I'm a big fan of any time teenagers get together and try to make things happen in this city.
Speaker 1:Right after our interview, navia wrote and wanted me to mention that the Future Composers United Club is open to people outside of Fremont. She said that she really wants to make connections with fellow musicians and she knows that that's hard to do outside of your own city unless you're part of a larger orchestra or band. She wanted this group to be more than just a bunch of people talking about their work, but also a networking opportunity. She wants the club to create longer-lasting connections and possibly some quartets and trios and duos that wouldn't exist if the club didn't exist. And, as she mentioned, in the interview.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of that could happen online, but I'm guessing a teenager her age probably spent a decent chunk of her adolescence on Zoom calls during COVID and I think she's valuing in-person meetings more than, say, someone a little younger or someone a little older If you're in high school. And this does sound interesting, there's a link in the show notes.
Speaker 2:It would be like we meet once a month, starting like September 21st at 5 pm.
Speaker 1:A thank you again to Navya for spending time with me interviewing in the coffee shop and a special thank you to her mom for waiting outside in the car.
Speaker 3:Be sure to subscribe wherever it is that you listen, so you don't miss an episode. I'm Gary Williams. Scheduling and pre-interviews by Sarah S. You can find everything we make, the podcast and all of our social media links at thefremontpodcastcom.
Speaker 2:Oh my god, that was kind of bad. No, that was great. This is a Muggins Media Podcast.