Totally original news post idea right here.

Basically, everyone in my family listened to Rap. End of story. We jammed to it in the car, in the kitchen, on our porch. Frankly, I didn't really think about other genres. I never bought any CDs for myself, but I didn't really need to. I wasn't really exposed to instruments, except in 4th grade where we learned recorder. But I soon forgot the recorder as well as how to read music.

I can't really say how I felt about hip-hop, but I know that I wasn't passionate about it. Meaning I didn't hate it, but when I heard it, it didn't make me feel good inside either. This was probably influenced by my "dad" being black and my mom trying to be like black people or something like that. Plus we lived among black people. No racism here.

Eventually - let's say, 7th grade - I started taking notice in the music we sang in my youth group. It's that kind of Christian that's like rock. There was a keyboard too, and the occasional solos interested me. I liked it. I liked the way the fingers moved across the keys. I liked how the instruments worked together, like a family.

I told my youth leader that I might learn piano - and hopefully by high school join the worship band we had there. We had a piano in the place where we met every Wednesday night. I didn't know how to play, but I messed around with it, pleased with the sounds that came out of it.

I expressed these desires to my mom, and eventually she approached me with exuberance, saying she had found a site. I followed, and there it was: Pianonanny.com. My life changed literally. There are 34 lessons on that site, divided into a "Starters" group, an "Intermediate" group, and an "Advanced" group. Admittedly, my mom probably just wanted me to learn piano, but there was so much more on there!

The lessons started with music basics. I relearned how to read music. I learned also how notes related to piano. This was thrilling. I found excitement in pointing out where middle C was to my mom. "See, and there's D and E," I said. She didn't understand my excitement, but she smiled all the same.

I finished all the Starter lessons, and by then I had gotten a piano in my house, which I played all the time. Not actual compositions, mind you, but just practice things, to help my fingering. It did help. There was one exercise on the lessons, some ways in, that was called "The Climbing Song," a simple composition by the lesson-maker. It was simply C D E F G G, C D E F D D, C in the melody, or something similar, showing the relationship between ascending notes and melodies. I think it was a bit longer than that. Anyway, I learned it with ease. But then something extraordinary happened.

You see, for the lessons, I was required to keep blank staff paper. This was to write down certain important notes. But what began to happen was even better. I wrote down this Climbing Song. I tried to make the notes somewhat nice-looking on paper, with little success. Key signatures were hard to draw, but thankfully this song, in C, didn't need one. Just the time sig.

Here's where the extraordinary occurred. After I wrote down The Climbing Song, I realized, I could change a few notes, and it sounded different. Or, I wrote something extra at the end. So I might've had C D E F G G, C D E F E E, C D E E D D, C, or something like that. I was absolutely fascinated with this. I played all my variations and extensions of this theme. I eventually moved away from the "climbing" nature. Must've been about a hundred different things I did with it, I kid you not. And THEN, I had this version that I stuck with. It was only 6 measures long. I added a left hand, that was an octave down from the right. I was bold enough to call it my own. "Rainy Day," I titled it. And then I felt a glow. This was SO FUN. Seriously it was. I'd never known such joy. Suddenly the possibilities seemed endless. So endless I could run forever with it. I printed more blank staff paper.

Like anyone, I experimented more with C major. I had in the meantime abandoned the Pianonanny lessons (I'd gone as far as a few lessons into intermediate, but I felt I knew enough about piano playing by then). I wrote another "song" called "Drifting Clouds" - again, 6 measures, and with no left hand accompaniment this time, just melody. I was playing with arpeggios, even though I didn't know it at the time. But this was the first original piece I had ever written, and it made me feel amazing.

Admittedly, I was pretty bad at translating the melodic rhythms from my mind correctly onto paper, so the notes were right, but the melody really wasn't. And the time signatures sometimes weren't. A melody called "Tears in the Ashes" came a little later. I was feeling rebellious; this was in C but started on an F. I liked the result. It was a whole 10 measures this time! Although, I wrote it in 5/4, even though it wasn't 5/4 in my mind. I still know how the original melody went though. Of course, my sister said I copied "Jurassic Park" for some reason, even though it sounded nothing like it. What did I care? She was 8.

I continued to listen to rap with my family.

And then, a revolutionary thing happened, on as grand of a scale as the Revolutionary War. I thought, "Why am I only writing these happy songs that end in C?" So I randomly chose....G. In fact, I came up with something in G [natural] minor. (I wrote the Bb's as A#'s lol, and I didn't even use Eb's.) The melody was simple - dark. I liked it. I liked it a lot. Naturally, I didn't know it was in G minor. I called it "To Arms!" It made me think of soldiers getting their weapons in a war. I played it SO MUCH on my piano, that it was stuck in my head for years afterward.

But this minor key! Ah, I loved it so much. I didn't know how to use it. I just knew it in my mind as "darker music," or "battle themes." I came up with another, in the left hand, in F minor actually. I called it "The Drums of War." Not as fantastic a theme, but enjoyable.

And then I relaxed a bit. I had come far. I looked back at my first composition "Drifting Clouds," and I realized the potential for the melody. I extended it. I came up with a pseudo-B theme. It was 20 measures! A record for me.

A little whiles later (and by this time I was in 8th grade), I took another large step. I started writing a song entitled "And Then It Was Dark..." This was my first song in D minor, which remains my favorite key to this day. I made use for the first time of call-and-answer between the right and left hand. I used a master repeat around the first four measures. And then I explored random rhythms, switching from 4/4 to 5/4 to 5/8 to 9/8. The song went unfinished, but it took my music in a new direction.

I didn't add to that staff paper. I eventually moved on to computer software. I searched long and hard for a free notation program. I downloaded a "Mozart" program, which was okay. I wrote some really long, almost pointless songs on it. But I could never save, which was a downside (it was a demo.) I couldn't even print. I stuck with piano still, as I was most comfortable with it. Eventually I quit with Mozart, and did some more research.

When asked what I wanted for Christmas, I told my parents Finale, which, from all appearances, seemed a great program. Instead, I got Finale Notepad, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I could have 8 staves, and it was fairly easy to use, though it took a while to transcribe music. I started to branch out instrumentally a bit-piano with violin, some percussion, organs. I was learning. I wrote some songs and melodies that I was very proud of.

Now, at some point, my family rented a Harry Potter movie. Pay attention, this is important. I liked the movie, sure. But I especially noticed the music. Really, for the first time specifically I wanted to know more about the score in this movie. I looked at the back of the DVD case. John Williams. The name rang some bells...

Shortly after this we purchased the Rhapsody program that lets you download songs. I looked up John Williams. I was so surprised. He had written the music for so many films-Harry Potter, Jaws, Star Wars, E.T., the list went on. I listened to almost all of his music on there, which wasn't a whole bunch to be honest.

But then, I got into Lord of the Rings music (all three movies were out by this time). I loved it. Howard Shore...the first CD I burned was the Return of the King soundtrack. I listened to it countless time...And then I discovered geniuses like Danny Elfman. All this new music-I hadn't known music like this was out there! Forget rap.

And then-Classical. Everyone knew the name of Beethoven and Mozart. That's all I knew. I looked up Beethoven and discovered such familiar music. Moonlight Sonata was there. Fur Elise was too, and I showed my brother, but he didn't remember hearing it before. Whatever. He had such genius music, from his symphonies. Not nearly all of his music was there, but a good amount. I explored other classical composers, branching into
Mozart, Rossini, and others. This was amazing. I finally had some inspiration. This was a huge, huge step.

After 8th grade, I moved to Wilmington. Now, in 7th grade, a friend of mine had shown me Newgrounds (it had been 2003 then, before the audio portal I believe). We watched a few stupid flashes, but for some reason the name-as well as that awesome tank logo-stuck with me.

Near the start of 9th grade, I looked up Newgrounds again on my computer, the first time in two years. Looked different than I remembered, but I still saw that tank. I watched a few front page flashes, trying to refresh my memory. I looked around, and started learning about how to produce audio. Following a trail, I ended up downloading Anvil Studio, a simple midi-sequencing software. I transferred some of my Notepad songs onto here, and made midis. Then I got a midi-to-mp3 converter, and made some mp3s. They sounded terrible, but I was okay with that. I started to write more music in Anvil, even though it had terrible options composition wise.

One day, I visited Newgrounds again. And then-lo and behold!-near the bottom I saw the two featured audio for the day. One was Winterwind's Waltz no. 2 in Bm. Audio? I didn't know there was audio on Newgrounds. Music, though. My memories of composing flooded back. I clicked on the Waltz. Hey! It was a great piece. I listened to it several times. The audio portal was completely new to me. I explored Winterwind's profile-his email was there. I emailed him for sheet music, thinking I could play it. Sure, he said I need Noteworthy Composer. I download it. But then! I tried to get the file from the email, but it wouldn't work. He kept trying to send it, but I couldn't download. It made me really sad. He seemed to feel bad too.

How did I get a Newgrounds account, I asked him. He told me, and I signed up immediately. The first thing I did was review his Waltz. I continued to write some music in Anvil Studio. And then-one day I decided to submit music. This was about a month after signing up. I submitted badly made mp3s, wondering what the people of Newgrounds would think.

DarkOtaku was my first reviewer. He seemed to really like my music, saying it reminded him of his own. I checked him out-reviewed some of his work. I continued to submit songs that were in all honesty crappy. But then I made a breakthrough melodically with "The Moon's Lullaby." Its only major fault was that it was only right hand; no accompaniment, but I soon fixed that. Soon after I wrote what remained my masterpiece for a while: Shadow Waltz in D minor. I got a good amount of popularity with that one, by my standards. But all of this was midi-generated sounds, so they sounded horrible still. And then a friendly stranger called Jimbobsthebest approached me, offering to use his mystical softwares to make my piano music sound better-specifically Shadow Waltz. I let him, and after a while he sent it back, sounding amazing. He'd even remixed it with percussion and such, and I submitted that as well, crediting him. He went on to sequence The Moon's Lullaby, among others.

By now, I was getting handy with Noteworthy Composer. I decided I would try to compose with it. I added Winterwind on AIM after a long time of no-contact. He helped me out as I tried to feel my way around it. I used A major-why not? And a waltz, that would do; I was inspired by Winter's waltz. After about a month, and with many failed attempts and prodding from Winterwind, I had a finished product-Waltz no. 4 in A presto gaudioso, easily my best piece to date. Harmonically unsound, of course, but a HUGE step toward musical success for me. I used a free piano plugin in FL Studio, which I had recently downloaded (the demo, of course.) It didn't sound half-bad, but it was still almost-midi. Ah, well. I liked the piece, and I went a while without submitting more.

I started exploring other Classical artists on NG. Most specifically was Simon, whose music I loved. In April, he emailed me with stunning news. He had taken the themes from The Moon's Lullaby, Shadow Waltz, and my Waltz no. 4 and formed an orchestral arrangement, GPO'd and all. It was truly amazing work, and the email included priceless composition advice, which I took to heart. Soon after, I added him on AIM as well and proposed that he and I might collaborate; even though I was still figuring my way around Noteworthy (he had Noteworthy as well.) He agreed on the idea.

I started to develop some thematic ideas, and meanwhile I was working on another composition, which had strings, a piano, and a celesta. But more on that later.

I sent a rough idea for our collab to Simon, which was basically an arpeggiated chord progression in a piano left hand with a simple theme in the right hand, all in D minor. Very repetitive. Simon said the arpeggios gave him an idea. I have no idea what he meant. But then, some weeks or so later, he emailed me with a genius start to the piece. String orchestra and a piano stared me in the face, and a new primary theme played in my ears. He'd also GPO'd this minute-and-a-half checkpoint. We continued to bounce back and forth ideas over where this thing was headed, as Simon taught me about some music theory. This changed my thinking of music, and undoubtedly shaped my future compositions.

We decided to have a slower section with a glockenspiel, and creeping strings, signifying a contrasting mood. Later on I introduced a variation of the main theme, a more noble tone to it. After some variations and resolutions, the piece ended with a bang. He and I were very proud of it, and this collaboration taught me so much about music, and the capabilities of the strings.

In the meantime, I had finished the other song I was working on, called Creepingly because it reminded me of someone creeping around in a haunted mansion. Winterwind offered to Edirol it, which was a huge relief. In the end, it sounded amazing, and became my most popular piece yet, staying on the front page for at least a few days.

It was November before Simon's and my collab was packaged and ready to be submitted. After a while we agreed upon the title Dance of the Shadows, but then we changed it to The Dance of Shadows. Perfect title. I can't say the public embraced it, but that didn't matter. It was a huge triumph for me.

I was starting to get better at composing-no doubt about that, but I was still shaky around orchestras. In July, I'd entered a piano piece in the first MAC, and escaped with 10th place: not bad. But I needed more stability around strings and orchestras. What to do...?

I decided to learn to play violin. I'd always wanted to, of course. But now was a prime time. A little later, when signing up for classes for sophomore year, I signed up for orchestra, and in the summer, I had weekly lessons, hoping to be able to learn the instrument in two months before school started up again. I did. The violin was fascinating, and helped me understand not only strings but more about music. I learned conducting among other things.

In orchestra class, I felt like I was at home. The ability to play music in an ensemble was so thrilling, it inspired me to write music like I'd never been inspired before. I learned the ranges of the strings without meaning to, and spending time in a string orchestra helped me really get a grasp on it. I soon wrote A Familiar Blanket of Snow, which was beyond anything prior. It got me 8th place in the Christmas MAC of October, and it was played on Radiogrounds. I was elated.

My mom, making me look foolish, went and asked my teacher if we could play A Familiar Blanket of Snow for our Spring concert. Surprisingly, after my teacher had looked over the score, she said yes. Over the next months we worked on my piece, and I eventually had to rewrite the first violin part because it was so hard. But I made my way upon the stage in May, and conducted my own piece in front of an audience. It was exhilarating!

Needless to say, I continued with violin playing, which I loved. I learned more theory, with Simon helping along, and Winterwind too. I got tons better at composing over the summer, writing a symphony. That summer was the most drastic change of my music. I got tons better at orchestra as a whole.

And now, I've had a string piece Autumn Breeze performed at our fall concert just this month. I love music theory, and I try to learn more about musical styles every day. Hopefully my music has evolved as much as it seems to me, and hopefully you enjoy listening as much as I enjoy writing it.

And now I hope you can see the heart behind my music.

Rocky