The final results of Mizzou’s Creating Original Music Project came out a day late, and participant Ian Lundholm thought he didn’t win. But he soon found out that he had taken first place in the competition.
Ian, who was then a seventh-grader at Platte County Middle School said he was shocked when he was notified that he had won the middle school division’s electronically produced music category, out of 148 entries.
Ian Lundholm
Ian said his parents were super proud when they found out, but they wanted to wait until he was home to tell him that he had won. “They brought me a cake that said ‘congratulations!’ and showed me the email.”
“There were a lot of submissions, but there was middle school, high school, and elementary school plus several different categories for each age level, so I thought I had a good chance of getting on the podium or even winning,” Ian said.
He became interested in music at an early age. “What got me into music was a keyboard that used to be my great-grandma’s, who unfortunately is not here with us. I would learn different chords and patterns, and I remember them as faces. That stuck with me, and now I know music theory. Ever since then I have been playing piano.”
In the school band he also plays trumpet. He formerly played the cello, but lost interest in it, so he quit to spend more time on his main interest, the piano.
Electronically produced music became a big interest for Ian after playing the video game Geometry Dash. The game challenges players to jump, fly and flip their way through dangerous passages and spiky obstacles through rhythm-based action.
Electronic Dance Music, (EDM) is basically any form of music that is both produced electronically with digital (computers) and analogue equipment, and is designed primarily to be danced to. It usually contains instruments and sounds such as synthesizers, drum machines, processed samples and recordings.
“I like Geometry Dash, which is a rhythm-based game,” Ian said. “I saw a cover on YouTube of someone playing one of the songs from the game on an electronic instrument, and I thought that was so cool, so i thought I should try it. Later I stopped doing covers and I started producing music.”
Ian continues to look for new EDM genres but some of his favorites go by the usernames: Infolwer, Au5, Chime, Virtual Riot, and Tangermusic.
Making music is fun for Ian. He was watching music theory videos and trying out some new chords, which resulted in a beautiful chord progression, so he decided to keep it, and go with it for his presentation at the Creating Original Music Project. It took him about three weeks to finish the composition.
Winning first-place for his music was not only exciting for Ian, it also resulted in a $1,000 scholarship. He received his award at the University of Missouri Music Department. Platte County Middle School’s music program also received a $1,000 matching grant.
“I was exited!” Ian said. “I decided to use it on a PC, because the other computer I used was really old, and getting a new one was really beneficial and helped a lot.”
The most rewarding part of composing his own music is that he gets to choose what happens. “You can make your composition long or short, boring or loud, grand or small. Playing someone else’s music just doesn’t seem that ‘creditable’ to me. So my favorite part is the control over the piece you make.”
Excited to begin eighth-grade, Ian said he did everything he wanted to do over the summer and he is eager to get back into a routine and looks forward to seeing all his friends at school every day.
“I am on the robotics team and band, and I enjoy that, but outside of school I enjoy a competitive hobby called speed cubing, where you solve twisty puzzles commonly known as the Rubik’s Cube as fast as possible,” Ian said. “I also enjoy listening to music, and going to our church’s youth group.”
Composing music is something that Ian enjoys and he spends a lot time working on.
“I may pursue it as a job job someday,” Ian said. “I might go full-time music producing without going to college. There are plenty of ways to make money off of music production without a scholarship, but having one can open up so many doors for jobs. I’ll let time decide.”