Joey Hwang, a young composer, performs his original composition with the Pioneer Band. He has been writing music since middle school and a few of his pieces have been performed by the band. Most recently, Hwang’s piece called “Groovin” was featured at the annual Bands in Review concert.
“I wrote it in the middle of my freshman year, and I finished it the following summer,” Hwang said. “I had lots of inspiration from Danzas Cubanas, a piece I played my freshman year at band camp.”
At the Bands in Review concert, young musicians from all around Ann Arbor get to show off their skills. To begin, the middle school bands at Tappan, Slauson and Ann Arbor Open played, followed by the Pioneer High School bands: Varsity Band, Concert Band White, Concert Band Purple and Symphony Band. Students from CHS jazz also played in small ensembles.
This wasn’t Hwang’s first time composing music. He also composed a piece of music for the spring concert at Pioneer during his freshman year.
“I wrote a piece called Lakeside and played it at Picnic Pops [concert] when I was in Concert Purple [Band] last year,” Hwang said. “It was about the lake at band camp, and the memories I got from it.”
Hwang was already getting his music performed by bands when he was in middle school. CHS jazz student Stav Shani recalls his experience playing Hwang’s music.
“I’ve played music that [Hwang] has composed before,” Shani said. “At Tappan, he composed a song for jazz band. He’s really good at composing”
Some of the music Hwang wrote in the past was slow and melodic but he wanted a different feel for Bands in Review. Hwang explained that he wanted to write an exciting, flashy piece to perform at the Bands in Review concert.
“I wanted the piece to groove, I wanted people to groove while listening to it. And wanted to have fun with it,” Hwang said. “The first piece I wrote for Concert Purple was melodic and gentle, but for this one, I wanted a completely different style. I wanted a fun, energetic piece.”
Hwang’s composition for Bands in Review was indeed energetic. The piece featured brass and woodwind sections and soloists and had complicated percussion rhythms. It had a fast tempo and a lot more notes than other pieces he has written.
The fast and energetic percussion parts were a little bit of a challenge for Hwang to write as he doesn’t have as much experience with percussion as other instruments. However, he was able to overcome the challenge of writing for an instrument he doesn’t play by finding inspiration online and in class.
“Percussion is definitely my weak suit. I’ve never played percussion. The only way I’ve learned how to write percussion is by looking at scores, especially Danzas Cubanas,” Hwang said. “There’s a PDF online. I look at it and I’m like ‘I like this sound, I like this instrument.’ and then I play the rhythm in my head”
He shares how it is important to understand what each instrument can play and what their purpose is in the band.
“It takes research,” Hwang said. “Watching YouTube and observing [what each of the instruments is used for] during class.”
Hwang has had his music performed in the past but not at this big of a concert. In the past, his music was played by middle school band and Concert Band Purple. At Bands in Review, his piece was played by Pioneer Symphony Band–one of the best high school bands in the country. He shared his experience of getting his music performed by such a high level ensemble.
“It was so fun. [I got] lots of positive comments,” Hwang said. “Lots of positive comments from teachers, lots of positive comments from students.”
Hwang has written many different types of music for different ensembles and events, and for Bands in Review, he chose to show off his fast and exciting piece. He revealed why he wanted that style of music for that specific concert.
“The reason why I wanted to play this at Bands in Review is because I wanted to inspire the middle school students,” Hwang said. “I wanted to show that they can do cool stuff like this in band.”
Because all of the middle school students get to hear the great band program at Pioneer, they are inspired to practice and excited to join band in high school. Hwang’s music had a real impact on these students because for some of them, it is their first time hearing the band at Pioneer.
