Melodies, rhythm and emotion flow through sophomore Jesse Spain as he writes out measures of music — notes, chords and scales play in his head, forming his own symphony.
At just 6 years old, Jesse embarked on his musical journey, following in his brother Zachary’s footsteps.
“My mom signed me up for a class at the Community School of Music and Arts, so I started playing music,” Jesse said. “The teacher, Christina Stein, would play the trumpet. My brother started playing trumpet, learning from her, and then I did whatever he did, so I started playing trumpet too.”
As Jesse progressed with the trumpet, Zachary said he started to create his own songs.
“(Jesse) would make these songs, and we still have them written down, and then Christina said he should do piano because trumpet is not a great instrument for composing,” Zachary said. “When he gets home he’ll go to the piano and then you can hear it through the whole house because of where it sits. Sometimes he’ll record on his phone, and then maybe he’ll write it down later, because he does a lot of writing assignments.”
Often playing and composing three hours a day, Zachary said Jesse has developed a unique way of thinking about composition.
“He has a vision for how it sounds, but I don’t think you can see it from the computer,” Zachary said. “You can’t see the notes. But he does.”
Eventually Jesse began experimenting with other instruments, and he now plays the trumpet, oboe and piano, performing in Paly’s band, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. With lots of free time during the pandemic, Jesse composed many pieces, some of which have been performed in a quartet or jazz band.
“I’ve written a lot of pieces, (but) I’ve probably only written a handful of pieces that I am actually proud of, most of which I wrote after I began to learn traditional harmony.” Jesse said. “I try to give them names with more personality than ‘Sonata No. 1’ or something like that. The pieces I wrote last year were named ‘Mélange,’ ‘Elefante’ and ‘Baguette Tails.’”
In these pieces, Jesse said his style veers away from modern music which sometimes lacks harmony.
“Composing has become much more formulaic than it once was,” Jesse said. “Everyone is using too much dissonance and trying to develop their voice, and they have lost sight of what they were trying to accomplish in the first place. You have to make your pieces authentic and unique without falling into the strange world of modern music.”
His taste in music and early interest in composing came from his teacher Christina Stein. He also said his SFCM teacher has further helped develop his compositional skills.
“(Christina) is still my teacher now, and we would do some composition things like turning poems into songs,” Jesse said. “Last year, I joined the conservatory where we compose music. I’ll have assignments like, ‘Write a piece for this instrumentation’. And sometimes I’ll hear a melody, or I’ll play on the piano and come up with a melody. My (SFCM) composition teacher helps me with transitions and thinking about the piece as a whole, rather than just a melody with an accompaniment.”
Jesse not only draws inspiration from his mentors but also from the composers he plays.
“When we’re playing in orchestra, Tchaikovsky or Mahler were my main inspirations,” Jesse said.
From the view of a composer, Jesse said he hopes more people come to appreciate classical music for the emotion it’s able to convey.
“Classical music is underappreciated because it doesn’t really have lyrics most of the time,” Jesse said. “It’s not very relatable, but it’s more about feeling — the development of a melody. It’s not for everyone, and I think a lot of people think it’s boring. You just have to listen more closely.”
As Jesse continues to compose pieces and share his work, he hopes more will be able to perform his pieces.
“The jazz band played my piece last year, so that was one of the first pieces they had performed,” Jesse said. “Last year, I had a few pieces performed in a quartet. And I (also) have a piece in my backpack that I’m hoping to get performed.”
