By Isaac Siegemund-Broka
Entertainment Web Editor
Playing music just wasn’t enough for senior Tristan Köster.
Even though he had to give up the piano after five years, he still plays the cello in Mira Costa’s symphony orchestra and has joined the multicultural choir this year. Along the way, Köster also started playing the guitar, and currently performs in the Mira Costa Jazz band.
“When I started playing in third grade, all 90 of the students went to one classroom with one teacher. She crowded us into a room and taught us to play,” Köster said.
When he first became involved with composition, Köster was looking for a way to articulate his own musical ideas instead of playing others’ pieces in the school ensembles.
“I wasn’t getting enough in the orchestra. I wasn’t able to express my own melodies and feelings. I wanted to do my own thing,” Köster said.
Köster’s true introduction to composition came when former orchestral director Chris Schwabe informed him of a composition fellowship at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Out of close to 180 applicants, Köster was accepted as one of the top five, but was later cut when the number of open spots dropped to four. Despite the cut, the experience made Köster realize his potential as a composer.
“I thought, hey, why not continue with music and composition; I think this might be my niche,” Köster said.
After he found a desire to compose, Köster threw himself into the art, trying out all types of music. Still attempting to find his own style, he listens to immense amounts of music and composes different varieties of songs.
“I used to write really slow, somber songs, then I started to write faster songs, then trippy and weird songs. I’m writing in every style I can think of. Hopefully when I pursue music in college, I will find my own voice. Right now, I am just experimenting with everything and trying to be as eclectic as I can possibly be,” Köster said.
With aspirations of pursuing composition as a career, Köster hopes to enter a college or conservatory and then go to graduate school for composition and for conducting.
“My ultimate goal would be to write for a symphony orchestra or my own ensemble,” Köster said. “That’s not going to happen in the beginning, so I hope to pursue a life of composing in the movie business. Once I build up a repertoire with that, hopefully people will see me and hire me for big gigs.”
Köster also took AP music theory last year, which helped him add structure to his compositions.
“One thing I appreciated about Tristan was that he has a lot of ideas and he writes them all down, which is what the best composers do,” AP music theory teacher Joel Carlson said.
To begin a composition, Köster first finds a melody and then thinks of the routes in which he could take it, creating a structure and path for the theme to follow.
“With me, getting started is the hardest part. I’ll come up with a melody somehow. I don’t know how; it just happens. Then I sit alone and figure out what direction I want to go in with this song and what I want do with it,” Köster said.
In addition to composing, Köster has competed in many competitions and performed in a variety of honor groups for the cello, including the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association.
“I played in an orchestra with the University of Texas’s conductor; it was really fun,” Köster said.
Köster is currently working on four compositions for his college applications as well as one for Costa’s choirs.
“Tristan’s caliber of work is very impressive for someone so young; his pieces show a great deal of commitment and creativity, and they are a joy to play,” senior orchestra member Maura Chen said.
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