Junior DaSilva establishes Music Production Club at Costa, releases new single

By Grace Dietz
Copy Editor

Junior Victoria DaSilva gets busy creating music and managing her new music production club at Mira Costa.
DaSilva has loved making music long before she thought of creating a music production club at Costa. According to DaSilva, writing songs is the perfect way to express herself. She has a passion for singing as well as playing instruments such as guitar, piano and violin.
“Sometimes I would just come up with melodies in my head and make a song on the guitar,” DaSilva said. “That’s when I became inspired to learn how to formally record them.”
With a preference for rap, reggae and R&B music, DaSilva creates music that incorporates those three genres in her music. She recently published her first formal track, “The Promise in Life,” on SoundCloud on Nov. 25.
“[The song says that] when things seem to be going wrong, you just stick to your gut and the universe will bring you good things. It’s the promise in life,” DaSilva said. “Once I make more [songs] and am happier with the finished product
then I’m going to publicize them more.”
One of the many reasons that DaSilva created her club at Costa is to experiment with different ideas and collaborate with other students. One of the hardest things about producing music is choosing how to express herself and how to turn her experiences into music tracks, DaSilva said. Another difficulty is figuring out the computer software that she uses.
“Figuring out how to record ideas onto the computer can be really tricky,” DaSilva said. “Trying to find the sound that matches an idea I have in my head can be challenging, but the more [I] practice, the easier it becomes.”
When the school year started, DaSilva wanted to create an environment where struggling musicians could come together and help guide each other through the world of music. She also wanted to form new allies and connections with musicians that she could make music with, DaSilva said.
“My primary goal was to meet new people who I could collaborate with,” DaSilva said. “[And then have] the goal of inspiring each other and pursuing our unique goals. I also wanted to set aside time to make music for myself because with such busy lives, it can be hard to find that time.”
DaSilva’s music production club currently has 10 to 15 members and continues to grow every week. In order to promote her club, she posts flyers around school, makes announcements on social media and puts announcements in Costa’s daily bulletin. Ultimately, DaSilva’s club is a free space where student-musicians have the chance to collaborate with each other and practice their musical skills.
“It’s hard to tell [club members] exactly what to do because I myself am still figuring stuff out. A lot of it is individual trial and error and personal opinion about what you like and think sounds good,” DaSilva said. “So many people have different music tastes and a different idea of what kind of music they want to produce in the club.”
The advisor for DaSilva’s new club is Mark McCormick, who is the Music Theory class teacher at Costa and teaches digital music production. By choosing McCormick as her club’s advisor, the club members have access to his software and equipment to help them make their music.
“The goal is to produce original songs by the end of the semester. It’s mainly an opportunity for people to learn more about how to write their own music and record it,” DaSilva said. “Members of the club and Mr. McCormick help each other out with technical questions or with making lyrics and coming up with melodies.”
By the end of the year, she hopes that students get the chance to collaborate with other club members and make as many tracks as possible. If students are interested in joining DaSilva’s music production club, the club meets on Wednesdays during AM Office Hours in room 51.
“The club is still getting up and running, and new people are still showing up, but I look forward to the end products that come out of this club,” DaSilva said. “If you like making your own music or want to learn how, come to my club! The more inspired minds, the better.”