Balancing schoolwork, friends and family are all struggles most students face while going through high school. However, having a creative outlet, such as creating music, has provided many students at South to thrive.

Ian Plansker ’20 has been composing music since the fifth grade, after picking up the flute in the elementary school band program.

“I realized then that I could understand much of the world’s classical music and imitate it effectively,” Plansker said. “So, I hoped that by my own composing, I might one day be able to contribute to the musical canon.”

Grahm Bierkle ’20, a member of the band “BBF”, said he was inspired by the idea of creating songs that make people think about existing in the universe.

“I’d say our songs reflect the deepest, innermost questions that most people can’t bear to answer,” Bierkle said. “We address these questions in a philosophical way.”

Bierkle said his favorite part of the song-creating process is finding a good beat to use. The band usually searches YouTube until they find a free one that they like, he said, whether it’s funny or just sounds good.

“My inspiration for my lyrics comes from when I’m in the shower and I think of a phrase that would go well over a beat,” Bierkle said. “There isn’t a whole lot of inspiration; it really just comes naturally.”

Plansker said the process and time commitment of composing pieces entirely depends on the situation at hand.

“When I composed the 20 minutes worth of incidental music for South’s production of “Twelfth Night” last year, I wrote all the music in one weekend,” Plansker said. “Other times, I’ll end up spending two weeks on a single movement of a piece.”

Bierkle said the band uses an editing software called GarageBand to physically make the songs, and then uploads them to SoundCloud for people to listen to the songs for free.

“This process (of making a song) can take anywhere from 20 minutes to two weeks,” Bierkle said. “It just depends on when everyone has time and is available to come and make the song together.”

Plansker said he makes money off of composing and frequently receives commissions from professional orchestras and soloists.
“This past December, I was commissioned by the Toronto Chamber Choir to compose a sacred choral piece using one of the Marian Antiphons,” Plansker said. “For this upcoming June, I am composing a set of six flute sonatas to be professionally recorded by a baroque flautist.”

Plansker said he plans on majoring in historical flute and harpsichord performance, which is broadly focused on the performance and research of pre-20th-century music as the original audiences would have heard it.

“Since I compose in historical styles, I intend to integrate the two further as I progress through college and graduate,” Plansker said. “Eventually, I would like to begin a historical opera company and compose new operas for it that are in the historical style, but that have been updated in their presentation to become more accessible to the modern audience.”

James VandeWyngearde ’20 said his favorite part about being in the band BBF is the brotherhood and the pizza another band member’s mom provides for them every Friday night.

“We threw a concert back in 2018, and about 250 people came,” VandeWyngearde said. “It was probably the best night of my life.”

Plansker said he frequently performs his music in front of an array of audiences.

“This past summer, I performed in a presentation of one of my operas, ‘The Spectres’,” Plansker said. “It is always an unparalleled experience to hear your work evolve from the keyboard reductions it’s composed into its fully orchestrated form, which is simply a sound that cannot be obtained in the convenience of your own home. I was thrilled to see this happen with my opera. Currently, I am performing in my incidental music for South’s upcoming production of Macbeth, which you can see May 30 and 31 in the auditorium.”

VandeWyngearde said he plans on continuing making music beyond high school.

“We want to continue to make songs and be the voices of our generation,” VandeWyngearde said. “We won’t let our fans down.”