User:ZLeffew

My Background

My name is Zachary Leffew. My musical experience started as a small boy in the first grade. I was in my parents’ bedroom on some insignificant day of some insignificant week. Seeing a trumpet player on a local television station, I decided that I wanted to learn the trumpet. After what seemed like mere days, my mother came home with a trumpet for me to learn. I took lessons from my music pastor at church, as well as school lessons. In the fourth grade, the director of the Atlanta Boy Choir visited my school to audition boys for the choir’s 2002 season. After receiving a letter to re-audition at the choir house, I became passionate about singing. The boy choir has played an invaluable and significant role in my experience with music. I toured with the boy choir as a soloist until the ninth grade. My senior year, my director formed a new boy choir, the Georgia Boy Choir. I decided to rejoin, and I still keep a very close connection with the director. During my school years, I also competed in State and National competitions for male vocal solo. The highest I achieved was third nationally. While in middle school, I was introduced to the guitar. I played my father’s acoustic guitar for a while before investing in an electric guitar. Being brought up with a dad who liked classic rock, it was not hard to find music to play. I enjoyed playing with the youth and adult band at church, and I frequented talent shows. My senior year of high school, and first year of college, I performed with friends as the Zack Leffew Band. We were a cover band that played everything from Earth, Wind & Fire to Van Halen. When I first arrived at Berklee, I had little knowledge of my long-term goals. I was proficient in guitar, but I did not see myself as a guitar performer exclusively. After a few semesters of searching, I realized that I love orchestrations and conducting. Sometimes, I wish that I had one area of the musical realm in which I was a complete genius. It seems as though my passions are so spread that they turn to ambiguity and mediocrity. As of today, I am trying to find how all my passions fit into one perfect musical package.

My Music

The characterization of my music is constantly changing. I suppose that, because I am immersed in a unique musical world right now, I feel freer to experiment with what my music can be. I have composed film scores with lush string melodies. I have composed singer/songwriter tunes. I have composed a guitar-instrumental metal song. One of my latest passions has been to arrange popular songs for string quintet, piano, guitar, and voice. The sound of strings and piano is hard to surpass in a contemporary pop musical setting. My singing style was molded out of being an alto soloist and, eventually, a tenor soloist. I attempt to incorporate my trained voice to more popular music. A vague comparison could be that of Josh Groban. When appropriate, I sing in a more contemporary style. I am currently producing an original country/pop song with my band. For that I will use electric guitar, bass, drum set, organ, acoustic guitar, mandolin, violin, and voice. It will have a country vibe meaning that I will adjust my voice in order to suit the style. My target audience is largely middle-aged females. It seems to me that mature females enjoy the more traditional voice as well as the string quintet-piano mix. I will pursue my unique group of instrumentalists, because I feel like it is something new and interesting for people to hear. It will intrigue them more than just a typical band. My music is very subjective. My music will never completely align with another person’s music. But, music is music whether we realize it or not.