Meet Haben Naizghi, a self-taught composer and conductor. The middle school, multi-instrumental musician found his passion for music during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has since grown to love composing, playing violin and piano, and most recently, conducting. In this transcript of my Zoom interview with Haben, we learn how he uses software to write his own music, and how he established a strings ensemble during lunch at his school.
Tell me a little about yourself; hobbies, grade, what instrument you play.
So, I started playing music in 5th grade with the piano. I took piano lessons for a bit. What happened was that in school, they introduce instruments in 5th grade, so I picked up the violin. I went through 5th grade and 6th grade, and then COVID happened. During COVID I wanted to do something with my free time, so we were able to get a private teacher for violin. My passion for classical music and working with that kind of aspect of music grew from there, so slowly but surely I became more engrossed in the classical music community, especially by watching TwoSet Violin. So that’s kind of how I started playing violin more passionately, composing, and now leading an ensemble.
So I heard you do a bit of your own composing. Could you tell me a little about what the process is like in composing a piece, and the challenges of writing your own music?
I don’t spend a lot of time composing all the time and going all in every single day, I compose when I feel like I’m not doing much extracurriculars and I want to be more busy. Generally, I play around on the piano or the violin depending on what instrument I’m composing for until I find a core melody.
"As long as you get that one bit of inspiration, then just it flows."
I use flat.io as my composing software.
Who are some of your biggest inspirations in music?
Of course, I'm going to say it again, TwoSet Violin. I wouldn’t have gotten this deep into classical music if not for them, and I think a lot of my friends have the same experience as me. Besides that, a lot of inspirations are one, people I know. Mr. Perazzo was a teacher who taught me for two years at Harvest Park, and he always wanted me to compose more, so I strive to do that. A lot of my friends, especially in the ensemble, also are very supportive with the music that I create. I think the big composers of the past who created so much music really inspired me to create my music and to find my own self. Especially composers who have crazy backstories like Dvorak, who got his inspiration from nature, and Vivaldi, who was the first composer in a long time to be using nature as a motif in his music. Composers and people around me all influence me.
I heard you mention nature, does that inspire you as a composer?
Yeah, it kind of does. I tend to compose in a major key a lot. I like to go hiking and I go out a lot and it does influence my work. I'm going to Canada over this winter, and I'm very excited about that. I'm going to see snow, so I hope to compose a piece or multiple pieces.
What is conducting like? Did you have to learn anything specific, or did you just pick it up from years of watching school conductors?
My current teacher in string orchestra is going to teach me more. I’m kind of in the learning process of that. Conducting, if I were to describe it, is to bring everyone together. I find that conducting is the best when you rehearse a piece, you don’t just give everyone their parts and start to play. So when you rehearse a piece, you tell them how to do specific parts of a piece this way or that way, how to add a certain amount of elements to a piece. While you’re conducting, you remind the people who are playing at this part to make sure to play really quiet, or off the string, or really loud. It’s kind of just guiding the musicians to show them not only how to be in time, because that's the core structure of it, but how to play the piece with passion and with the element of emotion in it.
"Show them not only how to be in time, because that’s the core structure of it, but how to play the piece with passion and with the element of emotion."
What’s the inspiration for the name, “Deez Bread," the name of your ensemble?
Um, you know, that’s one of those questions that is extremely hard to answer. I kind of put the idea out that we might need a good name. Let’s just say the ladies of our group had an idea and they later assigned all of us in the group different roles; the violins are sweet bread, the cellos are croissants. Everyone gets their bread roles. Then they went another step and made posters with the “Deez Bread” ensemble.
Why did you decide to start this ensemble?
It kind of just started by itself, I just made it official. We were just meeting every day at lunch. There were people drawing anime on the whiteboard, playing violin and messing around, so one day I just walked into the band room during lunch and joined them. We would rehearse and play the pieces we were learning in orchestra, and one day I was like, "Why don’t we just print out sheet music?" So, I printed out Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and we started to play. It was pretty fun, and more and more people wanted to come in and play with us. Soon, everyone wanted to be a part of this community and play together.
Do you have any future plans for the group, such as starting a YouTube presence or performing at venues?
That’s kind of what one of our people have been suggesting. I’ve been talking to people that are nice to get advice from, and one person has been pushing me to lead the group to perform outside of school or start a YouTube channel, which my Mom suggested. I don’t know about this semester because we’re kind of fresh, but we definitely have a concert planned this semester. But in high school, I think it’s going to be even better because we will have a lot more experience and the repertoire will be so much higher. I am planning in the future to start going out of school and start rehearsals possibly after school. It is something that is becoming an increasing possibility.
Do you know what you want to do in the future or the next few years as a career?
It’s something I’ve been thinking of. I’ve always had my career path thought out, especially recently because the pandemic has driven me to think about my future. So because of me thinking ahead, I’m kind of subconsciously thinking about what I'm doing during high school and after high school. Now that high school is less than a year away, it makes me think more about it. I've only been taking private lessons for a year, but I recently traveled to New York to perform a solo and play with a chamber group. Music has become more of my life and I’ve been enjoying it more. Even if I don’t become a musician (which I think I most likely will), I still want it to be a part of my life. No matter what happens, it will always be in my heart.
What advice would you give to other students who maybe want to start conducting, composing, or start learning music in general?
That’s a good question, actually. I think if you want to start the best way is to make it your own. Music isn’t something like reading, or math, or something you’ve learned in school. It’s something you can make your own and put your own style into it; you can make something totally different.
"So that’s how I think people should start making music -- making it your own."
Once you really start to learn an instrument you should broaden your horizons. I think for me, composing was really great because it releases my creativity and makes me more creative. When you release your creativity it’s almost like a representation of who you are. I think that’s what music is; who you really are. So if you make music like that, you are a musician.