Katie Mitchell
Staff Writer
Senior Lucas Chen spent his past few years developing his passion for music and plans to continue doing so throughout college.
Chen is currently a percussionist in the Mira Costa wind symphony and symphony orchestra. He spent the last two years as a part of the pit orchestra for Costa’s musicals. His major involvement in Costa’s music department led him to become a mentor for the Elementary School Honor Band Percussionists where he teaches 4th and 5th grade students at all local elementary schools how to play percussion, as well as different percussion techniques.
“I really enjoy playing for Costa because there are so many different groups you can play with,” Chen said. “There are really a lot of opportunities and genres that Costa offers.”
Aside from his participation in Costa’s large music department, Chen has recently become a part of the Santa Monica Emeritus Band, which is run through Santa Monica College (SMC). He was connected with the director of the Santa Monica Emeritus Band through the percussion director at Costa.
“I really like playing with SMC because it’s pretty low tension and a lot of fun,” Chen said. It’s a really good opportunity to play music and give back to the community through performance.”
Chen began his journey in music when he was in the 5th grade. He started out with learning and playing the glockenspiel, a percussion instrument composed of a set of keys arranged like a keyboard. Soon after he began his lessons, he realized how interested he was in percussion. As time went on, he began to branch out with his instruments, and he currently knows how to play 38 percussion instruments.
“I think my passion for music initially began because it was mandatory, but I really grew to love the process of learning new music and the community that I do it with,” Chen said.
Chen is constantly preparing for musical concerts and events, whether it be for school or Emeritus Band. Aside from practicing at Costa for an average of 3 hours a day, Chen makes sure he finds time on his own to practice for at least 5-7 hours during the week, for a total of 12 hours every week.
“Sometimes it’s hard to find time to practice on my own because most of my free time is at night, and the instrument I play is really loud,” Chen said. “It pays off when I have a successful performance because it means that I’ve found a good balance of practicing music and keeping up with my academics.”
As a musician, Chen goes through many steps to perfecting a performance. Between learning music and rehearsing it, this process normally takes weeks to complete. Although it takes time to perfect, Chen still sees the beauty in learning and performing music.
“My favorite part of rehearsal is definitely the first full rehearsal,” said Chen. “All of the parts come together and you can really hear the whole orchestration which makes it very satisfying.”
Although music has been a big part of his high school career, Chen does not plan on pursuing it as a major in college. Even though he won’t be practicing it as a class, he is still planning to participate in either community theatre orchestras or community band.
“Music is something that can be with me my whole life,” said Chen. “It has forced me to be better at time management, which has allowed me to make sure I always find room for what I am passionate about.”
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