Tyler Hawes - Piano, Upright Bass, Drums, Composition
Bachelor of Music, Composition, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory
Master’s of Fine Arts, Film Music Composition, University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Tyler Hawes is an award winning composer and avid multi-instrumentalist based in Akron, OH. He found his bearings in music early on, studying classical piano by the age of 4. In middle school band, he discovered a passion for the drums and all things percussion. Somewhere along the way, and after many hours invested in the video game Guitar Hero 2, he picked up guitar and bass. By the time Tyler hit high school he was continuing his piano studies and expanding into the realm of jazz, drumming in all the school bands, and honing his guitar, vocal, and songwriting chops with his band Elipsus.
Tyler decided to continue his musical training into college at the University of Akron where he studied jazz performance under Jack Schantz and Mark Gonder, and composition with Dr. Daniel McCarthy. Tyler decided to really focus in on his compositional training and transferred to the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory where he studied under Dr. Clint Needham and Dr. Jonathan Sokol. During his time at BW, Tyler studied abroad in Ghana, West Africa, studying traditional song and dance with master drummers in the Volta region.
After years of learning to compose music for the stage, Tyler shifted his focus to creating music for the screen. With a long-lived passion for film and television and a natural knack for storytelling, he found himself at University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he received a Masters of Fine Arts in Film Music Composition. Under the direction of Dr. Chris Heckman, Tyler scored more than 20 student films, some of which went on to receive awards for best score at multiple NC film festivals.
Throughout the years, Tyler has performed with just about any type of musical ensemble you could think of (marching bands, rock bands, jazz groups, orchestras, chamber ensembles, salsa bands, off-Broadway pit orchestras) and has had the opportunity to perform for/with and learn from some of the greatest voices in music (David Lang, Caroline Shaw, Jon Batiste, Jonathan Scales, Branford Marsalis, Howard Johnson, Béla Fleck). All of these experiences lend themselves to Tyler’s eclectic and playful approach to creating music.
After graduating from UNCSA in 2021 and spending many months performing on cruise ships, Tyler now lives in Cuyahoga Falls, OH where he can be found in his studio creating elaborate and expressive film scores or writing concert works for groups across the country. Look out for Tyler performing with his experimental funk duo Wo Hop Madness around the Akron/Cleveland area, or with his classic rock jam band Honeycreek out near Sandusky. For more about Tyler and his music, check out his website: www.thetylerhawes.com
COMPOSITION DETAILS
So you want to make your own music, whether it be writing songs for your band, producing tracks and beats, or writing an orchestral symphony? Well, in this versatile approach to creating music, a student will have the opportunity to write lots of music from scratch on their instrument, as well as learn how to write for other instruments and groups. We will cover everything from conceptualization through creating the musical notation and working with other musicians to have your new music performed. Part of these lessons will be exposure to different types of music and composition/songwriting techniques. Our main focus will be to help each student find and cultivate their own unique voice as a music creator.
Possible topics covered:
basic songwriting forms
thematic conceptualization
mood setting
building from an idea
common chord progressions
creating a melody
writing lyrics
creating music notation
stylistic analysis and recreation
working with other musicians for live performance
recording your work
how to utilize music theory
writing for different instrument groups
orchestration
submitting to competitions
college audition prep
making beats
Writing songs for your band