Dominic Maceroni, a senior at U of D Jesuit, has an impressive talent for music composition. Music has been a defining interest throughout his life, but now that college application deadlines are fast approaching, whether music should be a legitimate career path is a pressing decision.
Dominic’s journey with music began at a very young age, playing mobile games with his brother. Dominic and his older brother were obsessed with the game Geometry Dash, but it was not the gameplay that stood out. He said, “the thing that always stood out to me, obviously, was the music.” This was where his initial interest in music was born. After years of playing the game, Dominic approached his mom and told her, “I wanna learn how to play the keyboard so I can play that kind of music.” His love for the game’s soundtrack led him to a brand-new hobby, one that would grow into much more than that.
His mom signed him up for Simply Music, a classroom-style music school designed to help kids learn to enjoy their instruments. This school understood that for young musicians to reach higher success levels, there must be a basis of simple enjoyment. Playing the piano had to be fun for an elementary school kid to stick with it. So, the teacher arranged versions of popular songs and encouraged experimentation, creating a fun and competitive environment that pushed the kids to want to be better. One time in class, Dominic saw one of the students move the song they were practicing up to the black keys, giving it a completely new sound. Instead of a popular hit song, it now resembled a traditional Southeast Asian melody. This was strange but inspiring for Dominic, who took this new development in stride.
This experience gave Dominic a new influx of inspiration, and he began making original versions of his teachers’ songs. In one class, they learned a basic version of Mozart’s “Sonata in C.” But this time, Dominic did not stop at simply learning the song. He used the repeating rhythm in the left hand from “Sonata in C,” and added an original melody to it. This was his first largely original creation, which he called “Dark Wood,” because his classmates said it was dark and sounded like they were walking through the woods. He said he named it this because “I was twelve years old” and he was not the most creative yet. But this not-so-creatively-named song marked the beginning of his foray into composition.
Eventually, Dominic grew bored of playing the partial songs assigned to him by Simply Music. This happened to many of the students at some point. The class was an eighteen-level program, but because “it had gotten so boring” only one student was known to have finished it. So, he decided, “I’m gonna take it into my own hands to learn this stuff.” He looked up tutorial videos, watched thousands of animated keys fall onto the classic YouTube graphic of a piano, and practiced nearly every day. He would even play in the country club after swim meets. Dominic eventually began neglecting his curriculum songs and focusing on piano covers of popular hits. But his interests would shift again, once again because of a video game. Dominic said that for all his time consuming media, “Music in a video game or movie was truly the most important thing to me.” He even “enjoyed listening outside of the game.” When the Destiny: Rise of Iron expansion was released in 2016, Dominic and his brother had the soundtrack on repeat. The game took place in a snowy, atmospheric region, so it became a winter tradition for his brother to drive him around in the snow while they blasted the familiar score. It was at this time that Dominic said he “acknowledged that music meant more to me.” This realization was the first of many that led him to begin considering music as a career.
Then Dominic was in high school, and though his time diminished, his interest did not. During his freshman year, he came across a fan-made Destiny raid concept online. This was not like other fan projects he had seen before. It included a complete, multi-song, original soundtrack. He was thus inspired to tackle this type of project himself, and he began working on a soundtrack for a concept he had been thinking of since middle school. While he was working on this project, his mom noted that he seemed to be “genuinely enjoying doing this.” And he was. He realized that “the second you don’t have to submit assignments…it’s like, I’m actually interested in that.”
Due to a tragedy that occurred in his teacher’s personal life, Dominic was without lessons, so his mom directed him to his brother’s piano accompanist, someone who plays alongside a singer or instrumentalist in auditions and performances. He took Dominic on as a student and offered true, constructive feedback that led him to start “composing actual music.” He began to understand that “maybe I DO want to do this as a career.”
His interest ultimately ascended to its current heights because of the Interlochen Center of the Arts. Interlochen is a prestigious music and performing arts academy in northern Michigan. At the behest of his mom, Dominic applied for Interlochen’s brand-new film-scoring camp. He was accepted, in a turn of events that would change his life forever. At Interlochen, he spent nearly 36 straight hours scoring a six-minute short film. This turned into a career preview for him, and it was “one of the greatest experiences of my life.” It was at Interlochen that Dominic finally decided that “if I can do this for a career, I’d be one of the happiest people on the planet.”
Dominic still practices piano every day, since he believes “you always need to hone your craft.” To maintain an understanding of the complex language of music, you must continue practicing your original instrument. He has been building his fluency in music for his whole life, and he will only continue to grow at whichever conservatory he attends. His top school is Johns Hopkins’ Peabody Institute of Music, followed by Berklee College of Music and Ball State School of Music. Each of these schools is featured very high on national music school rankings. His application list is loaded with top-ranked music schools, and he is sure to find his place wherever he goes. Dominic Maceroni has set himself up for success over the course of his decade-long musical journey, and he is en route to a successful career, whether it be as a film scorer or audio engineer. His SoundCloud, where he posts some of his orchestrated songs, is linked below.
Stream Dominic Maceroni music | Listen to songs, albums, playlists for free on SoundCloud
