by Hannah Liu
“Music is not what you hear, but what you imagine,” says freshman musician Myles Hoffman. “That sound you hear is your imagination trying to break free and express what it has to say.”
Hoffman, a member of Symphonic Band and Music Technology, composes his own music, plays trumpet and piano, started a band, and uploads songs on Soundcloud. The record label Simplify recently followed him on Soundcloud. “I think it is very exciting since I didn’t contact them first. They took the time to find me, and then followed me.” said Hoffman.
Hoffman lives and dreams in music. The night before his first day of high school he dreamt about being at the Grammys onstage with his idols: Coldplay, Avicii, David Guetta, Fall Out Boy, Imagine Dragons, and many other musicians as a crowd cheered them on.
Hoffman’s spilled his heart in the second song wrote, “Everything Will Be All Right.” The song helped to soothe himself in a period of emotional turmoil after his uncle passed away, and it still cheers him up on a bad day even though it has been years since his uncle’s death.
From this point forward, Hoffman’s love of music and composition expanded as he discovered Jazz and electronic pop music. “I would be writing stuff down on note pads, playing stuff on the piano myself, looking at YouTube tutorials, and figuring out how to make it all work.”
Hoffman has moved on to form his band “Blue Limits” with fellow musician Hayden August, a freshman at Hopkinton High School.
Their first song on Soundcloud was “Time Won’t Listen,” followed by “Just Years Ago” and “Flying Low,” all pop songs that incorporate modern techno music with electric instruments.
Hoffman’s most recent song keeps the same techno style as his previous songs. “Perfect Thoughts”, which escalates from a peaceful rhythm to an upbeat, pop rhythm.
He intends on adding lyrics to the songs once he tests out the background music and gets feedback from people who listen. According to Hoffman, feedback is a huge part of the process because he has to satisfy the audience.
Senior Amanda Kuo listened to Hoffman’s song “Perfect Thoughts.” She says, “I like how it varies with different melodies while keeping the same beat. I feel like it would be a cool song to play in the car while chilling with a friend. I like how it has different variations in intensity. It has a cool build. I think it would sound epic during the build if it it had a stronger base.”
Freshman Jesus Rodriguez said, “I like it. It seems like uplifting. It seems like something you would listen to if you were working out or if you were in a bad mood.”
Currently, Hoffman is working on completing an album featuring both his past songs and ones he is writing now, titled, “Blue Limits.”  He hopes to put the album up on iTunes, which will be a change from his sole outlet of Soundcloud.
It takes anywhere from one to two weeks for a song to be completed. Hoffman makes all of the sounds himself with a keyboard where he inputs the music on a software to create the sounds of other instruments.
Hoffman knew his passion for music when he first learned how to play the piano at three years old. After he had two years of lessons, his parents divorced and financial difficulties followed preventing him from continuing.
Six months later, Hoffman was relieved when he started lessons again. In the time between, Myles constantly thought about playing the piano again.
At the end of 5th grade, Hoffman wrote his first song, “Glance.” He described it as “almost like I am trying to get someone’s attention. It’s very serious at first, but gets calmer and calmer as you go deeper into the song. It’s very strict, then catchy, then smooth and jazzy,”.
In the future, he plans on continuing to play music throughout his life; he wants to major in music in college and ultimately play on the Grammy stage. He added, “It’s sort of the only thing in the world I can depend on to make me happy and excited. That’s sort of the reason why I’m such an energetic person.” Hoffman said, “You know that feeling you get when you get goosebumps, and you get a huge chill down your back? Well, when I listen to music or get the best idea ever I get that feeling”.
Hoffman fears that he “won’t become too big,” but he is determined to do his best, which is life motto. “I’m going to try my hardest to get my music out there to the world,”he added.
Check out his music on Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/mylesofmusic