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GHS junior Yuta Takahashi plays guitar in the music production studio at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. Takahaski recently won first place in the National Association of Music Education Student Songwriters Competition for his song “Ice Cream in the Driveway.”
GHS junior Yuta Takahashi works on a digital music project in the music production studio at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. Takahaski recently won first place in the National Association of Music Education Student Songwriters Competition for his song “Ice Cream in the Driveway.”
GHS junior Yuta Takahashi shows a digital music project to his teacher Barbara Freedman in the music production studio at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. Takahaski recently won first place in the National Association of Music Education Student Songwriters Competition for his song “Ice Cream in the Driveway.”
GHS junior Yuta Takahashi poses in the music production studio at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. Takahaski recently won first place in the National Association of Music Education Student Songwriters Competition for his song “Ice Cream in the Driveway.”
GHS junior Yuta Takahashi works on a digital music project in the music production studio at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. Takahaski recently won first place in the National Association of Music Education Student Songwriters Competition for his song “Ice Cream in the Driveway.”
GHS junior Yuta Takahashi chats in the music production studio at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. Takahaski recently won first place in the National Association of Music Education Student Songwriters Competition for his song “Ice Cream in the Driveway.”
GHS junior Yuta Takahashi plays guitar in the music production studio at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. Takahaski recently won first place in the National Association of Music Education Student Songwriters Competition for his song “Ice Cream in the Driveway.”
GHS junior Yuta Takahashi works on a digital music project in the music production studio at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. Takahaski recently won first place in the National Association of Music Education Student Songwriters Competition for his song “Ice Cream in the Driveway.”
GREENWICH — For Greenwich High School junior Yuta Takahashi, eating ice cream in the driveway is a quintessential summer moment.
He aimed to capture that feeling and his longing for a never-ending summer in his song “Ice Cream in the Driveway.”
Its universal theme — and years of music lessons and Greenwich High’s e-music class — has paid off for Takahashi, who earned top honors in a national songwriting competition with the single.
It was a great moment when he was notified, he said.
“Before, I would show my friends, and they’d be like, ‘Oh, that’s great.’ But it’s always been kind of like maybe they’re just saying that or they’re just being nice. But it felt very validating to have an actual music organization telling me that my piece was a good piece,” he said.
The single, which he mixed at home, was the winner in the high school division of the 2022 student songwriter competition held by the National Association for Music Education. At 2 minutes and 34 seconds, it has an easy beat, a lowkey feeling and includes such images as scrolling through an iPhone looking at pictures on a cold day, wishing it were summer.
“He’s a great example of so many of the talented and brilliant students that we have here at Greenwich High School. And we’re very proud,” Barbara Freedman, who teaches the GHS songwriting and electronic music class along with Jason Polise, said.
Freedman and Polise should know. Since 2009, six of their students have won titles in the competition.
The yearly contest, which this year closed on April 18, is open to students from kindergarten through college whose work is recommended by a teacher or other member of NAfME. Up to eight composers received cash awards in this year’s competition; all the entrants received written evaluations of their work.
Takahashi’s path to winning songwriter started early. He said he has has had an interest in music his “whole life,” and in middle school took formal lessons in sax and viola, he said.
In middle school, students didn’t sign up for both band and orchestra typically. So, he would choose whether he would practice saxophone in band class or play viola in orchestra each week and coordinate with his instructors, his mother, Aiko Takahashi, said.
“He always had a good sense of rhythm since he was 5 years old,” his father Yoshi Takahashi said. “He’s just a natural.”
Yuta Takahashi learned about GHS’s electronic music and songwriting classes during an assembly in middle school, but it wasn’t until a friend invited him to make music that he decided he wanted to pursue songwriting, he said.
His parents encouraged him to ask to change his school schedule halfway through his freshman year so he could have a class in the e-music studio. They bought him a guitar, keyboard and computer to allow him to compose at home.
“To have a big space and supportive school music program in middle and high school is really great,” Yoshi Takahashi said.
“I got really lucky,” Yuta Takahashi agreed.
While Yuta Takahashi took saxophone and viola lessons, his mom recalls him teaching himself how to play guitar, drums and keyboard from YouTube videos. He also plays piano.
GHS’s electronic music program, which dates to the 1960s, according to Freedman, has rows of iMacs with keyboards and composition software. A recording studio features specialty doors to lock in the students’ sound.
“I wouldn’t be where I am right now skill-wise if it wasn’t for this class,” Yuta Takahashi said.
Polise played “Ice Cream in the Driveway” for younger students in the program. He said they were “super inspired” and could identify the qualities that made the piece a winner.
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