Theo Fong can often be found making music in his room, surrounded by instruments and immersed in sounds and compositions.
Though his principal instrument is the saxophone — he plays in a saxophone quartet as well as Gunn’s Wind and Jazz ensembles —he learned the electric guitar in his freshman year. Then, by learning some electric bass and corroborating previous background in piano, he began constructing songs — mainly covers that he posts on his music Instagram account, @tk.songs.
Fong has long been inspired by online music creators, namely Canadian multi-instrumentalist Luna Lee and YouTuber Carlos Eiene.
“When I saw all these different people posting their creations online, I thought, ‘Why can’t I do that?’” Fong said. “It’s pretty fun to put yourself out there and share your creations with the world.”
Fong believes that the ability to produce music effectively is just as paramount as having strong instrumentation skills.
“Being able to play instruments and melodies is just half the battle,” he said. “You still have to make everything sound good on the device it’s coming out of, which takes a lot of tweaking.”
Fong also finds his music-theory knowledge and improvisation skills, both of which he learned from playing the saxophone, incredibly helpful for arranging songs. According to Fong, only 15-20% of the music he creates makes it out to social media. The rest, he said, is personal playing that varies greatly in genre, reflecting his broader outlook on music.
“I like listening to everything,” Fong said. “My philosophy is that all music is good.”
In addition to posting music online more frequently, Fong plans on incorporating other people into his music. Even thus far however, Fong’s music has made a significant mark on his life
“Sharing music has definitely made me break out of my shell because I’m normally a pretty introverted person,” he said. “If you really enjoy something, you should just do it. What’s the worst that can happen?”
Next year, Fong will be attending the University of California, Berkeley, where he plans to continue pursuing music alongside another undecided major.
