By Mark Taylor

Two student musicians at SFCM are set to hear their music on the airwaves, long before graduation day. Their compositions were chosen to be sound logos for Classical KDFC, the radio station with a studio in the new Bowes Center. Starting in 2016, the yearly competition project is open for students in the Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) program. 

Out of 25 submissions the winners were Adela Zu and Cameron Hagaman. For Zu it was the first time composing in this format, “I’m feeling way too excited and proud honestly,” she said. “I think one of the greatest joys of the world is to have your work appreciated and recognized by others, that makes all the effort much more worthwhile.” 

Hagaman’s creative process was both involved and a little ad-hoc. “I spent time listening to previous submissions and I really wanted to push for something original, so I came up with the idea of writing a logo where each instrument gets its sort of mini-solo,” Hagaman continued, “I wasn't expecting to win at all, so I had no plan going into it. But even though it's been a stressful ride, this is probably the most fun I have had composing since I've gotten here.”

Students were tasked with creating multiple short compositions using a limited number of specific instruments. This is not the first year for the collaboration with KDFC, but compositions will sound different than years past, “This year we have been working with a string quartet and woodwind quartet so I think it will be more of chamber ensemble sound,” said Taurin Barrera, executive director of the TAC program. Once finalized, the sound logos and variations were recorded live with SFCM musicians in Studio G in the Bowes Center. 

The musical cues are heard at the beginning or end of promotional announcements and featured heavily on KDFC and Los Angeles sister station KUSC for a year. Zu and Hagaman join a growing list of past SFCM winners of the competition, including Justin Yeo ’22, Alton Sato ’21, Danielle Ferrari ’20, Kevin Becker ’19, and Jana Ma ’19. 

 “I was looking for a way to create a sound logo as part of our production sound,” said Bill Lueth, the president of KDFC, who first helped start the partnership project several years ago. KDFC also recently opened a studio inside SFCM’s Bowes Center in the ongoing partnership. In this collaboration, Leuth hopes students received real-world experience not just in writing music, but composing specifically for a client, “It wasn’t simply an exercise of who was the best composer, but who could create something in the format requested by the client,” Lueth added. 

A former music student himself, Lueth looks forward to more collaborations between the radio station and Conservatory in creating well-rounded musicians. “Some will write music for movies and commercials, some might become doctors and lawyers and teachers, and who knows, some might even have a career in the radio business,” he said. He plans to continue this contest for next year’s TAC students. 

The KDFC Sound Logo Competition is one of many projects in which TAC students get to create relevant and polished works for their portfolios. For Zu the project heightened her confidence as a composer, “It’s really easy for me to see shortcomings and doubt myself,” Zu said, “But being recognized this way helped build up my confidence, music-wise.”

Hagaman has recently pivoted his career interests from composing to sound design but believes this project inspired him to think of composing in new ways, “Even though composing might not be my first career path, after this project, it's clear that writing logos, whether classical like KDFC, or some simple jingles for a corporation like McDonald’s is a hobby that I'll never stop doing,” he said. 

You can listen to this years winning tracks, and previous winners’ compositions on Soundcloud.

Learn more about studying Technology and Applied Composition at SFCM.