Man behind the music makes Sing happen

Feb. 27, 2009

Shanna Taylor/Lariat Staff Jason Young, the man behind the music of Sing, plays the piano Wednesday night in the Waco Hall orchestra pit during a dress rehearsal for Sing.

By Shanna Taylor
Reporter

Hundreds of people will stream to Waco Hall to watch All-University Sing this weekend, but few of them will see Jason Young. He'll be there, down in the orchestra pit, hidden from view, doing his best to make sure the show goes smoothly-- a show that would be quite different without him.

Young is the man behind the music of all but one of this year's Sing acts. He has been an arranger, musician and consultant for 16 groups over the past year, and many others throughout his 19 years working with Sing.

It all started when he was a senior Music Education major at Baylor. He became a replacement arranger when a friend's group lost the one they had lined up.

"It took me 300 hours to arrange that first act. I just figured it out as I went along," he said. "I worked really hard, and the following year four groups asked me, and the year after that eight groups asked."

From that a single act he has gone on to arrange almost 250 acts.

He now spends closer to 60 hours on each act, and wrote 118 songs for this year alone, covering every genre and style, from Carmina Burana to Dragonforce.

Young said his involvement with an act often begins nearly a year in advance of the final performances, when groups begin tossing around themes and ideas for the acts to be produced the following spring. He said he comes in as an independent arranger hired by the groups, and not affiliated with Baylor in any way.

"Sometimes groups will bring him in during the process of picking a theme and say, 'These are our ideas, and these are the songs that we're thinking about with each of our ideas. What do you think about the way these songs go together?'" said Ryan. Brinson, last year's Sing president and head Sing chair for Sing Alliance. "It's not really what do you think about each of these acts, but which of these do you think would be the easiest and the best to arrange in the most productive way."

After discussing what music fits a theme, and how the act will be structured, Young said he returns to his studio to record all of the music, picking the music out by ear from CD and playing all of the instruments himself.

Throughout the process he and the Sing chairs stay in communication, constantly tweaking the music, working to stay within time constraints and make sure the songs are in the right key for singers said Brinson.

"What's great about him is that when we would tell him 'This is what we're looking for,' he would come back with exactly what we were looking for and then some," Brinson said. "He would give it that extra 'umph' that you couldn't anticipate."

After the final CD has been produced Young said he returns to his studio in Austin to write the extensive scores and sheet music for the band, which this year amounted to 508 pages.

"I think that Jason's contribution is significant because he takes the vision of the students and puts it down on paper as music," said Keith Frazee, coordinator for student productions.

"He is incredibly talented, has a heart for students and loves Baylor. All that makes him great to work with," Frazee said.

Young said love is what keeps him coming back every year, despite the lonely hours of studio work, and the heartbreak of when things don't go right because of technical problems.

"I love it," he said. "I have found what I love to do. Very few people are fortunate enough to find a job that is uniquely designed around their talents and their strengths. Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life."

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