Machum Accepted to Berklee, Releases Single
Andrew Machum has got it all going on right now. The “lifer” S3 known for his musical gifts has been accepted to Berklee College of Music, widely recognized as the best school in the world for contemporary music, boasting an alum community responsible for 250 Grammys and counting. His HGS classmates just elected him valedictorian, an honour he was not expecting, but is looking forward to. And for the first time this week, Andrew released original music in the iTunes store, a single called Spinning whose first month’s proceeds will be donated to Pancreatic Cancer Canada. Andrew took the time to answer a few questions for Grammar Life about his good news.
Congratulations on the Berklee acceptance. How did that happen?
I knew I wanted to study either chemistry or music. Ms. Brock had encouraged me to do a summer program at Berklee last year, which was a fantastic idea and experience and helped me decide to apply to go there after graduation. They sent me a date for an audition, and I travelled to Boston for that. I played my song Spinning, did some ear training tests, some improvisation, and a fifteen minute interview. I found out a few months later that I was accepted. So that made my choice between chemistry and music!
What inspired you to donate the first month’s sales of Spinning to Pancreatic Cancer Canada?
The song was written about a year and a half ago about a really good friend of mine. Because this was my first release of original music (a previous album featured cover songs), I wanted to do something special. The girl I wrote the song about lost her father to pancreatic cancer. For the release, I completely redid the song from its original version. I changed the key to give it more power. I made the chords more complicated and gave them more depth. I’ve posted a live version to YouTube, and I’ve been doing a lot of social media and news media promotion to try to help sales in this first month.
Why do you think your classmates chose you as their valedictorian?
I am not sure. To be honest, if I knew how other people saw me I could have more of a grasp, but no one really knows how other people see them. I like to think I can speak well, I’m used to being on the stage, I’m confident I can write at least a decent speech. I’m already thinking about it, I have some ideas bouncing around.
As a Grammar “lifer”, what part do you think the school has played in all your good news of late?
Grammar teaches you a work ethic that helps you stay focussed on what you want to do. Also I literally wouldn’t have gone to the Berklee summer program if Ms. Brock hadn’t suggested it, and then she was extremely helpful through the whole application process. And the musicals are a great opportunity to explore where you need to improve, plus obviously they are a lot of fun!
Halifax Grammar School is the leading independent, co-educational day school in Atlantic Canada. From Junior Primary through Grade 12, the Halifax Grammar School is an environment where passionate teachers challenge students to develop confidence through independence, where coaches and advisors encourage students to pursue excellence through effort, and where a community fosters in students a lasting commitment to helping others.