For most people, music is an afterthought — a background track while completing chores, finishing up an assignment, or working out. However, for Max Dunlap ’24, music is a central focus in life and a passion he has cultivated all on his own. Whether it be playing his signature instrument, the guitar, in Studio Band or composing music in his own free time, Dunlap is always surrounded by music.

What made you want to play the guitar?

I was really into rock and roll early on when I was a kid, and I listened to Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones, so I got really into rock-style playing. That’s what introduced me to the world of guitar, and I kind of just picked it up after that.

What do you like about the guitar as opposed to other instruments?

I feel like the guitar offers a lot of tones that not a lot of other instruments have. For example, if I’m playing the guitar, I can play anything from metal to punk rock to jazz to blues, whereas other instruments are very tied to just one genre or just one style.

How has playing the guitar influenced your music composition?

For the majority of the songs I write, I originally write the central theme on guitar and map out everything else around that riff, or melody, or chord progression. So, a lot of my ideas in terms of music composition come from a riff or a chord progression or something that I originally play on guitar.

What got you interested in music composition?

It was a more interesting way to express music. I felt that when I would play other people’s music that I wasn’t playing my own style. I got really into writing music when I realized I could create things in regards to music and when I started to learn more instruments — learn how to express music through all these instruments — it became easier to write music.

What style of music do you most enjoy composing and why?

I most enjoy composing orchestral music because you can build up the sound so much easier and you can dynamically create really large, intense moments and really small, quiet moments. You can more freely put a song together by doing that. I’m recording something right now that’s more orchestral — it’ll be out in the next month or two — but producing and composing orchestral pieces is really fun because you can build it up to a larger degree.

How do you express emotions when composing music?

It’s very similar to performing music, except you have control of exactly the emotions you want to convey. When you’re writing music, when you want to write something happy or sad, anything, you can do so very easily.

Are your composition skills self-taught or did you take lessons? How has this influenced your compositions?

It is completely self-taught. I have a very small grasp on reading music and I know some music theory, but most of it is just completely self taught — looking up stuff on the internet, learning through YouTube, or other things. But it is primarily noodling around and writing stuff that comes to mind and building off of those things.

Can you describe your music composition process?

I usually start out with a melody or chord progression that I write out or initially play on guitar or piano, or sometimes bass. Then, I write stuff around that and create new parts and add them, and I add new instruments to build up this larger thing based on this smaller initial riff or melody that I write.

How do you know when a composition is complete and does not need to be revised?

It’s very difficult to know when something is complete because you always want to add more to it. In my opinion, there isn’t really a composition that can be completely perfect — you’re always going to want to change something or do something with it. So, in my opinion, that point is just when you can sit back, listen to it, and have that composition stuck in your head for the rest of your day, that’s when you know that was a pretty impactful song or piece.

Are you interested in pursuing a career in the music industry and what’s one challenge and one exciting prospect you anticipate?

I am interested in pursuing a career in the music industry; however, there’s a smaller chance I’ll be going into something like that, just because it doesn’t bring in the big bucks. But, if I did, an exciting prospect would be the ability to create something as a daily occupation and one challenge would be having to learn more about music theory.