KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — After school, Rodion Osipkin, 17, sits in front of a computer at the Joy of Music School.
This is where the senior at Bearden High School writes music, using a computer program that allows him to compose for instruments he's never even played.
"I was imagining that I played clarinet, drums and saxophone in my brain and I just wrote the melody first," Osipkin, who plays violin, piano and trumpet, explained about the composition process.
Osipkin, originally from Russia, recently moved to East Tennessee with his family. English is his second language, so music helps him communicate.
"I think with music, I can express to people how I feel, what I feel," Osipkin said.
The teen was commissioned by the Domino Ensemble to write a piece for them to perform. Jorge Variego, the ensemble's founder and a professor at the University of Tennessee, said he wanted to create a program that would connect young composers to real musicians. Using a grant from the Nora Roberts Foundation, he was able to do just that.
"Now, you can write a piece of music and hear it on the computer, but the interaction with a real person in the creation of a new piece is something completely different. I wanted young composers to get that," Variego said.
"As a composer. I didn't have an opportunity like this when I was growing up, and I think for someone that is that young and that early in their careers, you can make a big difference," Variego said.
It's certainly had an impact on Osipkin.
Inspired by the happiness he feels around his friends and family, Osipkin calls the piece he wrote for the Domino Ensemble, 'Yellow Days.' It might be his first composition, but he doesn't think it will be his last.
"I think in the future, music is going to be my life," Osipkin, who has plans to attend Pellissippi State Community College after graduation, said.
Variego said the ensemble will be giving other select students around the southeast a similar experience to Osipkin.
You can hear their performance of Osipkin's 'Yellow Days' and several other songs on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 5 p.m. at the Joy of Music School. The concert is free and open to the public.
Joy of Music School is a nonprofit that provides free music lessons and instruments to hundreds of children and teens in need.
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