Sarah "Lexis" Barbour

My interest in music composition goes back to when I was very young. After my first few years of playing piano, I was frustrated with the songs that I was assigned by my tutors. They were very simple, one-handed songs with slow melodies cleaned of sharps and flats. It was nothing like the “good music” that inspired me to play. Around third grade, I figured that if my teachers would not give me good music to play, then I would come up with something better to play myself. This is how I wrote my first song. I performed it at my school’s talent show, and I have been composing music ever since.

I have been fortunate to have had many great opportunities in music. My piano tutor, Dayeon Seok, was the one who saw my early desire to compose and guided me to develop my craft. I have been able to perform my original compositions at the bi-annual recitals she organized. I have played in a Japanese Taiko drum group for many years led by Yoko Laiyo Nakahashi. In 2021, I joined Sound Thinking NYC, a youth music program sponsored by CUNY, offering professional workshops, jam sessions, trips to Broadway plays and music industry trade shows.

Through Sound Thinking, I was able to learn Pro Tools in a Music Technology course at Brooklyn College through the College Now program. That was followed in 2022 with a mentorship with Emmy-nominated composer, Paul Brill. During the mentorship, I scored an animation, “Mitosis,” and presented it at a Sound Thinking event. As a student at the Music Institute at Edward R. Murrow High School, I have studied beginning flute, beginning guitar, advanced music theory, compositional theory, and piano practicum, as well performing my original music in a showcase.