A great composition

Jupiter Hood ’23 has been a musician since she can remember. In April, the music composition major released her first album, Bad Decision, as a part of her presentation at UD’s annual Stander Symposium.

Her presentation, titled A Singer-Songwriter: How I Wrote My First Album, allowed her to explain step-by-step how she produced the album herself.

Hood is a member of UD’s chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, a women’s music fraternity. She also works a part-time job at the Schuster Performing Arts Center , where she can enjoy several performances throughout the year.

As a composition student, Hood wrote a song for a vocal music professional development workshop and found songwriting to be natural for her. So, she decided to write an entire album to test her abilities. 

“It was a challenge for myself more than anything,” she said.

To Hood, this album is just the beginning. She plans to go to graduate school for music technology, but based on her enjoyment of writing her first album, a second album may be in her future. 

“Creating your own art is the hardest thing in the world ... but it is very rewarding in the end.”

As a part of her presentation at the Stander Symposium, Hood showed her audience how they can create their own albums, too. She shared with UD Magazine her eight crucial steps for musicians who want to follow in her footsteps.  

1. Seek inspiration. “I tried to be inspired by anything,” she said. “When I’m writing my more classical stuff, I try to be inspired by the sounds of nature around me.”
2. Write about your passions. According to Hood, it is easier to write about what is familiar and important to you. “Sing about something you’re passionate about already, connect it to your life, and that will make the lyrics come very naturally,” she said.
   
   
3. Develop your music. Hood used BandLab, a music-making software that has sample tracks and the ability to record tracks and audio. She says that once you find your chord progression and melody, the software allows you to transfer them to a sound you like, which helps write a counterpoint to the melody. “I would try to find electronic sounds that I liked on there and then I would create a counter melody,” she said.
   
   
4. Put it all together. At this stage, Hood electronically produced all of these musical components and recorded her vocals using BandLab.
   
   
5. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Hood received a lot of support from her professors and peers throughout the process. Her professors would critique her music as she was inputting it into the system and nurture her voice so she could sing in the pop style she wanted. During professional development workshops, her fellow music composition majors told her what they were hearing and what she could improve. “There was a lot of feedback I was getting the entire time I was writing, recording and producing,” she said. BandLab also has a social media platform where artists can share works with other users and get feedback. 
   
   
6. Incorporate physical art into your music. Every great album needs an iconic album cover. Quintessential albums, such as The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s, all have memorable album covers that one can instantly think of upon hearing their music. Bad Decision is no exception, as its art is a beautiful, geometric sunset that Hood’s partner designed for free on his iPad. It suits Hood’s music, is aesthetically pleasing and produces a visual image for all listeners.
   
   
7. Release your music into the world. After writing, recording and editing, Hood processed her album, uploaded it to streaming services and promoted her music through her presentation. “I was so proud of everything I had done and it was really cool to see everybody who was there to support me and be there for me,” she said.
   
   
8. Stick with it. Producing an album is not an easy process, but according to Hood, expressing yourself artistically is an enjoyable and gratifying process. “Creating your own art is the hardest thing in the world, and having something tangible to represent you is the weirdest thing, but it is very rewarding in the end,” she said. 
   
   
   

Bad Decision is available to stream under artist name Jupiter on iTunes and Spotify.