Senior Logan Cook was learning to read music at the same time he and his classmates were learning to read words. In elementary school, he first discovered his love for music, which has characterized his life since.
“Music has always been a really big part of what I do,” Logan said. “It’s always been around, and my dad used to show me a lot of stuff that he would listen to when I was younger that I started listening to—a lot of metal.”
Logan’s dad has been—no pun intended—instrumental in Logan’s musical journey. Logan’s first memories of playing music involve him sitting with his dad, learning to play both bass and guitar. Today, despite living far apart, he and his dad send each other audio recordings of the music they make.
Naturally, Logan has improved his ability to play the bass and electric guitar since childhood. He practices playing his instruments for multiple hours every day. While he plays music written by other artists, he has also learned to write his own.
“Usually, [a song] comes kind of randomly for me, or [it’s] inspired by something else,” Logan said. “I’ll think of a riff, and I’ll play it [and] see what I can do with it by itself. Then, I’ll kind of build onto that. After whatever instrument I started with—usually it’s guitar—I’ll add bass to it, [and] I’ll see what digital drums I can use.”
Logan naturally enjoys writing music, but he also describes the process as stressful. Depending on the project, writing a song can take anywhere from a few days to multiple months.
“Thinking of the outcome [helps me stay motivated],” Logan said. “Thinking, ‘This could actually become something that someone might listen to.’ Also, it kind of just feels right. Playing guitar and bass is like my outlet. I can go home, play guitar, relax, and usually I can fiddle around and make some riffs.”
While he creates music with sound, Logan’s recent project has branched into making musical instruments himself. He is currently beginning to build his own guitar from scratch. Logan initially came up with this idea by messing around on Adobe Illustrator, and within a few hours, he had crafted a fully fledged plan for an electric guitar. He is now waiting for the many materials needed to physically construct his instrument.
Logan’s process of making a guitar has been facilitated by his involvement with the Kent Career Tech Center (KCTC). There, he is a part of their graphic design program. KCTC has taught him the design process—ranging from rough sketching to creating a digital product—and the skills needed for online rendering.
While Logan can design online now, he joined the graphic design program because of his difficulties with art.
“I’ve always been interested in art, but I suck at drawing,” Logan said. “I’ve always just been like, ‘How can people do this and just be good at it?’ Outside of music, I’ve wanted to stretch out to physical art, and [KCTC] has helped me kind of get there.”
Logan’s cousin, a fellow musician, has encouraged him along his guitar-creation journey. Many members of his extended family have responded enthusiastically to his project. He plans to use different ideas proposed by his family, but he expects the physical processes of sanding, cutting, and creating to be his ultimate responsibility.
In general, music is a collaborative process for Logan. In addition to his family, Logan shares music with the others in his currently unnamed band. The group includes fellow FHC students Harris Ward, Lucas Ward, and Evan Gagliardo.
Logan’s favorite part of being in a band is the opportunity it gives him and his bandmates to build off each other’s ideas.
“There’s only so much that one person can do,” Logan said. “Some people are incredibly good at doing music by themselves. Personally, there’s only so much that I can do by myself before I start kind of running out of gas for ideas. When I can bounce off of the bassist [in my band], for example, he can make a part, and I can layer on top of that. If I had an intro, let’s say, and I didn’t know what to do for Verse One, and he has an idea, I can go off with that. And then we have Verse One and an intro.”
A band has allowed Logan to make music with others. However, at FHC, students may know Logan for his solo performances in FHC’s Got Talent. For the past two years, he has played bass in the production, which has allowed him to share his love of music with his peers.
“I’ve always wanted to perform [and] express myself through music,” Logan said. “Last year, I did a song by [instrumental progressive rock band] Polyphia. It took a lot of hard work for me to learn that song because it’s a very complicated song. I wanted to show that to people. Many of the people here probably don’t understand it, but it’s still the fact I’m on a stage expressing that.”
This year, Logan will be playing his guitar in the show. As he rounds out his high school experience, he wants to play one of the first songs that he listened to and learned. This piece—the instrumental version of a song from “A Voice Within” by the band Intervals—is one that Logan’s dad originally shared with him when he first learned to play music.
Through this performance, Logan will round out his musical experience as a student with one of the pieces that started it all.
“I’m playing a song off that album because I love the song,” Logan said. “It’s complex, it’s fun, it’s fast, it’s great. In my mind, [it’s a] perfect song. But it’s also the significance of that’s pretty much the music that I started on—that’s the album that I started my entire life on, pretty much. Putting that into the last talent show I’ll ever do feels significant. I would like to express what that band and what that music did for me.”
