Video game inspires eighth grade student to arrange song

While some might call the ability to arrange a song as an 8th grade student an incredible talent, Kieran Coe sees it as a 'dedicated hobby.'

An alto saxophone player for the Regis Middle School 8th grade band, Coe arranged 'Kirby's Fountain of Dreams,' one of his favorite songs from the Nintendo games he plays, which grew on him the more he listened to the soundtrack.

'Ever since sixth grade, I wanted to play this song in band,' Coe said. 'I didn't necessarily want to arrange it, but I wanted to be able to play it. There was lots of parts and there wasn't one instrument that had the melody the whole time, so I really enjoyed the diversity.'

Coe began arranging the song in September or October, spending about two or three hours on the project anywhere from two to five days per week, he said. He listened to the song and then with a piano sheet as a rough guideline, he transcribed the song using a computer program called Flat specifically for each of the 22 instruments in his band.

Melissa Guerpo, the band director at the school, said this is no easy task; in fact, she's just learning how to use these technologies herself.

'He's ahead of his time; it's pretty incredible how much he knows,' Guerpo said. 'He really wrote it just for our band.'

When Coe brought the song to Guerpo in class during November, the two decided that the band could play it during a class. The class gathered around one sheet to play the song off and they found a few tweaks to make. He brought in corrected sheets for each person in the next class.

It wasn't until March that they realized the song was concert material, but they wouldn't have done it without the support from the rest of the band.

'It was really a team effort,' Coe said. 'If they didn't go with it, there was nothing I could do about it.'

Coe was going to arrange the song regardless of whether the band would play it some day, but his main goal was to play it with his classmates one time during class.

'He put in probably 90 percent of the work not knowing if the band would even play it,' said Helen Coe, Kieran's mother. 'He really did it for his own satisfaction of doing it. Getting to bring it in and have the band do it, and then getting to do it at the concert, those were just big bonuses that put a bow on it.'

And what a bow it was.

When the band performed the concert on May 10, Guerpo gave a special announcement to inform the audience about why they were performing it and the song got a standing ovation from the crowd, marking the first of many acts of recognition that the Coe family received for Kieran's efforts.

Helen Coe was excited her son was being recognized, but she'd seen his gift for music early on, she said. She took him to a movie when he was 6 or 7 years old, and a week after they'd seen the movie, he stopped them in their tracks at the grocery store to tell her the song playing through the speakers was in a particular scene in the movie, she said.

Coe had his mother listen to a song to see if she could hear a key change, and even though she has taken piano lessons, it's baffling to her how he hears it, she said.

It's also baffling how Coe had time to arrange the song among his involvements with mock trial, the school newspaper, jazz band, the school plays and Boy Scouts, among other activities.

'If you really want to do something, you just find the time to do it,' Coe said.

Coe plans to be in the marching band at Xavier High School next year. What does he think of his music capabilities?

'I would say that I have some natural talent,' Coe said, shrugging off the idea of being a musical genius. 'But it takes time and effort.'