Composing a Life-Changing Career in Music
As a sophomore at Titusville High School, Nick Barth was struggling with declining grades and a lack of motivation when an unexpected band class showed up on his schedule.
He decided not to drop the course and agreed to the band director’s suggestion to join the percussion section — a fateful decision that would wind up saving his high school career and changing his life.
“Around the time I accidentally joined the band, all of my other grades were falling. I wasn’t motivated to do my other schoolwork and was in danger of flunking out. My parents took me to a few different therapists and then a neurologist,” said Nick, who had also taken piano lessons, one of the few things he actually enjoyed.
The doctor ran brain-monitoring tests as part of his treatment and discovered Nick was deficient in a brain wave that impacts productivity. The doctor also shared the news that patients with that diagnosis were often candidates to head down a dangerous pathway that could include depression and even addiction.
“He said the brain activity was fueled by things you’re passionate about, and just talking about school was not generating a response,” said Nick. “Then I told him about music, and he said the monitor lit up. He told me music is what I should do, and that was my last session with him.”
Music motivated Nick to not only stay in school, but to thrive.
After graduating from high school, Nick began studying for his Associate in Arts degree at Eastern Florida State College, where he first planned to focus on piano.
“I knew I wanted to be a music major, and in order to do that you have to be in a performing ensemble. I had been making friends in the choir, and they kept encouraging me to join, so my first semester I joined the choir,” said Nick. “I realized I was pretty behind with piano. The next semester I figured I would take a break from piano and declared voice as my new instrument.”
And what an instrument it turned out to be.
Nick has been accepted to the University of Central Florida, and after he graduates from EFSC this December, he plans to start at UCF as an opera performance major with plans to eventually earn a doctorate in choral conducting.
“I didn’t know that I could sing well classically,” said Nick. “I knew I could fake it enough to lead a band. I had no idea I would look at it as my main musical profession.”
It even became a paid profession while he’s in college, first as the choir director at Cocoa’s Open Door Methodist Church and now in the same position at Grace United Methodist Church on Merritt Island after the Open Door merged with Grace in July 2019.
Going to college close to home has allowed Nick to save money as he completed the extra music prerequisite courses required to be eligible for a Bachelor’s program.
EFSC’s music program includes concentrations in choral and instrumental music, music theory, and composition and is led by three full-time faculty members, plus almost two dozen adjunct instructors who cover the full range of instruments and choral disciplines. Because it’s part of the Performing and Visual Arts Department, students also have the opportunity to take part in musical and dramatic theatre productions, which Nick has done, to the delight of his parents, who attend all his performances.
“From the moment he arrived at EFSC, I could tell that Nick would be an asset to our department and that great things lay ahead for him. He’s a talented singer and pianist, but more importantly, he’s a person with boundless energy and motivational strengths,” said Dr. Robert Lamb, EFSC Music Professor and Director of Choral Activities. “I’m happy he was a student here at the college and expect to hear wonderful things about his accomplishments in the future.”
Nick continues to prepare for that future by arranging the music for special events at Grace Methodist, including choral performances forced onto virtual platforms such as YouTube due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s currently working on a full-length Christmas musical that will feature a prerecorded choir and a live orchestra as a hybrid way to safely celebrate the season in the church sanctuary.
“I would love to get a job scoring and conducting film music,” said Nick. “I have a cousin in New York City who has made films as a photography major, and she has reached out to me to write for those and I loved it.”
- EFSC Nursing Grad Takes the Long Road To Success - October 28, 2020
- Composing a Life-Changing Career in Music - September 30, 2020
