The Man, The Myth, The Music: Jaden Ellman

For Jaden Ellman, a Galloway student of fourteen years, songwriting and music production have always been major areas of interest. His journey with music started with a bang: at eight years old, Jaden picked up a pair of drumsticks, and it was love at first sight. Spending hours of time making simple jingles in Garageband was a hobby of Jaden’s in his childhood, and as he progressed into a more sophisticated musician, music production became a more serious pastime.

In a summer class, 13-year-old Jaden cultivated his sound design and recording skills, which would help him over time as his ideas for songs became more complex. Realizing his desire to expand his abilities and horizons even more, Jaden spent significant amounts of energy on small stints in flighty bands. This taught Jaden that being in a band requires “a ton of collaboration,” and that in order to be successful, he had to find people that he could rely on and work with productively.

His current band meets all of those demands, and as a result, has been together for a little over a year. When Jaden told me that his ensemble, which includes Jaden and two other Galloway students, Tillman Minter and Isak Wall, was named Film Club, I was naturally curious. After doing some digging, Jaden told me that the band did not start out as a band. Instead, it started out as a filmmaking club. However, the club, focused on creating short films, continued to shrink in size. After everyone had quit except for Jaden and his two future bandmates, the three musicians decided to produce music instead of film.

This music production is truly a team effort, as most of Film Club’s songs will originate as a short melody or chord progression that he, Tillman, or Isak will come up with while practicing. After experimenting with different ways they can expand on the tune, the song fragment either thrives after months of persistent work, or never fully develops. However, no composition is ever final until the song is released, as Film Club constantly makes subtle changes to their music as they record it.

This diligent, professional structure that Film Club follows while producing their music brought a question to my mind: would Jaden ever consider music production as a career path? Although he could see music production possibly becoming a profession for him, Jaden acknowledges that “any career in the arts, especially music production, is extremely competitive and risky.” Nevertheless, Jaden will still continue to be a part of Film Club and utilize the internet, which makes it “easier for independent artists to release and promote their music.”

Speaking of music promotion, Film Club currently has one song out on Soundcloud, “All Her Life,” and an exciting upcoming release dubbed “Insomnia,” which will be out in the next month or so. You can find the fruits of Jaden, Tillman, and Isak’s labor on their Soundcloud page. . For more information, or if you simply cannot wait to be notified when new music drops, Film Club has a flourishing Instagram account with the handle @filmclubband. Jaden’s love of music has been an interminable one, and I, along with the rest of the community, am intrigued to see what he will do with it next.

By Rose Sanders