Kieran Minor: A Major Musician

When he’s not on stage performing with the Exeteras or playing piano with the Academy’s Jazz Trio, senior Kieran Minor can be found creating yet another brilliant arrangement for an upcoming a capella performance. Minor’s talent rings out whether he’s on stage or behind the scenes, making him truly deserving of the spotlight.Minor’s passion for music and the arts began at an early age. “My parents were always involved in theater— they actually met in theater, and that’s what I am writing my meditation about,” Minor said. “ I grew up in a household where music and theater was very big, so I just got used to it.”When Minor started at Exeter, he was thrilled with all the opportunities the school had for him to pursue his artistic passions. “I came from a school where it was K-8 and there was less than a hundred people, so there wasn’t much of an arts program,” he explained. “So when I came [to Exeter], it seemed like there were so many options, whether it was getting involved in the radio station and sharing music, creating a radio station or just enjoying music with people. It was really a wild experience just to come here and see everything happening.”Currently, Minor is the co-head of Exeteras and Little Lullabies, an ESSO club where students sing songs to campus toddlers. He is also a member of the Jazz Trio and the Exeter Association of Rock.Minor first started arranging music when he was inspired by an upperclassman, who was also in the Exeteras. “I do [arrangements] with the Exeteras and I am doing one with In Essence,” Minor said. “I did my first arrangement, Pumped Up Kicks, prep year. There was an upper when I was a prep in Exeteras, and he said just try and arrange something. I had no idea how to do it.”Minor found his own way of arranging, however, by adding his own personal touch. “I just listened a bunch of times and remembered everything about it in my head and I just tried to kind of spit it back out on a paper using my own little melodies. Arranging has becoming one of my favorite things now,” he said. This energy reflects clearly in his electric performances.“It's exciting to me that you can mix any two songs that you want, and you can hear new things in songs,” Minor continued. “I think arrangements really give you sort of a blank canvas to a song that you know and you can add on to.”Minor has created numerous arrangements, including; "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People, a Justin Timberlake medley, "My Girls" by Animal Collective, "Thinkin’ Bout You" by Frank Ocean and "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke.While Minor enjoys arranging songs and making covers, his passion weighs toward composing his own music. “In terms of original music, that is something I actually love doing the most. Creating original music and songwriting. It's difficult here sometimes because it is so high stress. Songwriting is something that needs to come through you and is something you can’t control. I have written some stuff in the past few years and recorded, and I look forward to doing a senior project of original music in the spring.”Other students have nothing but respect for him, praising him as a fantastic musician. “Kieran is a brilliant pianist and arranger,” upper Scott Hermenau said. “His arrangements are inventive, often fleeing from the skeleton of the original song almost entirely. He has a great ability to let things fall away and engage himself in what he is playing or creating, but also has the veteran's ability to carry on a conversation while playing around on the piano,”Minor is also supportive of his peers, creating a positive atmosphere in every group he is a part of.“He is open to other people's ideas and suggestions in relation to his music and is very supportive of others’ musical endeavors,” Hermenau added. “The most impressive thing about Kieran's arrangements to me is the way he teaches them to the group—he’s rarely frustrated, full of metaphor and always pumping energy into a rehearsal.”Senior and fellow member of the Jazz Trio Orlando Kahan highlighted more of Minor’s admirable qualities, describing his as sharp, outgoing and well-respected.“I got to know him through music,” Kahan said. “I play in a trio with him, a jazz trio, so I met him though the music department my prep year. He can always be seen rendering the best kind of performances. He can always respond to a point that you make very quickly and in a witty way. He has a huge imagination; [he is a] very creative kind of person.”After Exeter, Minor plans to further enrich his musical education in college. “I look forward to doing a cappella and jazz and other things in college, as well as going around the world and seeing other things,” Minor said. “In the summer I went to Haiti to orchestrate musicians. So I look forward to seeing more of how it translates to the outside world, and that’s what college will give me: more of those opportunities. It is more learning, still learning always.”Kieran anticipates a career as a professional musician someday, whether it be as a teacher, working with young musicians or traveling abroad to perform.“Working with people and teaching them music and learning music and seeing that sort of excitement in people is something I can definitely see myself doing,” Minor said. “I don’t know what exact profession, but I think it is safe to say that it is going to be in there.”Minor’s passion for music will stay with him long after his time at Exeter ends.“Since day one I’ve been a person who is pretty big into the arts. I have been involved in Exeter’s arts since the beginning.” Minor said. “It’s my main activity, and has been that way for four years and will be until the day I graduate.”