Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kaye Formanes. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Kaye, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
Growing up in Queens, New York, I was surrounded by the sound of music. Whether be listening to songs in the car or hearing my Dad play his guitar or passing by street performers, music is a symphony of sounds.
As an autistic kid, I thought music was just another noise that’s a part of society. At the time I wanted to pursue a different career such as horseback riding or video editing. But I got a deeper look into music after graduating from high school at the age of 16 and moved to Seattle to attend Bellevue College. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I began to develop a fond interest in chord progressions and melodies. It was on my 18th birthday when my parents bought me my first piano, where I composed my first song.
From that day on, being a musician became my full time job. I would spend every day in my studio, woodshedding new compositions for my albums or film/TV. I realized that playing music is helpful for autistic people with communication problems.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Hi there! My name is Kaye Formanes, and I am a Filipino-American composer based in Seattle, Washington.
After graduating from Bellevue College with an Associate’s Degree in Digital Media Arts, my main focus is music composition, where my job is to brainstorm and produce new compositions for albums or film/TV.
The thing that gets me most excited about starting my work day is how music is a vast world of endless possibilities. It’s a way for artists to learn more about their craft, as well as enhance how they play their instruments. You feel as though you’re preparing to tell a story without having to use actual words.
My work studio is in my bedroom in my apartment. It features my Yamaha P-125 digital piano, my two acoustic guitars (a Yamaha Junior and a Fender Newporter), and a Sony PCM-D10 sound recorder that picks up demos of future works. My Dad, who’s my producer, assists with the recording through Logic Pro and Spitfire Audio, which many of the sounds that I implement being digital.
Some of my future works include composing a score for an upcoming short film, as well as writing/directing my first film with my sister, Shea Formanes.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
One of the signs that foreshadowed my career was the way I interpret sound.
As an autistic adult, I am sensitive to certain sounds such as clapping, cheering, or other celebratory noises. It may sound positive to others, but to me, it feels like a sharp pain running through my head. When it comes to music, writing songs allows me to convey my own interpretation as to why and how sounds that may seem normal to others sound scary to me.
If you are an artist that’s pursuing a career in the visual, audio, and/or literary arts, use your art to show people how you see the world. For me, the best kinds of art come from a personal place for the artist, such as a memory that is meaningful to you.
Another skill that is helpful to my music career is perfect pitch, which is the ability to identify or re-create a musical note without reference to another note. This skill is most helpful when it comes to writing new compositions. However, this type of gift doesn’t last forever, and I’ve learned that I have to make it count while it’s still around. I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that, one day, I might wake up and I can’t hear or play music the same way anymore, which makes all the music I make now all the more special to me.
My favorite skill when it comes to composing is learning how to write the melody first, before writing a chord progression. To me, if a melody is the first to be developed in a song, it’ll make it easier to figure out what chord progression matches the leitmotif.
For artists, I would tell them that to get the best results from their work, think of a way to develop their ideas in their own, unique way during the woodshedding process. This way, they will learn more techniques that would make their skills even stronger. Plus, not every gift or skill is going to last forever. The best that you can do is take advantage of what you have, before it completely fades away.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
The best thing about being a composer is the opportunity to work with other artists, musicians, songwriters, and filmmakers. I’m looking to collaborate with film directors and animators for opportunities to compose more music scores for upcoming projects, especially for animated television series. I’m especially excited to collaborate with other musicians to share different ideas and it would allow me to learn more about the music world.
They can reach out by following me on Instagram or emailing me on my Gmail and/or Linkedin. I also have a website in the works, which is the ultimate location for people to contact me all in one place.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kayeformanes
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leila-kaye-formanes-6b2277341/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kayeformanesmusic
- Other: https://kayeformanes.bandcamp.com/https://open.spotify.com/artist/6uKQp4DQqxZRPKvOVQOv4G?si=JF7YvZqqTXeHCmIsGeiwYA
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