Today we’d like to introduce you to Nina Feliciano.

Hi Nina, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.

Music is a passion that my parents passed down to me. My mom, especially, wanted music to be a part of my life, so she started taking me to parent-child music lessons when I was about two years old. From then on, I started my musical journey as a performer. I’ve had multiple concerts as a solo pianist, a singer, a drummer, and a percussionist. However, when I was applying to colleges, I knew I didn’t want to become a professional performer. Music theory was something that always fascinated me. In my high school a cappella group, I found out that I really liked arranging music. I continued to arrange music at George Washington University and realized that I didn’t have to write the music exactly as I heard it. I could take creative liberties with it while also maintaining the essence of the piece. This arranging exploration was around the time I started actively thinking about composing. I discovered that there were graduate programs for music composition for film, television and video games. I watch films and television in my free time and love music, so I thought bringing those fields together would be a perfect fit for me. I was right. Currently, I’m in my last semester of New York University’s Screen Scoring program, and it has been an amazing experience.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

I feel like my road has just begun. Growing up, I didn’t aspire to become a professional performer, so there were no specific decisions I made to reach that goal. I auditioned for ensembles for fun. Now that my focus is to work in the music industry relating to visual media, the next steps I take to get there will be crucial. The difficulty is that there isn’t a typical path to make it in the entertainment industry, so once I graduate, I know I will need to work very hard to get there.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

For the past year and a half, I’ve been honing my skills as a composer for visual media and I’m very proud of the progress I’ve made during this time. Last year, I participated in a concert where I had to write a composition for a silent film that would be played live by instrumentalists. I composed the piece to an original film, prepared the sheet music, found the performers, led the rehearsal, and conducted the composition. After the concert, I booked studio times; set up a ProTools session, where the audio would be stored and synchronized to picture; got the individual parts recorded; and audio edited the piece. Less than a year before, I didn’t know how to properly use the technology to score a film, format sheet music for commercial music, conduct a film score, or use ProTools, so I am really proud that I was able to make it happen. It was not only fulfilling to strengthen my technical skills, but to also collaborate with a great filmmaker and talented musicians. For this particular project, the filmmaker was looking for a score inspired by the music from the film Do The Right Thing, composed by Bill Lee, and music from older Italian movies. When writing music for a film, I try my best to understand the story and the vision of the filmmaker, which doesn’t always showcase my compositional style. If I were to describe my music, I would say it is influenced by my singing and percussion background. When I start a composition, it tends to start with a singable idea. Then I intertwine more melodic layers and rhythmic patterns together to create a cohesive, full sound. That’s a process that I naturally gravitate to, which makes my style unique.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?

Doing what you love or what interests you is really important, especially when it comes to creating music. In the past, I’ve worked on arrangements I wasn’t the most excited about and struggled to find ideas to keep it interesting. However, when I arranged songs I was passionate about, the arrangements were more fun to work on. The ideas kept flowing and it was a more exciting and rewarding process. I feel the same way when I finally write out a compositional idea that has been waiting to be realized. Overall, it’s gratifying to be doing something that you really like. Since life is meant to be enjoyed, why not start enjoying it now? It isn’t too late to start doing something that fulfills you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ninafmusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ninafmusic/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-feliciano/

Image Credits

January Yucheng Li

Videographers courtesy of Musiversal

Dani Martinez

Leia Sofia Mendez