Scarsdale's Noah Li: The Youngest Conductor at the Harold Rosenbaum Choral Conducting Institute

Twelve conductors selected for the Harold Rosenbaum Choral Conducting Institute traveled to the State University of New York at Buffalo from August 17th to 22nd in order to broaden their musical knowledge with the guidance of Rosenbaum, the 2014 recipient of the Ditson Conductor's Award. The conductors range from 19-year-old undergraduates to 61-year-old music teachers ... except for Noah Li, a 17-year-old student at Scarsdale High School who composes, sings, plays the piano, and plays the drums for his rock band in addition to conducting.

"The Choral Conducting Institute was awesome," said Li. "The fact that people ranging from 19 to 61 years old are still trying to improve taught me that music-making is about striving for perfection. And seeing the different ways that people interpret a piece of music has shown me how there is a never-ending possibility for fun." Conducting is very rewarding for Li. As he points out, "[Conductors] get to take pride in the sound they hear. With every move they make, they are crafting sound."

Li enjoys "crafting" the sound of the Westchester Chinese Christian Church's youth choir. And in some cases, he has had the added enjoyment of conducting his own compositions, such as an original piece titled Prelude and Amen, an arrangement of a song titled All in All, and an arrangement of Amazing Grace.

Composing music is an emotional and personal process. "When I hear something I have written in the past, it's kind of like I'm looking at an old photo album of myself. But instead of seeing how I looked at the time, I'm getting a little flashback of how I felt," explained Li.
His arrangement of Amazing Grace might be the most powerful piece he has ever conducted. When someone at his church passed away, the choir planned to sing the somewhat drab version of Amazing Grace from the church's hymnal. "I figured that if they were going to sing Amazing Grace, then I should write them a better version of it," he admitted. Thus, Li changed the meter, incorporated a line from a catchy French folk song, and worked in a grand piano line that accompanies the singers in the second half of the piece. "That was a really great performance because we [Li and the choir] were doing it for someone," said Li.

Li not only conducts and composes, but he also sings and plays the piano and drums. Indeed, the Harold Rosenbaum Conducting Institute is not the only organization in which Li is the youngest; he is also the youngest in the Canticum Novum Singers, a chamber choir in NYC which has prepared over 600 singers, (who are normally 25 to 50 years old), for becoming professionals.

Conducting, composing, and singing would be enough for most people, but Li's musical career would simply be incomplete without the existence of an alternative rock band. He founded the band in order to utilize the talent at his church and perform Christian alternative rock songs for his congregation every week. When he realized that none of the numerous musicians at his church could play the drums, he bought himself a set of drums and practiced by playing rock band on Youtube. Other than the unfortunate case when one of his drumsticks flew out of his hand during a performance, (forcing him to retrieve it in the middle of a song), the rock band has been a complete success. "In the old days you would have a piano or an organ and you would play a hymn and people would sing along. Nowadays it's the same thing ... but with a rock band!" said Li.

Whether he is conducting or playing instruments for an audience, Li finds that performing erases the stresses of life. "When I'm in the spotlight I forget I'm there. I have one goal; my mind becomes sharpened into one purpose," said Li. "For that brief few minutes or however long the performance is - whether I'm conducting my choir or playing the piano - I'm able to forget about everything else, and just focus on making music."