College can be demanding enough; between juggling classes, deadlines, and the pressure to plan for what’s next. But one senior here at St. Ambrose isn’t missing a beat. He’s splitting his time between the classroom, the soccer field, and the recording studio.
Senior Eli Elliot wears many hats. An occupational therapy major, a soccer player, and even a Residential Advisor. But through it all is one common chord… music.
”I took piano lessons when I was about 6 or 7 for a couple years,” says Eli. “And I kind of maintained those basic piano skills for the early stages of my life.”
”When I was about 14 I started making beats on Garage Band for rappers,” Eli continues. “And I would sell them and I would be tagged as a producer of those beats, but I would get frustrated because they wouldn’t always complete the vision and the idea I had in my head, so I eventually sorta realized I can do that myself.”
So that’s exactly what he did. In 2021, Eli released his first song onto streaming platforms. He soon found that sharing his passion with the world helped shape his love for music and the joy it brings him.
”My favorite part is when you catch a sort of ‘flow state’ because you can be in a writers block for a long time, and then all of a sudden you got an idea and it flows and it comes out really quickly,” says Eli.
”My favorite part is when everything comes together.”
For Eli, it’s not just the song that makes the process special, but the grind behind it, and the joy when it finally all clicks together.
”Everything I practiced on piano, everything I practiced with song writing, my skills in producing, and bring it all together, and I can hear the final product and it’s just flowing and moving, and just looking at the final result later is really satisfying.”
Even as a full time student athlete, Eli says his time at St. Ambrose has only helped him grow, not just as a person, but as a musician too.
”My musical abilities sky rocketed once I got here, mainly because of the Galvin Fine Arts Center, they have practice rooms where you can sit and play piano, and in my free time and after tests or after soccer practice, I would find myself going there and just banging on the keys, and bringing back the skills I used to have.”
But like everyone else, Eli just wants to pursue his passion. And wouldn’t mind sharing it with the world too.
