BYU NewsNet - Watching the world move along inspires student’s music

Sitting on a bench listening to music on his iPod; he looks just like any other student on campus. What people don’t realize is that the creative process is going on in his mind while he watches the world move along.

“Every aspect of life has something that sort of triggers it,” said Stephen Nelson, a sophomore from South Jordan majoring in media music. “For example, I was watching a really sad show and as I felt the emotion all these musical ideas started flooding my mind and so everything is my inspiration.”

Nelson’s fiancee, Adele Gabriel, likens him to the young, talented boy in the movie “August Rush.”

“He hears the music everywhere and it’s just incredible,” Gabriel said. “He has that gift and it’s like another language that he’s able to reach out and speak to people.”

Nelson became interested in music as a young boy listening to his sisters practicing the piano in the next room. His fascination with it led him to playing the pieces he heard by ear after his sisters left for school.

“I initially started playing by ear, anything I heard; anything from the radio or anything my mom would whistle,” Nelson said. “I would just go and play the piano and try to figure it out. And that’s also when I started writing too because the ear training was starting to get there and I thought, ‘OK, I think I can do it myself.’”

Although Nelson only had nine months of formal training, his interest in music did not end when the lessons did.

“From then on, I couldn’t let go,” Nelson said. “I was still obsessed with music and everything. The more I got, the more I wanted.”

His passion proved sufficient as it led to production of his first CD, “Guide Me To Thee,” in 2008. It is available in the BYU Bookstore.

Nelson writes and arranges his own music, which many of his fans describe as inspirational and powerful. When Nelson was preparing to serve a mission, he feared he would be sent somewhere foreign where he would not have access to a piano. His mission president turned out to be supportive; letting Nelson do what he wanted and use it for the work.

“On the mission, he would arrange musical firesides and it was really neat to see investigators and members that would come and they would just be so touched,” said Gabriel, who served in the same mission as Nelson.

Gabriel said even now when he performs at firesides, people often approach him and tell him how touched they are by his music.

“That’s one thing too that the entertainment field needs and that’s one of the goals of BYU that I think he exemplifies,” Gabriel said. “It’s not just being talented or skilled in your area but it’s being that good influence in the world. I think that’s why his music has the power that it does and it’s so inspirational.”

In addition to his motivational music, Nelson is currently working on several projects that have him working on different genres. While most artists often get grounded in one area and stop, Nelson is constantly looking into different areas.

“I’d say that every genre and every style and anything that made any different kind of music unique are intriguing to me,” Nelson said. “My whole life my mom would tell me that it’s not enough to be good at one thing in music, but I had to be good at everything in music.”

While Nelson was on his mission, his mother died and he said at that point, it did something to his drive.

“I think just in memory of her, I just wanted to keep digging into as many things as I possibly could,” Nelson said. “I think because of her influence, I just keep coming back to, ‘What else is there? There’s got to be something more, there’s got to be something different that I’ve never heard before that I can incorporate into my music now.’”

People who have worked with Nelson have nothing but good things to say about him.

“It’s just been really nothing but the best time with him,” said Crystal Poloa, who has worked with Nelson since he was 17. “He’s really good at writing so whenever we’re looking for help, he’s good at coming up with melodies on the spot.”

In a regular day of Nelson’s life, music takes up 80 percent of his day and he said it keeps him up at night. He will wake up, record and go back to bed. With how it’s shaping his life, he has great hopes for the future.

“I hope that my music will take me as far as possible,” Nelson said. “My goal is to win a Grammy. My goal is to get that big and although that may sound prideful, that’s where I want to be.”