With dark purple blisters on his fingers, senior Michael Krueger has the evidence to prove that making music is the center of his world. Though Michael is not alone in his devotion to musical composition, he shares this talent and intensity with seniors Cara Doil and Matthew Lucas.

The three seniors began their journey into music in elementary school, with minor breaks but recently have been playing music nonstop. For these students, they say music serves as a release, and that it is their creative outlet that allows them bring their thoughts into fruition.

Lucas has been playing guitar since fifth grade, but his musical talent does not stop there, he also sings and plays the French horn for the Allen Escadrille. He has been writing his own music and lyrics for the past three years.

“I feel like you can get always get better, even if you think you are at the peak of your profession,” Lucas said.

Lucas says he enjoys listening to indie rock, but he prefers to play classic rock because of the “legit” guitar parts. He says that lately he has been bored with playing other artists music, so he started to write his own.

“Its kinda cool when you incorporate your own music,” Lucas said. “Its something that you have never heard before.”

When writing his music, Lucas tries not to sound like a certain group. He says that what makes him different is that he doesn’t have a full band, its just him with his guitar and he will add the drums parts in later.

He says when he starts writing a song it starts from an inspiration moment but doesn’t always keep flowing.

“There’s a deliberate process that you have to figure out your details, and I think that deliberate process is very important,” said Lucas.

Like Lucas, Doil has been into playing music since elementary school, starting her career with a group performance of “Hey Now” by Hilary Duff. Currently, Doil is in Encore, Show Choir, and Chorale at Allen. She has been playing guitar for seven years, and singing for even longer.

“Music is just a really good creative outlet,” Doil said. “For when you have emotions and need to get things out.”

Writing music since eighth grade, Doil says she wishes to always write music.

“I want to go to college and be a musical composition major, I would like film scoring or writing songs for other people,” said Doil.

Doil says that she takes elements from all different kinds of music to incorporate into hers. She says that   she doesn’t model herself off of one artist. Being in different musical classes at school and spending hours playing guitar at home, Cara says there isn’t a day that goes by where she doesn’t do something that involves music.

“I don’t know what I would do with my time if I wasn’t into music,” said Doil.

When Krueger makes music he says it is an indescribable feeling. He has been playing guitar since the fourth grade. He has been writing his own songs and lyrics since he was in eighth grade. Krueger says that he is still learning, and that he can’t stop.

“After you get over the technicalities of placing your fingers, it [playing guitar] gets deeper, it gets emotional, you can express how you feel on the guitar,” Krueger said.

story by Jacob Pena // staff writer