Sophomore Anthony Peterson’s hands glided fluidly over the keyboard despite his nervousness as he performed the well-practiced song specially made just for this occasion. He lingered on the last few keys, drawing them out, and paused. After a few moments of silence, the crowd stood and erupted into vigorous applause.

Peterson performs not only as a lettered musician in the school jazz, concert and marching bands, but also plays drums and keyboard in a separate band with his older brother, Michael Peterson, and friend Ben Miller.

“He is so exact and plays all the little fills just like the original songs, and seeing him on the piano for the first time was another shock,” Miller said. “It is a reaction I have seen other people have [when watching him perform] many times since.”

After receiving a drum set at age 12, Peterson taught himself how to play percussion. Because of this, he was selected to play snare drums for the school band as the center lead snare for marching band, and occasionally played marimba in the pit his freshman year.

“It’s my favorite pastime,” Peterson said. “When you’re writing or playing music, you’re putting your feelings into a different light. Music says so many words.”

Peterson joined band in 6th grade, and started marching as soon as it was offered in 9th. He made UIL area with the snare drum his freshman year and hopes to make it to state this year.

“It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been performing,” Peterson said. “You still get nervous knowing that you’re playing in front of people.”

Peterson’s passion for composing music began at age seven when he replicated Christmas songs on a family keyboard after hearing the songs on the stereo. He has been playing instruments and writing music, both the lyrical and instrumental aspects, ever since.

“The lyrics may not relate [to the tune] at the time I write them, but they will later,” Peterson said. “I can’t describe what kind of music I write. When I write, it’s always different.”

He generally writes at least one song per month, but each individual song can take anywhere from a few hours to the entire month to write. For special occasions, he composes medleys of songs.

“I do it by ear,” Peterson said. “I’m pretty good at picking up on melodies. [My band members and I] all evenly distribute the amount of songs we write.”

His aptitude not only earned him a place in the school band, but also in the rock band, MP3, as the drummer and occasional keyboarder. They all met when guitar player, Ben Miller, visited Peterson’s older brother, Michael, to return a phone and play guitar together for a bit longer.

“Anthony was a short, scruffy haired kid who didn’t look anything like Michael whatsoever, but when he sat down at the drum set and started playing some Led Zeppelin with his brother, I knew that this was going to be something worthwhile,” Miller said.

The band members each write their own songs and melodies in their own personal musical styles.

“Anthony writes these really epic pieces with strange chords that create their own atmosphere,” Miller said. “By that, I mean, most songs start with a simple guitar riff or melody, and you have to find the mood of it. His come built in.”

According to Miller, “his song, ‘Crashing Down,’ started out as a couple of piano riffs, and over a couple months of working on it, evolved into an epic.”

“I have no doubt Anthony had it in his head all along, even when it seemed half-written to my ears,” Miller said. “And it really turned out great.”

Advertising Broker Steve Cosio heard the band play one day at Miller’s father, a family friend’s, request, and was “impressed”. The band took a break, and Peterson began to play the Beatles song, “Lady Madonna” on the piano in the spare time.

“I thought to myself, ‘Wow, that’s nice. A teenager knows how to play a Beatles’ song on the piano.’ Then he blew me away with a classical piece, and that’s when I thought, ‘this kid’s got something special’,” Mr. Cosio said. “I was so blown away by the combination of his young age and talent.”

The non profit organization, “Discover Historic Mansfield,” serves as an art project created by the board to promote historic Mansfield to more people downtown. Mr. Cosio chairs the organization, and chose Peterson for the first time, thirteen years old at the time, to christen the first piano painted and placed by the organization with a five minute piano piece. He has been the only minor to perform a christening for it since.

“It’s a very big deal,” Mr. Cosio said. “With the amount of available piano players found in Mansfield, I think to be the first one chosen was pretty special. I can’t even count how many musicians there are in Mansfield, and I chose him a couple of times.”

One of the leading factors in being chosen by Mr. Cosio was his success at the World Piano Competition at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. At nine years old, he won 2nd place against a group predominantly composed of teenagers, $75 in prize money and was selected to play at Carnegie Hall in New York.

“It’s a culture shock in New York,” Peterson said. “It was massive, and it was my first time in New York. I didn’t know anything about it, and people kept asking me, ‘Wow, you’re going there?’ It didn’t really hit me for awhile. When I got there, I realized how much of an honor it was.”

Competitors play under levels, ranging from one to eleven, determined by the difficulty of the song they perform. Peterson competed and placed at level five, and now is determined to reach level ten.

“Every level in that competition is pretty much at a professional level,” Peterson said.

As well as having musical interests, Peterson also enjoys choir and art. However, due to a full schedule, he cannot attend classes in these fields now, and does not see it as a possibility in the future, either.

“I definitely would have taken an art class if I could have,” Peterson said. “Band takes too many blocks though, which is also why I also quit chamber choir.”

Although Peterson is undecided on which college he plans to attend, he will pursue his musical passion by becoming a music major. Peterson wants to be a composer but wants to end up in the field of teaching music.

“I know that people can enjoy listening to the music, and I know that it can get me far in life if I keep working,” Peterson said. “It’s nice to know that I have something that separates me from other people.”