“The music composition fellowship at SaMoHi is a wonderful supplement to the already outstanding core SMMUSD music curriculum. Students have the opportunity to explore and develop their unique compositional voices after school, while gaining a deeper understanding of music theory & music technology with two expert professional music composition mentors!" - Tom Whaley (former SMMUSD VAPA)
The Santa Monica High School Music Composition Fellowship is an after-school program designed to supplement the incredible music performance education that current students receive in the SMMUSD. The main goals of the fellowship are to encourage students to think and speak critically about the music they enjoy while also giving students the tools to begin crafting their own musical voices.
All currently enrolled students in SMMUSD are encouraged to join the SaMoHi Music Composition & Technology Fellowship.
The fellowship is led by Michael Mollo & Andrew Raiher. Both professional composers. Both parents of students in the SMMUSD.
The fellowship meets twice per week on Santa Monica High School campus. Currently we gather in the Discovery building. Computer Lab D103 from 3:45PM - 5:30PM on Tuedays and Wednesdays. Students are encouraged to come to both meetings but need only attend once per week to maintain fellowship status.
Each fellowship meeting begins with critical listening exercises. Students select the music for each day and with the guidance of the instructors learn to dissect what they hear, listening for tempo, key, genre, instrumentation and other compositional elements.
A short lecture follows on a given weekly topic. Topics include music theory, music production, music history, ethnomusicology and compositional analysis.
The remainder of each class is a workshop format with students working at computers on their own compositions. Students learn to utilize both MuseScore (music notation app) and Reaper (music sequencing app) as well as how to work with digital sampler instruments and music plugins.
Some of our students intend to pursue careers in music when they leave SaMoHi, however the main goals of the SaMoHi Music Composition Fellowship are designed for ALL students. This program aims to give our students the tools to express their unique musical voices while developing skills to communicate about music globally. We are building a creative community where students of all musical levels are welcome. Every student has something unique to contribute to our fellowship. As such, all students have the opportunity to showcase an original musical composition in both the Winter and Spring semesters in a culminating Capstone performance on SaMoHi campus. See below for videos of recent compositions.
Fall 2025
Fall 2025
Fall 2025
"The composition fellowship at Samo has introduced me to many new musical styles that I have incorporated aspects of into my own compositions to help create my own unique voice when writing music" - Jacob Hasselhoff ('25)
“The music composition program at Santa Monica High School has really helped me to expand and broaden my creative interests, musically and outside of music. I have learned so much from Michael and the rest of the staff when it comes to making music of our own. I’m loving it and I’ll hope to be continuing to do something like this in college!” - Arlo Petty ('25)
"This class taught me not only how to write music, but how to listen and understand it. I’ve really enjoyed the space to expand my mind and exercise creativity." - Silas Tropea-Lester ('26)