The long way back to music.
Tyson Koopman has been a Milwaukie, Oregon kid since the day he was born. He's 24, studying computer science, and in the hours that don't belong to school or work, he makes music and plays video games competitively.
Music was always there. His mom plays piano and flute, and the moment she saw the spark, she signed him up for guitar and vocal lessons. By high school he was carrying a few instruments under his belt — guitar, ukulele, a little piano — writing songs for classmates and close friends. He had a spark. It just needed a reason to ignite.
But then life got loud. He pushed music aside, focused on school, on work, on growing up faster than he should have. Moved out at 18 before graduating. Full-time college. Full-time job. By the end of 2019 he'd dropped out, pushed away the people closest to him, and started making the kind of choices you spend years trying to unmake. Then the pandemic hit, and the years got stuck.
Job after job, just trying to make ends meet. Every time someone got close, he found a way to push them away. He tried writing again — taught himself GarageBand on his phone — but every song felt wrong. A lost soul in the sea of life.
After five years of playing the same broken record, something said enough. He moved back in with his mom, found a job that gave him room to breathe, started school again. And the music — finally — started coming back to life.
