Written by Elly Herrick, Staff Writer
From his first gig at age 9 playing music off an iPad to having his mixes heard every Saturday morning on V100.7 Milwaukee Mix squad, one of Indian Trail High School & Academy’s juniors has grown into a young successful DJ and now an author.
The face behind the tracks is Ty An- derson, also known as DJ Fly Ty.
While he didn’t receive much support as a youngster, as he got older his parents gave him full support.
“I’ve always liked music since I was little, so it didn’t take me much to start DJing,” Anderson said.
Now Anderson is a lot more comfortable and con dent with his skills as a DJ. “I know how to read crowds and my skills have improved a lot,” he said. Every good DJ knows how to read a crowd based on the atmosphere. They have to be prepared to change an entire song playlist in order to satisfy the crowd.
“It’s pretty hard. It’s a lot of preparing and a lot of thinking on the spot,” Anderson said.
Jeremy Kriedeman, Anderson’s music teacher and IT band instructor, has been teaching music for 17 years and notes Anderson’s work ethic constantly impresses him in whatever Anderson creates whether it’s books or music.
“My favorite thing about Ty and his music is the example that it sets for other students,” Kriedman said. “While a lot of what Ty does is performance, it’s in a style and venue that students in public school music programs don’t usually get to experience and aren’t exposed to, and I think Ty’s success will help let students know that other musical outlets and avenues are available to them.”
Anderson took the typical question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and took it to another level. He and his mom wrote the children’s book, Mom, Dad, I want to be a DJ, in early November, then published it on Dec. 4.
“My mom asked me if I wanted to write a children’s book about my story. You see my mom is an author, so she writes books all the time … She sat down, interviewed me, and helped me write. We wrote it together,” Anderson said.
His book is available on his website (dj yty.com) and is about his experience of wanting to become a DJ as a young kid and sticking with that dream.
“My family and I are at a picnic and I see a DJ, go up to him and asked him about what he does, I go back to my family and tell them I want to be a DJ,” Anderson said.
Anderson has an abundance of support from not only his family, but his fans and the DJ industry. Anderson travels places like Milwaukee and Indiana and has made appearances on podcasts, music stations and on YouTube.
“You gotta keep trying till you get it,” Anderson said.
As a young professional DJ, Anderson has faced many challenges.
“Learning to understand people [is hard],” Anderson says.
Body language is important when a DJ reads a crowd. DJs evaluate how the crowd feels and they play a certain genre of songs according to what song they react best to. “Everyone’s way of expressing themselves is different,” Anderson said.
DJing is hard work. It’s not just songs on a playlist, it’s understanding music theory and reading a crowd. It’s about smooth transitions and taking the crowd on a musical journey.
“I don’t look at it as a success, I look at it as doing a lot for my age, but there’s more I can do as I get older,” Anderson said.