While most students use iTunes to read reviews and purchase music, senior Ben Christel opens up iTunes to check on his own ratings. Christel has an album that he wrote and produced released on iTunes, and it turns out his reviews are pretty good–4.5 stars out of 5 so far.

Released Aug. 26, the album is called "The Robots Speak," under artist name Power Switch Failure. Christel atributes his album's positive reviews on iTunes to his extensive musical background and training, which started 12 years ago. "I first started learning to play the piano at age five, and I have never stopped taking lessons or playing the instrument ever since," he said.

Christel said his music is heavily affected by his classical piano training. "My music is techno, but it has a classical aspect to it in the sense that it is very melodic," he said. "I love classical music just as much as I love alternative and old progressive rock music, but my mom hates it when I play Bach." In addition to Bach, Christel enjoys listening to many contemporary musicians, his favorites including Arcade Fire and the Beatles.

Music composition came naturally to Christel as he continued to study piano. "I would always get musical ideas and I would rush to write down the musical theme wherever I was, so I didn't forget it," he said. "Sometimes I would be writing music in class." Upon coming across a theme he liked, Christel would improvise and elaborate it on the piano.

Initially, Christel wrote his music out by hand, but after he received an iMac computer a year ago, he started using music writing programs to digitally enter his music into the computer. He has also used GarageBand extensively to create background music for his video production movies. Eventually, GarageBand became Christel's main tool for music notation and production.

Christel classified his album as electronic music on iTunes and produced all his songs via GarageBand. "When my friends heard my music they thought it was really good," he said. "So I decided to look for ways to get it on iTunes." Christel landed at www.songcastmusic.com, a site that publishes music on iTunes for a fee of $40 per month. Once released on iTunes, the artist receives 70 percent of the revenue made from music sales monthly. "So far I'm only on my first month, so I don't know how much money I've made yet," he said. Christel plans to release a second album in the future.

Three of the eight tracks have vocals, while the rest is completely instrumental. Class of 2007 graduate Noel Carey contributed his voice to "AI," while Christel's sister, freshman Sophia Christel, sang for "Quintessence." "My brother says he can't sing," she said. "I have had voice lessons and I'm in choir, so I helped him out there." Sophia, who also plays the piano and sings, is not the only other musical one in Christel's family–Christel's father plays both the guitar and the bass in on-and-off rock bands.

Music is also an important aspect of Christel's academic life. He is currently taking AP Music Theory. "I'm always either writing, playing or listening to music," he said. "I'll definitely pursue music on the side in the future, although I'm not sure I want it as a career choice." Christel's top college choice is Stanford University, a school he says has a good electronic music program.

Sophia thinks music is an outlet for her brother. "Although he's really talkative around his friends, Ben is shy and quiet around strangers," she said. "I think music is a way of self-expression for him, of letting his ideas out."