Volume 47 Issue 2

THE FEATHERDUSTER

FD the

music issue

Westlake High School Volume 47 Issue 2 March 8, 2016 4100 Westbank Drive Austin, Texas 78746

2016

MARCH

{ staff editorial }

The music issue

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The Featherduster attempts to inform and entertain in a broad, fair and accurate manner on subjects which concern the readers. The publication seeks to provide a forum of ideas and opinions between the staff of the newsmagazine, the faculty, the student body and the local community about issues presented. In this vein, the staff encourages signed letters to the editor. Due to space limitations, not all can be published, and the editorial board reserves the right to edit them.

All material published by The Featherduster staff is copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without the writer’s consent or that of the

c Musi ado n o afici e uniqu uses o ds t soun e c produ . album

04 music in our school 23 music in our city 35 music in our lives 59 music in our world Editors-in-Chief Madeline Dupre Jack Stenglein Business Manager Samantha Jabour Music in our school Sage Sutton Drew Brown Dylan Webber Asst. Aro Majumder Asst. Nelson Aydelotte Music in our city Jack Wallace Asst. Conor O’Bryon Asst. Julia Rasor Music in our lives Lexy Connolly Sophia Ho Asst. Michael Wiggin Music in our world Maddie Miller Jack Speer Asst. Cooper Kerbow Webmaster Raine Lipscher Asst. Elliot Mayers Photographers Editor Lucy Wimmer Asst. Mary Beth Burns Jake Breedlove

Kendall Chase Bailey Gold Samantha Jabour Chloe Mantrom Claire Schaffer Ben Shepherd Alex Unflat Justin Whaling Art Zoë Jentzen Reporters Alan Ancira Reese Armstrong Alex Baker Kendall Carroll Milla Cypert Mubsar Dhuka Ariana Eshraghi Maia Fink Eliza Fuller Amanda Goldsmith Gabriel Khataw Jazmine Longridge Cullen Lowder Maite Napoliello Turi Sioson Lucy Urdahl Spencer Zagst Adviser Deanne Brown

editors. Content decisions rest in the hands of the staff, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. Opinions expressed in the columns that appear in The Featherduster do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the entire staff, the school administration or the adviser.

No material will be printed that is libelous, advocates any illegal activity or which the editorial board deems is in poor taste. This restriction includes letters to the staff, advertising and anything else the board feels presents an inappropriate message.

NOT

ENOUGH PEOPLE

UNDERSTAND

how powerful a tool music can be for healing, helping, distracting or even inspiring. There are songs that must have been written about you, there are artists who seem to know every last piece of your soul and there are albums that seem to fit into a special place inside of you, to fill up a missing piece of you, to take a place in your heart that no other album would ever be able to fill.

Everyone’s experience with music is different, and that’s part of what makes it so beautiful.

Isn’t it fascinating that no person’s music library is exactly the same, because human emotion and taste varies so greatly based on experience? Through different tastes, genres and artists, we are all bound together by a singular love of sound, for the songs that make us turn up our radio and forget our problems, for the adrenaline rush of a new album’s release, for the music that makes us laugh and that makes us cry.

Music is about emotion: happiness, longing, heartbreak, laughing, loving and most importantly, learning. The unique combination of words and sounds communicates the rush or the joy or the heartbreak we feel, on a platform everyone can understand. We make music because we are desperately trying to ask if anyone else has ever felt this way, if anyone around us has made sense of this mess called life.

Music is powerful and poignant, silly and insignificant. We span genres and continents with our sound, our yearning to be seen as more than just a face in the crowd or the sum of our parts.

We talk about landmarks like the Pyramids of Giza or Mount Rushmore like they are humanity’s greatest achievement, as if a triangle of sand or a face of stone could ever even attempt to understand something as complicated as the human heart.

Music is there when we are ready to grow or move on, but we also keep songs that remind us of sunny days in the backyard, of times when you needed someone else to reach the highest item on the shelf for you. Music reflects us back at ourselves and shows us the beauty of a world in which every single day, we can be new.

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“Music: that’s been my education. There’s not a day that goes by that I take it for granted.”

—Billie Joe Armstrong 04

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1. Prince Topher, played by senior Patrick Gilligan, sings “Me, Who Am I” as his introduction song. This song foreshadows his later actions of making the kingdom a better place.

2. Senior Taylor Thomas sings to junior Ben Roberts, one of the Enchanted Coachmen, on the way to the royal ball.

3. Starring as the lead Ella, two-time musical lead Taylor Thomas twirls in her excitement over the prince’s announcement of a royal ball taking place later that day.

4. Standing on the soapbox, senior Lucas McWhirter plays the part of a revolutionary in the kingdom. “I loved playing Jean-Michel because he was like me in the sense that he was not afraid to speak up for what he believed in, but he also had a lot of fun along the way,” Lucas said.

5. The women of the kingdom rejoice as they hold up their invitations to the royal ball.

15 6. The evil stepsister, played by senior Maddie Noteboom, complains about her dating life in “Stepsister’s Lament.”

7. In one of three kisses they share on stage, senior leads Taylor Thomas and Patrick Gilligan display their characters’ growing love for each other.

8. Senior Nicole Jefferson plays the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella.

“It was fun to be in control of the magic and to see all of the 14 special effects come together,” Nicole said.

9. Shocked that a peasant girl is the prince’s true love, the crowd watches as senior Patrick Gillian places the glass slipper onto senior Taylor Thomas’ foot.

10. With the power of pyrotechnics and a little help from senior Nicole Jefferson, Cinderella, played by senior Taylor Thomas, transforms her dress from rags to a sparkling golden 13 11 gown.

Choir, TEC bring the magic of ‘Cinderella’ to life The music stops; the crowd rises to its feet; hand in hand, the actors take their last bows, and finally, the curtain closes. After long nights and months of grueling practice, the choir department showed audiences that its hard work paid off in its annual musical production.

This year’s show, “Cinderella,” took place Feb. 4-6 and sold out all three days. 250 choir students, actors, Technical Entertainment Crew, teachers, parent volunteers and more helped put together this huge production.

With the play ending, veteran musical performers like Taylor Thomas, who played Fiona in last year’s production of Shrek, felt that the show went wonderfully.

“Overall, I think the musical went very well,” said senior Taylor Thomas, who played the lead role of Ella. “The audiences seemed to enjoy it a lot, and everyone in the cast had a blast during the four shows. It was a wonderful experience, and I’m very glad to have been a part of it.”

From “Westside Story” to “Shrek” and now to “Cinderella,” the choir has put on an array of different shows but changed its pace for this year’s production.

“It couldn’t have gone better,” said senior Maddie Noteboom, who played Cinderella’s step-sister Charlotte. “Everyone from the cast, TEC, choir directors and hundreds of parent volunteers were so committed to making the musical the best it could be, and it was easily the most magical show Westlake has ever done.”

Throughout their tireless practices and never-ending nights, student actors worked hard to perfect their lines, choreography and pitch so no mistakes would be made during the actual performances. However, not even the best of performers can prepare for what flukes might occur.

“Luckily, most of the major mistakes happened during dress rehearsals and not in front of live audiences,” Taylor said. “The only [mistake] that immediately comes to mind was during the Monday dress

rehearsal, I had a quick change that was not set properly, and I missed my entrance, so the people who were on stage at the time started improvising. The things they were saying were hilarious, and I was trying my hardest not to laugh offstage.”

For the seniors, this was the last major production of their high school career. Many of them have spent the past four years working together and forming friendships.

“Choir is a family to me,” Maddie said. “I have had the chance to meet people I would’ve never had the chance to meet if I wasn’t in choir. We all love to sing, which is what brought us together, but I now have some of my closest friends because of that.”

The musical would not have been able to happen without the choir directors, Ed Snouffer, Jenn Goodner and Steve Sifner. These masterminds put together this production each year and create quite a bond with their students.

“Mrs. Goodner is like a mother to me at school, and I really enjoyed being able to work with her on the musicals the past few years,” Taylor said. “I think Mrs. Goodner is very proud of all the principals and all the work they put in to create this amazing show.”

All in all, “Cinderella” took a lot of hard work to create. Through mistakes on stage, costume malfunctions and stressful practices, the actors made memories that will be hard to forget.

“One emotional moment I will remember forever was at the end of our final performance, during the wedding scene,” Taylor said. “I remember walking onto the stage and taking Patrick’s — Prince Topher’s — arm and walking up the stairs. Then, as soon as we faced one another, I started to cry, a lot. The emotions all hit me in that one moment. As Patrick and I looked at each other, we both communicated to one another our joy and happiness for the fact that we had the chance to be in this wonderful show.”

—Amanda Goldsmith

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11. Although he had slain dragons and giants, Prince Topher, played by senior Patrick Gilligan, wants something more significant in his life.

12. Senior Elekos Praxis, playing the role of Sebastian, speaks to the prince about the unrest in the kingdom.

13. Through the use of pyrotechnics, 21 adult supervision and a little fairy dust, senior Katherine Vescovo transforms a pumpkin into a carriage.

14. Junior Cal Ussery plays the role of a fox who turns into an Enchanted Coachman to accompany Cinderella’s carriage.

15. Cinderella’s fairy godmother, played by senior Nicole Jefferson, comforts Ella after her evil stepmoth22 er destroys her dress.

16. Prince Topher, played by senior Patrick Gilligan, pleads with Cinderella to return to him in the song “Ten Minutes Ago.” 17. Senior Marlaina Allen dances as an introduction to the 23 wedding ceremony between Cinderella and Prince Topher.

18. Ella and Prince Topher sing the duet “Loneliness of Evening” which is about finding true love.

19. The heralds of the kingdom, played by seniors Andrew Clement and Charly Hibler, announce that Prince Topher is holding a banquet to find Ella after she ran away from the ball.

20. Senior Alex Unflat as the evil stepmother calls to Cinderella to hold her newly-purchased parcel.

21. Ella shyly runs away from Prince Topher.

22. Seniors Kelly Burch and Maddie Noteboom star side by side as Ella’s stepsisters, Kelly being the nice one and Maddie being the brat.

23. Sophomore John Crowell plays a knight during the choir’s production of Cinderella.

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Ed Snouffer

Choir director builds program over 18 years

Snoufferisms “I can tell ACT scores right now just by looking at you.”

“It’s disorderly.

It’s un-something.

It’s just un. We cannot be un.”

“You know me, I just spew. I’m just spewing.”

“I’m sexy. Patrick, don’t write that down!”

“Marthann, I have no filter. Please stop me next time.”

“I sing this line beautifully; listen.”

“Altos are gonna do it again, and they’re not gonna sound like sixth graders.”

“I know it’s hard to accept that I don’t look beautiful right now.”

“Peter, what’re you doing? I am playing piano, and that’s amazing.”

The beginning notes of the song are heard, and everyone snaps to attention, immediately focused on the instruction they’re being told. Making sure every voice is in tune, playing the piano and communicating with an assistant director to make sure the choir sings in perfect harmony all at once is hard to do. The Westlake choir couldn’t do it without Ed Snouffer, the head choir director. It’s one thing to just direct a choir, but it’s another thing to be able to connect with the students and give them an experience they will never forget.

Mr. Snouffer has been working at Westlake for 18 years.

Though he did not envision himself as a choir director originally, he decided to pursue a career in music when he got to college.

“I decided to get a degree in music education and was doing a lot of singing, playing piano and performing in college,” Mr. Snouffer said. “I considered a career in performance as well, but then I got a job teaching when I got out of college and decided to go with that.”

While he was in college, Mr. Snouffer met his wife, Andrea Snouffer, the choir director at West Ridge Middle School. She gets a lot of the Westlake choir students before they’re passed on to Ed Snouffer.

“We were good friends from the very first day we met,” said Mrs. Snouffer. “We were both studying music, so we were in a lot of classes together and shared many friends.

He is one of the most genuine and sincere people I could possibly imagine knowing. He is patient and kind, creative and smart. He loves to do what he can for others, and he likes to laugh. His talent for music and teaching is amazing. I don’t know anyone else who does it all as well as he does.”

Mr. Snouffer has received many awards in his lifetime, including the Texas Region XIII Teacher of the Year. He has had many other accomplishments at Unfl as well, including growing x e Al the choir program to over 500 students. He has said teaching at Westlake impacted him greatly.

“I’ve taught in a lot of different kinds of places,” Mr. Snouffer said. “[Those were]

very fulfilling years of teaching with regards to students who really appreciated all that I was able to do for them.

Being able to teach here at Westlake, work with the kinds of students that I get to work with every day and having a community that supports the arts have all allowed me to work at a pretty high level and challenge students.”

Payton Stack, a senior in Madrigals, has been in choir for four years and has worked with Mr. Snouffer throughout her choir experience.

“He’s kind of crazy sometimes,” Payton said. “He’s very eccentric, and he’s really creative. He’s always making us laugh; he is a really loveable guy and an awesome director.”

Senior Christie Byrne joined Westlake choir when she was a sophomore. She has gotten to work with Mr. Snouffer for many years and said that she has really enjoyed the class and working with him.

“He likes to get things done the right way, and he puts 110 percent into everything that he does,” Christie said.

“He makes a lot of jokes and weird references. He’s passionate and dedicated to what he’s doing. One of the things that he likes to tell us in Madrigals is that you can either be fearful or fearless. I think that’s sort of his thing.”

Hundreds of students have passed in and out of the choir hall, seeing Mr. Snouffer almost daily for four years of their lives. Certainly, Mr. Snouffer has been impacted

by Westlake, but Westlake, in turn, has been impacted by him.

“What’s always been central to my teaching is really getting to know the students that I teach,” Mr. Snouffer said. “I try to build relationships with them and work with them to create something, and I feel like what we create together is strengthened when there’s a good personal relationship that is a part of that.”

Mrs. Snouffer also noticed the impact that her husband has had on his students over the years.

“He has touched the lives of so many people,” Mrs. Snouffer said. “I know that he has had tremendous impact because people are constantly reaching out to him long after they graduate to let him know that he helped to shape their lives. As a teacher, that is the biggest compliment we can imagine.”

—Kendall Carroll

Andrew Potter

Orchestra director continues legacy, brings new energy know what I’m doing now. It’s a great community, and it’s a great program. I’ve got great colleagues and obviously wonderful students.

FD: Do you have a strict music principle that you follow?

AP: If anything, I think it’s important to listen while you perform. You can’t get stuck in your own part. I know I preach it in class, but it’s so important to just be aware of what’s going on around you — in music and in life.

FD: What challenges did you face in making a name for yourself in music or as a teacher?

AP: When you get to a new town, it’s really hard to establish yourself as a performer, especially if you didn’t go to school there. It just takes a while to meet all the right people. In life and in music, it’s about who you know, establishing a good reputation, showing up on time and doing a good job.

FD: What is your favorite type of music to play?

AP: Obviously, I do like playing classical music. I like to play bluegrass, too. I’m a bass player, so it’s fun to just sit there and pluck out a bass line.

FD: How did you learn to balance your own music career with being a teacher?

AP: Oh, it’s a delicate balance. The nice thing is that they’re both music. Sometimes, I have time to practice at school, but it can be very tiring. I’ll come here, and I get to work with my students, and then I’ll drive to a gig somewhere, and I’ll play, and then it just starts over.

FD: How do you feel about music as a whole?

AP: Well, clearly it has been compelling enough to make a career and a life out of it. It’s nice to create for a living and see growth.

Working with my students, it’s like we start a new piece and it will sound terrible, then little by little we will just chip away at it and suddenly we have this performance. It’s pretty cool to get to see that every day.

FD: Did you ever want to do something other than music?

AP: I liked to build things, but I’m not very good at it, and I’m also not a very good farmer. I guess it was always music.

—Sage Sutton and Julia Rasor

Head band director reflects on 27-year career Featherduster: When did you first realize you wanted to teach music?

Kerry Taylor: My father was a high school band director, so I always had in my mind that being a band director was a possibility. Growing up, I was always around the school building, music teachers and student musicians. At the time, my oldest brother was a teacher, but my sister was studying medicine and my other brother was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studying Civil Engineering. Near the end of my junior year in high school, I think I slowly came to the realization that I enjoyed music and working with others too much to do anything except a career as a music teacher/director.

FD: What possibilities other than teaching music did you consider?

KT: I had a strong background in math and sciences — I wanted to be an acoustical engineer — I thought I could combine my musical and physics backgrounds and have a rewarding career.

FD: What made you choose to teach at Westlake?

KT: I first became associated with Westlake when I was a freshman at the University of Texas. My old middle school band director was the new band director at Hill Country Middle School. He asked me to teach private lessons and work with his kids on a few other things. I really liked the high expectations that the teachers, students and parents exhibited on a regular basis. When in graduate school, I intended to become a college music professor, but a few things happened — including meeting my future wife — that changed my career path. I began my career sharing time at HCMS and Westlake as an assistant, then spent five years at Mayde Creek High School in Katy ISD. When this job opened, I jumped at the opportunity but was surprised that I was offered the job over some other candidates who were very qualified and more experienced. I loved the fact that Eanes ISD is a one high school

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Featherduster: Which instrument did you originally start on?

Andrew Potter: I started on the drums in fourth grade. Then I saw the double bass at one of those sixth grade “petting zoos,” and I just had to play it. My mom had a [Volkswagen] Golf; it’s a really old small car, and I wanted to see if it could fit in there.

FD: What led you on your career of becoming a music teacher?

AP: In high school, I went to an arts camp up in Michigan called “Interlochen.” From there, I went to school at Michigan State. I actually went there as a performance major, but once I got there, I realized that I kind of liked teaching. I got both a musical performance degree and a musical education degree; I graduated and came down to Austin, and six years later, here we are.

FD: In your time of music, what have you learned as a music teacher?

AP: I’m learning new things every day. That’s one of the cool things about this gig, is that in the rehearsal hall, generally I’m learning all with my students. It’s nice that we are sort of teaching the same fundamentals every day, but we’re teaching new music every year and learning new music with the students every year, and that’s pretty fun. I guess there’s no overarching lesson except try to run a quick rehearsal and don’t let the kids get bored.

FD: Who is your favorite composer, and who inspires you?

AP: My favorite composer is probably Gustav Mahler. He had a rough life, but he wrote some great music. And who is my musical inspiration? Johnny Cash.

FD: How’ve you felt about the time you’ve spent at Westlake? What lessons have you learned?

AP: It’s been good. This year is definitely running better than last year.

This is a huge program with a lot of moving parts, and it’s nice to

Kerry Taylor

district and that the community and administration is so involved and supportive of the fine arts.

FD: How many students do you teach?

During marching season, I work with 250 before school starts and approximately 200 of the same students during the school day.

FD: How have you felt about your time at Westlake?

KT: I have enjoyed my [27] years at Westlake. There have been many challenges, but the support I receive from our administration and community has been strong. The staff is very professional, and we have outstanding programs in every discipline. There is a lot of pride in our work here. The most enjoyable and rewarding thing comes from my students. Most teachers work with their students only one year — I get to see the band kids mature emotionally, socially and musically for four years. I am proud to be a part of a band program that is recognized across the state and nationally as one of the top programs in the country.

FD: What is your favorite type of music to play?

KT: I like music that effectively communicates emotions. Sometimes, this is particularly well-written orchestral or band music; other times, it may be the lively syncopation or a purposeful offbeat tune of jazz or Latin or even the familiar tunes from a traditional Broadway musical or movie. Who doesn’t like the music from Star Wars?

FD: What lessons do you think music has taught you?

KT: Music has taught me to be patient and passionate. It has helped me to enjoy the beauty in life, in others and in myself.

FD: What effect do you hope to have on your past, present and future students?

KT: I hope that my students develop an appreciation for music — both listening and participating in the music making process, that they become lifetime consumers of more than just the pop music one might hear on the radio. I also want my students to recognize the benefits of working side by side with their peers to create something that can only be done in a group — and in order to have a quality result from this process, it requires diligence, persistence, listening and performance skills, respect for others and cooperation.

—Nelson Aydelotte

take note Tips for listening to music while studying

playing by ear

Varsity volleyball junior Jessi Dolezal

Athletes listen to their favorite songs to help pump them up before games

Alexis Gholston

3. If you want to study for a set amount of time without stopping, try and make a playlist that is roughly that length so once it ends, you’re reminded to take a break.

4. Find what works best and what doesn’t work for you. If you know that a certain genre distracts you, don’t try to listen to it and work anyway.

5. Not everybody can study efficiently to music. If listening to music distracts you, don’t try to listen to it. Different things work for different people.

—Maia Fink

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Featherduster: What genre of music usually gets you most pumped for games?

James Comerford: I usually listen to trap music. I also listen to a lot of rap and hiphop. They’re similar genres but not the same thing at all. That type of music just gets me going and really excited, especially for big games.

Jackson Wallace: I listen to a ton of music and music genres, but I would say rap is the best thing to get me pumped up. When the song has a lot of bass and is kind of aggressive, it gets me in the mood to go out and play my hardest.

FD: Who are some specific artists or songs that always get you pumped?

JC: I always can go for some Drake. Anything off of Nothing was the Same, What a Time to be Alive or If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late is a go-to. They’re all great albums because they’re high energy and just fun to listen to. But then there are also good singles such as “Watch Out” by 2 Chains that are good one-offs. I like when I can find a song that speaks to me where it’s not necessarily the artist but the song that I’m into. That’s always a positive.

FD: Does your team have a CD or playlist that you use when you warm up?

JC: No, the rugby team doesn’t have any sort of playlist or CD that we use before games. We would rather just all have our headphones in listening to our own stuff.

JW: Yeah, I find it nicer to just crank up the volume in my headphones rather than have everyone listen to the same thing because not everyone likes the same music.

FD: In your opinion, what makes a good pump-up song?

JC: Bass is really important.

I like a lot of bass in the song I’m listening to because it adds another level of depth to the song. It makes the beat interesting and more enjoyable to listen to.

JW: I agree with James. A lot of the stuff that usually gets me pumped has a lot of bass Juniors James Comerford and Jackson Wallace get low in the proper and is pretty upbeat and fastrugby position while messing around on the field. “Rugby is a super tempoed music. aggressive sport, so listening to aggressive music is the best way to get in the spirit for a game,” James said.

Music is a part of junior Jessi Dolezal’s pregame routine. “Music is the best outlet when I’m stressed or worried before a game or track meet,” Jessi said. ”It calms my nerves if I’m feeling jittery.”

“We don’t like to do too much explainin, story stayed the same I never

Varsity lacrosse senior Alex Mendrys

“When I walk down the hallway

2. If you’re picky when it comes to music, make a playlist ahead of time so you don’t waste valuable study time picking out songs.

Varsity rugby juniors James Comerford and Jackson Wallace

changed it.” (“Started From the Bottom,” Drake)

1. Research shows that listening to instrumental music is less distracting than listening to songs with lyrics.

“I keep my head high; I got my wings to carry me; I don’t

know freedom; I want my dreams to rescue me; I keep my faith strong.” (“Apparently,” J. Cole)

Featherduster: What genre of music usually gets you most pumped for games?

Jessi Dolezal: I would say R&B, hip-hop and pop because the whole team before the game goes into the locker room, and we listen to that type of music on a loudspeaker and dance around. It’s really fun because there is no other team in there, and we can get really hyped for games.

FD: Who are some specific artists or songs that always get you pumped?

JD: Senior Ava Gruzen made a hype playlist that I like to listen to before games. A song on it that the whole team loves is “Lip Gloss” by Lil’ Mama because we can stand in a circle and dance to it in the locker room before a game. I also really like to listen to Fetty Wap and Drake too before games.

FD: Does your team have a CD or playlist that you use when you warm up?

JD: Well, we have Ava’s that we use before we are warming up just in the locker room, but [senior] Claire Hahn made a really dope playlist that we use while we are warming up on the court before the game starts. It has really good energy to run to, so we all love it.

FD: In your opinion, what makes a good pump-up song?

JD: I really like something with a lot of bass. A fast, upbeat song that gets to the point and the whole team knows and can jam to is always ideal. It’s more fun if everyone can sing along and knows the lyrics because it makes it more exciting.

—Eliza Fuller

Featherduster: What genre of music usually gets you most pumped for games? they can't say nothing, oh oh oh my lips so luscious.” (“Lip Gloss,” Lil’ Mama) Alex Mendrys: I just like to listen to whatever is on my Spotify. I have tons of playlists that I use, and most of them have like rap and hip-hop on them. Those genres are just the most upbeat and exciting for me to listen to before I have to go out on the field.

FD: Who are some specific artists or songs that always get you pumped?

AM: I really like Rick Ross, Chief Keef and A$AP Ferg. The big names are usually who I go to first for getting ready for games.

Songs that I already know are fun because they are easy to get into.

FD: Does your team have a CD or playlist that you use when you warm up?

AM: For lacrosse, we all usually throw in the songs we want and if our coaches approve, then we all listen to it before we warm up.

They usually don’t approve of the songs we like and want to listen to, though.

FD: In your opinion, what makes a good pump-up song?

AM: Something upbeat, fast and with good lyrics always does the trick. I can’t listen to anything slow or chill because it’ll just bring me down. It’s all about having high energy and building your exphotos by Eliza Fuller citement before you get to go play. Senior Alex Mendrys says music is an important part of his pregame warmup. ”Listening to my favorite music before games is the only way to get me really excited before a big match,” Alex said.

battle of the

bands

Junior Sophie Werkenthin entertains the crowd as the judges deliberate over the awards at the 21st annual Battle of the Bands.

The winner of best lead vocalist at Battle of the Bands, junior Huxley Kuhlmann is also one of the guitarists for Grate Mail, which won the audience-chosen award for best band.

Lucy Wimmer

Jake Breedlove

The Featherduster, TEC sponsor 21st annual musical competition Junior Gabe Lozano, the lead singer of Tech 12, performs at Battle of the Bands on Feb. 19. “It was a lot of fun,” Gabe said. “It was the biggest stage we had ever played on.”

Lucy Wimmer

Drumming with The Back Steps, senior Pierce Waldrop is the only Westlake student in the band and has been in six Battle of the Bands performances.

Sophomore Joshua Myers is the bassist for Tech 12, which won best cover at Battle of the Bands.

Bailey Gold

14

in our school

westlakefeatherduster.com

Junior Liam Morris and the band Bluster won best energy, in part because of Liam’s multiple jumps from the drum platform.

Blue Tongue, a band that has been together for three years, won best dancing at Battle of the Bands. Senior Roy Fenner is Blue Tongue’s bassist.

Chloe Mantrom

Lucy Wimmer

Lucy Wimmer Junior Nathan Blue of Grate Mail focuses on playing the drums during Battle of the Bands. “[When performing], Nathan breaks out of his shell,” bandmate and bassist junior Audrey Sutter said.

“He has these great faces when he drums.”

Battle of the Bands is a fundraiser for The Featherduster and TEC, and sophomore Sean Wagnick worked on the lighting as part of the TEC crew.

Bailey Gold

Jake Breedlove

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marching to the beat of their own drums

e Coop r Ker bow

Left to right, sophomore Mateo Brunell, junior Asa Hebert, freshman Avery Johnson and senior Natalie Guess

Everyone loves music, and all good music needs a beat. For the Westlake Band, its element, its beat and its core rests on one section — drumline.

A family, an organization, a strong community, drumline is known and loved by almost everyone.

We all know them as the entertainers of our school, but we asked a few members of the drumline about what it takes to be part of this legendary club. —Cooper Kerbow

An insider’s look at one of the freshman

AVERY JOHNSON bass drum

Featherduster: What is your favorite part about drumline? Would you change anything?

Avery Johnson: I love all the people in it, and I love how it feels to be part of this drumline and to wear this cool drum. I would make the drums lighter, if I could change anything.

FD: How do you prepare for performances (competitions, games, pep rallies)?

AJ: For bass drum, I had to work on memorizing the music a lot because there’s tons of counting and splits. So, I mainly practiced it at home.

FD: Are there any drumline traditions?

AJ: A strange tradition is that the bass section has a weird worshipping with Shrek.

FD: What’s the process of becoming a member of the Westlake Drumline?

AJ: You have to make an instrument first. If you don’t make drumline, you try out for front ensemble afterwards. Most importantly, you have to be on top of everything.

FD: What types of instruments make up drumline?

AJ: Bass, tenors and snares. Bass is the deepest and technically the loudest because it carries.

Snares are higher-pitched and louder when you’re

junior

ASA HEBERT snare drum

Featherduster: What is your favorite part about drumline? Would you change anything?

Asa Hebert: My favorite part is being around my friends during rehearsal, cracking jokes and laughing. I wouldn’t change anything about drumline.

FD: How do you prepare for performances (competitions, games, pep rallies)?

AH: To prepare, we practice the cadences, and, if a little thing is wrong, we go back and fix anything.

FD: Are there any drumline traditions?

AH: In “The Hey Song,” when we’re winning, we will put our right legs up while we play. It’s really hard to keep balance, along with section circles for competition. Before walking down to the stadium, we have a good arm shake to get that motivation going.

FD: What’s the process of becoming a member of the Westlake Drumline?

AH: There are two auditions in the spring semester before the fall semester, basically playing our warmups and making sure you can play. Mainly, it’s the “what,” not the “how.”

FD: What types of instruments make up

18

in our school

westlakefeatherduster.com

up close. Basically, it’s mostly the melody. Lastly, the tenors are what I think of as a mixture of the two.

FD: How much time do you dedicate in a week towards drumline?

AJ: At band camp, I would come home and practice for an hour because I was just starting and wanted to be on top of everything. Then, during marching season, I would practice less, more towards thirty minutes. After the season is region auditions, and I would usually stay after at school, since I don’t have any of the instruments at home, and I’d practice for about an hour and a half.

FD: How old were you when you heard about drumline? What interested you?

AJ: My dad played bass and then snare his next year when he was in school, and, when I was in sixth grade, he really wanted me to join percussion.

FD: Have you performed in anything notable?

AJ: In our summer concert, the percussion performed an interlude of our show before the school year started, and now we’re currently working on a piece called “Clair de Lune.”

FD: What advice do you have for other aspiring young musicians?

AJ: [I would] definitely talk to those who have experience. This helped me a lot because I was so nervous. Another thing that [I would tell others would be] no matter how hard it seems at first,

never give up.

FD: How does it feel to be the entire school’s entertainers?

AJ: That’s one of the coolest parts of drumline.

The coolest part of this was during Homecoming, when we cadenced, or played through the hallway. It’s so much fun playing with the cheerleaders and students by our sides.

drumline?

AH: The three instruments of the drumline are the snares, the tenors and the basses. Snares are the sounds that can be heard from the other two sections, but it’s what they’re listening to. The tenors provide that oomph, then the basses are heard by the entire band and they carry the farthest. If you are far enough away from the stadium, you will only hear the basses and the beat.

FD: How old were you when you heard about drumline? What interested you?

AH: I heard about the Westlake Drumline when I first joined band in middle school. What interested me was the sound of the instrument, but these guys were just grooving, having fun, other than the other instruments who just played winds.

Plus, I played drum set before that, so that just fit the rule.

FD: Have you performed in anything notable?

AH: We’ve done some gigs, but they weren’t that big of a deal. My freshman year, we went to the Dripping Springs Drumline Competition in early September. [The competition] was really good preparation for the marching season. I really hope we do [the competition] again.

FD: What advice do you have for other aspiring young musicians?

AH: I’m trying to pick my words carefully; practice, but have fun is the main thing.

FD: With drumline, what did you expect your first year?

AH: [My first year on drumline], I expected my drum to be heavy, but [the weight] was so much more.

FD: What is the most memorable moment of being a part of drumline?

AH: I love cadencing after halftime with the cheerleaders and the student section. We had fun standing on our heads and playing at one of the football games.

most exclusive music groups on campus sophomore

MATTEO BRUNEL tenor drum

Featherduster: What inspired you to join drumline? Why did you choose drumline?

Matteo Brunel: Ever since I was a little kid, I started playing piano so I could join percussion, and, eventually, I achieved my goal.

FD: What is your favorite part about drumline? Would you change anything?

MB: My favorite part of drumline is how close you get to everyone. Honestly, you spend so much time together learning music and drill; it’s just tons of fun. I guess you do become a clique. I would change how the auditions are done. I wish [drumline] tested you more and showed how you learn how to be a part of drumline.

FD: How do you prepare for performances (competitions, games, pep rallies)?

MB: Besides the obvious, practicing, for competition we get into section circles, to help us calm our minds and help us focus on what needs to be done, focus our minds and our attention on band.

Practicing for pep rallies is important, especially for the cadences. I love the cadences.

FD: Are there any drumline traditions?

MB: We like to break our drumsticks at the end of the season, after the wood has worn away. We just go ham on our drums, and eventually the tips

senior

NATALIE GUESS tenor drum

Featherduster: What inspired you to join drumline? Why did you choose drumline?

Natalie Guess: Actually, when I moved here in eighth grade, I still had the desire to be in a rock band. So that’s why I play drums, but also I stay because I like people in [drumline].

FD: What is your favorite part about drumline? Would you change anything?

NG: My favorite part is definitely the people — they’re my life-long friends. [Drumline] can be stressful at times; during my sophomore year, I lost 10 pounds, just through marching and holding a 40-pound tenor drum.

FD: How do you prepare for performances (competitions, games, pep rallies)?

NG: I actually have really bad stage fright, so for concert season, I just hope for the best, but for marching season I got over [my fear], since we’re in the back and you can be mainly heard instead of seen. While marching, you’re so engaged, that you forget what’s going on around you.

FD: Are there any drumline traditions?

NG: We have a circle before competitions, and before home games we have handshakes — special

break, and it’s a ton of fun.

FD: What’s the process of becoming a member of the Westlake Drumline?

MB: In the spring semester, everyone can audition. [To audition], you go into the room and play the music that was assigned. It’s usually our warmups. And then eventually, you’ll make drumline, and that’ll be your instrument for the marching season. What you are graded on is how well you can play the music, how well you can mark time or how well you can stay in time.

FD: How old were you when you heard about drumline? What interested you?

MB: I was really young actually, around 7, when I started playing piano. I heard if you want to play percussion, you have to learn piano. I knew how awesome drumline was and how cool those percussion players are.

FD: Would you like to pursue a career through percussion?

MB: I wouldn’t pursue it as a career, but I can definitely tell you the skills I’ve learned — learning music and meeting those tough deadlines — have taught me a lot and will affect my future in any career.

FD: What advice do you have for other aspiring young musicians?

MB: If you want to become a good musician, you have to know how to practice, and there are plenty of quotes on the Internet about practicing and how that translates to you performing well. Just

practice smart to be a good musician.

FD: How does it feel to be the entire school’s entertainers?

MB: [Entertaining] feels really awesome honestly, and the best part is the music we play and how fun [drumline] is. I get to jam out; I get to help others jam out, and it’s really enjoyable.

FD: What is the most memorable moment of being a part of drumline?

MB: [My most memorable moment is] when we play through the halls for pep rallies, especially Homecoming.

handshakes.

FD: What’s the process of becoming a member of the Westlake Drumline?

NG: You are given an audition packet with all the warmup music, and then you are supposed to learn [the music] on your own. The second part would be that there’s the audition; two hours going through all the warmups and making them better.

FD: How much time do you dedicate in a week towards drumline?

NG: During marching season itself, we have morning rehearsal, first period block and then we have all of summer to learn all the music.

FD: How old were you when you heard about drumline? What interested you?

NG: I joined percussion in eighth grade, when I was 14. Wow, that was a while ago. Plus, it helps with being able to learn percussion in a year; you can’t learn trumpet or something in one year.

FD: Have you performed in anything notable?

NG: We did this World Confrence thing for some company, where I fell on my face, and it was very embarrassing. Most embarrassing moment of my life.

FD: What instrument do you play? How was that chosen for you and why?

NG: [I chose the tenor because] I thought this

choice was the coolest, simple as that.

FD: What advice do you have for other aspiring young musicians?

NG: If people say, “You can’t learn this in a year,” prove them wrong. Keep at it; it’s gonna be a lot of work, but if you practice more, you’ll get better than your competitors.

photos by Cooper Kerbow

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“Music theory gives you a greater appreciation for all the different kinds of music in your life,” senior Ellise Johnson said.

Sophomores Angela Fei and Natalie Tobita play excerpts from the 16-measure pieces they wrote for their composition projects.

Junior Marshall Logwinuk works on his composition project. photos by Lucy Wimmer

in theory

T Thirteen students sit in the large room in the center of the band hall. While the room is usually filled with the sound of music, it is now silent except for the quiet scribbling of pencils. After a few minutes, assistant band director Drew Saenz calls the class’s attention back to the board at the front of the room, where a series of horizontal lines and dots has been drawn. Hesitantly, one student volunteers his solution to the problem.

“To avoid having the same chord progression, I put C-sharp in alto, and I doubled the F-sharp in tenor.”

“The first part is good thinking,” Saenz says, “but the second part is kind of a big leap.”

In essence, AP Music Theory students learn how music works.

While the class covers historical composers like Mozart and Beethoven, it mainly focuses on

the nuts and bolts of rhythms, pitches and chord qualities. Students must be able to write and notate music as well as sight sing, or look at written notes for the first time and be able to sing them correctly.

“This class has definitely proven to be difficult,” junior Evelyn Webber said. “There are a lot of things that we have to memorize, like key and time signatures and rules for creating harmonies. We also have to analyze music that we hear and figure out the type of interval or scales between notes or throughout a piece.”

On the AP test, students must be able to identify chord types, scales and harmonic progression.

The test is composed of multiple parts, from written and multiple choice to sight singing and error detection.

“It can be [hard] depending on your musical experience before

AP class studies elements of music

you start the class,” Saenz said.

“There’s certainly a lot of content to cover even if you do have a high level of experience. It’s definitely work intensive at the front end of the year to establish a lot of the basics.”

Since 2010, Saenz has been involved with the Westlake percussion program as a beginning percussion teacher at West Ridge Middle School, a private teacher and a marching band assistant.

However, this is his first year as both assistant band director and AP Music Theory teacher.

“Mr. Saenz is doing an excellent job,” senior Allen Block said.

“While theory may not be his top priority compared to third band or percussion, he doesn’t treat it as such and puts in a lot of effort to really teach us and to gear us for the AP test.”

While Saenz bases his curriculum off of last year’s, he has made

a few changes to the class, such as increasing the variety of music the students study.

“I would say we listen to more non-classical music as examples for identifying aspects of music,” Saenz said. “It’s all still relevant, and I think you can describe music and be more engaged with a song that you don’t classify as classical.

It’s an effort to engage everyone instead of putting them to sleep.”

Music theory can be helpful in performances and concerts, but it also goes further than that.

“Most music experience is learning and performing, but it’s nice to sit down and explore some of the theoretical possibilities and implications,” Saenz said. “As musically inclined as Austin is, and Westlake being a flagship school, I think it’s only right that we understand music on a more intimate level.”

—Jack Stenglein

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music

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page 24 through page 33

“[My city] is my home and the reason why I get to do what I love.”

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hitting the airwaves

T

Scott Gardner, who has taught German for 38 years, adjusts his equipment in the studio of KOOP radio during his radio show broadcast.

German teacher hosts evening radio show

Tag-teaming behind the preceding broadcast, German teacher Scott Gardner is on air in three minutes. The scene in the studio could almost be described as calm chaos. Gardner, with the skill of someone who has been doing this for more than 20 years, bustles around the small space, checking the CD players, lining up his next song, adjusting his mic and setting up his record player. Once the first song ends, he is ready for two hours of live radio, sending out waves of music across Austin from KOOP’s station on 91.7 FM. The

24

in our city

show airs Saturday nights from 8 to 10 p.m. and streams online at koop.org.

The station, KOOP, went on air for the first time on Dec. 17, 1994, and Gardner’s show first broadcast on Christmas Eve, 1994. At first, he co-broadcasted The Garage Show, but once his co-host left to produce his own show, Gardner became the single host of the show and changed the name to Stronger Than Dirt.

“I’ve always been an avid lover of music and collected records from early on, so I have a massive record collection,” Gardner said.

“Maybe your parents did this too, but in the old days, when we had cassettes, I’d make these sampler tapes for friends. I’d record some of my favorite songs and put them on there, and we would exchange [them]. I always liked sharing the music that I was listening to.

One evening, I was entertaining, and I had some friends over.

This one woman, who was already volunteering at KOOP radio, saw my record collection, which was

westlakefeatherduster.com

huge, and she said, ‘Ah Scott, you oughta come down and do some volunteer work at KOOP radio.

Maybe you’ll get a show.’ That’s what I did, and I’ve been there ever since.”

The music Gardner broadcasts includes bands from a wide range of time, and he describes it as Saturday-night party music. Bands include Pink Floyd during its early years, Brian Eno and Devo. Musicians such as Billy Childish, Mick Collins and Jay Reatard also get air time on his show.

“I hate the word rock, but kind of in the rock [genre], but it’s not like classic rock,” Gardner said.

“I’m not playing Led Zepplin, and I’m not playing metal. It’s fun, high-energy [music]. I think people in my generation would be like, ‘Woah, that’s really hard music,’ or ‘That is really bizarre,’ but that’s what I’m into. Lesserknown, underground sort of music.”

Since the show requires lots of prep work, Gardner constantly thinks about what songs he can

broadcast on the next show.

“What’s interesting is it has changed the way I listen to music completely,” Gardner said. “I know this is going to sound weird, but before I had my radio show, I listened mainly for pleasure; now I rarely listen to music just for pleasure. Ninety percent of the time when I’m listening to music, it’s all about previewing music for the show. In a sense, it’s a job that I enjoy. When I listen to music now, it’s all about ‘Can I use this song on the show?’ [When I do listen] for pleasure, I usually listen to classical music — something that is just different from the sort of music I would play on the show.

Like after I do my show, because I play two hours of pretty high-energy, raucous sort of music, I listen to classical music in the car.”

The radio show even played a part in Gardner’s marriage.

“One other interesting story is that [my wife] Pasqual and I, you know, this is maybe too much information, but Pasqual and I actually dated back when we lived

Claire Schaffer at a place called German House back in ’79-’80, and then we went our separate ways,” Gardner said.

“But she heard me [on the show] in ’99. I did an anti-Valentine’s Day show. I had just ended a relationship. She happened to be listening, so she surmised from that that I was unattached, and so basically we got back together from the radio show.”

The show’s name comes from a large trend that appeared in bands during the ‘60s.

“Stronger Than Dirt originally was an AJAX ad from the ‘60s,” Gardner said. “What happened was several ‘60s bands actually made songs called ‘Stronger Than Dirt.’ Then there was a ‘90s punk band called the Mummies [who sang] ‘My love is stronger than dirt.’ There was a Fort Worth band called Floyd Dakil 4. They had a song called ‘Stronger Than Dirt,’ and I always end my show playing that.”

Gardner puts a lot of planning into the show, usually spending time throughout the week picking

songs for the next broadcast. before the show, but he does not “In the old days, on Satur- have them organized. He does not day afternoons at like around 4, like requests but sometimes ofI would brew up some coffee and fers to bring the requested song [go through in the followmy] records ing week. He and just kind also someof wing it,” times has G a r d n e r free tickets to said. “Now, I offer, given have a masto the first sive iTunes caller, adding library, and I to the things start usually he must keep on Sunday or track of.

Monday night “When I going through go in and ac—teacher Scott tually do the and picking out songs Gardner show, I have that I haven’t several songs played in that would three or four years and planning. make up the show, but, as I do the I try to get something ‘60s, mid- show, I still have to program it. ’70s and present day. I probably I’m basically thinking ‘OK, what put in four or five hours a week do I play next?’ It is live radio in just planning the show.” that sense. I [think], ‘OK, here However, even with all the are the 40 or 50 songs I have to planning, the show itself requires choose from,’ but I still have to constant attention during a broad- organize them for the show right cast. Gardner picks out the songs there live. So that is the fun of it.

“What’s interesting is it has changed the way I listen to music completely.”

It can be a little stressful, because you have vinyl, and then people call up, and they want to choose [certain songs]. I’ve got like 40 seconds to go, and I don’t have a song queued up, that sort of thing.

It can get really stressful.”

The show lets him enjoy new experiences and has had a positive influence on Gardner’s life.

“It’s about sharing music that I’m into, and for me, my show is all about playing lesser-known bands,” Gardner said. “For instance, I grew up on The Beatles, but I would never play them because everyone knows them.”

The 38-year teaching veteran continues to enjoy the aspects of the show that go beyond the music itself.

“I’ve met lots of wonderful people who are musicians.”

Garder said. “I’ve interviewed lots of great bands. It has just kind of added a richness to my life. It is kind of an artistic endeavor. It allows me to express myself in a way that I can’t [otherwise].”

—Conor O’Bryon

Vin yl en t

26

in our city

g

V Vinyl records are back in style. Sales have reached their highest level in 20 years. The sudden increase in popularity has resulted in established — as well as newer — musicians releasing vinyl along with other formats. Country, rock and even hip-hop/R&B musicians still release music on vinyl. Despite its age, there are advantages gained by releasing vinyl. For example, if musicians didn’t like the original release of their albums, they can alter it on their vinyl release. Fans can hear the original album, then listen to the edited tracks and notice what the artist has changed. Collectors like me love things like this. Having an exclusive piece of music in your collection adds a special appreciation to the album.

I started collecting vinyl about two years ago after I saw my dad’s huge collection. I loved looking at the stunning pictures, and at the time, my small size made the records look even more astounding. I started collecting by getting some of my favorite albums. I usually get my records from Waterloo Records and Amazon, but for those special records that are hard to find, such as Channel Or-

tin

for rec the

lec ol

es excitem r a h s en t s to a i s fc u h

rds

Lu

cy

Wi

mm

er

ange by Frank Ocean, I have even more fun trying to get them. I really have to do my research. When I do finally buy them, it gives me that much more of a sense of accomplishment that I was able to obtain a rare album.

Right now, my personal collection is roughly 32 records and growing. My favorite records are WOLF, a limited edition album

by Tyler, The Creator, and To Pimp a Butterfly, the double LP Grammy-winning album by Kendrick Lamar. I dedicate a special shelf in my room to showcase and preserve my growing collection, as well as a decent record player with

westlakefeatherduster.com

a large floor speaker. The large speakers show off my collection since I feel that vinyl sounds best at a louder volume.

It isn’t just the record that counts, however. The casing for vinyl can be intricately designed, adding visual appeal to collecting vinyl. The size of the case gives musicians plenty of space to put various art and other thoughts on it. Photos or art, reasoning behind the songs on the record and even thoughts about the topics covered in the album can appear on cases.

Compared to CDs, there is no competition. The small case limits the ability of CDs to have interest-

Melynn Barber

ing designs. Even the records themselves can have pictures printed onto them. Everything down to the protective sleeves can have art or credits to the people who worked on the songs. Crazy color combinations and detailed designs can give purchasers something really compelling to look at.

The collection and maintaining of vinyl isn’t hard but takes focus. I keep the records off the ground and out of direct sunlight. I test them every once in a while and change the needle on my record player on occasion.

These simple steps ensure my collection stays as good as new.

It’s amazing how a needle, holes, bumps and grooves are able to make such extraordinary sounds. That in and of itself is one of the main reasons I love vinyl.

It just sounds cool to me. You can tell the difference between listening to music on your phone and on vinyl — the record cracks as you set the needle down at the start of the song, and the melodies at the end crackle as they fade away.

From start to finish, the way vinyl sounds, looks and works just can’t be beat by alternative formats.

—Spencer Zagst

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ACL, SXSW set bar for

New York City has the Macy’s Parade. Sonkajärvi, Finland has its annual Wife Carrying World Championship. Gloucestershire, England has its Cheese Rolling Contest on Cooper’s Hill. Every year, most trend-setting cities have special events to showcase their traditions and culture. Some are more unusual than others, such as Buñol, Spain’s La Tomatino, where people gather in the streets and pelt each other with tomatoes in the world’s largest food fight. Austin, Texas has Austin City Limits and South by Southwest.

With ACL in the fall and SXSW in the spring, Austin holds the title of live music capital of the world. These festivals bring together Austinites and attract diverse crowds from different countries.

With Zilker Park right in Westlake’s backyard, we can hear musicians like The Weeknd and Drake practically from our classroom windows. But mainstream artists haven’t always been ACL’s forte.

ACL started in 2002 with a unique set-up of different stages in Zilker Park. It celebrated a variety of bands like String Cheese Incident and The Blind Boys of Alabama. String Cheese Incident is a psychedelic rock band, a genre that tries to imitate the mind-altering feelings one gets while on psychedelic drugs with droning noises, backward tapes and extended solos. On the other hand, The Blind Boys of Alabama is a group that originated in 1944 with four out of five members being blind.

They sang gospel at benefits for Martin Luther King Jr. and fought for the Civil Rights Movement. In 2006, the festival featured native Austin bands such as I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness, a gothic rock band that became mysteriously inactive until it released a new album in 2014.

The mid-2000s also marked ACL’s debut of more well-known, modern bands such as The Killers, Modest Mouse and Spoon.

Throughout the years, the festival presented Coldplay, Arcade Fire, Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel, Muse, Foo Fighters, Vampire Weekend and many more red-carpet artists and bands. Nowadays, festivalgoers are used to seeing this caliber of headliners, sometimes in more surprising conditions.

“I was at Bassnectar, and some random guy gave me his flagpole and put me on his shoulders,” junior Selina Eshraghi said. “I was really confused as to what was happening, and then the guy runs with me still on his back, and he had a pass to go backstage for Drake. So, I ended up backstage at Drake, but I was more focused on this creepy guy than I was on Drake.”

Even if Selina wasn’t able to meet Drake, junior Ben Collie had the privilege of interacting with him and other artists while working the sound and microphones on the Samsung stage. Ben works in Technical Entertainment Crew and, through family connections, landed a job distributing microphones at ACL. “Drake was in all honesty a terrible person,” Ben said. “He showed up 15 minutes late. I was giving him his microphone and explaining to him, ‘This is the power button, and this is the volume’ and [he said],

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‘Yeah, I know, but I needed this 15 minutes ago.’ And I [said], ‘Well, you weren’t here 15 minutes ago.’ He looked at me with the biggest death stare, and I thought, ‘I am about to get punched.’ Anyway, when he came back [from his performance] I was standing right there with my hands out ready to get the stuff from him, and he passed me and went to one of his bodyguards.”

But he didn’t let his bad experience with Drake keep him from befriending other musicians.

“Twenty One Pilots was great,” Ben said. “I really liked meeting them.

[Josh Dun] and I were talking, and he has a master’s degree in music theory, and to get that degree, you have to be able to perform on every instrument, like orchestra and brass and percussion, [so] he knows how to play pretty much every instrument. They were asking what Austin is like, so I told them a lot about Austin. They were asking me [more] stuff Photo by: Samantha than I was asking them.”

Ben didn’t just have fun conversations but dealt with high stakes of the festival as well.

“A$AP Rocky was drunk during his performance,” Ben said. “He completely forgot about his headphones and his Drake preforms during ACL 2015 microphone. [Also, Tyler Joseph from Twenty One Pilots] climbed up the side of the tower — it was really cool though.

[The place] where he was Drake performs his hit single “Hotline Bling” standing and holding onto at ACL Oct. 10, 2015. a flagpole was held by two Samantha Jabour zipties, so if he lost his balance and leaned on the flagpole, it would have probably broken, and he would have fallen.”

Music isn’t the only thing that has evolved with the festival. Prices have too. Due to the swelling numbers of ACL-goers, daily wristbands have jumped from $25 to $90, and three-day wristbands have skyrocketed from $45 to $225. When the festival originated, only 30,000 people showed up on the first day; for better perspective, once upon a time, people were able to buy wristbands the day of the festival. Now, more than 75,000 people swarm Zilker Park each day each weekend. That’s about 5,000 more people than the most recent Super Bowl. Today, early bird discounted tickets for the following year sell out after only about a week.

So, Austin has ACL. Shouldn’t that satisfy the hunger of the music-

SXSW

1987-2016

live-music festivals ravenous crowd? Of course not. We’re talking about Austin, after all. While ACL takes place near October and September, SXSW opens in March.

SXSW showcases not only music but film and emerging technologies as well.

SXSW started in 1987, formed by a group of people passionate about the arts and music, wanting to spotlight artists in what was then the sleepy city of Austin. The founders met in the Austin Chronicle offices and kept their ideas secret until they finally announced the first festival in October of 1986.

SXSW opened its doors on March 13, 1987 with acts such as Bobby Mack and Glass Eye. It also featured a keynote speaker, Huey Meaux, an American record producer. SXSW grew from a mere 700 people on opening day to a colossal 84,385 in 2015.

The festival brought in famed country singer Johnny Cash in 1994, rock n’ roll star Lou Reed in 2008, Bruce Springsteen in 2012 and Lady Gaga in 2014.

In 2014, SXSW also introduced its first hip-hop acts such as Ultramagnetic MC’s, Del The Funky Homosapien, Atmosphere and Hieroglyphics. Del The Funky Homosapien happens to be cousins with the more well-known rapper Ice Cube and helped him write lyrics. At the beginning of Del’s career, he came out with his first album, I Wish My Brother George Was Here, with songs such as “What is a Booty” and “Mistadobalina.” Although he didn’t reach chart-topping fame with his initial albums, he later joined the Gorillaz and helped create award-winning songs such as “Feel Good Inc.” and “Clint Eastwood.”

In 1995, SXSW introduced bands such as Dumptruck, Yo La Tengo and Bush. By 2002, while ACL was just getting off the ground, SXSW was booking well-known bands and artists like John Mayer, The Shins, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, John Butler Trio and speakers such as Courtney Love.

Today, SXSW gives artists and bands a microphone not only to perform but to interact with their audiences through Q&A sessions. Most recently, the festival featured Amy Schumer, Big Sean, Snoop Dogg and the cast of The Breakfast Club. Throughout all of SXSW’s changes and quirks, Patrice Pike, lead singer of one of SXSW’s showcasing bands, Sister 7, has experienced it all.

“SXSW was one of the first of its kind,” Pike said. “Austin was a place that people liked to go, but it wasn’t as popular; it wasn’t named yet in Forbes magazine. It was an exciting but casual destination, and a lot of labels enjoyed coming here. When it was earlier in existence it was more

Natalie Prass sits on the edge of the outdoor stage at The Mohawk while she sings a song about a crowd member for South By Southwest March 20, 2015.

Chloe Mantrom about scouting out unsigned bands. A lot of really big, famous bands come and play concerts, so it gets kind of overrun by a lot of people, and it can sometimes overshadow smaller, developing bands.”

Although Pike misses the older and more casual SXSW, she still benefits from showcasing at the festival. “[My most memorable moment] from going to SXSW would be playing our showcase and then two months later flying to Paris and getting signed to Arista records,” Pike said. “They are rockstar dreams, and they don’t come true for most people.”

Sister 7 enjoyed many other moments in its history alongside SXSW, including playing at La Zona Rosa on 4th street packed with 1200 fans right after Led Zeppelin member John Paul Jones.

“Without our fans, it would have made it impossible for them to even hear about us,” Pike said. “[When on stage], it’s the most incredible feeling of love and appreciation that I could describe because we have a fanbase of people from all different walks of life coming all together, singing all of [our] songs in a giant ring and knowing the words. It’s an amazing feeling — for a minute everyone forgets about their business and they’re actually completely engrossed in the music.”

—Raine Lipscher

Mary Beth Burns

fine tuning

A

A chorus of hoots and hollers erupts from the crowd. The performer, a tall girl dressed in a black jumpsuit and four-inch heels, steps off stage having just dazzled the audience with her powerful rendition of Amy Winehouse's “Back to Black.”

Anyone who witnessed senior Nicole Jefferson’s performance last year in choir’s annual Spring Revue concert could accurately assume that she is influenced by musicians such as Winehouse and John Lennon. But, what some may not know is that pop music is not Nicole’s only forte — she is also actively involved in classical singing.

“I enjoy both [pop music and choral music], but I think what I like most about choral music is that a lot of the pieces have history and stories behind them,” Nicole said. “Also, learning [songs in] new languages is fun, which I get to do more of in choral music.”

Nicole grew up surrounded by music — her father works at Strait Music and has always influenced her to pursue the art. However, she didn’t get into choral music until fifth grade, when her elementary school got a choir program. She furthered her involvement the next year, when she began taking private voice lessons. Soon, she realized that singing was more than just a school elective — it was a passion that she intended on continuing.

“I’m thinking about being a music teacher," Nicole said. "I really started to consider it just last year. I’ve always been into music, and I always knew it would be a part of my life. I didn’t think it would be my career, but now that’s what I’m leaning towards."

After realizing she wanted to make a living from singing, Nicole started looking for opportunities to gain experience performing. In junior year, when her voice lesson teacher Thann Scoggin suggested that she audition for a spot in Austin-based Conspirare choir, she eagerly began looking into it.

Conspirare, meaning “to breathe together” in Latin, is a Grammy-Award-winning company consisting of three choirs — the Conspirare Company of Voices, the Conspirare Symphonic

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Choir and the Conspirare Youth Choir. Nicole took interest in the Symphonic Choir, an auditioned chorus of 50 to 100 singers of all ages who perform large choral-orchestral pieces, collaborating with groups like the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Austin and the Victoria Bach Festival. Nicole began preparing, and she went to her audition in September 2015.

"At the audition, I did some sight reading that was super difficult," Nicole said. "I had to warn them before like, 'I’m so sorry. I am not good at sight reading. This is going to be bad.' I struggled, but I guess I did OK. It was in front of the choral director, the artistic director and the accompanist. I basically just sight read, sang and then left. I was terrified and super intimidated, more so before I went into the room than when I was actually there. Once I was auditioning, I was just singing for three people, and they tried to make me feel comfortable."

About a week after her audition, Nicole received the news that she had been accepted into the choir. She jumped right into the rehearsal schedule, practicing once a week for three hours. In these practices, she found that the standards of participation in Conspirare were drastically different from what she had experienced in Westlake choir. "[At school], we spend a lot of time learning the notes to songs, but in Conspirare, you are completely sight reading," Nicole said. "You’re instantly thrown into this huge piece of music.

You have to be super on top of it and practice the music on your own, especially because we only get to meet once a week."

Although the work was challenging, Nicole soon realized that the outcome of the hard work was rewarding.

“My first performance with Conspirare was called ‘French Connection,’” Nicole said. “It happened to be a week after the Paris attacks, so it was such a crazy, sad, powerful coincidence. The pieces we performed were chosen almost a year ago, and after the attacks, the directors decided to dedicate the entire performance to the Parisians. We sang the French National Anthem, followed by our national an-

Senior Nicole Jefferson joins Grammy-winning choral group them at the beginning of the performance. It was a collaboration with Austin Symphony, so it was more of the symphony playing with us as backup singers, but the Austin Symphony director told us that we added the human touch to it. It was one of the coolest performances I’ve ever been a part of.”

Other than the satisfaction of a riveting performance, Nicole has learned many valuable lessons from her experiences with the professionalism of Conspirare.

"Even when it's super difficult, it’s taught me that I can do it, and it gave me confidence," Nicole said. "I went in not knowing what was going to happen. The first day, they had us sight reading with words, and I was like, 'Oh my God, what is happening?' But I just persevered and got through it and ended up becoming a lot more confident as a musician."

Because musicality is the only factor that attributes to who is accepted into Conspirare, the singers come from a wide range of backgrounds. However, these differences do not detract from the companionship of the group.

"What makes Conspirare so different from other groups that I’ve performed with is that it’s just a weird group of people," Nicole said.

"There’s high school students, and then there are people who are retired and walking around with canes. Everyone gets along really well. I never hear about any drama or anything. It’s just a different feel from Westlake choir. I feel like everyone is [in Conspirare] because they want to be there, not just to get a credit. Everyone’s really dedicated and really professional."

By working with such a variety of individuals, Nicole has been able to gain a wider perspective on the world, regarding music.

"The inspiring thing about [Conspirare] is that there are people who are professional vocalists, and then there are people who come in wearing scrubs," Nicole said. "It’s just a really diverse group of people who all love music. I think that helped me realize that music is such a huge part of the world. It really is a language that everyone can speak."

—Lexy Connolly

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talk of the town Austinite compares music destinations map courtesy of Capital Metro

Stubb’s Bar-B-Q (801 Red River St)

I love Stubb’s. My first concert, my favorite non-ACL concert and tons after that have all been here. It feels homey to me, partially because of how much I’ve gone but also because of the nice mix of hipsters and urban cowboys, who together create an inclusive atmosphere. Fitting in isn’t an issue because so many different people and bands go there. Of the two stages (outside and inside), the outside one is more well-known, probably because that’s where bigger-name artists perform. The dirt ground isn’t great for open-toed shoes, but the other aspects are perfect for a concert. The stage is just high enough, and the sound is high quality.

Still, I prefer the smaller stage inside. The ground floor (where there’s the most space to stand and dance) is downstairs from where a customer enters, but a balcony on the top level provides a cool angle from which to see at least part of a performance. Plus, the smaller stage shows lesserknown artists for a reasonable price (a weeknight concert ticket is around $10), which is a really nice way to go to a concert on the cheap. All of the different aspects of Stubb’s together feel very Austin.

Clearly, the barbeque is a Texas-y part, but the live music and the diverse crowd make Stubb’s feel like the epitome of an Austin concert experience.

Wild About Music (615 Congress Ave)

Unsurprisingly, I don’t go to many gift shops in Austin. I don’t really feel the need to shop for Austin memorabilia since I live here. But I had heard that Wild About Music is a combined gift shop and music store, so I figured, why not go? “I like music and Austin,” I thought, “so it could be awesome!” I probably got my hopes up too high because the reality is that Wild About Music is a gift store. Which is fine and good, but it’s not exactly a destination. Despite having four stars on Yelp, the store felt less local and more like a novelty shop, like Monkey See, Monkey Do on South Congress, just with a focus on music and Austin. It was all right, but not great. I was also disappointed by the music shop in the back. While there were guitars and ukuleles for sale, some were painted with different designs, which made them seem more like another novelty gift than an instrument to regularly use. If you have family coming from outside of Texas, taking them to Wild About Music is a pretty fun way to pass the time. It’s Austin-themed enough to make a tourist feel local but generic enough for you to know you can get better prices and products elsewhere.

Waterloo Records (600A N Lamar Blvd) vs. End of an Ear (2209 S 1st St) vs. Friends of Sound(1704 S Congress Ave)

Strange Brew vs. Radio Coffee and Beer (5326 Manchaca Rd vs. 4204 Manchaca Rd) I have to be honest; I write this with a bias. While I really like both of these coffeehouses, I go to Strange Brew pretty much every weekend to work on homework and college essays, and I’ve only been to Radio Coffee and Beer a few times. Despite that, though, both places are so nice that it’s hard to really choose a favorite; they each fit a different mood. At Radio, the vibe is almost stereotypically Austin. Hardwood walls, food trucks outside and lots of hipsters set up a kind of modern Little House on the Prairie. My only issue is the size.

Finding a seat has been basically impossible when I’ve gone because it’s so small and always

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packed. The music experience is pretty good Normally, I don’t mind when sound check goes a little long, but afterwards the sound quality was only so-so. When I went to one of the weekly bluegrass nights, occasional screeches came from the microphones, likely because the five performers were all on a stage that seemed almost like an afterthought in the corner.

Strange Brew, on the other hand, has less of that Austin feel. Of course, there are the people working and the local art, but you also have the toddlers running around on Sunday mornings and realtors meeting clients to talk about properties. The coffee is addicting, and, at only

$2.50 a cup with a free refill, high blood pressure is a serious risk. For live music, there’s a separate room called the Lounge Side, which feels kind of like the indoor side of Stubb’s with the curtains, dancing space and the bar in the back. It’s homey and spacious. It feels a little less polished than Radio, but the charm lies in aspects like the more casual customers and weekly free Sunday morning concerts. If you like being around lots of people and a more professional environment, check out Radio. If you like a place with lots of space to do your own thing and more of a laid-back atmosphere, go to Strange Brew; I’ll probably see you there.

Maddie Miller

Despite not owning a record player, my desire to be a nonchalant hipster and my best friend’s record addiction draw me to record stores. Of course, there’s Waterloo Records, the record store it seems everyone has gone to, with its huge collection and lots of BluRays and DVDs. The staff is kind, and there’s a feel of professionalism that still stays casual. But just going to Waterloo doesn’t really give a full view of the record stores in Austin. So, I also went to End of an Ear and Friends of Sound, two radically different places from Waterloo. I’m hesitant to say that one was better than another because each came with a unique experience, but I would say that I preferred Waterloo and Friends of

Sound to End of an Ear. Friends of Sound does seem a little sketchy and is probably best described as the opposite of Waterloo. It’s down an alley behind South Congress; most of the records there are vintage, and the ceiling is low enough that even a 5’2” person like me is very aware of the proximity. Miraculously, despite the low ceiling and the questionable cleanliness, I love Friends of Sound. The prices are wonderful, with some records for only $1.

If Waterloo is the Chuy’s of music stores, Friends of Sound is the hole-in-the-wall with a dirty floor and delicious enchiladas. Which makes End of an Ear the mid-level Mexican restaurant with a cool vibe and mediocre food. When I

walked into End of an Ear, everyone was silent as what I think was experimental jazz played over the speakers; all the customers were too focused on their searches.

While its collection didn’t include the records I was looking for, it did have some more out-there genres like “nightcore.” Not necessarily my thing, but that’s good for all those huge nightcore fans out there. I’d recommend any of these stores to someone looking for records because each has its own unique experience. If I had to choose, the place to buy your current records would be Waterloo, and Friends of Sound is where to go to add some stranger, more exciting albums to your collection.

—Madeline Dupre

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music

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“Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours.”

—Elton John

setting the

stage

Junior Claire Symcox gets involved in interactive acting program, prepares for career in musical theater

Junior Claire Symcox takes on the persona of Elle Woods from “Legally Blonde” at 2015’s Spring Revue.

Mary Beth Burns

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You’re standing alone on a pitch-black stage. A single bright light flips on and focuses on you. As your eyes adjust, you begin to make out the attentive faces in the front row of the audience. The venue is enormous, and all eyes are on you. The orchestra starts to play, and you open your mouth to sing the first note of the premiering Broadway musical.

For many 17-year-olds, this situation would seem daunting, but for junior Claire Symcox, it’s her dream. Claire has been singing for as long as she can remember, but her passion for musical theater, something that she would now say defines her, began in middle school.

“When I was [in eighth grade], I went to New York City with my mom,” Claire said. “I could do whatever I wanted, so I went to see a bunch of shows on Broadway. One of the first shows that I saw was ‘Wicked,’ and I know that this might sound super cheesy, but that was when I realized, ‘I have to do this. I have to perform on stage someday.’”

Since then, Claire has spent a great deal of her free time becoming familiar with the ins and outs of Broadway — name a show and she can likely name the writer, the original cast and her favorite song from it. In all of her research, Claire has found influence and motivation from the world of musical theater — not only in regards to her performing but life as well.

“One of my greatest inspirations is [Broadway actress] Laura Osnes,” Claire said. “She was Cinderella in the original cast of ‘Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella,’ Bonnie in ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ and a bunch of other major roles. But, what I find most inspiring about her is that she’s so humble and always so kind to everyone.”

With her sights set high, Claire began looking for opportunities to immerse herself in the world of musical theater. That was when she found the Pre-Professional Company at Zach Scott Theater. PPC is an audition-based program for kids in fourth through 12th grade who are looking to improve their performance techniques and prepare for a career in the performing arts. While Claire took immediate interest in the program, it took her until this year to bring herself to audition.

“You would probably never know it now, but I used to be afraid of singing in front of people,” Claire said. “I had auditions lined up

“We’re just a group of people who are really passionate about what we are doing and are being the best, most pure forms of ourselves that we can be.”

—junior Claire Symcox

we perform it for various people at Zach.”

Claire is an active choir student and divides a great portion of her time between choir here at Westlake and her involvement with PPC. In balancing the two, she has discovered that unique liberties are offered at PPC that she might not be given at Westlake.

“I love Westlake choir, but [at PPC], we get more freedom,” Claire said. “We’re still told what to sing, but we have a lot more artistic license. Also, it’s not based on choral music whatsoever. I get to sing musical theater, which is what I really like, so it’s a better outlet for me.”

Claire’s goal is to be in at least one Broadway show by the time she’s 24. She hopes to go to Tisch or to Steinhardt — New York University’s schools of performing arts — and land a starring role in those four years. This may seem like a long shot, but Claire is confident that her experiences with PPC will significantly aid her in the auditioning process.

“There are a lot of seniors who are graduating from PPC this year,” Claire said. “They’re doing college audition stuff, so I get to see seniors in my field who are auditioning for performing arts schools. I get to see what I’m up against and what I should and shouldn’t be doing when I start auditioning. At PPC, I get real audition experience that I can’t find many other places. The directors are some of the best people in Austin to help fulfill my dreams because they’ve all been through it themselves.

They know how to get people places — they’ve

for many years to do PPC, but I always cancelled because I got cold feet, and I thought I wasn’t good enough. It’s a shame because if I had started earlier, I could have gotten so much more experience and gone even further.

But this year, I had a feeling that if I didn’t do something soon, I would always wonder what would have happened, so I just decided to go for it, and it worked out.”

PPC meets every Sunday for four hours, providing that the majority of the company has a free schedule.

The directors of the program also ensure that the students have plenty of opportunities outside of rehearsal to perform — they were featured in the Chuy’s Day Parade, and they occasionally perform as lounge singers at Zach’s Topfer Theater.

The students take the stage both as a group and as solo acts.

“For our individual performances, one of our directors gives us each a song that he wants us to work on,” Claire said. “It’ll be a musical theater song.

Right now mine is from ‘Jekyll and Hyde.’

Junior Claire Symcox has been a part of the actWe work on it, and he ing community since middle school. She has no helps us develop that intention of stopping. character and perform it authentically. Then

already done it.”

For some, musical theater may seem excessively competitive. However, for Claire, the thing that makes PPC so enjoyable is her fellow students’ ability to get over the cutthroat tendencies and to build lasting relationships.

The camaraderie in the group provides students the platform to be comfortable in their own skins.

“What I love about PPC is that everyone in it is very different,” Claire said. “No one’s afraid to be themselves, which is not something that you find often with people our age. We’re just a group of people who are really passionate about what we are doing and are being the best, most pure forms of ourselves that we can be. It’s just such a supportive environment, so nobody’s afraid to come out of their shell and, as cliche as it is, let their light shine.”

With the help of PPC, Claire has lost the insecurities she had with performing. With her newfound confidence, she has found the ability to take more risks and encourages others to do the same.

“I’m really into being yourself and not pretending to be like other people or trying to conform to a certain cookie-cutter mold,” Claire said. “That doesn’t make you an individual.

We shouldn’t want to be like other people. If you have something to share, that’s amazing, and you should share that. Through PPC, I’ve really learned to be myself and to not care so much about what other people think.”

—Lexy Connolly

Alex Unflat

up scale

B

Being the best at anything requires many things — sacrifice, dedication and, of course, talent. However, for violin soloist sophomore Natalie Tobita, success cannot come until she is at peace with herself.

“Musicians are always afraid of making mistakes,” Natalie said. “But when I play in concerts, I think it’s OK to make mistakes — if you’re here to play and give your heart out to people, then they’ll feel it too. There’s nothing to prove.”

Although Natalie’s parents first compelled her to play at the age of 5, she soon learned to turn an obligation into a meaningful expression.

Chloe Mantrom

Sophomore Natalie Tobita concentrates on the violin. “When I’m submersing myself, I can actually hear the music in my head, what I want, how it sounds, and I just copy it, physically,” Natalie said.

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“My mom encouraged me to start playing,” Natalie said. “Before, I just wanted to please my parents, but then — I don’t really know what happened — I started playing for my own enjoyment.”

Natalie’s sole dedication to the violin qualified her to earn first chair in the Symphony A Orchestra, the top level within the Westlake Orchestra, by the beginning of her sophomore year. However, she dropped out of Westlake Orchestra second semester to focus on her solo career.

“For [Westlake students], violin is not the primary focus,” Natalie said. “My whole life has been focused on music, and for [other people] they’re also doing robotics and debate or something.”

While most upcoming artists prefer not to commit to a single instrument, Natalie’s only regret is not devoting herself to violin sooner.

“If you really like what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter how many other parts of your life you give up,” Natalie said. “If it brings you happiness, it’s worth it.”

This dedication has spurred not only a deeper appreciation for the music she plays but also an even greater emotional understanding, matching her own feelings with the tone of her piece.

“The way I perceive music, it has more depth to it,” Natalie said. “I tie something emotional or personal from my life to the music; that’s what makes it different. The majority of what practice is is that you’re trying to get all that technical stuff down so that when you hear it in your head you can nail it, and that’ll help you bring it out more. The stuff I hear in my head, I want to bring that out more.”

By empathizing with the thoughts and emotions of the composer, Natalie captures what she feels is the essence of each composition.

“In my head, I see a bunch of stories and feelings,” Natalie said. “I don’t know how to explain it — it just gives me something tangible to play with. It’s like personal opinion, so if you give me an excerpt from a piece, I could tell you where I want to go with this phrase and where I want to end it and how I want to play it, how aggressively. There’s a lot of eras in music, and I generally interpret my music more romantically, so it’s a lot more rich and deep. It’s a lot more intense, very dramatic, like an opera.”

Natalie believes this sensation is paramount to producing music that leaves an impression on her listeners.

“You’re playing what’s on the paper, but then suddenly it becomes more than just paper and ink; It becomes a part of you,” Natalie said.

“You start to feel some attachment, something, some connection with [the music]. When you’re playing [the violin], you can feel something that’s within you, but it’s not you. It’s not possessing you, but you can feel it. I don’t know how to explain it, but that feeling is the best because then it spreads toward everybody.”

Natalie still recalls the first time she experienced the overwhelming power of well-executed music.

“It happened one moment: We were playing music, and it was with a full orchestra, so there was a really big sound, and then all of the sudden I got this gut feeling that this is it, an epiphany,” Natalie said. “Since then, I’ve been finding that [feeling] again, trying to recreate it as much as possible so it’s more natural.”

In spite of different analyses, Natalie believes all musicians are joined by a sense of selflessness toward their audience.

Sophomore pursues career as violinist “[Our] goal is to not only be the best [we] can be but also how can we impact an audience,” Natalie said. “When you play, you start to get really immersed into the music and the thought of putting all your heart out for somebody to take in is just fun for me, [that] in some way I can impact someone. How can I affect others? I feel like that’s the same [thing] everyone thinks about. [A violin] is just a different route.”

Of course, the weight of an artist’s impact depends on their skill. In addition to practicing every day at home, Natalie has also frequently participated in masterclasses, where professionals evaluate budding musicians based on their live performances.

“The pressure is much higher [for a masterclass] because you want to do your best [since] you’re getting direct feedback,” Natalie said.

“Most of the time, they’ll start with a compliment like, ‘Oh, you did this really nicely,’ and then they’ll go all-out criticism.”

Even in the most critical environments, both Natalie and her instructors manage to enjoy themselves.

“I remember one time I wasn’t doing something enough and one of the guys told me, ‘You should try playing the violin as if you’re smacking someone with a fish,’” Natalie said. “That was kinda weird, but it [helped] apparently.”

For Natalie, a relaxing atmosphere is a necessity for improvement.

“I want to have fun, and I want to do what makes me happy because that will help me practice rather than thinking this is something that I have to get off my list,” Natalie said. “It’s a mental thing. The main part of music is to relax and get out what you want to get out to other people.”

Granted, a calm demeanor isn’t always possible when competing against the nation’s best violinists; but Natalie’s trick is to focus on herself and convert her insecurities into motivation.

“I feel a lot of self-doubt, but I think that’s essential to working even harder, and I kind of use that to motivate me,” Natalie said. “Focusing on [other musicians] is not going to help you in the long run: You’re just going to stay in the same place that you’ve always been. Focusing on yourself, you can actually get somewhere. If you’re compared to other people, yeah, they’re better than you, but there’s nothing you can do about it. You just have to change it yourself.”

Years of consistency and focus have garnered Natalie a multitude of rewards, including All State Orchestra and have given her the oppurtunity to take masterclasses with some of the most renowned violinists in America. Despite these achievements, Natalie still wishes she had concentrated on the violin earlier.

“I can’t change the past,” Natalie said. “In general, musicians work very hard but don’t get what [we] anticipate [immediately]. [We] always want things instantly, but we always forget that it takes a lot of time to get what we want.”

Natalie’s development as an artist has affected her life in unexpected ways.

Chloe Mantrom

Sophomore Natalie Tobita has garned multiple awards for her violin playing.

“It comes with practice,” Natalie said. “[When performing], I focus on submersing myself because once I submerse myself, the technicalities should come out.”

“When I do homework, I can’t listen to classical music because I would listen too carefully: It distracts me,” Natalie said. “But if you tell me to listen to pop music, I can’t really say anything besides, ‘That chord progression was really cool’ or something. And when I listen to rap, it’s really weird. I just don’t understand it.”

Unlike other extracurriculars, Natalie’s passion for violin allows her to cope with the stresses of high school.

“I feel like Westlake is really competitive, and so often times we’re really negative because of our results, but I think violin has shown me the most important thing: enjoying the process of doing it,” Natalie said. “When I think of violin, I don’t think about the results; I think of the process. If you don’t enjoy the process, then you don’t really like what you’re doing. Just looking at life more optimistically will help with results because if you always compare yourself to others, that won’t help you. If you compare yourself to yourself, that’s something you know you can change. You can’t always win — you have ups and downs. I think that’s something everybody needs to figure out.”

—Michael Wiggin

“When I think of violin, I don’t think about the results; I think of the process.”

—sophomore Natalie Tobita

stringing it together

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dropcap option #2

Aspiring artist takes initiative in composing songs

A pen, a leather-bound notebook and inspiration.

This is all junior Sophie Werkenthin relies on to create her songs.

She generally performs a genre following Indie-rock and has written originals like “Rivers and Tides” and “Miss High Horse.” Sophie has performed her alternative music around various venues in Austin such as Austin Ale House, The North Door, The Belmont and a handful of other places, including the Trail of Lights.

“At [the] Trail of Lights, I performed ‘GhostMoon’ and ‘Boys,’” Sophie said. “These are my two favorite songs that I have written because of the lyrics and the overall vibes. ‘GhostMoon’ has more abstract lyrics. [It is] about a person who’s always in the back of your mind and you’re at an [emotional] place with them, but you don’t know how to move forward.

I usually write pretty literally, so this was a quiet accomplishment I had for myself. ‘Boys’ is the first decent song I wrote, and I always find myself really getting into it whenever I perform it. I always do something a little different whenever I play it.”

Sophie sees a good song as one that really connects with someone.

“If they make me feel something or if they’re stuck in my head, I know it’s a good one,” Sophie said. “There’s not a real checklist or anything, it [just]

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depends on what I’m trying to achieve with that certain song.”

Sophie’s songs cover a variety of experiences of her life.

“Most of my songs are about people,” Sophie said. “Some are about good people and how they’ve positively affected me and how I’m grateful for them. Others are about people that have hurt me or just negatively affected my life in general. I have more of these just because they’re easier to write, honestly. In general, I’m not a confrontational person. I think writing these songs really helps me get over people or situations and helps avoid an outburst or confrontation that I ideally would not want to have.”

Having chances to perform allows Sophie to gain exposure and improve her work for the better.

“Performing as often [as] I do is something I’m really grateful for,” Sophie said. “First of all, any form of stage anxiety is virtually nonexistent because I do it so often. Secondly, I meet different people with different ideas and projects that are so unbelievably inspiring. I love meeting and forming connections with people I wouldn’t have otherwise met.”

Not all shows go exactly the way Sophie would like, such as last year’s Trail of Lights show.

“The performance itself was fine from an outside perspective,

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but honestly I left the stage feeling disappointed,” Sophie said. “It was freezing cold, and my guitar kept going out of tune. They were small things, but I always let those small things get to me. However, I’m happy I got the chance to perform in the sense that I got a lot of exposure from it.”

The road to becoming a performer is long and difficult. Since the second grade, Sophie has been playing the guitar and developing her voice, improving with every new experience.

“I was in about six bands before I realized I was a decent singer,” Sophie said. “The last band I was in was full of conflicts of ideas that I just wasn’t into at all. I did that typical musician thing and went off to do stuff on my own.

I had songs I had written, but I never really connected to them.

They were just situational, not the things I had really experienced or dealt with. Over the summer something clicked, and I was busting out three songs per week, and I was happy with all of them. I had completely changed my sound and my image. It was insane. I didn’t realize how good these songs were until I showed them to my mentors, and they were like, ‘You need to keep going.’”

Between the sixth and eighth grades, Sophie gained inspiration from her counselors at Girls Rock Austin, a summer camp for music-oriented young women to find their inner musicians and pursue their aspired careers.

“It’s the same general idea of others, but it’s all about women empowerment,” Sophie said. “You write a song with your band [that you form at camp], not covers.

You do workshops on your instrument, [and learn about] different aspects of the music industry and the history of women in rock and roll. It was amazing. It taught me

so much about myself and how to make myself better.”

Sophie later returned to the camp to do an internship with the program over the summer.

“It was basically limbo between a camper and counselor, but it’s great because the kids relate to you,” Sophie said. “They look up to you. They see you as something successful and want to get to that level. It’s so funny. The experience is amazing; the counselors are all such influential and inspiring women.”

In addition to her constant support from her camp counselors, Sophie’s family has been behind her every step of the way.

“My dad plays in bands around town, so being in music is somewhat of a family thing,” Sophie said. “And no, my dad isn’t ‘famous’ in the music world.

He played in a lot of bands and groups, [so] I got to see a good majority of their gigs. The ones I can remember the most are Dragonfly Jones, The Calm Blue Sea, Hotel Hotel and Bigfoot.”

Even after several successful performances and gaining recognition from her peers over the years, Sophie continues to strive for perfection and progress in her work.

“I’m just glad I’m doing something,” Sophie said. “I’m not sitting at home worrying if my amount of AP classes is enough to get into a certain school. The schools I’m looking at don’t care about that. They care if you’re creative, if you have a drive, if you’re capable of doing. The hardest part isn’t impressing others or having others liking my work — it’s whether or not I like it. I’m my worst critic, and the hardest part is letting go and just doing it even if I’m not 100 percent comfortable with the outcome.”

—Julia Rasor

Sophie Werkenthin singer, songwriter, guitarist

Julia Rasor

drumming with grace Half-deaf percussionist works towards teaching career

Junior Toby Grace practices to become a percussion professor. He constantly drums on tables with pencils and goes on rants about how posture affects the sound of the drums. Toby lives and breathes percussion.

—Mubsar Dhuka At a point, things just added up, and I realized everyone could hear through both ears, and I can’t. I was unsurprised when I found out. I always knew there was something strange going on with my right ear, but I was so used to it that it never really occurred to me.

FD: What is an important lesson you have learned in drumming?

TG: No matter what’s going on around you, always stay relaxed. I learned that because during my freshman year, our front ensemble tech yelled at me on a daily basis about my technique. Every time I fixed it, by the next day something else was wrong.

One day, I decided I was going to fix my technique because I held tension in my hand. I started applying this lesson to my life, and all of the sudden my grades improved, and I started to make new friends.

ow r Kerb

short periods of time playing the drum set, and I’ve been playing for region bands. I like concert band more than both Westlake Marching Band and rock bands. In concert band, you have different instruments compared to marching band, but you’re indoors, and the music is more expressive. In marching band, the main focus is clear articulation and timing, and drumline instruments are always loud. Adding in the marching leaves us hardly any room to give attention to musical details. In concert band, we are all in one place, only focused on playing together with good sound quality.

FD: Are there any common misconceptions about drumming that you want to set straight?

TG: OK, number one — no, “Whiplash,” our hands do not bleed like that. Number two — we play more than just the drum set [which is a drum kit with drums, hi-hats and a cymbal. They are commonly found in rock bands]. Number three — percussionists can be musical, just like any other musician. A lot of people, when they hear “drummer” or “percussionist,” they think of someone playing really fast or just hitting really fast. Really, percussionists are able to play with musicality on a level any other musician is able to play.

FD: Was it initially hard to learn because of the deafness in your right ear?

TG: I have had this condition as long as I can remember, probably since birth, and I don’t know what caused it. I didn’t even know that I had a disability until I was about 13 years old because I was so used to listening through only one ear. I would talk to people, and I wondered why they could hear me from one side, but I couldn’t hear them.

e Coop

Featherduster: What made you begin drumming?

Toby Grace: I played the drums in “Rock Band,” and it was really fun, so I joined band in middle school. There, I learned that percussion is so much more than just drumming; it is a community of people and includes a wide range of instruments.

FD: What instruments can you play?

TG: I can play the snare drum, marimba, xylophone, timpani and basically any other percussion instrument.

FD: What career do you want to pursue?

TG: I want to be a [percussion] teacher or a professor. With my skills in percussion, I’ve found it to be a lot of fun to share my abilities with others.

I like to see others improve because I know how it feels to get better at something.

FD: What keeps you interested in drumming?

TG: There is always something to get better at. No matter how much I practice, I can never be perfect.

FD: What techniques are you most proud of mastering?

TG: I’m pretty proud of my four mallet grip, which is when you hold and play with four mallets on the marimba, [two in each hand, one between the thumb and index finger and one held by the pinky and ring finger]. At first, it feels very uncomfortable, and you have to teach your hands to control each mallet individually, which only comes through practice.

FD: What was your first performance, and were you nervous?

TG: I was so nervous. It was awful; I had the worst stage fright ever. It was my sixth grade concert, and we did an individual sight reading performance. At the time I could hardly sight read, and my heart rate has never been higher than during that performance.

FD: Any funny stories?

TG: During my first football game performance, I dropped a stick at the beginning of my show so I just air drummed the entire time. In the moment, I was scared and freaking out. After I finished the show, I could not stop laughing because I realized that I did a show without my drumsticks.

FD: Have you ever played for any other bands?

TG: I’ve been in a couple rock bands for

t

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HUMANS OF WESTLAKE Everyone has a unique story to tell. We talked to some students to hear theirs.

“Avicii’s ‘Wake Me Up’ takes me back to when I went with my friend to the Rio Grande River during the summer.

We went tubing and swimming and hiking.”

Quote collection and photos by Mary Beth Burns and Lucy Wimmer

"I play the music, and she sings."

"I play the music too!"

"When?"

"Well, sometimes I play the music."

"Not in the recordings."

"Well, lately I do the lyrics, and she does the chords."

“I’m listening to Drake right now, but George Strait is my favorite artist. I have two playlists: ‘Matt’s Clean’ and ‘Matt’s Rap.’ If I could only pick one to listen to, I’d pick ‘Matt’s Clean’ because it has George Strait.”

“I like music. It’s relaxing. The words and meanings in songs take you to another place. I don’t have enough time to play guitar with my kids and work and do Pedernales. I should take more time to play.”

“[If I could be any artist, I’d be] Drake, for sure, because of how famous and swag he is.”

“My extended family is all musicians, so every time we get together, we’ll sit around the campfire and sing and play the guitar and make music.”

“If I were napping right now, I would be listening to Ed Sheeran.”

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“My favorite type of music is music that I can sing and dance to. My sister and I will blare music in the car. I like it because it lets me be myself.”

“I really like big band music, like swing. It’s really jazzy and fun, and I go swing dancing a lot and it’s so fun to dance to.”

“My walk-in song is probably ‘Anaconda.’

Don’t put that in there. Put bluegrass. That’s my real answer. It’s ‘The Climb.’ Final answer.

It’s ‘The Climb.’”

Violin player thanks musician dad for life lessons

music to my ears Every afternoon when I come home from school, I almost knock over a guitar. There always seems to be one in the doorway, three in the living room and two upstairs; they’re everywhere in my house.

My dad is a musician. It’s what he loves to do and what he can’t live without. My brother is a musician; he plays his drums day and night during the school week and has lessons on the weekends. I’m a musician; my violin is something I care about immensely. It’s a way to get lost like I never could before.

Being an over-the-top musical family had never occurred to me as being anything other than normal. The fact that my dad was in multiple bands didn’t seem that interesting; that my brother and I both took piano and guitar lessons for a short period of time just felt normal; that I was going to the Saxon Pub and the One 2 One bar since the age of about 10 wasn’t that weird to me. It’s not like I thought everyone’s family was musically inclined or even remotely cared about it. It just didn’t occur to me to ever question it or realize I was different than other kids. But it is different.Different because my dad has to go out of town a lot to play — he frequently has rehearsals and shows — and different because

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my house is always, and I mean always, filled with the sounds of my family trying to get that last chord just right.

I didn’t realize until a few years ago how lucky I was to be able to truly enjoy music. While most people go through life barely listening or using it for background noise while they finish their homework, I was taught since I could talk that this voice on the radio was Bob Dylan and this one was Willie Nelson and this one was Ray Lamontagne. I was expected to know that and play my parents’ little guessing games for the rest of my life. I even started going with my dad to his out-of-town shows with our family friend Brian Keane. We would drive around in the “band van” and eventually end up at some random carnival in Victoria. It was a great experience for us to have. It was time that we could spend together. Whenever my dad is playing music is when he’s the happiest, and simply knowing that makes me smile.

When I was 6, I took guitar lessons.

When I was 9, I took piano. My dad wouldn’t give up, but neither stuck. Finally, when I turned 12, it was time for me to pick my instrument in either band or orchestra. My dad was a big component in why I wanted to be in orchestra and why I wanted to play violin. For years, I had watched him play with such

passion in little “old Austin” bars, and I was excited to see him living his dream.

I wanted the same thing for myself.

When it came down to it, I picked violin because I wanted to be closer to him. My brother played soccer; it was something he and my dad both loved, and I was always kind of jealous of it. But then we started going on our road trips to tiny Texas towns, and I started to play violin.

I had found something to connect us.

I love my dad for introducing me to music, teaching me how to figure out the time, how to keep count and how to find the beat. I love my dad because he does what he loves and loves what he does, as the saying goes. I love my dad because he taught me how to dream, and I feel that’s something our generation is lacking now — the motivation to dream. Being a musician is hard work that doesn’t always turn out the way you want it to. Sure, it doesn’t pay as much as being a doctor or lawyer, but at the end of the day, if you’re doing what you want to do, why does it matter? Music is medicine for the soul.

I know that sounds cheesy and cliche, but that’s how I feel and how I have felt for most of my life. It’s the thing that has had and that will continue to have the most effect on how I live my life.

—Sage Sutton photo by Julia Rasor

toying around

Featherduster: What kind of music do you make?

Jack Speer: I’m not super strict on genre and subgenre constructs, though I guess most of my stuff could be classified as lo-fi.

FD: When did you start making music?

JS: When I was 12, I attended this pool party my parents’ acquaintances were hosting.

I was always real introverted and not much of a swimmer, so I just sat in a corner. It just so happened that in the corner I’d intended to occupy there was this dude with a piercing above his eye and questionable facial hair playing Nirvana covers on an acoustic guitar. It was love at first sight for a tasteless 12-year-old who only knew how to play the bass clarinet. He became my guitar teacher for the next few months, and my parents paid him only in beer and brief but jovial conversations that my teacher would quickly shepherd into uncomfortably politically subversive territory.

FD: What equipment do you use?

JS: A Tascam cassette 4-track, a ‘72 Fender Telecaster reissue, a few effects pedals, a tube amp, a Shure SM58 mic, a box full of spare change, a candle tin, a couple Fisher-Price toy xylophones,

etc. I just record anything that makes noise and edit it in Çockos Reaper software.

FD: Why do you use toy instruments?

JS: When I first started making music, I became very concerned with the prices of audio equipment, and I always told myself, “Well, to make the kind of music I want to make, I’m going to need some obnoxious sum of money.”

And the price kept getting higher and higher until I realized that this desire for unattainably expensive gear was hindering my productivity.

I eventually realized I could make noise at whatever price point I needed to. I started using found sounds, musique concrète type stuff, really just recording whatever interesting or unconventional sounds I could.

FD: What or whom do you take inspiration from?

JS: The means by which I make music is largely inspired by lo-fi pioneers like Guided by Voices and Daniel Johnston. I like to think that low-fidelity audio tape defects present a certain level of intimacy that more polished equipment cannot. Beyond that, I take inspiration from just about anything: math rock, plunderphonics, the beeping of active medical de-

vices, eavesdropped conversations heard out of context, the sounds of traffic, etc. I’m not all that sonically exclusive.

FD: How long have you been working on your current album?

JS: I’ve no idea, honestly.

I’ve been adding and recycling stuff for what feels like forever. I’m gonna guess two or so years.

FD: When’s your new album coming out?

JS: By the end of this school year, promise. It’s called Epcot. Buy a copy for your aunt and your aunt’s ferret. Hit me up for an exclusive deal. I’ll gladly devalue it with my signature at the low, low cost of approximated enthusiasm.

FD: Does music hold a future for you and if so, in what way?

JS: I’ll continue to make music whether or not I see profit in it. I don’t know if I’ll have an audience, but I can’t imagine not making music.

I’m really interested in music production, collaboration and live performance currently. Some can be successful musicians. Many can be Austinites. Very few can be both. I don’t see a whole lot of money in this, not that it matters. I really just do it for my own entertainment.

—Michelle Fairorth

Chloe Mantrom

Featherduster member senior Jack Speer discusses his musical talents with unusual instruments in a Q & A. Here’s his shameless self-promotion.

Key in: Lo-fi: Low-fidelity or poor quality audio often recorded on budget equipment.

Musique Concréte: Music assembled from recorded organic sounds.

E.g., the sound of sandpaper scratching against a wood surface a rusty door hinge’s squeak.

Math rock: Subgenre of rock music characterized by uncommon time signatures and high technicality.

Plunderphonics: Early sample-based music. The term was coined by composer John Oswald with his iconoclastic, rough-cut collection of pop-sampling songs of the same name.

you’ve got mail All-junior band Grate Mail blazes path with its unique sound

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song and present it to your band members.’”

That first original song was “Free My Mind,” which the band performed at The Featherduster’s annual Battle of the Bands in 2014. Grate Mail looks at “Free My Mind” as its breakthrough song, the one that started transitioning it from a garage band doing covers to more serious musicians who write their own music and develop a unique sound.

“We used to be really scared of writing and presenting our own stuff,” Audrey said. “But the process of trying to do covers and failing at doing said covers was like a wake up call. Like, hey! You need to write your own songs! You need to be original.”

These days, writing songs is more of a team effort, with each group member adding a unique skill or sound to the final product.

“Huxley writes the skeleton of the song, and then he’ll have us make up our own parts,” Audrey said. “Like, I’ve written a lot of bass lines for myself; Matthew writes all the keyboard parts, and Nathan spices up the drums.”

Grate Mail sees band chemistry as the biggest challenge it has had to face. Although the

band has been around since late 2013, it has had several member changes.

“As a band, it’s been so hard to find the perfect mix of people. It took us so long to finally jell with Matthew, Nathan and Rohan because they were new additions,” Audrey said. “It just took us a really long time to find our sound and jell as a band. But we finally have, and it’s great.”

From covering songs in the garage to playing gigs like Jamfest, Live Music Lunch and Battle of the Bands, Grate Mail has come a long way.

They’re not sure if the band will continue after high school, but they still have goals of where they want their music to go.

“We’d like to play ACL or South By Southwest, and we’d like to record some stuff in a real studio,” Matthew said. “Maybe set our goal at releasing an LP.” At the end of the day though, Grate Mail is a band about more than just the music.

“If everything is going wrong in my life, if nothing is going right and I’m failing at all other walks of life, I always have Grate Mail,” Audrey said. “Always. The guys have been so supportive, and we all carry each other. We’re a team.”

—Sophia Ho

meet the band Personal interviews with Grate Mail Huxley Kuhlmann

Featherduster: How’d you get into music?

Huxley Kuhlmann: I’ve been playing the violin since I was 3 years old. It’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.

FD: What’s been your favorite experience so far as a musician?

HK: This is an unanswerable question. Seeing Muse live in Europe was definitely a memorable experience, though.

FD: Do you have any plans to pursue music as a possible career?

HK: I will become super sonic. I will make all of the sound waves wonderful.

FD: Any advice for aspiring musicians?

HK: Practicing is really annoying at first because it sounds terrible, but [keep with it]. It’s easy if you like it, so play music that you like.

Nathan Blue Matthew Bundschuh Featherduster: How’d you get into music?

Matthew Bundschuh: My grandmother used to teach the accordion, and I always liked to listen to her play.

She used to play mariachi music and jazz standards.

Later, I used to play piano with her.

FD: What’s been the funniest moment in the band?

MB: When Nathan’s drum set was falling off the plastic table [during our first Live Music Lunch]. That was hilarious. It was all just duct taped together, and the high hat even fell off. Oh, and the kick also broke.

FD: What’s your favorite song to play?

MB: “Where It’s At” by Beck because it be funky.

FD: Any advice for aspiring musicians?

MB: Don’t be like Allen Iverson, and practice.

Featherduster: How’d you get into music?

Nathan Blue: My uncle was a semi-professional drummer, and when I was little, I used to screw around on his drum set.

I also took some lessons when I was really young.

For the most part though, I’m self-taught.

FD: Why did you choose the drums?

NB: Drums are coordination-based, and I don’t know much about music theory or chords or anything like that, so this was a no-brainer for me as a stupid person.

FD: What’s been the scariest moment for you in the band?

NB: Sometimes, there are moments where you’re playing and you just forget what you’re doing.

FD: Any advice for aspiring musicians?

NB: Don’t be afraid to do something new.

photos by Samantha Jabour

Funk-inspired alternative jazz with a dash of acapella isn’t a genre many bands can lay claim to, but Grate Mail, featuring juniors Audrey Sutter, Nathan Blue, Matthew Bundschuh, Huxley Kuhlmann and Rohan Pillay, has never been one to play by the rules.

Formerly known as Hate Mail, the band decided to change its name in late 2015 due to its “angst” factor.

“You hear the name Hate Mail, and you think, ‘angsty teenage band,’” Audrey said.

“We wanted to appeal to a larger audience.”

The band is best known for playing at several of Westlake’s Live Music Lunches, performances the band remembers as some of its very favorite shows, despite several difficulties.

“The first Live Music Lunch, everything was wrong,” Matthew said. “We didn’t have enough room on the stage to put the drum set, so we just got a plastic table and taped Nathan [and his drums] to it. Huxley and I were just kicking [the drum set] every few minutes — like when the bass drum was about to fall off the table, we’d kick it back.”

The band’s mishaps didn’t stop there.

“All of the guys got dress coded,” Nathan said. “We were wearing open Hawaiian shirts.”

Although stressful in the moment, Grate Mail thinks of that Live Music lunch as one of its best shows.

“It’s a really good memory because now that we’re not there, it’s just really funny how everything went wrong,” Matthew said.

Through unusual shows and weekly practices, Grate Mail has built a bond between its members and seen immense levels of improvement and change in their music.

“In our early days, we did a bunch of covers because we really didn’t know how to write music yet,” Audrey said. “And then Hux and I co-wrote one song, and it was kinda an entrance into, ‘This is how you write a

Audrey Sutter

Featherduster: How’d you get into music?

Audrey Sutter: I picked up on singing and piano at a relatively young age, but I’d been developing my singing for most of those years. When I turned about 10, I got my first guitar, and I taught myself how to play. I also taught myself how to play bass, and that’s where it all started.

FD: Who’s your biggest musical influence?

AS: David Bowie, Lou Reed and Billy Joel. But also every female bassist ever.

FD: What are the perks of being a musician?

AS: I get to play live. That’s awesome. It’s a really great experience.

FD: Any advice for aspiring musicians?

AS: Be open minded. Accept that you don’t know everything about your instrument.

Rohan Pillay

Featherduster: How’d you get into music?

Rohan Pillay: In eighth grade, I heard the high school jazz band play, and the first chair alto section guy, [the now graduated] David Alvarez, really inspired me.

FD: What’s the best part about band practice?

RP: I can’t play rhythms, so Nathan and Huxley have to spend 10 minutes [each practice] teaching me.

FD: How many hours a week do you practice?

RP: Too many. With jazz saxophone, I usually practice two to three hours a day on average.

FD: Any advice for aspiring musicians?

RP: Don’t let other people jerk you around.

—Jack Wallace

T

Friends unite in their love for music to create Bluster

Three best friends, a voice, a guitar, a bass and a drum set. It’s all the makings for a band. Juniors Liam Morris, Kaleb Wallace and Max Cortez created their band Bluster when they were in seventh grade, originally calling it Emergency Exit. After a while, they began looking for a new name for their band.

“Kaleb was looking through the thesaurus and stuff, and we were looking at words and every word that sounded good was taken,” Liam said. “So then it was essentially just like hmm, Bluster, that sounds good. Let’s look it up, and then it wasn’t taken, so there you go.”

The band first started rehearsing in middle school as beginners in Max’s garage.

“We thought we were so good at playing, but Max didn’t even know how to play the drums,” Liam said. “It was just kind of playing in his shed; he had just picked up the drums and it was like ‘Let’s do it guys.’”

Liam is the lead singer and also plays guitar, while Kaleb plays bass and Max plays the drums. Bluster recently added a new member, Cort Casebier, a former Westlake student who plays the synthesizer, an electronic keyboard.

“We were practicing three hours before a big show we were going to play at a biker bar up in Georgetown, and Cort shows up asking us if we can take him to the show because he had never seen us play live before,” Kaleb said.

“The venue we were playing at was 21 and up, so we weren’t allowed to bring any friends, but Cort jokingly came up with a solution to pretend to be in the band. He didn’t think we would take him seriously, but we did. And he pretty much watched us jamming out all our songs and figured out random parts to play on the synth for the show. He did pretty dang good for this being his first show, especially in front of a couple hundred scary looking bikers in leather jackets.”

The genre of the band is punk rock and garage sound. Ty Segall and the Grundles are two of the band members’ biggest influences. The band members try to blend their inspirations together into their music.

“When we all went and saw the Grundles for the first time last year, they showed us how to really put on a killer show and how faithful a small, local fan base can be of people our age,” Kaleb said. “They really inspired us to throw ourselves into the local music scene.”

Bluster usually finds gigs by emailing people with whom members have connections.

Bluster has performed at many venues in Austin, including Holy Mountain, Red 7 and The Mohawk, but their favorite is Trailer Space.

“The Trailer Space venue is nice because they don’t really have a proper stage,” Liam said. “It’s just this little record store, and so the band is literally just standing on the floor.”

The band has played in numerous competitions including Jam Fest, where they have played the last two years. Kaleb was awarded Best Bassist in 2015.

“I was surprised, because I’m pretty sure my bass went out of tune during the performance,” Kaleb said.

One of Bluster’s biggest challenges is finding time to practice while balancing school and other distractions.

“Everyone always wants to go skateboard,” Kaleb said.

“We don’t really practice anymore; we just jam and get all our friends and mess around and come up with s***,” Max said.

As the lead singer, Liam writes the majority of the lyrics. The band sings about a lot of issues that are relevant to most listeners, like feelings about war and anxiety in high school.

“I usually try to take my lyrics pretty seriously,” Liam said. “I do always try to put a message behind them or a meaning. The entire reason I personally play music is because I just want to do something for people and try to contribute to society in some way, and that’s kind of the best way I figured I could do it.”

The boys’ philosophy is that whatever happens with their music happens. They plan to continue playing in their future and hope music is involved with their careers.

“We’re just kids who sincerely enjoy playing music, and we want to bring our music to whoever will like it,” Liam said. “We are just trying to make people happy.”

The band recorded an EP in 2014 and plans on recording another one soon. Their EP can be found at https://www.reverbnation.com/ blusteratx.

“This sounds very cliche or whatever, but I have a firm belief in fate,” Liam said. “These guys are some of my best friends. I wouldn’t ever want to part with them, and if we get to make music together, all the better.”

—Alex Baker and Milla Cypert

Bluster: juniors Max Cortez and Liam Morris, former Westlake student Cort Casebier, and junior Kaleb Wallace

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band of brothers Julia Rasor

seeing life in color

Synesthesia enhances artist’s creativity As the song begins, she sees one color in the back of her head. As the song continues, she sees deep purple, navy blue and muted lime green with some dark red, as rectangular blocks of colors take over the rest of her head, swirling around in her mind. Since she was a little girl, senior Katie Grainger thought that music and colors go together. She didn’t realize other people couldn’t see what she saw.

“I didn’t actually know it had a name until last year,” Katie said. “I was in class listening to ‘How Did I Get Here’ by Odesza. I asked my friends what colors they saw, and they said they didn’t see colors when listening to music.”

Katie has synesthesia, a neurological phenomenon that combines different senses.

Someone might hear music and physically see colors at the same time or eat something and have a feeling on their fingertips. Katie has sound-to-color synesthesia and a form of color graphemes, which means she sees colors connected to numbers and words. She realized she had color graphemes before she discovered her sound-to-color synesthesia.

“Sometimes, when there is one letter that [stands out in a] word, it will change the whole word to that one color, which is weird,” Katie said. “I remember hating the number five [when I was younger] because it’s a burnt orange, and I hate that color. Seven is forest green, which is my favorite color, so seven has always been my favorite number.”

Today, 4 percent of the population has some form of synesthesia. Katie organizes her school folders based on the colors that match up with the word.

“Math is green, English is red, science is purple,” she said. “I color code my notes based on what I see in my head as well. Everyday sounds have colors, and sometimes the colors will change. Words and numbers look super cool too, especially in sentences.”

Katie’s experiences with her synesthesia reinforce how unique her condition is. While listening to the song “In For It” by Tory Lanez, Katie created a painting of what she saw, using her synesthesia to decide the color palette.

“Sometimes, the album cover colors get stuck in my head when I listen to a song off the album,” Katie said. “Then it’s super hard to see around [those colors].”

She doesn’t like listening to pop music, callBackground: Senior Katie Grainger based this painting off of what she saw when listening to “In For It” by Tory Lanez. This is the second synesthesia painting Katie has done.

Right: Katie pays close attention to detail as she works on her latest piece on Jan. 12 in the art room.

ing it “aggressive, like an onslaught,” because of the colors she sees and how they make her feel — she listens to rap instead. “[The colors and patterns] change when I listen to individual songs,” Katie said. “No genre has a specific color palette — it varies from song to song. Sometimes, a musician’s voice will stick out to me, and I’ll see [a particular] color in several of their other songs, but that’s as constant as it gets. For example, when I listen to ‘I Got’ by Roy Wood$, I see brown, dark green and white. Even though it’s the same style of rap [as other music I listen to], it all looks totally different.”

When Katie was shown the music video of “The Mission” by Tory Lanez, it was exactly what she had been seeing in her head every time she heard the song.

“Watching ‘The Mission’ music video was so surreal,” Katie said. “I was chilling with my best friend in her room, and the lights were low and her computer was plugged into her speaker, so when the video started, it felt like everything around me was buzzing, like the air was alive. The purple and red and blue matched so well to the colors in my head it was like I was in the video itself, like I was sitting right next to Tory Lanez. I could almost physically feel the music video around me.”

When Katie talks to people, she associates colors with their voices.

“I don’t see voices as prominently as I see music, but people’s voices always give me a color vibe, like I can see through to who they are as a person,” Katie said. “I’ve never dis-

liked anyone based on what color they are, but I have disliked colors based off who I’m talking to. If the person is nasty, then the color associated with them is gross.”

It has been suspected that Vincent Van Gogh may have had synesthesia because of the belief that he had Aspergers, which is often linked to the trait of blended senses. The first real possible evidence of synesthesia in his work was a letter that was found by a blogger, René D. Quiñones. The synesthesia he is said to have had is a rare form, technique synesthesia. Just like Van Gogh, Katie uses synesthesia for art.

“It lets me see intangible things,” Katie said. “I’ve used it to make art, and it helps me relax when I listen to music. I’m definitely more creative than I would’ve been without it.

It gets more intense as I get older because I’m growing into it. It’s a dope thing to have.”

Katie will attend the College For Creative Studies in Detroit and plans to study advertising design. She chose this career path based on her experiences with synesthesia. Instead of trying to suppress what she sees, she is choosing to embrace it.

“College is gonna be where my life is actually gonna start; high school was just practice,” Katie said. “I’m not sure how my synesthesia is gonna help me through college, but it’s my dream to write TV shows for Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, so I’ll be able to take what I see in my head and turn it into a cartoon world, something that everyone can see.”

—Jazmine Longridge

Bailey Gold

soul S heart

and

Scarves hanging on the wall around her, senior Bella Madden sings in the studio in her house. Since her dad is a music producer, Bella has constant access to a keyboard and microphone. photo by Lucy Wimmer

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Family helps songwriter develop passion

Senior Bella Madden has art in her blood. For her, singing, songwriting and drawing are all avenues to express herself and a connection to her family.

“My dad has always been a musician, and my mom was a professional painter,” Bella said. “I used to wake up in the middle of the night at like 3 in the morning to find her painting in the living room. Instead of having me go back to sleep, she would invite me to come make art with her. I think that’s when I really started drawing more, but I think it’s been passed down to me through my dad and my mom.”

When Bella was in sixth grade, her mom, local artist Andrea Burden, passed away from bacterial meningitis. Bella’s mom gave her a love and talent for physical art, which Bella plans to study in college. She also influenced her singing career as well, but in a different way.

“After that happened, that’s when I started singing in front of people a lot more,” Bella said. “I didn’t really put together why, but it just kind of happened. I guess I wanted to be known or something. [I went to The Khabele School, which] was a really small school, so I was able to know everybody and able to entertain them.”

At Khabele, Bella could occasionally perform in front of her peers with the help of her choir teacher. Now, she doesn’t perform very much. She prefers to record her music and share it that way. “[Performing] made me happy for a long time, but I would have so many times where I would mess up in front of everybody, like have a voice break or something,” Bella said. “I guess it just kind of embarrassed me to the point where I didn’t want to perform in front of people anymore because I was scared that would happen again.”

Because her dad, Shane Madden, is a producer and composer who goes by the alter-ego Govinda, Bella’s family has connections to famous musicians like Bassnectar, The Glitch Mob and Imagine Dragons.

“I’ve actually made a personal song with The Glitch Mob,” Bella said. “[It’s called] ‘The Place I Am.’ It was when I was 11, so it’s not like a top-notch song. It was still a really cool experience. I got to record in a studio with these big musicians. It’s really cool to be able to have such an open field to where I can just make my craft.”

Although her dad mostly creates electronic music, which shows in the songs she makes with him, Bella doesn’t stick to just one genre. “[My boyfriend] Liam and I will be thinking about what we should make next, and we’ll think, ‘Oh, we should make something ambient,’” Bella said. “Our new song has a nice beat, but then it goes into drum and bass, and we’ve never done a drum and bass song before.”

Bella mostly sings, but she writes songs as well. Sometimes, she writes the music and lyrics for a track, but other times, she writes lyrics that go over music that her dad has produced.

“If it’s already produced, I’ll just write along with the track,” Bella said.

“But if I’m writing the song, like writing the piano part as well, I’ll write and play the piano at the same time. … It’s kind of a weird process, but I’m able to do it. Once my dad or someone is finished making the beats, I’ll go into the studio, and he has this expensive microphone, and I put on the headphones and play the track. I record my voice into the microphone, and he’ll do little edits.”

Because she doesn’t read sheet music, Bella plays the piano by ear as she writes.

“I can’t play the piano very fast, [so my songs are] usually slower, [like] my one song that I have on SoundCloud called ‘Time is Lostt,’” Bella said. “I wrote the slow song on the piano, and then I gave it to my dad, and he made all of the instruments and beats on the computer.”

Lyrical inspiration is not always drawn from personal experience for Bella. Sometimes she will write about things that don’t necessarily relate to her, like fighting a person who has wronged someone else. But when she does write about herself, Bella writes about things that relate to her past — like her mother and the concept of loss.

“I’m able to come up with things easier when it’s sad,” Bella said. “I’ve written a few happy songs, but, for some reason, it’s easier for me to write about sad things even if it doesn’t relate to me. Maybe it could relate to some other people and how they might be feeling.”

Despite her musical interests, Bella applied to study art in college.

“I don’t think it would be something that I would do for a living,” Bella said. “I think I would definitely do it on the side, though. ... Having all these people to make music with really expands my field, so I’m definitely going to be doing that as I get older but not for a living.”

Being surrounded by music has made it both an art form for Bella as well as a part of who she is.

“Music is my life,” Bella said. “It’s not my whole life, but it’s a very large portion. Everybody around me makes music, so I make music. It’s just everywhere.”

—Madeline Dupre Bella’s SoundCloud account can be found at https://soundcloud.com/ bellaomadden-1.

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going with the flow Aspiring rap artist Dean Putonti shares his life behind the music

S Senior Dean Putonti has featured in, or made, three different songs with approximately 18,700 total views.

Kendall Chase

Sitting in the back seat of a Ford truck, four kids face each response and that Dean, Nick and I should make something. I went back other in the light of the radio’s glow. The bass is turned up all the way, home that day, sat down for an hour and just wrote all the cleanest yet and the car shakes out low vibrations. Focusing, senior Dean Putonti clever rhymes I could think of. I knew the odds of Austin High actually begins to rap. Following the music, Dean is able to “freestyle” in a way winning were astronomically low so I went ahead and made it known I that few kids have the natural talent to. finished my part. Nick really was the mastermind from there on.”

Freestyling, according to Urban Dictionary, is a way of “making up a After the game, Dean was able to rope in one more solo song titled rap as you go.” In some cases, people like to rap battle, where they face “56-12,” which has been played almost 2,000 times. each other to see “who can make the better rap,” based on a beat. How“[‘56-12’] took me a day or two to write,” Dean said. “I started writing ever, it isn’t just used to battle. A lot of people incorporate it in art and it after Ty asked if I was going ‘back to back.’ So it inspired me to write sometimes poetry. Dean, on the other hand, doesn’t take great pride in something to Drake’s ‘Back to Back,’ plus I just wanted to end the beef freestyling but in just the nature of rap music. with the scoreboard.”

“To be honest, I don’t think I’m good at freestyling,” Dean said. “I Despite the high number of views, Dean doesn’t count ‘56-12’ as his practice a lot, but I’m not at the level that I’d like to be.” best work.

His friends seem to disagree, though.

“I liked ‘Beau Cries’ more because it appealed to the crowd more, and “Dean may not be at the level he wants, but he is so much better than that’s all I want,” Dean said. “I want the people to like what I produce.” any of us could be,” junior Jackson Wallace said. “We aren’t anywhere While there are still many roads on the path to a future in music, near the level that Dean is.”

Dean plans to take it as it comes.

However, what Dean finds the most fun is just “I’ll go as far as it takes me,” Dean said. “I’m sitting around writing music. taking it one day at a time, enjoying what I have.

“Generally, I end up going home from school Mixtape coming soon.” or work and just sitting down writing as much as I On Dec. 19, Dean dropped his new single “Stay can,” Dean said. “I have a lot going on, but I try to True” prior to the Chaps’ State Championship get an hour in each day.” football game. Under his own SoundCloud name, “I liked ‘Beau Cries’ more But why rap? Typically Westlake students folas Dean P, he was able to upload a new song bebecause it appealed to the low the school-focused musical paths of band, orfore the final appearance of the Westlake football crowd, and that’s all I chestra or choir. Rap, however, is unique to most team this season. This time, Dean used beats cremusicians here at Westlake, giving Dean the sense ated by a YouTube producer, Finn Wigan. want. I want the people to of originality he is looking for.

“My inspiration was pretty much to celebrate like what I produce.”

“It’s not just rap; it’s also R&B, soul kind of muthe season,” Dean said. “‘Stay True’ was sort of sic,” Dean said. “I like something groovy and also a shout out to the team. They made it to State Dean something that can tell a story. I started to pursue and that was pretty dope, so I made ‘Stay True’ rap because to me it’s like a sport, and I want to get to pump them up for the game in hopes that we Putonti better at it. Everyone has their own sport, whether would win.” it’s football or baseball. Mine might be music. So I Dean doesn’t only write raps about Westlake. practice to get better, and, just like everyone else, He is working to achieve a level of writing that someday I would love to get paid for it.” compares to professional artists. Although not at that place yet, Dean Dean was one of the rappers behind Austin High and Westlake’s rap still enjoys creating the music he can at this stage in his career. battle before the big rivalry game Sept. 18. With senior Nick Minuta“Right now, I’m not good enough to write a whole song about one glio producing the beats, and Dean and senior Stephen Odunsi rapping, particular thing, so I usually just write a song about a lot of random the SoundCloud trio, under the name Westlake’s Very Own, was able to things that are on my mind,” Dean said. “One day, I hope to be as good rack in 12.3 thousand plays on their first song “Beau Cries.” as Mac Miller or J. Cole and be able to tell a story in [my songs].”

“The idea for the song only arose after Austin High’s ‘Wuck Festlake’ —Drew Brown song,” Stephen said. “After the song had been around for like a week, Dean’s Soundcloud accounts can be found at soundcloud.com/westthree days before the game, [senior] Ty Henderson tells me we need a lakes-very-own and at soundcloud.com/deanpfreshthekid

—senior

it’s electric

Nick Minutaglio produces computer-generated electronic music 3:30 p.m.: senior Nick Minutaglio arrives at his house after returning from school.

Almost immediately, he hurries upstairs to his room and sequesters himself inside. Once there, he sits down at his computer, and the room is soon filled with the sounds of electronic music. Nick creates computer-generated music, utilizing technology to incorporate basic aspects of music like sound synthesis, sound design and acoustics. From the first time Nick heard electronic music, it had a powerful effect on him.

“My mom was a dance teacher, and when I was little, she would bring me to shows that she had helped choreograph,” Nick said. “I was probably 9 or 10 when she took me to a particular show. There was this one abstract dance that was backed by a fast breakbeat-ish kind of song that had this weird violin all throughout it. The song was called ‘To Forgive But Not Forget’ by Outside. After that, I got really into electronic music. I played a lot of guitar at that age, and I remember trying to mimic electronic sounds on my guitar with distortion and fuzz pedals that my dad let me rent. Eventually, I discovered computer software.”

Nick stumbled across Garageband in sixth grade, thinking that it was a computer game on his mother’s laptop. He began to mess around with it, soon discovering that he could create his own music. He made a rap track named “Wangsta Nick” and published it to iTunes.

Since his “Wangsta Nick” days, Nick has created a SoundCloud account for himself under the username Snocker Cot. “I had a cat named Snickers Cat,” Nick said.

“And you know those certain voices that you have reserved only for your pets? Well, when I said Snickers Cat in that certain voice, it sounded a lot like Snocker Cot. It was original and kind of funny. I wanted a name that would stand out to people and that they would laugh at, and that fit the criteria to me.”

Nick works on his music daily when he gets home from school. He focuses on a song or

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multiple songs — adding beats and sounds — until his mother calls him for dinner. Nick says he enjoys creating new pieces of music rather than trying to fix old ones.

“The most challenging part of making music is deciding when to be finished with a song,” Nick said. “I can just never decide when something is good enough to be posted. I just abandon it after a while because it will never be right to me. I haven’t made the perfect piece of music yet.”

Nick can play the acoustic guitar, the electric guitar, the ukulele, the keyboard and a No-

“I want to be someone that people look up to.”

—senior Nick Minutaglio vation launchpad, a grid of large, illuminated buttons that can be used to trigger sounds, loops and effects. Other than guitar lessons from ages 8 to 12, Nick is a self-taught musician. Surrounded by many other musically talented students at Westlake, Nick has gotten the unique opportunity to collaborate with many of them, including seniors Dean Putonti, Stephen Odunsi and Hailey Davis and sophomore Caroline Ellenthal. He is always looking for other singers and people to collaborate with.

“One of the best things about making music is the collaboration aspect of it,” Nick said.

“All of my collaborations are usually born out of friendship. Things usually go organically from there. Being able to work with my peers is something I love because normally, it’s just me working on my music alone.”

Nick has not settled on a certain musi-

cal style just yet. Some of his songs resemble dubstep, while others contain electronic, slow or upbeat elements with various computergenerated sounds that fit together to make a song. Despite this, he hopes to develop his own unique style.

“I want to be someone that people look up to,” Nick said. “I want kids to know about electronic music. Since not a lot of people do it, it’s not very well known. So, I want to be someone that makes it well known and inspires other people to do it. I hope someday people will listen to my songs and immediately be able to tell it’s a Snocker Cot song.”

Whatever style, being a musician always comes with criticism.

“I was once showing my peers some of my latest musical creations,” Nick said. “I was proud of [the songs] and excited to see what they would have to say. One of my classmates said to me, ‘It’s pretty good, but you should try making real music sometime.’ It just kind of hurt because my music is real music.”

However, Nick has also received more constructive criticism, the most helpful of which he says was in a letter from his aunt. “[The letter had a quote that said], ‘Without music, life would be a mistake. Without life, music would be a mistake. Without mistakes, life would be music,’” Nick said. “So if your music is lifeless and doesn’t have any sort of personality to it, then there is no point in making it. If you’re not having fun doing it, then there is no point in making it.”

Despite his dedication, Nick has not decided to pursue a music-related career.

“I would love to make a career out of my music, but I recognize how competitive the music industry is,” he said. “If an opportunity with a record deal of some sort was to arise for me, of course I would take it in a heartbeat. But I am not choosing to pursue it on my own time.

I make music because it makes me happy.

There’s really not any other reason.”

—Kendall Chase

Alex Unflat

“I make music because it makes me happy.

There’s really not any other reason.”

—senior Nick Minutaglio

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music

in our

world

page 60 through page 72

“Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand” —Stevie Wonder

once upon a time

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From the blues to rock and roll, from jazz to hip-hop, the past century has seen an evolution of musical genres define pop culture. Technology, beginning with the phonograph, lets us now obtain millions of songs via devices we carry with us in our pockets.

Some of our favorite musicians made their marks and were quickly gone, while others have kept us singing along for decades. Here’s a look at some of the major events and influential musicians who have helped shape our world.

off the Reviews of some

Nine Track Mind

No matter who you are or what you listen to, you’ll always have that special place in your heart for that one band or artist you’re too ashamed to admit you’re in love with. You could be obsessed with Tupac and N.W.A. but secretly crave 1D or old-school Bieber. My guilty pleasure whom I probably will never be ashamed of: Charlie Puth.

I was introduced to Charlie via YouTube going into freshman year when I heard him cover some pop songs. Immediately, I fell desperately in love with him. In his new debut album, Nine Track Mind, which features all original songs, Puth uses his angelic voice in duets with icons such as Lil’ Wayne, Meghan Trainor and Selena Gomez to create an album perfect for keeping me optimistic and upbeat. People make fun of me for liking Charlie. My sister and many friends who are huge rap and hip-hop fanatics call me basic, but I honestly don’t think I can help it. I can’t go a day without listening to Charlie. That’s why my first concert ever — coming up March 12 at Emo’s — is to see him.

My favorite song on this album is “Some Type of Love” because in the lyrics you can feel his passion. The most empowering song is “Left Right Left,” where all he talks about is moving on and how it is possible to get back on your feet after being down for a very long time. “I’m moving on, I got no regrets, left right left right left.” This song can be perfect for empowering anyone who has felt alone for a long time. I also love the song “Losing My Mind,” where he is talking about his future and feels he is running out of time. I personally love this song because I feel like I really can relate to it. Being a growing teen, making some very important decisions, I feel the lyrics are basically what I’m constantly feeling inside. Last summer, I was absolutely in love with the song “One Call Away,” but recently it has become very popular and a little over-played.

There’s no doubt Charlie has incredible pipes. In his song “Suffer,” he hits the highest of notes that even my best friend and I can’t hit. His singing talent is only eclipsed by his skills at the piano. Charlie writes and records all of his songs himself, which is amazing because he manages his fame while still studying at the Berklee College of Music. The minute I played the first song on the album, I couldn’t stop. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. I rarely ever buy full albums, but this one was completely worth it. I’m really looking forward to being that girl sitting in the front row at his concert, knowing every lyric to all his songs — making a complete fool of myself but having an amazing connection with one of my favorite singers.

—Gabriel Khataw

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Death of a Bachelor

While Panic! At The Disco originally had four members, it is now down to one: Brendon Urie, who shows the breadth of his vocal range in Panic! At The Disco’s latest album, Death of a Bachelor.

Urie’s voice and the beat flew through me with such intensity I couldn’t help but want to move, and his beautifully executed bridges were left floating around inside my head for days.

Recently, many pop rock albums sound the same, so it seems that each song melts into the next until they’re indistinguishable. But in Death of a Bachelor, each song has a unique sound that only Urie can capture. For example, “Victorious” and “Impossible Year” coax two completely different feelings out of the listener. “Victorious” makes me want to get up and dance around. Its beat and rhythm give me an adrenaline rush. On the other hand, “Impossible Year” makes me want to sit down and think. Its slow, soft delivery reminds me of the last song of the night at a dance, and it stuck with me hours after hearing it. The amount of variety in this album is a true testament to Urie’s ability as an artist.

I knew that Urie was an amazing singer and musician, but this album is a whole new experience compared to other Panic! albums. I expected it to be a little different because Urie is now solo, but it varies considerably from the original band’s sound.

More … modern in a sense. It’s poppier than the band’s previous albums, but it’s still unmistakably Panic! At The Disco. He shows us that you don’t need a band to have a wide variety of sounds in your songs. His voice leaves listeners in awe as it goes from a falsetto to a bass that will leave you questioning if this was the same person singing.

I have no doubt that this album will do nothing but improve your collection of music. Even if his style isn’t what you like to listen to, I’d bet money that at least one of the songs on this album would change your perspective on that. I’m anxiously waiting to see what Urie comes up with next, but until then, I will be blasting Death of a Bachelor on repeat.

—Lucy Urdahl

record

of 2016’s newest albums

This is Acting

Australian singer-songwriter Sia Furler, best known as Sia, released her newest album This is Acting on Jan. 29.

Prior to Sia’s seventh studio album, This is Acting, her 2014 album 1000 Forms of Fear debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, and her hit leading song “Chandelier” became a worldwide Top 10 single.

Unlike Sia’s previous album, which focused on issues such as her personal struggle with drug addiction and bipolar disorder, This is Acting does not showcase the same material. Instead, it is composed of songs written by Sia for other popular artists, such as Adele and Rihanna. Some artists rejected the songs, and some Sia decided to keep for herself and perform in the style of that artist, hence the name This is Acting.

The album begins with a song called “Bird Set Free” that starts out with a feathery piano melody and then bursts into a passionate strain of lyrics. “I don’t care if I sing off-key/I’ve got myself and my melodies,” is part of the repeated chorus that brings a sense of power to the listener. There is a similarity between the melody of “Elastic Heart” from 1000 Forms of Fear and “Bird Set Free,” which adds to the powerful vibe.

From “Move Your Body” to “Cheap Thrills,” the electropop sound and bold beats tie the album together. However, this makes the lyrics in these two songs hard to understand, and the melodies sound unoriginal. These were my least favorite songs on the album.

Towards the end of the album, the vibrant, electronic beat slows down, revealing my favorite song, “Space Between.” It has a soulful and mellow sound that envelops listeners in a trance of tranquility.

There’s no doubt that Sia is a talented songwriter and musician; many of the songs on the album reveal that. However, listeners get the feeling of repeated sounds and structure. This is Acting truly feels like Sia and is definitely worth listening to.

—Alex Baker

Pawn Shop

Brothers Osborne follows in the footsteps of other great sibling bands. Think The Allman Brothers Band, The Beach Boys, The Bee Gees, Van Halen, AC/DC and The Avett Brothers. The siblings, T.J. and John Osborne, released their first album, Pawn Shop, on Jan. 15.

There are 11 songs on Pawn Shop, and I can honestly say that I like every single one of them. A few in particular stick out to me. The first one is “Stay A Little Longer.” There’s something about country music that makes everything better. It’s like reading a book or watching a movie — the feeling that your future hopes and dreams are possible. If you’re not happy or not in a place in life you want to be, listening to it makes you feel like happiness is achievable. To me, country music gives me that warm, secure feeling. So “Stay a Little Longer,” which was a Grammy nominee, is one of those songs where I get that feeling.

One of my other favorite songs on Pawn Shop is “Rum.” “Rum” is the type of song that would be an anthem for the summer — light and simple but super catchy. The song talks about sun, fun and, of course, rum.

All of their songs include both brothers performing, and they have done a duet with Lee Ann Womack in their song “Loving Me Back.” T.J. and Womack’s voices blend together in the song, and you can hear the heartbreak and emotional connection in their duet. “Loving Me Back” makes you get that flutter in your chest when you find something new that speaks to you on more than just a surface level. While “Loving Me Back” is deeper and about love, their song “American Crazy” is more about family. It makes me reminisce about living in the countryside of Oklahoma. It reminds me of just simply being happy with friends and family, with no divisions or differences, like we’re all going through life together.

There’s something special about each song; something that makes them stand out from other country music. The band has a little bluegrass and rock mixed in with their music, which makes me love it even more.

Their song “Dirt Rich” is an example of where the twangy bluegrass comes out, and their song “Down Home” definitely has a rock element to it. Most of the songs talk about love, living in the country and liquor. Anyone who considers themselves a Zac-Brown-Band-style country fan would most likely find themselves thoroughly enjoying this Pawn Shop.

—Milla Cypert

1.

“Funkytown” - LIPPS INC (1979) “Funkytown” is one of the most iconic and well-known dance songs from the 1970s but came to be known as more of a 1980s song because of the huge recognition it had in years after its release. Although it is a little old-fashioned for more recent times, the song is still used today in many movies — whenever a dance scene appears, it serves as the perfect soundtrack.

4.

“King Tut” Steve Martin (1978)

5.

“Life Is A Highway” Tom Cochrane (1992) A huge hit from the 1990s, “Life Is A Highway” has kept on driving ever since.

But recently, the more popular version has been the cover by Rascal Flatts, who recorded the song for Pixar’s movie “Cars.” It’s the perfect song to listen to on a road trip, especially if that road trip takes place on Route 66.

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“Little Talks” was the first of what we heard from Of Monsters and Men, becoming a huge hit that gave the band a lot of publicity and recognition. It was one of those songs that suddenly appeared and, after two years, was dug up by a bored intern at a radio station and thrown into the spotlight.

This one-hit wonder is hard to get out of your head, making it a fun but slightly embarrassing song to listen to.

It’s yet another song that makes you want to dance, like many one-hit wonders, but what makes this song different is that the general sound of the song is perfect for any year, no matter how old the song is. Although it’s an unlikely song to be number one on any list, “Livin’ La Vida Loca” is cheerful and hard to ignore, making it one of the best onehit wonders in history.

3.

7.

Talks” - Of Monsters and 2. “Little Men (2011)

“Livin’ La Vida Loca” - Ricky Martin (1999)

one-hit wonders

here and gone in a flash, these musical has-beens topped the charts and faded fast

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6.

“Bette Davis Eyes” - Kim Carnes (1981) Most people know and love this hit that has been covered by multiple celebrities, including Courtney Love, Gwyneth Paltrow and Taylor Swift. Though the song hasn’t had much recognition for a while, it still remains one of the best hits in music. This 1980s hit could never go out of style.

in our world

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Steve Martin is known for his hilarious movies and comedy but is also known for his giant hit from the 1970s that gave him an opportunity to bring music and comedy together as one. The song is silly and fun but is better viewed as a live performance, as the skit that goes with the song is too good to miss.

“Kung Fu Fighting” - Carl Douglas (1974)

The whole world treats this song as the theme song for almost every American kung fu movie in history, keeping this song alive long after the original came out. Many younger generations know the song from DreamWorks’ “Kung Fu Panda,” when Cee Lo Green and Jack Black covered it, lovingly bringing it back into the spotlight.

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“Don’t Worry, Be Happy” - Bobby McFerrin (1988) This song is timeless, used time after time in commercials, movies, etc. The nature of the song makes it easy to use in almost any way, silly or not, to cheer someone up or to annoy them.

This song is very easy to get stuck in your head, but that, of course, is part of the reason it became such a hit.

—Turi Sioson

1 pica from each edge of drop cap letter

battle of the streaming services dropcap option #2

A comparison of the best ways to get your music

Pandora One of the first music streaming services to pop up, and the oldest of all its competitors at 15 years, Pandora is currently the Internet’s most popular music streaming service, with more than 80 million users (although how many of those users are active, or even alive, should be brought into consideration). It’s certainly the most customizable out of the three, with the possibility to create stations based on songs, artists or albums that you enjoy. But this feature is different from Spotify Radio; you have the ability to thumbs up or down songs to better fit your music taste. Then, Pandora can suggest new songs to listen to based on what you’ve said. Pandora, however, hits several points of weakness in two categories — you can’t replay songs, and you can only skip a certain amount of songs per hour, an annoyance to pickier listeners. Additionally, unless you want to shell out the $4.99 a month for its ad free service, you’ll be stuck hearing three ads every hour.

Spotify

Despite Pandora’s nine-year lead, Spotify is quickly overtaking it as the biggest music streaming business powerhouse. With almost 60 million users, Spotify is loved for its enormous music library (30 million songs available, in comparison with Pandora’s 1 million) and its sophisticated user interface, making it easy to use on both phone and computer. Another cool feature — Spotify is tied to Facebook, allowing its listeners to share their music with their friends and vice versa, taking the app from just a music streaming service and allowing it to cross the line into social media. This addition can have its drawbacks — often, Spotify will post to your Facebook wall without your permission. Also unfortunate, Spotify Premium falls flat in price range with a fee of $10 per month. The free version of Spotify plays ads and only allows you a certain amount of skips per hour. Additionally, the absence of several notable artists (Taylor Swift in particular) could be annoying to some listeners.

Zoë Jentzen

Best if: you like discovering new music, combing through different genres, aren’t searching for a specific song

streaming stats Best Value: Catalog: Usage:

Best Value: Catalog: Usage:

Best if: you enjoy sharing music with friends, listening to music on multiple platforms, willing to spend money for quality

Apple Music

The newest of its competitors, Apple Music has managed to climb the charts with its accessibility, easy and recognizable user interface and vast selection of songs (about 30 million). Combining the customization of Pandora and the free choice of Spotify, Apple Music recommends playlists, albums and songs based on your past listens but also allows you to look up and play songs on repeat. You can “heart” songs or make sure they never play again, store music for offline listening and add particular favorites to a wishlist that others can purchase for you. Although Apple’s music service is only available on other Apple products and is the most expensive of the three at $11.99 a month, it makes up for the cost through quality. Better still is the three month trial period, allowing skeptics a chance to form an opinion before slapping down their cash.

Best if: you own an iPhone, want new music suggestions, are a fan of notable artists like Taylor Swift or The Beatles.

—Sophia Ho

Best Value: Catalog: Usage:

deaf tone

Teenager-turned-geezer laments current state of modern music

I can’t stand current popular music. I instead listen only to the hits of the ‘70s and ‘80s and am extremely out of touch with recent songs and artists. So, because the newspaper staff hates me, they chose me to review three of the top albums of 2015 — Every Open Eye by Chvrches, Honeymoon by Lana Del Rey and What a Time To Be Alive

by Drake and Future. The albums were all rather formulaic, although in different ways, and I had trouble telling their individual songs apart. There were times of mediocrity, but I had to wade through mountains of trash to reach them.

—Jack Stenglein

Every Open Eye

My foray into the realm of musical relevancy first began with Chvrches, a band whose name I assume can only be pronounced as “Cha-Virches.”

Its album Every Open Eye debuted at the number one spot on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums, a depressing stat because it was terrible. Going into the experience, for some reason I expected heavy metal. Apparently, though, Chvrches is a Scottish “synthpop” band. This meant I was rather surprised — and horrified — when greeted by a cacophony of fastpaced electronic pop noises and high-pitched singing. Basically every song on the album contains those elements, but “Clearest Blue” is the worst of them all. It is the fastest, most overwhelming track and features cliche, ridiculous lyrics such as “you were the perfect storm.” As I said earlier, it is hard to differentiate the songs, but fortunately Chvrches must have anticipated this and planned a way around it. Every song ends with some final crescendo that suddenly turns to a few awkward seconds of silence. This does serve as an indication that the next song is starting, but it also tries extremely hard to create dramatic endings for each song and utterly fails.

Honeymoon

I expected to absolutely hate Del Rey’s Honeymoon, thinking it would be extremely similar to the Chvrches album, but I was pleasantly surprised. “Honeymoon,” the title track, is slow and pretty quiet, quite different from Chvrches. It could easily have been the opening song for a Bond film, which is perhaps why I didn’t completely hate it. Most of the album was like this — slow, romantic songs featuring layered vocals, sighs and whispers. While not exactly my style, it was not that bad and could even be pretty relaxing at times. The main exception, “High by the Beach,” was absolutely awful. A faster song than the rest, “High By The Beach”

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What a Time To Be Alive

Right from the beginning, I found Drake’s and Future’s voices more aesthetically pleasing than that of Chvrches’ lead singer. It took me a while to figure out which was Drake and which was Future, but I thought Future (he has the deeper voice) consistently did a better job throughout the album. However, this album had its issues as well. With the exception of a few tracks, the singers mostly talk about all the money they spend as heavy, pumping bass plays in the background. “30 for 30 Freestyle” was the worst song on the album as it was just four minutes of Drake talking rhythmically into a microphone. Although I tried to listen for deeper meanings in all of the songs, they both rapped too quickly for me to understand them, and I could only make out every third word or so. When I did understand the lyrics, I was not impressed. “Big Rings,” for example, repeats the same four lines 48 times. I’m not sure if this type of repetition is common in rap or if Drake and Future were just too lazy to finish writing their song, but it does not do any favors for the album.

was made up of helicopter sounds, beeping noises and even more layered voices than the other tracks. It’s all about a girl who just wants to get high by the beach. We know this not only from the title but also from how often Del Rey tells us in the song. Hands down, this was the worst track on the album. Though she has a great voice, Del Rey sings with a mostly emotionless tone throughout the album. This is fine in small doses, and most of the songs would be perfectly all right to listen to by themselves, but listening all at once, the monotony of it eventually got to me. By the end of the album, I was exhausted and just wanted it to end.

Raine Lipscher

1) The semester is beginning again, and your teachers are handing out new calendars with the list of quizzes, tests and even finals. What is your first move?

A. Smell it for foreign substances.

B. Mud. C. Practice wiccan magick.

D. AAAAAAAAAAH. E. wAit 4 teh bas drip.

2) Hallway traffic has made you late to class, and you now have to walk into the classroom.

The teacher is in the middle of a lecture. What do you do?

A. Make direct eye contact. Touch your tongue to your nose. Wallow in existential melancholy.

B. Fling mud at instructor.

C. Levitate coyly.

D. Ribbit hastily under your breath.

E. Why the heck does lyfe half 2 bee so complicated?

3) It’s (finally!) a No Homework Night! What’s the first thing that you do when you’re released from school?

A. Stare directly into the sun.

B. Roll in mud.

C. Inform your sock puppets of recent events in your life.

D. Attempt to cry, but you can’t because you are without tear glands.

E. RAWR XDXDXD. 4) One of your teachers has decided to give you a free period for the day. What do you spend your day doing?

A. Continually inserting Monopoly money into the school vending machines just to feel the adrenaline rush that comes with the uncertainty that your currency will not be accepted.

B. Scooping dirt by the handful outside and lamenting not having a material by which to make it moist.

C. Wearing a jester’s hat and telling everyone you pass in the hallway, “You’re grounded!” followed by, “It’s a joke!”

D. Sitting cross-legged, hissing.

E. HO HEY, LET’S NAE. 5) What would be your main reason for staying up late?

A. You photosynthesize. You are without need for rest.

B. Sinking your ankles into damp soil.

C. Tap-dancing in ⅞.

D. Filling the washing machine with bricks.

E. CONFORM OR DIE. —Maddie Miller, Kendall Carroll and Jack Speer

Mostly A’s: Thwack!

Less of a subgenre, more of a lifestyle. Thwack! isn’t the sum of its elements, but a vibration — a frequency if you will — only reptiles tuned into their core chakras can hear, let alone understand. If you are Thwack!, you might often find yourself watching paint dry, your body half-submerged in a cardboard box filled to the brim with packing peanuts. Anaesthetic is your aesthetic.

Only your spirit guide can tell you which Powerade flavor tastes less like diluted urine.

Mostly B’s: Mudstep

Mud sloshing under your hand-me-down camouflaged rubber boots to the rhythm of a hot dance beat. A single strand of wheat bobs up and down, fixed to the tip of your lip. Cows are mooing three octaves lower than any sound an Earth cow could produce. If this sounds like your typical Friday night, you might just be your average mudstepper.

Mostly C’s: Free-Range Jazz

Beep-boop-bop-a-doop-bopbeep-boops soar in the open air. Echoing through the hills and above the clouds and betwixt the trees and near the valleys and [redacted], you are free-range jazz. You are the heartbeats of the squirrels and of the flowers. You are everywhere and everything. The hills are alive with the sound of you.

Mostly D’s: Harsh White Noise Like white noise but loud.

Mostly E’s: Pop

You love to talk to your friends so much so that you find yourself talking to them more than anyone else. You love to talk, and you’re very enthusiastic about everything. As long as you get your weekly dose of Starbucks, nothing can stop you.

Zoë Jentzen

face the music

Which genre are you?

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Y

CM

MY

Driver’s Ed is Dead!

OLD-SCHOOL DRIVER’S ED may bring up fond memories for your parents, but the days of musty classrooms, bad videos and driving beat-up old cars are over.

Today’s roads are much more challenging — massive traffic systems filled with distracted drivers, cell phones and giant trucks. You need to take driver training seriously!

CY

MY

K

Don’t just get a license, learn to drive.

Getting a driver’s license is not a rite of passage.

It’s a learned skill-set. Driving is the only dangerous thing most people do every day and it requires a lot of skill. You don’t become a safe driver by getting a driver’s license. You become a safe driver by spending hours of time practicing in the car with a certified professional driving instructor.

SIGN UP ONLINE!

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Serving the Westlake HS and Austin HS areas ©2015 SafeWay Driving Systems, LLC

trap vs. house

Avery Shepherd

Student compares popular art forms House and trap music are the same thing, right?

You might be surprised to hear that this is a common misconception. They’re both unique art forms that really have very little to do with each other.

Let’s start with trap music. Did the name come from the feeling you get when you listen to trap music? That feeling of being trapped in some weird pseudo-musical cacophony from which there is no escape?

No, that is not where the name comes from because that feeling does not exist. Trap music is the most intoxicating sound of our generation, one that can only be accomplished by the modern advancements in music technology.

Trap music originally comes from the “trap,” or a place from which drugs are illegally dispensed. Trap music began in the ‘90s with musicians like Master P, Outkast and Three 6 Mafia and today includes musicians like Rick Ross, Waka Flocka Flame and Fetty Wap. The name comes from the idea that drug dealing culture is a kind of “trap” and is nearly impossible to overcome.

Therefore, it features lyrics largely about buying and selling drugs and the lifestyle that accompanies it.

Trap is a really important part of modern culture, the perfect reflection of urban life. What could possibly represent the poor, inner-city neighborhoods of our country better than lyrics about frivolously spending your abundance of wealth on luxury cars? It is the voice of the voiceless, a true necessity for our culture’s well-being.

Now that trap music is established as a unique, respectable art form, I’d like to move on to the true musical abomination of the last few decades, that is, house music.

House music basically took an already suffering genre, disco, and made it even more minimalistic and repetitive.

Every house song has the same kick drum on every beat, giving it an extremely homogenous sound.

Every time I go to a house concert, I just feel bored by the incessant heavy bass and lack of musical diversity. Sometimes, I can’t even tell when the songs change because they all sound the same.

It’s actually mind numbing. After listening to house for an extended period of time, even if you’re sober, you start to lose a sense of reality.

Your train of thought crashes violently into a stage of neon lights. The heavy bass is shaking the rails too hard for the train to continue. You can’t even start it back up because the conductor is in the fetal position bleeding from the ears.

Just try doing your homework while listening to house music. About five minutes in, simple multiplication tables will stop making sense, and soon enough, you’ll start to lose your grasp on the concept of numbers entirely.

Before you know it, you’ll be in your car driving to Party City to pick up a bunch of glow-stick necklaces, asking Siri for directions to the nearest rave.

Remember the chemtrail conspiracy theory? About how the government is releasing chemical agents from aircrafts that make us stupid? Well, they can stop because house music is doing the trick.

So yes, if you are the type of person who likes to take a bunch of drugs and go to a house concert, by all means, live your life. I don’t want any part in it.

—Reese Armstrong

Junior Olivia Field has been recording with Music Lane Recording for over a year. Her songs are avaliable on SoundCloud under the name Liv Stockton.

key to success photos by Justin Whaling

Junior Olivia Field launches career, well on the way to attending musical college and establishing record label The music industry is by no means a welcoming business. The enterprise is notorious for chewing up and spitting out aspiring musicians. To get yourself signed is to run through a brutal gauntlet; it’s a trial that is cold, calculating and unforgiving. According to music business expert Moses Avalon, author of top-selling advice books such as “Million Dollar Mistakes,” there’s only a 2 percent chance you’ll survive to become a signed artist on a major label.

If there’s anyone that has a chance to defy these odds, however, it’s junior Olivia Field.

A talented young artist on the verge of being recognized, Olivia

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has been involved with music and singing for a good portion of her life.

“I started at the age of 6 learning piano,” Olivia said. “Then, I got into guitar at the age of 10. I like both of the instruments, but I fell in love with the guitar more than I did with the piano. I think it’s because the guitar is so easy to bring somewhere or collaborate [with others]. It’s obviously the most common instrument, but I just like how I can easily write music with it.”

Her ability to compose her own songs and lyrics is one of her more defining qualities as a musician.

“About a year ago, I wrote

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a song called ‘The Olive Tree,’” Olivia said. “It’s not my favorite because it was so early [in my career], but it definitely got the biggest response from people. Most people will come up to me and say, ‘Oh, I love your song “The Olive Tree,”’ even though I’ve written so many other songs after that. As an artist, I never truly know why one song is more popular than the other or why the majority of my listeners will like one song the best. In my opinion, I think people just love how simple and easy the song sounds. That’s probably my most popular, but my favorite is my song called ‘Missing.’ I put most of myself into that song.”

Specializing in alternative pop and dedicated to producing her own works independently, Olivia takes complete control over her music process. By using SoundCloud, she has directly uploaded six original songs.

“I don’t have someone else writing my music for me,” Olivia said. “Before I start writing, I have to make sure that I’m not doing it just because someone’s telling me to write a song. I can’t write a song when I’m told to do it. I usually wait for inspiration, and then I’ll go on my guitar and play chords.

The inspiration behind my songs can be anything. I usually don’t go out searching for it; I just let

it organically come to me. It can be hearing something in a conversation, the way someone makes me feel, things I see or any experience that stands out to me. I’m a huge part in the recording [of my songs] too, so I’m not just sitting there [in the studio] having someone else do it for me. I’m doing it mainly on my own and from my own experiences.”

Much of Olivia’s drive can be traced to her parents.

“My mom is always pushing me to do something even if I’m nervous,” Olivia said. “You wouldn’t think that would make a huge deal, but it really does, especially [since it’s] from my parents. They also go to all of my performances, which is nice.”

In addition to her time in the studio, Olivia finds the time to perform live. First playing when she was 13 in Jamfest at Antone’s, Olivia has gradually increased her local appearances to around twice a month. Once she finishes writing and recording her in-progress material, she will be performing at Baker Street Pub and Grill every Sunday.

Also when she was 13, Olivia began to develop a stage name.

“I go by Liv Stockton,” Olivia said. “As an artist, I think there’s something [valuable] about having a different idea. Everyone calls me Liv anyway, and I like my middle name, Stockton.”

Her professional attitude, combined with a little luck, helped her to reach the first major step in her musical career. “[One of my happiest moments was] when my friend met this guy from a record label at a grocery store, and he started emailing me,” Olivia said. “We met in person, and so now we’re emailing back and forth and starting to work together.

I think that’s just the happiest realization I’ve ever had, like, ‘This is actually happening. I’m actually getting somewhere with this.’”

Cyrano Studios, the record company interested in Olivia, is actively interacting with her and her music.

However, they haven’t quite made any deals yet.

“I don’t have a contract, but I’m

in the process of establishing one,” Olivia said. “They know that they want to do something with me, but right now they’re just taking baby steps to getting to that process of signing me.”

This big break has further led Olivia to pursue musical colleges.

“The main one that I’m involved with is Berklee College of Music in Boston,” Olivia said. “I went to their summer program, and I even talked to some professors there. I’m also looking at the University of Miami because Bruce Hornsby [member of the band Bruce Hornsby and the Range] made this contemporary music program that’s really cool.”

Olivia is convinced that pursuing music in college is the right choice for her.

“There’s always more to learn,” she said. “I want to further my knowledge on something that I love to do. If I went to college majoring in [anything but music], then I would feel like I’d be wasting my time. I don’t love anything more than this.”

No matter where she ends up, Olivia plans to make music a constant part of her life. “[I plan to go] as far as I can,” Olivia said. “I don’t want to become one of those artists on the Top 100.

That’s not really my goal. I just want to play to a point where people are starting to realize that good music is different from what society portrays it as. Good music to me is music that is composed of organic sounds that aren’t artificial or computerized. Real sounds and real tones are what make a song so great that you have to listen to it again.”

Despite her progress, Olivia still takes the most pride in seeing her music at work. “[It feels great] anytime anyone tells me that they really like my music or if people just say that they’re listening to my music,” Olivia said.

“People will come up to me and say, ‘I have your song stuck in my head.’

Stuff like that makes me feel really special and that I have a reason to do this.”

—Jack Wallace Olivia’s SoundCloud accout can be found at https://soundcloud.com/ livstockton.

“Creating music is what makes me the happiest, so I plan on pursuing it throughout my life,” junior Olivia Field said. “I hope and plan on being signed in the near future.”

Junior Olivia Field rocks out in Music Lane Recording Studio to the sound of her cover of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

“Don’t Stop Believin’”

Raine Lipscher

Music hipsters

Zoë Jentzen

“You wouldn’t know them,” she says as she takes a sip of her Grande Skinny Mocha Latte with no foam. Of course you wouldn’t; her taste in music is much too “alternative” for us common folk. You can’t help but wonder how she breathes with those four chokers gripping her neck. The computer she stares at is covered in Arctic Monkeys and The 1975 stickers, but you should’ve expected that — her winged eyeliner says it all. She puts on her Beats™ (by Dre) headphones and grabs her vape pen while jamming to Halsey. You can’t help but stare in awe. As you walk out of the subterranean coffee shop, you get one last glimpse at her towering stack of vintage vinyl records, hoping that one day you will reach the level of cool that is self-proclaimed pastel grunge music hipster.

Kidz Bop

Think back to being 8 years old, sitting on the couch in the living room, snacking on a Dole fruit cup or a Gogurt. Then, when “Hannah Montana” goes on commercial break, it comes on. Your head instantly snaps to the TV as your heart begins to race in excitement.

It’s Kidz Bop! You jump up, the snack flying through the air, and start shrieking along with the animated adolescent voices projecting from your TV. You begin twisting your body in a strange moshpit-like form of dancing, even if it was for only a few short seconds for each song. Kidz Bop, the full symphony of beautiful voices all in perfect harmony, can never die as long as we let it live through us in our hearts and souls.

n Zoë Jentze

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You hear a piano introduction, and suddenly you are singing. You can’t sing; you don’t even know how to hit the high notes, but it doesn’t matter because everyone else in the bowling alley/wedding reception/ice skating rink is singing off-key with you. Tears are now streaming down your face as you’re lifted into the air; you taste the wine and smell the cheap perfume. It’s not your favorite song, but it’s THE song — the song Neil Armstrong sang when he landed on the moon, the song that George Washington used to pump up his troops while they crossed the Delaware River, the song that inspired Beyoncé to sing! “Don’t Stop Believin’” is a timeless ballad that we can all relate to through moments of triumph and loss, and hopefully it will become our national anthem.

Raine Lipscher

Rap battles Oh, the sweet sound of prepubescent teens vigorously chanting monosyllabic words at one another that hardly rhyme, such a joyous tune.

Much like the sound of a blender or a construction site, it is something I long to hear in my everyday life. They take to Twitter and Instagram to find their rap inspiration, awaiting the moment their 15 second diss track will become as famous as a video of a subway rat carrying a slice of pizza. Those lucky enough to witness a rap battle in the flesh are #blessed. These extraordinarily talented beings are among us. Go on, look around. The seemingly average people around you spitting straight fire could be the next Drake or Meek Mill.