Magazine 2025 - Silver Chips Print

March 2025

SILVER CHIPS Music Edition

Vol. 88 No. 4

MUSIC AND THE BRAIN 8

How music impacts cognitive function and emotions

PROGRAMAS ESCOLARES DE MÚSICA 22

La diversidad y el acceso a orquestas y bandas escolares

STUDENT BANDS 28

The DMV’s niche teenage band scene fosters community

Silver Spring, MD

SC

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EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

Carina Nicodemus

Kyara Romero Lima

Auden Seigel

Jason Youm

DESIGN EDITORS

Naomi Andelman

Eloise Carter

Keelin Pegg

MANAGING EDITORS

Greta Andelman

Laila Andelman

Rabira Dosho

Max Erlebacher

Abigail Greenberg

Tharaa Izuagie

Emily Kretschmer

Chloe Pegg

Doris Wang

Norah Wilson

ENGLISH WRITERS

Adanna Akamigbo

Senaya Asfaw

Carmella Beach

Jay Clouse

Ainslie Curran-Ng’asi

Ethan de Brauw

Elora Derbyshire

Rae Foster

Lila Grosko

Lucy Holland

Satchel Jelen

Zachary Karp

Mackenzie Lyons

Tomas Monticelli

Neha Narayan

Sahana Parikh

Lydia Pass

Casey Pendergast

Priya Tapia-Pereira

Justin Rosentover

Diego Santoro-Velez

Kiya Tiruneh

Ruth Wajda-Gotwals

Yongle Xin

Eric Yang

Jessica Zhang

SPANISH WRITERS

Mario Ben Arias

Camila Chi

Manooyee Fedhaa

Emmy Nicole Henriquez

Cindis Hernández

Ezra Lewis

JESSICA HSIEH

Jonatan Loayes

Emanuel Morales

Sheily Raymundo

Jassary Ruiz

Tom Sparshott

Priya Tapia-Pereira

Selvin Vail

Nate Viechnicki

ART EDITORS

Maria Espinal

Allison Lin

Kim Solis

Lucia Wang

ARTISTS

Sophia Benitez

Eva Dammann

Luca Esser

Rosalyn Fang

Manooyee Fedhaa

Cindis Hernández

Jessica Hsieh

Josephine Brunn Lake

Charlotte Li

Ezra Lewis

Angela Martinez-Gonzalez

Michelle Nee

José Ramos

Victoria Angeli M. Regachuelo

Jason Yu

PHOTO EDITOR

Ian Gleason

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Jonathan Peter Belling

Kenean Bizuwork

Raffi Diamond-Berman

Micahyas Yosefe Gessesse

Kaylee Hopkins

Maz Olson

Daneel Kutsenko

COPY EDITOR

Zachary Karp

BUSINESS DIRECTORS

Rowan Boyce

Edith Yang

BUSINESS STAFF

Ava Falcone

Sophia Li

Eva Schwartz

ADVISERS

Jeremy Stelzner

Maria Eugenia Tanos

silverchips

COVER PHOTO

Drawing the line

When cultural appreciation turns into appropriation

The Outlaws

The Amish Outlaws come to D.C.

The mind’s soundtrack

A look into the effects of music on the brain

Raíces con ritmo

PRO/CON

Should music education be mandatory in high school?

The soulless musician

How AI is shaping the future of music

Two to tango

The evolution of the Pan American Symphony Orchestra

El tango se encuentra con lo clásico

Jazzing up the district

Exploring D.C.’s historic jazz scene

Pop artists take action

The intersection of music and politics

The I.M.P.ire

From Merriweather to The Anthem, I.M.P. runs the DMV’s most popular venues

Dirigiendo una orquesta hacia la equidad

Turning songs into stories The

Maz Olson

Kiya Tirunech, Doris Wang

Satchel Jelen, Norah Wilson

Lydia Pass, Casey Pendergast

Camila Chi, Nate Viechnicki

Rae Foster, Ruth Wajda-Gotwals

Tomas Monticelli, Eric Yang

Chloe Pegg

Priya Tapia-Pereira

Lucy Holland, Neha Narayan

Abby Greenberg, Mackenzie Lyons

Greta Andelman, Sahana Parikh

Manooyee Fedhaa, Jason Youm

Keelin Pegg, Jessica Zhang

Kyara Romero Lima, Tom Sparshott

Laila Andelman and Zachary Karp

Ethan de Brauw LUCIA WANG

Drawing the line

When cultural appreciation turns into appropriation

BY KIYA TIRUNEH AND DORIS WANG AN OPINION

MUSIC HAS bridged cultures for centuries. As musical styles blend to create new genres, it is natural that different cultures are incorporated and fused through music. However, when traditions are inappropriately incorporated without acknowledgment or respect, they fall victim to cultural appropriation, which strips practices of their significance and exploits the communities that they represent.

In modern music, instances of cultural appropriation often occur when dominant groups use musical styles, instruments, or practices from

Historical context

Cultural appropriation in music dates back to before the 19th century, when minstrel shows would mock African American music and dance, depicting Black people in a way that promoted racist stereotypes.

As jazz and blues emerged from Black communities and grew in popularity in the 1900s, white artists would frequently adopt these genres, reaping financial gains while excluding Black musicians from mainstream success. Pioneers of this music style, such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, were often overlooked in

In modern times, artists such as Katy Perry have received significant backlash for inappropriately incorporating cultural elements within performances. After singing at the American Music Awards dressed as a geisha—complete with a kimono, powdered face, and traditional Japanese imagery—Perry faced backlash from viewers. Jeff Yang, a writer for the Wall Street Journal, claimed in an opinion article that her performance perpetuated stereotypes and reduced Japanese culture to a mere costume and spectacle. Perry later faced criticism again for sporting cornrows and

ALLISON LIN

entirely new meaning. To ensure the preservation of cultural identities and integrity, these traditions should not be misused.

Cultural and ethical implications

The problems with cultural appropriation are rooted in the fact that it stems from a shallow understanding of the traditions it steals from, often leading to their misuse or devaluation. Its implications extend far past cultural exchange, carrying deeper social and historical consequences that fundamentally disregard the power imbalances rooted in centuries of oppression.

For instance, reggae music originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s and was largely rooted in the strug-

they are the direct result of historical and ongoing systems of inequality. Acts that appear as healthy musical exchanges fail to foster true cross-cultural understanding, extracting, distorting, and commodifying cultural elements of their original context and significance.

Blair junior Nathan Ameha believes acts of cultural appropriation in music may spawn from apathy. “I think the industry just does whatever it needs to do to make the most money and forgets about everything else,” Ameha said.

Another blatant example of cultural appropriation that Blair Hip-Hop History teacher Kenneth Smith witnessed was the release of “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice. Although Vanilla Ice was a white rapper stepping into the domain

“You can definitely trace ideas about cultural appropriation to colonialism and just really any other forms of domination and exploitation and extraction … by dominant groups.”

gles of Black Jamaicans against issues such as colonialism and poverty. Reggae acted as a vehicle for political resistance, and its lyrics called for liberation against colonial rule. Icons like Bob Marley used the genre to amplify messages of social justice and liberation. However, as reggae gained international popularity, its cultural and political messages were diluted. Non-Jamaican artists began to adopt reggae sounds and aesthetics without acknowledging the struggles it represented. The incorporation of reggae sounds in their work propelled artists such as The Police and Eric Clapton to commercial success, but Jamaican artists who pioneered the genre remained uncompensated. At the same time, cultural symbols such as the bold combination of red, green, and gold as well as dreadlocks and

of the hip-hop industry pioneered by Black artists, he never accredited the catchiness of his music or his level of success to the original culture that produced his style of music. In contrast, white hip-hop artist Eminem has had a long history of recognizing Black artists and music history. “I do believe that Eminem appreciates the culture,” Smith said. “He’s an outstanding lyricist [and] incredible artist.”

From cultural appropriation to cultural appreciation

Like Eminem, through experiences with different environments and people, artists can gain a deeper level of understanding of and

borrowing their aesthetics. Ameha found that while cultural appropriation is a problem, acts of cultural exchange in music can still be positive. “I believe there are specific instances where [cultural e change] can be respectful or seen as appreciation for a type of culture—[like with] rappers such as Eminem, [who] we see almost as one of us,” Ameha said.

Larger musical communities share this sentiment. For example, while the genre of Jazz Manouche was created by the Manouche community in France, Manouche musicians welcome non-Manouche artists to explore and perform in the style. Their narrative follows the idea that art is art, and music is meant to be shared.

The act of ethically integrating aspects of other cultures into one’s work lies in engaging respectfully with the source material through research, collaboration, and acknowledgment. When done successfully, cultural appreciation promotes learning and collaboration between people. Societies grow through exposure to diverse perspectives, and sharing music can help transcend cultural barriers. “It’s super important to have … exposure to and engagement with people who weren’t raised the same way that you were, or don’t have the same kinds of beliefs or tastes or practices [as you],” Lie said. “[You should] be self-aware and honest with yourself and with the other people that you’re engaging with about what it is you are doing.”

THE OUTLAWS

The Amish Outlaws come to D.C.

BY SATCHEL JELEN AND NORAH WILSON

IN A BASEMENT under The Hamilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., six bearded men saunter onstage. Bathed in blue light, they stride over to their instruments with the kind of ease that comes with years of experience. Brother Amos Def adjusts his keyboard. Brother Easy Ezekiel loops his bass around his neck. There is a pause. Then, the Amish Outlaws begin to play.

Brother Hezekiah X is the first Outlaw to speak. “Da-da-da-da-da,” he sings, reciting the opening lines of “The Next Episode” by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg to an already electric crowd. Brother Jakob and Brother Snoop Job join in on drums and guitar. By now, the energy is irresistible. Every foot is tapping and every head is nodding. “Come on in, the water’s warm,” Brother Abel whispers into the microphone. He does not need to ask again.

Becoming the Outlaws

Two hours before the show, the Outlaws sit in a heavily graffitied room behind the stage of The Ham-

ilton Live, dining on mussels and branzino and reflecting on how they got there. “This place is high, high up there on the list,” Hezekiah says, biting into a potato. “It’s one of those places we play [where] I’m like, ‘One of these days they’re gonna figure out we really shouldn’t be here,’” Ezekiel adds.

The Outlaws got their start in 2003 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, taking smaller gigs between shifts as electricians and sales representatives. Initially, they played a combination of original songs and covers. “We were sort of a hybrid,” Ezekiel says. But they quickly realized that covers were the best way to connect with their audience. “Our approach is just … to play songs that get people dancing

name “Amish Outlaws” is somewhat misleading. Only three of the six band members were originally Amish, while the others are dubbed ‘Honorary Amish.’ “We started playing in a band as friends,” Ezekiel says. “One day I was thinking to myself, ‘There’s a bunch of us that were born and raised Amish, so we may as well embrace it.’”

The Amish experience

The Outlaws try to embrace everything that comes their way: their old age, widening waistlines, and even self-admitted uncoolness. “I always say, ‘What’s funnier than six Amish guys playing hip hop and metal? Six fat old Amish guys,’” Ezekiel laughs.

“One day I was thinking to myself, there’s a bunch of us that were born and raised Amish, so we may as well embrace it.”

and smiling and laughing,” he says.

Although the band members have all assumed Amish identities, the

“Whenever we try to do anything cool or try to act cool, or anything along those lines, usually it’s like the Hin-

In a world of cover bands, the Outlaws try to differentiate themselves through their song choice. “We try to do the songs that other bands typically don’t do. There’s kind of a bible of cover band songs that … a lot of cover bands play from,” Ezekiel says. “We try to veer off [of] that and do songs people don’t expect to hear.”

Bell Biv DeVoe, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, The Monkees—even a sprinkling of Michael Jackson and Prince. “We try to find stuff that we can play well—that we’re gonna sound pretty good on,” Hezekiah explains. “Whenever we do something sort of goofy, or silly, like, ‘Oh, why the hell would they play that?’ That’s when the whole place is going crazy.”

There are no Amish Outlaws groupies—Jakob smirks at the idea— but there is certainly an Outlaw community. “We call them family,” Ezekiel says. “One of the reasons we’re able to do this for a living is [because] so many people come to see us and bring their friends, bring

Listen to the Amish Outlaws’ playlist here!

their family. We’ll have grandparents with their kids and their kids’ kids all at our shows together,” he adds. “It’s multi-generational. [We] wind up playing at the kid’s wedding.”

It is hard to pinpoint exactly what makes the Amish Outlaws so special.

“It’s a one in ten million, if not more, chance that you get to do what we do for a living.”

Some point to their musical variety, appearance, or shout-outs and banter with the audience. “We’re definitely a team sport,” Hezekiah remarks. “[We try] to get people moving and grooving.” At one point during their

show at The Hamilton Live, Abel even leaves the stage, wandering through the crowd with his microphone held aloft, searching for a volunteer to dance onstage. Yet above all else, the Outlaw’s greatest strength is their sincerity. It only takes a few minutes of conversation, or a single song, to prove that the band genuinely enjoys playing together.

“I feel like I don’t even have a job,” Jakob says. Ezekiel agrees. “I get paid to do something I would be doing anyway,” he says. “To me, it’s basically a dream come true.”

Life on the road

Performing several nights a week, sometimes back-to-back, is not easy. Travel can be especially brutal, as the Outlaws drive themselves to most gigs. “There are times when we played in Ohio [and] rented a minivan,” Ezekiel says, “and we drove eight and a half hours out to Ohio and then played the show, and then drove eight and a half hours back.”

According to Hezekiah, the driving takes a toll. “Your back hurts from jumping up and down,” he says. “You’re in like a torture rack driving for four hours.”

Diet is also an issue for the Outlaws. According to them, the lavish meal they enjoyed at The Hamilton Live was an irregularity. Because the band is forced to eat whatever the venue can provide, their meals are often fried or fast food. “Brown and yellow,” Hezekiah grimaces. “Even the vegetables are brown.” Ezekiel nods in agreement. “You just got to be kind of mindful of it,” he adds. “There’s times in the summer where we’re playing six, seven nights in a row where you have no choice; you have to eat what’s there.”

The Outlaws try to find balance wherever and whenever they can. When he has time off, Jakob is focused on spending time with his son and catching up on sleep. Ezekiel goes to massage therapy and yoga. Hezekiah spends time with his girlfriend.

The Outlaws may complain about inconveniences, but they are never ungrateful. “It’s a one in ten million, if not more, chance that you get to do what we do for a living,” Ezekiel says. “It’s still unbelievable every day.” No matter the hardship, no matter the cost, they will keep playing. “This is, without a doubt, the greatest professional accomplishment I’ve ever had,” Hezekiah says. Jakob nods. “It’s almost like a legacy.”

The Hamilton Live Brother Abel sings a cover song on stage.

ALL PHOTOS BY KENEAN BIZUWORK

The mind’s soundtrack

A look into the effects of music on the brain

BY LYDIA PASS AND CASEY PENDERGAST

WHETHER SINGING

along to pop tunes on a long car ride, working out to heavy metal, or crying to a sad song, music taps into an innate emotional connection spanning continents, cultures, and communities. It provides people with both an outlet to express their feelings and reflect on their relationships. Music has also grown into a popular form of therapy, facilitating communication skills for individuals with disabilities, emotional regulation for people with mental health challenges, processing of trauma for hospital patients, and far more.

The concept of music therapy was first developed in the late eighteenth century, when medical dissertations from American physician students Edwin Atlee and Samuel Mathews argued for the therapeutic benefits of listening to music within a clinical environment. Their claim quickly gained popularity, and by the late 1900s, the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) was established. As this new form of treatment expands, music is being used to treat a wide variety of cognitive and mental health conditions, from anxiety in teenagers to dementia in the elderly.

Lilah Pittman, the clinical direc-

tor of Melody Music Therapy based in Gaithersburg, incorporates music into clinical treatments for people of all ages. Much of Pittman’s focus is dedicated to supporting the needs of people with disabilities, using music to target specific challenges of her patients. “We work on cognitive, attention, and social skills, as well as [motor and] communication skills … we use music to strengthen [those

abilities],” Pittman explains. In regard to mental health, music can be used to process and communicate emotional responses. “We work on recognizing how different emotions feel by listening to a song and then trying to figure out how that song sounds, why it sounds like a certain emotion, and how to connect to it,” Pittman says. Music therapy has become a particularly popular form of treatment for people with degenerative neurological conditions, namely dementia. Therapists like Pittman often utilize music with patients to facilitate memory recall by association with certain songs. “All of our [treatments] inspire memories, and within those memories, they’re connected to different emotions,” Pittman says. “When working with older adults, we bring up songs that might be representative of their time with a loved one or a happy moment, and it starts to bring back some of those memories that maybe they weren’t accessing before.”

In composition, specific notes can be used to elicit emotional responses from a listener using elements of music theory. The intervals and chords that comprise a piece of music can be consonant, like a harmonious blend

ALL ART BY LUCIA WANG

of tones, or dissonant, like clashing notes. Whether a song’s chords tend more toward consonance or dissonance determines one’s neurological and emotional response to them.

“There are certain constructions you can use within a melody,” Aidan Waner, composer and Blair junior, says. “For example, really close intervals tend to convey a dark or dramatic feeling.”

Patterns are another integral part of music theory that trigger interest and emotional responses from the brain. “Scientifically, our brains create dopamine when we listen to music that appeals to the problem-solving part of our brains, where we hear certain patterns or rhythms that we can predict,” McKinley Coda, a Northern Virginia-based piano technician and music educator, explains. “So when we hear music that we can predict, our brain releases dopamine.”

Coda also notes the importance music and sound communication have carried since the very beginning of human interaction. “A lot of sound processing has to do with really early human development. Back when we were still nomadic … our sense of rhythm could help us keep track of where our tribe was,” Coda explains. “[Music] was something spiritual, used to bond communities together … it is tied to these areas of our brain that are linked to strong community connections and a sense of safety in being able to detect patterns.”

Matthew Ball, a former master sergeant in the U.S. Army, has played many historical music pieces that paid tribute to soldiers of the American Revolution. Ball explains how during wars, these songs and the patterns within them were cues for soldiers which helped to navigate them through battle. “We would play instruments [that were used as signals] through the smoke and confusion,” Ball explains. “This [was used] to direct troops to go from

one area of a battlefield to another.” Music is also used as a way to contextualize and interpret their own emotions. David Schneider, a guitar instructor in Burtonsville, sees this regularly in himself and in the students he teaches. “[Music] recognizes an experience inside of us that we sometimes have trouble expressing [by] ourselves … that act of recognition is empowering,” Schneider remarks. “Then, it feels like that’s my soul right there. I can see it now. I can see it in the sounds.”

Schneider emphasizes the impacts beyond just listening to music, particularly the experience of actually playing an instrument. “It’s a completely different experience. When you can actually do it yourself, like it’s coming from your own cells, that’s next level,” he says. “Just to watch the eyes of the people I work with when they are working with the material: they light up; they deepen,” Schneider describes. In addition to being a crative outlet, music can be a channel to release complex emotions. “In my toughest times as a human being, I have found music to be the avenue through which I can

GRAPHIC BY EMILY KRETSCHMER

express my greatest pains and my greatest joys and my greatest sense of awe,” Coda explains. “Music is my [way] of taking my emotions and making them tangible.”

Whether hearing the soundtrack of a horror movie or singing along to a breakup song, it is clear that music evokes emotional responses within its listeners—a connection which is often used by artists to convey their messages and express their emotions. “A good piece of music, regardless of what it goes with, should make the listener feel something,” Waner says. “That is what I always strive to do and what I strive to find in myself.”

Coda echoes this rhetoric, adding that music can act as a release as well a source of comfort. “Music is empathetic. It empathizes with our plights. It empathizes with our feelings and it can be there for us when nobody else is,” she says.

Whether used clinically or purely for enjoyment, music serves as a form of expression, a place of refuge, and a source of healing for people across the globe. Ball believes that music is not only vital for him and other musicians, but is an integral tool for everyone. “I need music in my life for inspiration … for mood, for relaxation,” Ball says. “It plays a huge role in our mental, physical, and overall health. Society needs music desperately.”

Raíces

con

ritmo

POR CAMILA CHI Y NATE VIECHNICKI

MICHELLE NEE

POR MUCHOS años, los artistas latinos han sido la vanguardia contra la injusticia y la opresión racial. La música ha servido como un símbolo poderoso de resistencia en América Latina, convirtiéndose en una voz para el pueblo y una fuente de conexión cultural. Desde la banda de México hasta la cueca de Chile, los ritmos y melodías autóctonos se han inspirado en denunciar injusticias y defender a poblaciones marginadas. Para muchos estudiantes de Blair, la música latina es la manera más fácil de conectarse con su cultura a pesar de la distancia y la crisis migratoria en los Estados Unidos. Para muchos miembros de la comunidad de Blair, la realidad es que la música en español es una de las únicas formas de conectarse con sus países natales. Dentro de los Estados Unidos no existe un idioma oficial, pero la cultura latina tiene una influencia masiva en la música americana más popular. Según estadísticas del Centro de estudio Pew, un 19% de la población estadounidense son hispanos. Esta cantidad de migrantes multiculturales ha impactado la música más tocada dentro nuestro país, y actualmente, el 25% de los oyentes de música encontrados aquí escuchan música en español. Los ritmos de la música en español han podido cautivar a personas de otros países y culturas a pesar de la barrera del idioma.

Segun el BBC, la comunidad migrante se enfrenta con una nueva realidad, semejante a tiempos del presidente Eisenhower y su "Operación Espalda Mojada", que tomo lugar hace 70 años. Esta operación deportó a un millón de mexicanos, la mayoría que eran hombres; similarmente, la administración de Trump ha deportado a más de 5.000 migrantes desde febrero, según el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional. Aunque la “Operacion Espalda Mojada” deporto mayormente trabajadores agricolas, la retórica usada por las dos administraciones es parecida. De hecho, la orden ejecutiva que publicó la Casa Blanca

el 20 de enero usó la misma palabra, “invasión”, igual con la que usaba la policía y los periódicos durante los años 50, según la iniciativa de justicia igual. Los latinos en la comunidad de Blair se quedan pensando si realmente Trump irá a asemejarse a Eisenhower. Actualmente, no está claro si las deportaciones aumentarán en los meses que vienen o no, pero muchos se han dado cuenta que Trump viene con las mismas intenciones de desafiar a la comunidad latina como hizo durante su primer término en 2017. Pero así como la administración actual ha podido organizarse en contra de la comunidad migrante, esta misma población ha buscado maneras de mantenerse firmes. El movimiento “Latino Freeze” es una de varias demostraciones que han hecho para retar a las amenazas. Parando sus líneas de gastos, la comunidad latina intenta buscar una manera de lograr un respeto por el gran impacto que traen a la economía en los Estados Unidos. Una de estas formas de activismo, han hecho que la música y los artistas alegren con sus letras a la comunidad durante un tiempo de incertidumbre. Los Tigres del Norte, una banda reconocida por sus corridos, estrenó una canción nueva llamada “La Lotería”. Los miembros de la banda expresan que “‘La Lotería' es un juego que todos conocemos, un juego de suerte. La oportunidad de perder o ganar es al azar. Así es la vida. Esta canción nos gustó para decir eso…Pero en la vida, con nuestro trabajo… podemos influir para cambiar lo que sentimos injusto’”. Cabe mencionar que como los Tigres del Norte, hay una cantidad infinita de artistas que se han inspirado y hacen homenaje a las personas que emigran alrededor del mundo. Haciendo remembranzas de historias, murales, monumentos, y experiencias de los países de los inmigrantes, estos artistas, como la cantante chilena, Mon Laferte - “La democracia”, La banda internacional Maná - “Pobre Juan”, cantautora Guatelamalteca Gaby Moreno - "Ave Que Emigra”, banda puertorriqueña Calle 13 - “Pa’l Norte”, y banda Argentina Los Enanitos Verdes - “Lamento Boliviano”, continúan con este legado. Canciones como estas son representaciones de lo que la música puede hacer para nuestras vidas durante tiempos de silencio o miedo. Ayudan a las personas a perseverar

con una cobija de esperanza y un abrazo al corazón con una simple melodía.

A pesar de las preocupaciones con la deportación, los latinos de Blair expresan su cultura y herencia a través de sus artistas favoritos.

Para la estudiante de noveno grado Nohelyn Carranza, la música latina es una manera de recordar su cultura. Ni siquiera las 3.000 millas pueden quitar su apreciación para la música salvadoreña. “Ponen las canciones en fiestas y así, y entonces … me voy a conectar con mi familia bailando con ellos”, dijo. “Siento que sí me conecta más [a El Salvador] porque … me siento más cerca de El Salvador cada vez que lo escucho. Si no lo escuchara me sentiría como que me estoy alejando de mi cultura”.

La música ofrece un gran impacto en el día a día de las personas a cualquier edad.

La conexión e interés con la música latina que sienten los estudiantes hispanos en Blair inició al venir a los Estados Unidos y estar extrañando su país. “Cuando estaba en El Salvador casi no me gustaba escuchar música hispana”, dijo Brendy Villatoro. “Pero cuando venía a los Estados Unidos me sentía un poco deprimida, entonces empecé a escuchar música y ahora es una energía muy buena”.

Como Villatoro mencionó, a las personas les atrae la música foránea o la más popular, pero cuando están expuestos en momentos de recuerdos y necesidades la música es el refugio para muchos en la sociedad. Al vivir en los Estados Unidos, la multiculturalidad que el inmigrante trae ayuda a empaparse de una variedad de canciones y estilos de músicas que pueden ser usadas para bailar y cantar, y lo más importante, sentirse conectados con su cultura y recuerdos.

Should music education be

PRO

BY RUTH WAJDA-GOTWALS

AN

OPINION

MAKING MUSIC educa-

tion a required elective is a no-brainer. At Blair, there is already a wide array of music classes including music theory, guitar, and piano, in addition to Blair’s bands, orchestra, and ensemble. All these classes teach organization, hard work, and teamwork skills. Requiring a music elective in high school would provide students with benefits that translate to success in their other academic disciplines and future careers.

It is widely acknowledged that music benefits academics and boosts intelligence. According to the College Board, students in public school music programs scored an average of 107 points higher on the SAT than non-music students. The Merit School of Music highlights more advantages that music education gives students. “They get higher grades, have improved literacy, and are 24 percent more likely to graduate. Positive attributes learned through music–making, such as confidence, independence, perseverance, leadership, and personal responsibility, prepare you for lifelong success,” its website said.

Blair teachers have noticed this correlation. Music teacher Isabel Hernandez-Cata recognized there are other influences to success, but saw a connection between music and academics. “It’s hard to prove causation, but there’s no ignoring it. The highest ensembles are filled with the most academically achieving kids in the school,” she said.

Katherine Smolen also teaches music at Blair and has observed this

trend. “Look at the [Blair] kids who get accepted to [the Massachusetts Institute of Technology] (MIT), and what is the consistent factor?” Smolen said. Of the seven Blair Class of 2024 magnet students who reported acceptances to MIT, six took at least one music class in high school.

Science teacher James Demma has been involved in music for the majority of his life, and the lessons and skills he has learned through the years continue to support him. “Music taught me that hard work gets results. It helped me study for hard classes and … it taught me how to learn,” Demma said.

Music electives, as compared to other fine arts electives, can uniquely teach time management skills and organization because regular practice is essential to succeeding. Due to the way music is taught, students in music classes often learn new skills gradually. Hernandez-Cata believes that this step-by-step process is rewarding to students. “It’s a very, very powerful way of seeing cause and effect, of seeing how your efforts, your commitment, your sustained focus, and your persistence pay off tangibly,” Hernandez-Cata said.

Blair junior and Jazz Ensemble member Ian Ha added that pursuing music has encouraged him to stay organized and dedicated. “[Learning music] teaches you how to work consistently at something, and how to work hard to get good at something … you always have to be organized,” Ha said.

Music classes also teach the crucial skill of collaboration. Raife Oldham, Blair’s band teacher, explained that

playing in bands inherently calls for collaboration. “The unique thing about a music class compared to other courses, particularly the ensembles, is that you are constantly creating, but not just at the individual level,” Oldham said. “You have to work together with 30 or 40 or 45 other people to create the same thing, and that takes a lot of teamwork skills that other courses don’t often afford the students.”

Blair junior Joey Killebrew is an avid guitarist who has experienced the benefits of music education firsthand. He believes that a music elective should be required. “Everybody knows you get smarter from playing an instrument,” Killebrew said. “You can bond with your peers a lot if you’re playing with them, and in general, it heightens your perception of the world.”

Smolen thinks that making music education required would be successful because of the strength of Blair’s music department. “There is a class for everyone that would allow [music education] to be a thing that people would enjoy and get something out of,” Smolen said. The vast amount of music classes for students would allow learners of all experience levels to enjoy a class best fitting their preference.

Making music education required would strengthen education in MCPS and benefit students. Music cannot simply be grouped with other arts; it is uniquely able to teach students values of hard work, organization, and teamwork, and in the stress of high school, music’s strong correlation to academic success cannot be ignored.

PHOTOSBYDANEEL

K U T S OKNE

mandatory in high school? CON

BY RAE FOSTER

AN OPINION

EVERY DAY AT Blair, thousands of students stay busy checking off assignments for their seven or more courses. These students are already expected to manage a full workload, with their standard required classes. If MCPS were to create a mandatory music requirement, students would have to give up elective spots for something that they are not necessarily interested in. While music education is important, the freedom of students to choose classes based on interest should take top priority.

Credits that MCPS high schools consider mandatory for graduation in clude English (four years), math (four years), science (three years), history (three years), world language (two years), and one year of health, physical education, technology, and fine arts. MCPS Board of Education Member At-Large Karla Silvestre explains that most graduation requirements come from state mandates. “Most required courses are based on state graduation requirements, though we do have some leeway,” Silvestre said.

An added music requirement would cause many students to struggle with balancing their course load, and students in specialized programs or other organizations would have great er pressure on their already busy schedule. CAP Blair senior Feven Hulgize emphasizes the need for students to use their free schedule space for personal interests. “Music is

kind of [in] that gray area where there are just some people who are into it, and some people [who] are not … so I feel like it’s important for someone to be able to pick the courses that gear toward what they want to do,” Hulgize said. Blair offers endless electives that allow students to explore interest areas, including being part of a student publication or being a teacher’s aide. While music education is valuable, it is not more important than other electives that are offered to students.

A mandatory music credit would not be high schoolers’ first exposure to music education. Students who went to elementary school in MCPS already have six years of experience taking music, and most fourth and fifth graders had the opportunity to take instrumental music as well. Silvestre describes the impact that early music education can have on high school students’ desire to continue learning music. “I think that by secondary [school], students want to have a choice whether to take this class or not,” she said. By the time students get to high school, they most likely know the extent of their interest in music, and students that want more experience are always welcome to take an elective music class since it falls under the existing fine arts credit.

Besides overloading schedules, adding uninterested students to music classes would diminish the class qual-

ity for those who are truly passionate and want to be surrounded by a positive learning environment. Blair junior band student Zadie Brown explained the energy shift that would come from mixing different interest levels in elective classes. “The fact that you don’t want to be there is going to bring the mood and the excitement down for everybody else who does want to be there,” Brown said. There is nothing wrong with encouraging a passion for music, but requiring all students to learn music would take away from other opportunities that could better fit individuals and decrease learning efficiency for students interested in music.

MCPS schools like Blair offer many options for electives that contribute to a well-rounded education. Rather than forcing students to take a music elective, these schools should allocate resources toward developing those electives, allowing students to receive a more in-depth education from the specific courses they are interested in. Students should be able to express themselves in the way that best suits them, and prioritizing the quality of existing elective courses would be the most effective way to do this. MCPS should refrain from creating a required music elective so that students can build a schedule that best supports their future goals.

NEARLY SIX YEARS AGO, Google released a Google Doodle—an interactive Google Search logo—to celebrate German composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s music. The program allowed users to create a simple twobar melody, harmonized into Bach’s signature style with Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Since the Doodle’s release, the use of AI in music has grown drastically. According to a 2023 study by Ditto Music, a global music distribution company, nearly 60 percent of the 1,200 musicians surveyed have used AI in their music, while 11 percent have used it specifically for songwriting.

For these musicians, some of the most commonly used types are generative and enhancing AI. Ryan Foster, a computer science teacher at Blair, explains that generative AI can create an entire song, instrumentals, or vocals based on a simple prompt, while enhancing AI can be used to equalize, clean up, or even restore audio. “Generative AI can generate content on the fly … think about ChatGPT: ask it to write [a] document, [and] it will generate it,” Foster says. “[Enhancing AI accentuates] certain notes, certain tones to give a richer feel. So in the same way [filters apply] to an image … the same types of filters [can be applied] to actual music.”

To create music and mimic voices, AI models are trained on a large database of audio recordings. “A collection of audio clips that would represent a person’s voice … trains the model to look up the frequency of the voice, the pitch, the tone … and as [it is told] that it is right, it starts to learn. It requires a large data set so we can actually look for patterns,” Foster says. For example, to emulate Bachlike pieces, the Doodle was trained on a dataset of 306 of his compositions to learn the rules and patterns of harmonizing a melody in his style.

all sounded like they could’ve been produced in a room by a regular person.”

Although AI excels at copying the style of existing music, Dylan Schenker, senior leader of the Blair Composers Club, notices that it struggles to create original content. “I’ve been exposed to—via YouTube—some examples of AI that have impersonated or … imitated the styles of other established composers or musical artists,” he says, noting the lack of original styles.

According to Harvard Law Today, a new song Drake and The Weeknd appeared to have released, “Heart on My Sleeve,” was actually created by TikTok user Ghostwriter977 using AI trained on Drake and The Weeknd’s songs. The song was removed days later from Spotify, TikTok, and other platforms as a response to copyright claims by the artists. “I haven’t really seen [AI-generated music] that’s totally original, and I guess the point of AI is that it can’t be totally original,” Schenker says.

According to a report by Mark Runco published in the Journal of Creativity—a research journal on the science behind creativity—AI cannot be truly creative because of its underlying reliance on pre-existing data and its inability to replicate the human creative process; its process is purely computational, without thought or mindfulness. Runco writes that authentic creativity has three essential attributes: intrinsic motivation, mindfulness, and choice, none of which are present in AI.

BY TOMAS MONTICELLI AND ERIC

Typically, when many AI music platforms are given a sentence prompt, they can generate music in a few minutes and can choose whether to use AI-generated lyrics, lyrics written by the user, or instrumental music without lyrics. Silver Chips presented to Victoria Zhong, a junior at Richard Montgomery and an accomplished pianist with 11 years of experience, four songs generated on Udio, an AI music generation platform. Two of the songs included lyrics while the other two were solely instrumental. Zhong notes how realistic the pieces were. “I really wouldn’t have been able to tell that they were AI. I was really surprised, especially with the ones that included a voice. They sounded pretty human to me,” she says. “The instruments …

The use of AI to mimic musicians’ styles, specifically dead musicians, is an ethical gray area. For example, some find the AI-generated song “Drowned in the Sun,” released in 2021, which imitates the voice and style of the late Kurt Cobain, a way of immortalizing him. Others, like Blair Music Theory and Piano teacher Isabel Hernandez-Cata, find it unethical. “I think we’ll be seeing a lot of ‘lost tracks,’ and of course, that’s not ethical at all,” she says.

Though many industries, including programming, data entry, and customer service, have grown concerned over AI replacing their jobs, Marz Frissell— Blair sophomore and a member of the local band The Frizz—doubts the possibility of generative AI replacing the tasks of real musicians, including songwriting. “There’s just so much emotion and creativity that goes into writing music. It just feels so fake to use ChatGPT. For music, there’s too much emotion involved. ChatGPT can’t even compare,” they say. “If someone said that they used AI to write a song, I wouldn’t want to [lis-

ALLARTBYVICTORIAREGACHUEL

ten to] it, because I feel like they’re not a sincere artist,” they say.

However, a study by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers finds that people working in the music sector could lose up to a quarter of their income by 2028 due to AI’s efficiency and relative cheapness. Schenker understands this worry, though he agrees with Frissell that AI could not completely replace musicians. “Maybe in a couple [of] years, [AI could be] good at [making] … movie tracks in a style imitating film composers. That could definitely put people out of business,” he says. “But music for the concert hall? I don’t think that [AI is] going to [replace it].”

Hernandez-Cata also has concerns

about

AI’s impact on music sector jobs, specifically music education. “[Why would someone need] a [music] theory teacher if you could just press a button and make plausible music? Why learn the rudiments and the fundamentals [of music]?” she says.

Schenker fears that his music could be included in an AI database. AI music companies often use copyrighted music for training, which is a legal gray area. “I wouldn’t want my work to be part of that database because of issues of copying,” Schenker says. In response to alleged mass copyright infringement, Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Records sued AI companies Suno and Udio for

using their music in AI training. On Feb. 14, Thomson Reuters v. ROSS Intelligence marked the first U.S. court decision on the legality of AI music models. The case ruled that AI companies’ use of copyrighted material in their databases did not constitute fair use law, meaning that AI companies must have a license to use copyrighted work.

But despite these concerns and questions surrounding AI and its use in music, its role and ability will inevitably continue to rise. However, musicians like Zhong still believe that authenticity is crucial in creative musical endeavors, and the use of AI fails to replicate real emotion. “For [AI to] automate the system and take the soul away, it goes against the entire meaning of art,” she says.

Two to tango

The evolution of the Pan American Symphony Orchestra

AHUSH SETTLES OVER the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater as the Pan American Symphony Orchestra (PASO) launches into a stirring rendition of Isaac Albéniz’s “Cadiz.” Under the direction of Maestro Sergio Alessandro Buslje’s dynamic baton, bows move in tandem and the music swells and leaps. Throughout the 110-minute performance, the orchestra confidently navigates complex musical pieces written by legendary Spanish composers such as Joaquín Turina and Manuel de Falla. When the final notes play, the captivated audience stands to applaud.

and keeps Buslje on task.

In 2001, PASO transitioned from a community orchestra to a professional one. Not only did this entail new artists, it also required more funding. Unlike most non-profits, PASO covers most of their expenses with ticket sales, which means the orchestra depends on full houses to stay afloat. “Sergio sometimes wants to do something original or new but he can’t because we have to think, would the public like that?” Dunn says. “We can’t really just do an instrumental show because we’re not the National Symphony Orchestra, we’re not that well known.”

“I would like the orchestra to keep going but it would be hard to find another me to do so.”

Amidst the ebbs and flows of Washington, D.C.’s music scene and the challenges of the performing arts, Buslje’s orchestra has more than accomplished its goal of bringing Latin American symphonic music to D.C. concert halls. However, PASO’s story is not just one of success, but also of the perseverance and ingenuity of Buslje and his wife Maureen Dunn.

PASO was created in 1991, when Buslje, an Argentine frustrated by his job as the assistant conductor of the American University Symphony Orchestra, decided to become his own boss. “I would get stuck conducting all the musicals! I really hate musicals,” Buslje explains. “But with PASO, I get to do the music I really like and it’s music that nobody else does around here.”

However, Buslje’s dream would not have become a reality without Dunn. “I had a crush on the conductor,” she laughs. Fresh out of law school, Dunn helped incorporate PASO as a non-profit. “I filled out all the paperwork to fill out the IRS tax determination. And then everything came back—it was all wrong but I didn’t want to tell him that!” she says. Eventually, Dunn got it right and now, as board president, she manages the books, writes grant applications,

To solve this problem, PASO turned to dancers, singers, and tango. “People come to anything tango,” Dunn says. “We can continue to do other Latin American symphonic music … because tango will pay the bills for the other concerts.”

This sparked Dunn’s vision for a yearly D.C. Tango Festival at the Argentine Embassy, an idea that has helped raise the orchestra’s profile. For nearly two decades, audiences have flocked to the embassy to enjoy PASO’s music and learn about tango.

The orchestra’s accomplishments stretch far beyond the DMV. PASO has

BY CHLOE PEGG

performed across South America, and in 2012, became the first American orchestra to play in Beirut, Lebanon. That same year, the orchestra played at the Latino Inaugural Celebration, drawing praise from singer Rita Moreno. In 2021, PASO earned a Latin Grammy nomination for its album, Tango of the Americas, a collection of mostly unheard tangos from the U.S., Colombia, and Argentina.

Throughout these achievements, Dunn and Buslje have navigated unforeseen obstacles, from unexpected musical requests by the president of Peru to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. When looking toward the future of PASO, neither of them is certain of what is in store. “We’ve been discussing this a lot lately,” Dunn says, noting that both of them are getting older. “I would like the orchestra to keep going but it would be hard to find another me to do so,” Buslje adds.

Regardless of what the future holds, both take pride in what they have accomplished with PASO. “I’m proud of our longevity. It’s hard to start something with no context here in the city, with no one that you know in the business, and now [Sergio] plays at the Kennedy Center for presidential inaugurals,” Dunn says. “You have to stick with it. I stuck with it. Sergio stuck with it, and we’ve been doing it for 34 years.”

THE KENNEDY CENTER Maestro Sergio Buslje conducts the Pan American Symphony Orchestra.

PHOTOS

El tango se encuentra con lo clásico

DESDE SUS ORÍGENES en las cuencas del Río de La Plata, el tango se ha convertido hoy en día en una forma de música y baile admi- rada por

tarra eléctrica. Bušlje fue nombrado becario Boronda del Colegio Hartnell en California en 1986, y también fue el director adjunto de la orquesta sinfónica de la Universidad Americana. Recuerda que “apenas llegado de

todos los rincones del mundo. Uno de los pioneros modernos del tango es Sergio Alessandro Bušlje, un director de Rosario, Argentina.

Bušlje dirige la Orquesta Sinfónica Panamericana (abreviada PASO por sus siglas en inglés) donde incorpora el tango en su música. Sin embargo, Bušlje se inclinó primero hacía la música clásica cuando “tenía unos 5 años… Mi mamá siempre me llevaba a los conciertos de la orquesta Sinfónica de Rosario”, recuerda Bušlje. A él le fascinaban los músicos como Beethoven, tanto que después de escuchar el concierto número tres de Beethoven, pidió a su mamá que le buscara un profesor de piano. “A los seis años empecé a tocar el piano”.

Años después, Bušlje explica que “me empezó a gustar el tango, [especialmente] el nuevo tango, que es un tango que lo compuso el bandoneonista y compositor argentino Astor Piazzolla”. Inspirado por la música del jazz, Piazzolla renovó el viejo estilo de tango para incluir instrumentos modernos como el saxofón y la gui

Argentina empecé a extrañar toda la música nuestra. Uno en Argentina va a prender la radio y sale un tango, pero [en los EE.UU] no”.

Bušlje quiso seguir tocando tangos, porque eran más desconocidos en los Estados Unidos que otras formas de música latinoamericana. “Quiero mostrar al público americano que hay otra música latina, fuera del merengue y la bachata … que también hay otra música que vale la pena escuchar”.

Así fue como empezó PASO. Al mismo tiempo, Bušlje conoció a su esposa, Maureen Dunn, una abogada recién salida de la universidad. Con su conocimiento legal, ayudó a convertir PASO en una organización sin fines de lucro. Hoy en día, Dunn sirve como la presidenta de la junta directiva. “Todos los años yo hago la solicitud para fondos y nos dan bastante para continuar. También hago las solicitudes a fundaciones filantrópicas y a donadores privados”, dice Dunn. “Es continuamente pidiendo plata a la gente, lo difícil de manejar una organización [sin fines de lucro]”.

Con fondos económicos y el espíritu

POR PRIYA TAPIA - PEREIRA

de Bušlje, PASO ha crecido a ser una orquesta sinfónica con un repertorio considerable. PASO ha llegado a tocar en el Kennedy Center, la embajada de Argentina, y la celebración inaugural para el presidente Obama para promover el tango a nuevas audiencias. La orquesta también se ha expandido a festivales globales de música, como en 2009, cuando PASO tocó a un festival de música sudamericana en Lima para el presidente peruano.

Alyssa Centanni, una violinista profesional de PASO, tuvo que adaptar su conocimiento de la música clásica a los tangos cuando empezó a ensayar con la orquesta. “Tocar el tango es… muy diferente en comparación con la música clásica. Cuando yo toco el violín en las orquestas clásicas, tengo que pensar en una manera muy diferente”, comenta Centanni. Sus esfuerzos valieron la pena a través de experiencias como en 2018, cuando Centanni viajó con PASO a Medellín, Colombia para un festival de música. “Actuamos ahí en la universidad local… también tocamos con músicos locales y exploramos toda la ciudad, fue un viaje muy bonito”.

Centanni sigue con PASO preparándose para los nuevos conciertos que tienen programados en el Kennedy Center y WolfTrap. Ella recomienda que “para las personas que no sepan de la música del tango, explóralo. Es un género que a mí me fascina y me encanta totalmente. La música de tango es bellísima”.

DEMONSTRANDO LA CULTURA PASO en su concierto de Tango en el Centro de Kennedy.

Jazzing up the District

Exploring D.C.’s historic jazz scene

BY LUCY HOLLAND AND NEHA NARAYAN

IN THE BACK room of Alfio’s La Trattoria, a cozy Italian restaurant in Chevy Chase, lies a small stage packed among tables full of chatting customers. Every week, the restaurant hosts a variety of musical groups, and tonight’s guests are Nell Rumbaugh and her jazz group, One Night Samba. The group performs a wide range of jazz songs, from contemporary to vintage and slow to swingy. Yet, all have the same effect: people in the audience are up and dancing along, moving with the trumpets and saxophones.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, jazz fell in popularity with the emergence of a new, exciting genre of music: rock. Even in the district, an area with such a historically vibrant jazz scene, the genre lost a major chunk of its audience. Additionally, jazz was undergoing its own transformation with movements like bebop, hard bop, and free jazz becoming increasingly experimental. However, despite this

decline, Washington D.C. maintained a strong jazz legacy that stood the test of time.

One name that stands out in D.C.’s jazz history is Bernie Miller, a talented pianist whose 1952 composition, “Bernie’s Tune”, became a jazz standard. “There are, I think, at least 25 renditions of it,” Bernie Jeweler, Miller’s son, explains. “I found one with Ella Fitzgerald singing it, and Jerry Mulligan, who was head of a jazz band in the early ‘60s, was the one who first played “Bernie’s Tune” as a major piece in his music. I think [Mulligan] put out an album in 1960 in which “Bernie’s Tune” was the lead piece, and it became popular for other jazz musicians too, like Chet Baker.” With its catchy melody and sophisticated harmonies, the song remains a signature piece in the jazz world.

As new jazz artists emerge, such as Chinese-Icelandic singer Laufey, the genre is experiencing a revival. Younger audiences are rediscover-

ing jazz, and enthusiasm for it is growing across the country. School jazz programs have been popping up around the region, in which students are discovering a new appreciation for the genre. “My daughter goes to Einstein, and they have two jazz ensembles. Gregory Casement, the teacher, had them perform a couple of weeks ago, and I swear it was like a rock concert,” Rumbaugh, who teaches piano along with performing jazz, says. “The place went crazy.”

In the district, an area with an already rich jazz history, this increasing popularity is especially noticeable. A member of Blair’s jazz ensemble, junior Josh Anderson, explains possible reasons the genre may be appealing to younger audiences. “It’s very different from a lot of modern music, and it’s more complex. There’s more to get into,” he says.

Part of the appeal of jazz, for young and old alike, is that people can make it their own. “[Jazz is] a

PHOTOS BY JONATHAN PETER BELLING

language, it’s an art form … where if anyone were to sing or play a jazz standard, it would be different. It would be their own unique voice,” Rumbaugh says. The reemergence of jazz is being facilitated through its fusion with other genres. “Jazz is starting to kind of make its way into the cultural conversation as a lot more artists have been fusing it with other genres to create something fresh, while still paying homage to its roots,” Shyam Kannan, local jazz performer and fanatic, explains. Billie Eilish’s “Billie Bossa Nova”

political expression. And for those in our disenfranchised communities, primarily at that point, especially African-Americans, this was an emanation of defiance. It also was an emanation of pain, [of] hundreds of years of suppression,” Kannan explains. “And D.C. happened to be one of those geographical places where those who came from an African-American tradition were welcome. There were fewer restrictions.”

“[Jazz is] a language; it’s an art form … if anyone were to sing or play a jazz standard, it would be different. It would be their own unique voice.”

is a prime example of this fusion, with Eilish leaning heavily into jazz structure for the song.

Cecily Bumbray, a talented rising musician and educator based in D.C. and Maryland is one of the standout figures in the local jazz scene. “I grew up listening to a lot of soul and a lot of jazz because my mom loves soul music and R&B and my dad loved jazz,” she says. “I learned through my parents and through my own research a lot about the city, and learned that because DC had such a high black population, there were loads of jazz artists, especially black artists, that stopped in DC to perform.”

D.C. has long been a hub for Black musicians, even before the arrival of jazz. Jazz first came to the district in the early 1920s with the rise of Duke Ellington, a native Washingtonian, and the founding of popular jazz clubs, such as the Blues Alley Jazz Club in Georgetown. Rob Bamberger, local jazz historian and host of the WAMU Hot Jazz Saturday Night radio program, explains the significance of Ellington’s legacy in the D.C. area. “If it wasn’t for Duke Ellington, D.C. would probably be regarded as somewhat second banana,” he says. D.C. celebrates Ellington’s profound impact on the city’s jazz history annually through events like the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival. Additionally, the Duke Ellington School of The Arts, a D.C. public high school named for the famous composer, emphasizes an arts-focused education in tribute to Ellington.

To understand what makes the district such a thriving hub for musicians of varying backgrounds, it is essential to consider the essence of jazz itself. “Remember that jazz as an art form was not simply a musical expression, but was also a form of

In D.C.’s jazz scene, music is not just about performance, it is a deeply personal form of expression. “When we play this music, it’s not because we want someone to like it,” Kannan says. “We play this music because we’re expressing an emotion and we’re hoping against hope that someone who hears it—whether it’s live, whether it’s recorded—will accept us as human beings.” This sentiment captures the true connection between jazz musicians and their audiences in the district, where the emotional weight of each note resonates far beyond the stage. “I’d like to think that my audiences love Black American art forms and they probably love singers who have a similar sensibility to

me. The main thing is [that] I want to find an audience of people who are similar to me … and are looking for what makes them feel at home,” Bumbray says.

As the district’s jazz scene continues to evolve, the enduring passion is clear to those who experience it firsthand. From the dedication of local musicians to the resurgence of live performances, the spirit of jazz is still very much alive. “When I moved to town, I used to be able to walk down 14th street, and at every third door, there was some sort of quintet or quartet playing jazz tunes,” Kannan says. “A lot of that magic is gone and it makes me sad, but some of us are trying to keep it alive, myself included.”

Listen to Jazz!

night.

BLUES ALLEY CLUB Just south of Georgetown, the historic Blues Alley Club hosts jazz performers almost every

Pop artists take action

The intersection of music and politics

FROM ANTI-SLAVERY song

books compiled by fugitive slaves in the early 1800s to the protest songs of the 1950s and 60s to Kamala Harris’ use of Beyoncé’s “Freedom” on the campaign trail, music has helped accomplish political goals. Songs have been instrumental in the progress of movements throughout history and America’s current political landscape.

Today, music is still used to shed light on political movements. Following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, many artists used their platforms and talents to condemn police brutality across the nation.

Songs like H.E.R.’s “I Can’t Breathe” gained popularity across the nation and were used by activists, celebrities, and influencers to voice their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Blair Hip-Hop History and Culture teacher Kenneth Smith acknowledges the importance of artists shining a spotlight on political issues and movements across the country. “I truly appreciate when an artist will use their platform [on] the issues connected to social justice or any movement that they are passionate about, because number one, they’re making a conscious decision to possibly jeopardize their career,” Smith says. “I absolutely, positively appreciate and love when an artist uses their platform [to recognize] issues larger than themselves.”

Political candidates in the past and present have used music to communicate with potential voters and

BY ABIGAIL GREENBERG AND MACKENZIE LYONS

bring in support for their campaigns. Often, these songs reflect key political themes or target specific groups of voters. During Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential run, his campaign used the song “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac to appeal to Baby Boomers. More recently, Kamala Harris’ use of songs from Charli XCX’s 2024 album Brat during her presidential campaign attracted the attention of younger voters. Paige Anafack, co-leader of the Blair Album Club, feels that the consistent use of Brat was a smart move. “It was a really good way to get Gen Z to be like, ‘Oh, this person wants to relate to us and is interested in the things that we are,’” she says.

Music artists endorsing political candidates has led to a significant increase in voter registration. In 2020, Harry Styles helped HeadCount—a voter-engagement service— register 55,000 American fans to vote through the “Good to Vote” initiative on his tour. During the 2024 election, Taylor Swift posted a link to vote.gov and endorsed Harris to her 282 million Instagram followers. In the 24 hours after the link was posted, approximately 406,000 people clicked it to

register. Anafack feels that renowned artists such as Swift should use their platforms to inspire their followers. “We should obviously be encouraging civic action, and [artists] have a big platform, so it’s really great that they use that platform to do something good,” she said.

However, Blair junior Lilia Lash believes that audiences should take the messages promoted on popular celebrities and artists’ platforms with a grain of salt. “These are some of the most immensely privileged people in the country. You really can’t be ignoring that privilege,” she says.

“We should obviously be encouraging civic action, and [artists] have a big platform, so it’s really great that they use that platform to do something good.”

As one of the most powerful forms of expression, music will continue to be used by politicians in the future to connect with and appeal to voters. Furthermore, artists and musicians will retain the decision to use their music as a political platform, advocate for social movements, or simply sing their hearts out. “Even though sometimes you may not agree with what the people are saying in their music, when people make music it’s usually an expression of [themselves]. And I think it’s cool that people are able to express their views and values through their music,” Anafack remarks.

EVADAMMANN

I. M. Pire

.

BY GRETA ANDELMAN AND SAHANA PARIKH

From Merriweather to The Anthem, I.M.P. runs the DMV’s most popular venues

WHEN IT COMES TO concerts, the Washington, D.C. area has no shortage of venues to choose from. From larger locales like the Merriweather Post Pavilion to intimate clubs like The Atlantis, its venues make room for up-andcoming and established artists alike. However, concertgoers may not know that many of the area’s most popular spots are all owned by the same independent concert promotion company: It’s My Party (I.M.P.).

sort of completed the chain, so to speak, of going from the 9:30 Club or the Lincoln [Theatre] through to The Anthem, and then to Merriweather,” Grobe says.

“ ”

We have this incredible opportunity to introduce audiences to brand-new artists that are selling 450 tickets or less, and then watch those artists grow.

I.M.P. venues include The Atlantis, the 9:30 Club, The Anthem, the Lincoln Theatre, and the Merriweather Post Pavilion, but the company started small, I.M.P. Senior Communications Manager Jordan Grobe explains. “I.M.P. itself began in 1980, with Seth Hurwitz and Rich Heinecke. Seth was a high school student; Rich Heinecke was his substitute teacher. They bonded over a lot of music, and Seth was very good at negotiating [while] Rich was very good at research,” he says. Hurwitz and Heinecke started booking shows at the original 9:30 Club, which was then owned by Dodi DiSanto and Jon Bowers. “They sold the 9:30 Club to Seth and Rich in 1986, and it has been I.M.P. ever since. So I.M.P. is essentially the umbrella promotion company, and then we have our venues within that, [with I.M.P.] collecting venues of its own as it grew,” Grobe says.

As I.M.P. acquired more locations, the company noticed a lack of medium-sized venues in the local music scene. “We began to devise what became The Anthem, and so The Anthem opened in October 2017, and that is 6,000 capacity. So then that

Owning differently sized venues allows I.M.P. to host artists who vary in popularity and genre. The Merriweather Post Pavilion, or simply Merriweather, is I.M.P.’s largest venue with a capacity of over 19,000, and has hosted popular artists like Lana Del Rey. While some Merriweather concerts attract a local crowd, its larger festivals draw attendees from across the country. “All Things Go is our biggest one. There [are] so many people that come in for it,” Merriweather food runner and Albert Einstein student Hanna Keskula says.

The experience for festival goers and other attendees can be specially curated because of I.M.P.’s independence. “We can control every aspect

of the experience for both the fans and for the musicians coming to our venues,” Grobe says. “The audience has to have a great time from the minute they hit our doorstep to the minute the band takes the stage, and the artist has to be treated well from the moment they roll up to unload their gear to the moment that they’re off stage.” This mentality is carried from venue to venue, and the fans appreciate it. Blair sophomore Marilyn Ramsdell, who has been to multiple I.M.P. concerts, describes her experience at The Anthem as largely positive. “It was actually very well-staffed and it was well-organized … I could find stuff easily,” she says.

I.M.P. venues pride themselves on their ability to host artists with different levels of popularity and connect them with their fans. “We have this incredible opportunity to introduce audiences to brand-new artists that are selling 450 tickets or less, and then watch those artists grow,” Grobe says. “The future stadium artists of tomorrow are starting right now at the really small stages, and that is what is really exciting.”

THE ANTHEM Located on the Wharf in Washington, D.C., The Anthem is one of I.M.P.’s most popular venues.

PHOTO BY DANEEL KUTSENKO

Dirigiendo una orquesta hacia la equidad

CINDIS HERNÁNDEZ

POR MANOOYEE FEDHAA Y JASON YOUM

EN LOS ESTADOS Unidos, la educación musical es una parte fundamental del sistema escolar, desde las clases obligatorias de música en las escuelas primarias públicas a los programas avanzados de orquesta y banda de la escuela secundaria. Sin embargo, muchos de los estudiantes latinos que han pasado años a través de MCPS nunca han tocado un instrumento. De hecho, aunque los latinos representan 19.5% de la población estadounidense, los músicos latinos representan solo el 2.5% de los músicos según un estudio de la Liga de Orquestas Americanas. Para los recién llegados, la barrera para acceder a instrumentos y tomar clases de música es aún mayor.

Este hecho es muy desafortunado,

especialmente porque “la música es un lenguaje entendido por todos”, según Katherine Smolen, directora de las orquestas de Blair que también enseña las clases de guitarra de la escuela. Smolen recibió su licenciatura en educación musical en la Universidad de Maryland, además de una asignatura secundaria en el español. Después, recibió su maestría en educación musical en la Universidad de Michigan. “Especialmente para los estudiantes que hablan español como primera lengua, donde las palabras no funcionan, los sentimientos y las emociones [musicales] sí”.

Una de las barreras más grandes para entrar en la formación musical es el costo de participar en un programa de música escolar. El costo inicial de compra de la mayoría de los instru-

mentos es de cientos de dólares, y algunos instrumentos de mayor calidad, como el violín y el fagot, valen más de 5,000 dólares. Además, las lecciones privadas semanales pueden costar más de 300 dólares al mes.

Según Doug Martin, director principal de banda en Langley High School en el condado de Fairfax, Virginia, “para algunos instrumentos como el clarinete y oboe, hay que comprar cañas de reemplazo, y eso aumenta aún más el coste con el tiempo”.

Para Rosalyn Chapa, estudiante de grado 11 en Blair, la música no siempre fue parte de su vida. No comenzó a tocar hasta la escuela secundaria, cuando su director de banda la inspiró a unirse a la banda. Sin embargo, su participación en la música depende completamente de

los recursos de su escuela, ya que no tiene un instrumento propio y debe tomarlo prestado. “Practico durante el almuerzo o después de la escuela los instrumentos”, dijo Chapa. Su experiencia refleja cómo el acceso a instrumentos dentro de las escuelas puede marcar la diferencia para los estudiantes que no pueden permitirse un instrumento propio. Aunque los recursos siguen siendo una barrera para muchos, los lugares para practicar y apoyar hacen que el camino hacia la música sea más accesible. Aquí en Blair, “recibimos una donación de $6,000 específicamente para comprar instrumentos de orquesta”, dijo Smolen. Además, ella está tratando de enfatizar la importancia de reciclar los instrumentos para que otros estudiantes los puedan utilizar. “¿Cuántas personas se gradúan y dejan su instrumento en el fondo de su armario? En su lugar, podrían dejarnos ese clarinete para que otro estudiante lo ame y haga música con él”. Sin embargo, otro desafío aún más difícil de solucionar es el acceso. Kimberly Marquin Lucas, estudiante de onceavo grado en Blair, comenzó su trayectoria musical en cuarto grado. Como parte de la banda de música y la orquesta sinfónica, toca la marimba y el violín. “Sí saben, pero no saben cómo entrar o tienen recursos buenos para entrar”, dijo Marquin Lucas. El conocimiento de la música existe en las comunidades latinas, pero el acceso sigue siendo un obstáculo. La falta de información sobre oportunidades, combinada con la escasez de recursos como instrumentos y clases asequibles, limita la participación de muchos jóvenes talentosos. Esto demuestra que el problema no es la falta de interés, sino las barreras

estructurales que dificultan su integración en programas de música formales. Además, la falta de inclusión dentro de ciertos espacios musicales puede hacer que muchos se sientan fuera de lugar o duden en continuar. Este es el caso de la estudiante Melody Martino, que ha estado inmersa en la música desde la escuela primaria, desarrollando su talento con la viola en la orquesta sinfónica. A través de los años, ha notado un cambio en la diversidad dentro de los programas musicales.

“Muchos tipos diferentes de personas tienden a unirse cuando están en la escuela primaria o secundaria, pero cuando las cosas empiezan a volverse reales o avanzas en habilidades, tienden a notar que el gráfico demográfico cambia”, explicó Martino.

Aunque la música parece accesible en las primeras etapas, las barreras comienzan a aparecer cuando se requiere mayor compromiso y recursos. Factores como el costo de los instrumentos, clases privadas y acceso a oportunidades avanzadas pueden excluir a ciertos grupos, afectando la diversidad en niveles más altos. Para abordar este problema, Martino piensa que “es simplemente un estímulo, un estímulo mutuo”.

Aún si uno recibe un instrumento y tiene el acceso para participar en la orquesta o la banda, todavía puede sentirse como un lugar desconocido y aislado. Entonces, el apoyo de compañeros, maestros y programas escolares puede ser la diferencia en la permanencia de los estudiantes en la música. Crear un ambiente donde todos se sientan motivados y tengan acceso a los recursos necesarios puede garantizar que el talento no se pierda debido a barreras económicas o falta de representación.

Los desafíos para integrar los programas musicales de una manera económica y razonable no son solo locales para Blair, sino que también son problemas del nivel estatal y nacional. Irina Moore, madre de una niña del cuarto grado que asiste a la escuela primaria Dayton Oaks en el condado de Howard, comparte sentimientos similares con el programa de música instrumental en la escuela de su hija. “Las clases [particulares] y los programas son caros … y no son fáciles para dirigir”, dijo Moore. Afortunadamente para Moore, “mi hija disfrutó de las lecciones y la ayudaron mucho, así que en nuestra posición creo que valen la pena”.

Sin embargo, para otros, los beneficios no superan los costos. Por lo tanto, algunas organizaciones y

orquestas musicales han establecido programas gratuitos, especialmente para grupos minoritarios y estudiantes de bajos ingresos. Por ejemplo, la Universidad Católica de América en Washington, D.C. provee el Centro de Música Latinoamericana, un instituto que promueve y enseña la música iberoamericana para músicos en desarrollo. Otros programas se centran en escuelas de secundaria y preparatoria, como MusicianShip, que empodera a los estudiantes de comunidades marginadas en el área de DC a través de la educación musical gratuita. Además, hay esfuerzos más grandes a través de los Estados Unidos, como la Alianza Latina, un programa por la Orquesta Sinfónica de Chicago que ha conectado cientos de comunidades diversas con música tradicional latinoamericana.

La música puede ser un lenguaje universal, pero la comunidad latina continúa enfrentando desafíos en cuanto a inclusión y acceso. Aquí en Blair, Smolen aconseja que cada estudiante que tiene interés en la música se inscriba en una clase de orquesta o banda, pero todavía hay mucho progreso por hacer para normalizar la educación musical en toda la comunidad latina.

Sin embargo, la libertad de escoger la clase de música finalmente está en las manos de cada individuo. En la perspectiva de Martino, “no es necesario tener el mejor instrumento de gama alta para empezar… Se trata más bien de un esfuerzo constante y de disfrutar de la música en su conjunto, porque no es necesario ser de una cultura para disfrutar de la música orquestal.”

JOSE RAM

Turning songs into stories

The role of professional reviews in music discourse

BY KEELIN PEGG AND JESSSICA ZHANG

FROM BLAIR HALLWAYS

to city streets, music is everywhere. It is hard to explain why what resonates with one person is an earache menagerie of organized noise to another. This is the dilemma that fuels music discourse and discussion, and why we cannot stop ourselves

from scouring the internet about the songs and albums we love and hate.

Given music’s inherent subjectivity, it can be hard to grasp how professionals even begin to review music.

For Piotr Orlov, a professional music reviewer who teaches a course at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, this phenomenon is the first thing he has to teach his students.

“I teach sophomores and juniors, and their whole thing is all about how criticism is all about opinion, but that’s what bad writers want you to believe,” Orlov says. “You can [review music] without being like, ‘This is legendary’ or, ‘This sucks,’

because a good piece of writing will [walk] people through what you’re describing.”

Description is at the heart of music reviewing today. Reviews should give readers context into what a piece of music is about, while interweaving descriptions of their sound and feel. For a long time, the aim of music reviews was to show readers if music was worth buying. Nowadays, with music being so accessible, the bar is lower. The purpose of reviews is more to provide people with insight into what might be worth listening to. This is why many music reviews no longer have numerical or star ratings, a signal of how the industry has adapted to the modern world.

The Washington Post’s pop music critic, Chris Richards, keeps this in mind whether he is covering an Olivia Rodrigo concert or Charli XCX’s Brat. “I like this world that we live in now, where music critics are no longer these people who live up in towers and give out report card grades,” he says. “I feel like we’re on the ground, having a conversation with our readers, which is really cool.”

When Richards prepares to write a review, he follows a process to ensure he maintains a good grasp on the material. “I always want to make sure I listen to a record at least three times before I write something about it,” Richards says. After listening to it for the first time, he restarts the album and writes down any thoughts he has about the music. “Another time I will listen and take notes furiously,” he says. “It’s almost like you’re at an event reporting it.” Once Richards has carefully listened and taken notes, he starts crafting his review, taking time to make sure that it captures the complete picture. “You’re not just saying good [or] bad. You’re not just reporting what happened in a list. You’re trying to create an argument or story to convince people of your experience,” Richards says.

For Jade Tran and Sofia Apollonio,

editors of the University of Maryland’s Diversions section in the student newspaper, writing music reviews is one of their favorite parts of the job because of its authenticity. Tran’s favorite music review she’s written was about Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia. “I got to infuse my natural writing voice and flair and bounce off of the sound of Tyler—and just Tyler’s personality in general—to make the review come alive,” she explains.

Blogging is how Apollonio got into the world of music journalism. “I remember being 11 and dipping my toes into a little bit of Tumblr, the early days of Twitter, and the Notes app,” Apollonio says. “I would write my feelings and thoughts on songs and albums that came out.” That is still an essential part of her process today, her initial thoughts and feelings often making their way into her reviews.

The pair’s advice for trying one’s hand at music writing? Be authentic, knowledgeable, and caring about what you are writing. “A good tip is don’t be afraid to write the way that you want to write,” Tran adds. “Just have fun.”

Reviewing music can take on many forms. Blair Album Club meets weekly to discuss and analyze albums like GNX by Kendrick Lamar and Perverts by Ethel Cain. Blair senior and co-leader of the club Kiran Henry details how they discuss albums during their meetings. “We encourage our participants to listen to the album before coming in, and we do a rundown of who the artist is, their past albums, and then what the message of this album is,” Henry says. The club usually ranks the songs in an album, which encourages discussion among students. “We’ll rank the album’s songs in order of most liked to least liked,” Henry explains. “And a lot of times, we’ll ask people in the crowd, ‘How do you feel about our rankings?’”

ple talking and thinking about music,” she says. “I think any art is better appreciated when you actively process it.”

Social media has made it easy for readers to quickly share their opinions and criticize reviews online. “As soon as you’re on social media and people can come and tell you what they think of your writing immediately, it becomes a lot more unpleasant,”

John Doran, the founder of the British online music and pop culture magazine The Quietus, says.

“I read lots of music criticism that I disagree with, and I love reading it because it either changes my mind, or it helps me better figure out where I stand.”

However, Richards sees disagreement as a tool to help him refine his own perspective. “I read lots of music criticism that I disagree with, and I love reading it because it either changes my mind, or it helps me better figure out where I stand,” Richards says. “Sometimes, you don’t really know what you believe until you see some-

one say something you don’t believe.” He also notes that he has to mentally prepare himself for the backlash that comes with reviewing big names like Taylor Swift or Beyoncé. “I [gave] both of them somewhat tough reviews last year, and you just get ready for the fact that you’re going to get a lot of emails and online comments to the contrary,” Richards says.

Midgette agrees that disagreement can be a good thing. “If you read a review and think, ‘That critic is an idiot,’ but then spend some time articulating why they’re an idiot, that’s good,” she says. “That means you’re thinking about the music.”

Anne Midgette, a classical music critic who wrote for the New York Times and Washington Post, believes that the goal of music reviews is to start a conversation. “A critic’s job is really to start peo-

Despite the growth of the digital age, Richards believes that music reviews are here to stay. “I really believe in music as an expression of community,” Richards explains. “As long as people want music, people are going to want to talk about music, and they’re going to want to read about music and talk about what they read about.” Midgette shares Richards’ optimism for the future of music criticism, and encourages everyone to try their hand at some form of music reviewing. “I think writing and talking about art … is a really healthy and wonderful thing to do,” she says. “Criticism will continue in some form, and I encourage everybody to pursue it.”

ALLARTBYROSALYN

LA MÚSICA latinoamericana que escuchamos hoy en día ha sido creada por una variedad de influencias. La música más popular actual contiene elementos de influencias de grupos indígenas, que tuvieron que mezclarse con los estilos europeos por la colonización. Ademas, la música de las culturas africanas llegó a Latinoamérica a través de la esclavitud de las personas africanas. Especialmente al lado del Caribe y la costa Atlántica de la Américas, la influencia africana en la música latina se puede ver en los tambores, ritmos, y el diálogo rítmico.

Desde los ritmos sincopados hasta los instrumentos de principios de la época colonial, como el banjo y el instrumento de sonajero, los efectos de la música africana en la música latinoamericana se remontan al siglo XVII. Estas influencias han evolucionado a los géneros de música más modernos, como la cumbia y la salsa.

El etnomusicólogo Javier León explica que es difícil identificar las influencias exactas debido a que todas estas personas diferentes se colocan en un entorno colonial “así que tienes una especie de influencias culturales africanas de base amplia, pero no puedes rastrearlas a una canción específica o un ritmo específico o una parte específica de África”.

Sin embargo, la mayor contribución que los africanos esclavizados han hecho a la música latinoamericana es el ritmo del tambor y diálogo musical en las canciones. Debido a que fueron sacados de sus hogares por la fuerza, los africanos continuaron con sus

Ecos ancestrales en la música latina

POR KYARA ROMERO LIMA Y TOM SPARSHOTT

tradiciones anteriores y lo hicieron, entre otras cosas, creando y tocando música.

La profesora de literatura afroamericana de Blair, Michelle Elie, explicó, “Por ejemplo, los tambores, cuando personas en escalvitud fueron traídas al Nuevo Mundo y a países latinoamericanos, las personas esclavizadas mantuvieron los ritmos… y algunos de esos ritmos son lo mismo ahora”.

Debido al acceso limitado que los africanos esclavizados tenían a los instrumentos musicales, usaban muchos objetos cotidianos. Un ejemplo de esto es la cajita, un instrumento afroperuano. Una caja utilizada para recoger donaciones de la iglesia se convirtió en un instrumento de percusión. Angelo Salazar es un artista del sur

“Los

cusiones afroperuanas. La quijada de burro y el cajón son los otros dos instrumentos de percusión principales. El cajón afroperuano y el cajón utilizado para el flamenco no son iguales, ya que el cajón peruano no tiene una cuerda en el interior, a diferencia del cajón flamenco. Gracias a Paco de Lucía, este cajón se introdujo en España mostrando cómo la música africana influye no solo en la música de América Latina, sino también en la música de Europa.

La costa caribeña de Colombia también tuvo una gran influencia en la música latina. La tierra de Colombia de los “mil ritmos” es el lugar de nacimiento no solo de la salsa, sino también de la cumbia. Eduardo Martínez, entrevistado por Acros, dijo

afroperuanos no pudieron tocar pieles porque teníamos el virreinato sucediendo, por lo que había muchas restricciones para los afro peruanos que usaban tambores con pieles, por lo que tuvieron que llegar a cualquier otro recurso.”

de California que forma parte de la banda Latin Soul Salsa y del grupo de Chacombo Afroperuano de música y baile. En una entrevista con Betto Arcos, un periodista musical de Los Ángeles, Salazar dijo que “los afroperuanos no pudieron tocar tambores de piel porque teníamos el virreinato, por lo que había muchas restricciones para los afroperuanos que usaban tambores con pieles, por lo que tuvieron que llegar a cualquier otro recurso”.

La cajita es una de las tres per-

que “en esa región nos dio algo mágico y esa magia se dio en la llegada de africanos, y al mezclarse con las culturas nativas del caribe dio como resultado a todas esas riquezas folklóricas que todo mundo conoce, allí está la magia”.

En el estado de Veracruz en la región del golfo de México, un estilo con influencia más notable es el Jarocho. Aunque es difícil determinar el origen exacto de esos estilos y ritmos, la técnica es obvia en la música. En

MANOOYEE FEDHAA

México, como en Perú, no se usan pieles, se usa tarima, quijada de buró y pandereta. El comienzo de esta rica cultura es San Basilio de Palenque en los Montes de María, el primer “pueblo libre” de las Américas.

Un ejemplo muy conocido de música afromexicana es “La Bamba”, que nos muestra la influencia africana a través de los ritmos e instrumentos utilizados demostrando sus raíces africanas. Esta canción fue cantada por primera vez por los africanos esclavizados traídos a Veracruz por el pueblo MBamba de Angola. El nombre “bamba” se deriva del nombre de una tribu en Angola y el Congo del río Bamba. Este es un ejemplo de son Jarocho, conocido por tener fuertes raíces africanas y es una demostración pura de los ritmos e instrumentos africanos que define la cultura afromexicana.

La colonización de Latinoamérica por países europeos trajo una nueva religión y cultura que intentó reprimir la cultura indígena, incluyendo su música. A pesar de las intenciones de los colonizadores de eliminar la cultura indígena, varios elementos de las culturas indígenas han persistido hasta hoy en día. Elementos de música

son las más responsables por la creación de maracas en Latinoamérica. Por otro lado, una leyenda guineana de África occidental describe la creación de las maracas por una diosa. Hoy en día, las maracas son populares en varias formas de música. Géneros como el jazz, rock y música pop las usan para añadir elementos estilísticos y rítmicos, pero también se usan en la música afrocaribeña y música tradicional. Además, puedes escuchar las maracas en una variedad

musicales de Latinoamérica.

“La familia de instrumentos de la guitarra ha tenido gran influencia en Latinoamérica”, explica el Dr. León, “Puedes ir a casi cualquiera país en Latinoamérica y vas a encontrar variaciones de la guitarra”.

Además de la guitarra, los colonizadores europeos también trajeron varios instrumentos, como el arpa, que ahora está prevalente en varios estilos musicales, y el violín. Los europeos también influenciaron otros

“Por ejemplo, los tambores, cuando personas en escalvitud fueron traídas al Nuevo Mundo y a países latinoamericanos, las personas esclavizadas mantuvieron los ritmos de … y algunos de esos ritmos son lo mismo ahora.”

de canciones de salsa, un género de música latina con influencias de varios estilos caribeños, incluyendo Mambo, Guaracha, y Son Cubano.

Los colonizadores de los países europeos trajeron su propia música y cultura, que se combinó con los estilos indígenas y africanos. Uno de los instrumentos más significativos proveniente de Europa es la guitarra.

aspectos, como la ropa, en Latinoamérica. La pollera panameña, un vestido usado para eventos culturales y folklóricos, tiene sus orígenes en vestidos de la región de Andalucía en España, y ahora es visible en eventos y tradiciones culturales, incluyendo la música y el baile.

Debido a todos estos elementos diferentes que tiene la música

CINDIS HERNÁNDEZ

BY LAILA ANDELMAN AND ZACHARY KARP

theTEEN SCENE

Student bands build community

THE SEA is electric, and Hal Fischer floats on it. Ten hands hoist him high in the air as his white knuckles clutch a lifeline: a microphone connected by cable to the stage behind him where his bandmates play. The audience below echoes his raw screams, each syllable a staccato screech: “Eat! Shop! Live! Die!”

The atmosphere at The Pocket in Washington, D.C., where Fischer’s band Submerge the Oppressor (Submerge) plays, is unparalleled. The 75-capacity venue is sold out, and Submerge sits last in a lineup with three other local bands: GORF, Inbred Coked-Up Hippos, and 504 Plan. Before the stage, an aggressive throng of teenagers moshes and cheers with a similar volume to that of the band itself; some have remained in the pit since the beginning of the show more than two hours ago. Like the bands that precede them, Submerge is a group of high schoolers: a quintet of Walter Johnson seniors playing metalcore in their seventh gig together.

Submerge formed when Fischer and guitarist Nolan LaCount met in an AP English class their junior year. All the band’s members joined with varying levels of experience, including Fischer, who had never done growling hardcore vocals before. After experimenting with different rock styles, Submerge settled into their progressive metalcore sound—though they do not necessarily fit into a

single genre. “We’re pulling from all over the place and not trying to pigeonhole ourselves into one sound, so that’s what is progressive. Part of it is being weird: doing stuff that no genres do other than progressive metalcore, like weird time signatures and weird harmonies,” Fischer says.

Though school limits the amount of time bands can practice, being in a social environment can aid musicians in finding inspiration. When songwriting, Plastic Toys singer Kathleen Werth, who is a Walt Whitman sophomore, feels that a constant influx of social interaction provides her with experience to draw from. “Pretty much all of my songs are about interacting with people, and so just being around people all day is so helpful for me to be able to write anything, to be creative,” Werth says.

This creativity then translates to the studio, where some high school bands like The Frizz and 504 Plan have recorded music and released it on platforms like Spotify. The Frizz released its debut self-titled EP in November 2024.

“It’s such a shock to go through this process and work with actual professionals to perfect our music and our vision in the studio,” the band’s singer Marz Frissell, a Blair sophomore, says.

However, trying to emulate the atmosphere and freedom of a live show in a recording studio can prove to be a challenging task.

“It’s really important [to] trans-

fer that energy you get live into the studio recording so you have something special … it can end up feeling pretty dull and uninspired just because you don’t have 100 people screaming in front of you,” Plastic Toys guitarist and Walt Whitman senior Max Kaya says.

Beyond the bars

BloomBars, a donation-based and community-run venue in D.C., warns on its Instagram page, “NOT a bar that serves alcohol. We serve on the stage.” Located in Columbia Heights, the venue hosted bands Plastic Toys, GORF, and The Frizz on Jan. 18 over the span of several hours. Though the night is not booked full of hardcore groups like at The Pocket, the two shows have one thing in common: they indeed serve.

As concertgoers move and sing along to the music at BloomBars, the feeling of teenage angst is palpable, emanating from both sides of the stage. “It’s so great to have an outlet where everyone in the audience is relatively the same age. We’re all able to connect to each other so well because this is such a weirdly specific moment in our lives: being teenagers,” Werth says.

Kaya has not been a part of the Plastic Toys for long, but through the band, he has already formed strong bonds that have left a lasting impact on his life. “It feels like it, but it hasn’t been a super long time [since I] joined

this scene and [found] the greatest friends I’ve ever met,” he says. “I don’t know how I was a real person before.”

In a small, localized scene like that of the DMV’s teenage bands, the separation between performer and spectator is small. Many of the show’s attendees are musicians and band members themselves, and it is difficult to spot an unfamiliar face in the BloomBars crowd. The community that stems from such an environment is like a close-knit family. “Underneath the surface, it’s one of the most caring, wholesome communities that I’ve ever been a part of,” showgoer and Friends Community School student Rachel Witte says. “Because it may seem like we’re outcasts from a lot of society, we become our own community, and through that, we care for each other.”

Though there is a tight community surrounding the scene, audiences reach beyond the typical indie-music crowd. “Sometimes, kids at your school you’ve never, ever talked to will show face … the sports jocks will show up randomly at the show and have a great time,”

Plastic Toys bassist and Maret junior Caroline Lidy says.

The journey to forming the right band is not always smooth sailing.

Plastic Toys experimented with 15 bassists before finding Lidy, and the members of Submerge had all previously been in other bands.

“[For] all the bands you see on Instagram playing shows, there’s hundreds and hundreds or more that had a few practices or one gig and just faltered,” Submerge bassist and Walter Johnson senior Grady Boisture says.

“Your last band failed? Start another one. Start two, three, six more.”

THE SEA (top left) Students wave their phone flashlights at a student band showcase hosted by Olson.

ELECTRIC GREEN (right) Student band Majuy perpares to perform.

PHOTOS BY DANEEL KUTSENKO

Encore

Plastic Toys is halfway through their set at BloomBars. Werth belts out the lyrics to their original song “Do Then” in the band’s signature indie-soul style: “Four years ‘til I never see you again, and I’ll leave here thinking this might be the end.”

The end of the song is phrased like a question, but in Werth’s mouth it sounds more like a lament for the community she stands to lose the day she moves out for college: “Oh, what would I do then?”

For her peers in Submerge and 504 Plan, the fear is imminent. Both bands are made up entirely of seniors. “The plan is to take it as far as we can until we have to graduate, and then see where we can go from there,” 504 Plan singer and Duke Ellington senior Emmett Justice says. “I wouldn’t say there is a definitive future for 504 Plan.”

The focus of these student bands is not to achieve fame or fortune, but rather to live in the moment and enjoy the community they have helped create.

“Who knows? If we become famous millionaires from this, that’s pretty cool. But if we don’t do anything with it, that’s still pretty cool to tell your kids,” Plastic Toys drummer and Bethesda-Chevy Chase junior Tonito Tijerno says.

But as long as there are teenagers in it, the scene will live on. Justice adds that despite the inevitable departure of bands like his, younger groups like The Frizz—made up of sophomores—will keep the scene’s lifeblood running. “There’s still a whole ‘nother generation of … good musicians who love what they do [with] two more years of growing in high school; that’s two more years of being in music and playing shows,” he says. “There’s more than a vibrant scene that’ll come to be in the next two years.”

As long as the scene lives on, the love that flows through it will not stop. “I love the DMV teenage music scene because the art that comes out of it is incredible … the people inside the scene are some of the most talented and lovely people I’ve ever met,” show promoter and Blair junior Maz Olson says. “When you go to a local show, especially one that’s run by teenagers, it’s impossible to not feel the love that’s connected to it, and how much of a bond there is between the music and the people doing what they love.”

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You and a friend are walking down the street. There is a street performer doing fantastic tricks and your friend and you stay to watch. At the end you can either leave a 5$ tip or a 0$ tip. However, there is a slight catch. If at least one of person tips, nothing happens. But if neither person tips, the performer recognizes you as bad people and every time the performer sees you walking down the street he will embarrass you publicly.

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BLAIR SPRING ATHLETICS

OUR UPCOMING SPRING SCHEDULE: Congratulations to our Winter Teams!!

Boys Basketball (1st in Divisions, 2nd in Region, 11 senior graduates), Girls Basketball (Tied 1st in Divisions and 2nd in Regions, 10 senior graduates), Poms (Placed in all 3 invitations, 3rd in Counties- First time in 6 years), Boys Indoor Track (2025 County Champs 2025 4A West Regional CHamos 2025 4A State Champs, Quentin Braithwaite: 55m School Record, County Champs Record, MCPS Champs Record, 55m Regional Champs, 55m State Champs, 4x200 Quentin, Dejean, Cole, Evan, Jayden: #1 in school history, County Champs, Regional Champs, State Champs), Girls Track (6th in County, highest in school history, Abigail-Faith Mokosso: Long Jump School Record 18'1.25, 4x800 Lucy, Emma, Marcela, Julia, Aurora, Ingrid: County Champs, Regional runner ups, State Champs), Swim & Dive (Boys: Regular season 4-1, 3rd in Division, Regional Champs for 8th consecutive year and Girls: Regular Season undefeated, 1st in Division, 2nd in States, Regional Champs for 6th consecutive year), Wrestling ( 23-7 Record, Jaden Cheung and Daniel Wu broke 100 varsity win mark, Jadean broke school record with 114 wins, 6 individual at counties and 11/22 wrestlers placed), Bocce (1st in Divisional Championship, 3rd in County Championships)

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