'Ville #14 Jun (1) by James Cargill

JunEspinosa

ModernBand

Using the Modern Band Method

Most likely, when you think of a high school music class, you are picturing choirs standing on risers singing in beautiful harmonies, or trumpets, tubas and saxophones marching on a football field playing fight songs. But, what about the music we listen to in our everyday lives? What about instruments such as electric guitar, bass, drum set, and keys? In the modern band program at Rossview High School, I am striving to give students opportunities to explore the music they listen to everyday in a more formal classroom setting. Research suggests that using pop, rock, and commercial styles of music in the music classroom offers a more relaxed setting for students to enjoy making music and can also help to bridge cultural and socioeconomic gaps in the community. In my classroom, I strive to teach more than just music, but to build dedicated, socially aware band members.

In 2021, the program started out as an after school activity where students with all levels and abilities could come to jam and play music of their choosing. From there, it has blossomed into a full program with three, 45 minute classes during the school day. Everyone and anyone is encouraged to join regardless of their musical abilities and level. Students with more musical experience have the opportunity to audition for the advanced group to further their music education and gain more performance experience. In the advanced class, we have been lucky enough to perform at various events such as the downtown Art Walk, Artsville Fest, and venues such as Wicked Good Sandwiches! Our set lists include all genres of music such as pop, rock, funk, latin, and include bands such as Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Santana, The Beatles, Lady Gaga, Metallica and more.

In addition to learning music skills, students also learn how to be a valuable member of a band or community focusing on leadership skills, communication skills, time management, perseverance and dedication to others. Students are offered a place to feel welcomed, valued, and free to share their creativity and emotions through music making and song-writing. They learn various ways to make careers out of music such as music business, music education, song-writing and performing. My dream for this program is to expand this class beyond Rossview High School and make the modern rock band setting a respected form of music education in our community.

To find out more about upcoming performances and events, please follow us on our student lead Instagram!

@rossviewmodernrockband

Some upcoming events include:

February 8th: Performance at The Clarksville Public library, music begins at 3:00

March 1st: Performance at 3rd base, music begins at 1:00

March 27th: Rossview High School Fine Arts Night at Rossview High School

Thank you so much for your support with our modern band program at Rossview High School.

Alyson Massa

Music Teacher

Rossview High

alyson.massa@cmcss.net

Clarksville-Montgomery County School System

StorybyDanniePraetexta

AlthoughJunEspinosaisaCaliforniatransplant,he’sfoundacreative homeinTennessee.Afterleavingthemilitary,wherehebeganto explorehisloveofphotojournalism,hestudiedfilmattheNashville FilmInstitute.Someofthehighlightsofthisworkstillgracehis YouTubechannel,showcasinghisskillinvisualstorytelling.Hisshort film,Brotherhood,inparticularillustratesEspinosa'sskillinleveraging musictosettoneandadvancethestory.Mostrecently,hehashelped producemusicvideosforlocalgroupsWaxheart,CodyParsonandThe HeavyChange,andWaterBuffalo.

Whenaskedabouthisroleinbringingmusicvideostolife,Espinosafirstand foremostgivescredittotheartistswhotrusthimwiththeircreativeideas.Asafilm artist,heclarified:“I'mtryingtohelpanartistberealistic.Filmisnotcheapifyou're tellingmelikeIwantaunicornonthebeachonyourmusicvideoandwe'reouthere inClarksvillethere'sjustnowayit'sgonnahappen.I'mlikeOK*laughs*Iknowhow motivatedweareandwannadothisbut…”.Onthetopicofbalancingrealityandthe pursuitofart,hesharedastoryaboutfindinghimselfattheedgeofacliffduringthe filmingof“Numb”byWaxheart,thatIhighlyrecommendaskingaboutthenexttime you’reoutattheOpenMic

PhotosbyMelanieGarcia

Espinosa is forthcoming and friendly with his ideas in his podcast: Anything and Everything, with co-host Jay Ammo. Inspired by a desire to offer an additional spotlight to the immense local talent pool, so far the show has 20 episodes and has highlighted a variety of local musicians. In their interviews, they’ve covered a lot of ground regarding storytelling in various media, including print media with Mr. James Cargill and photography with Storybook Studios. The QR code at top goes directly to Blinker Light Fluid Productions’ YouTube channel, as an easy way to access some of his best work. Be sure to catch one of his live sets around town and ask him where to get blinker light fluid while you’re at it.

CheyanneParkans-Photography

Jay Ammo recently took the time to sit down with Dannie for ‘Ville magazine to chat a bit about his upcoming appearance on The Voice. The new season premiered February 2nd on NBC and Peacock TV.

Dannie: “How did you hear about the casting call for The Voice and what motivated you to try out, ‘cause that sounds intimidating as Hell to me!”

Jay: “For years I've been playing like cat and mouse with it. A few years ago I tried to sign up for The Voice, but I blew off the virtual audition ‘cause I was already caught up in like working a regular day job. At that time, when I tried out for that and American Idol, everybody had some negative to say “yeah it's not worth it”; “trust me it's too much waiting” and it's just because they didn't [have success].

After I quit my job and started taking it serious, I started to watch videos on [The Voice] and mentally create this training camp in my head. I can't just get on there with nothing, you have to have some sort of background in the music. You have to show your works and effort and document everything that you've done. When I got to that point where I did over 300 shows and wrote a million songs…” laughs

Jay Ammo

Dannie: “Yeah no I've seen your discography on YouTube! You put in the work, so you could show up with receipts.”

Jay, nodding: “Everything, from images interacting with people at your shows and all that stuff. Once I had all of that I was like okay I'm ready now. So I sent in an audition tape but they didn't get back to me at all. [A quiet beat, then:] They didn't get back to me and that was like Spring 2023. Then that summer somebody had texted me on Instagram, like “hey I need to talk to you I'm trying to get you involved with something and I think you're really good so what's your email” So I gave him my email *laughs*

He sent me a picture of The Voice logo and he's like, “This is what you need to do. I can't promise anything but give this a try.” So he gave me all the information I needed and then he was like whenever this comes around again, audition.

After I did, the whole tornado thing happened last year, December 2023. And while I was in the hotel, it was a Sunday in February or something like that, I was sitting in the hotel room sick as ever just trying to figure out what the hell am I supposed to do now, when I got a call from a California number but I was in the bathroom.”

Dannie: *dying of laughter*

Jay, chuckling and shaking his head: “The person sent me a text message and they were like “Hey this is such and such from The Voice, give me a call back as soon as you can,” Then the adrenaline kicked in a little bit like my heart started going crazy. I started to call and I couldn't talk so I called him back again. He picked up, “How are you doing today and “I hope you get better soon and I have some good news for you” and he gave me the news. I was like, “Are you serious?” and he said "Very serious. It's going to be a long wait but hold out for a little bit, constantly check your emails for instructions and stuff like that and we'll be in touch. Congratulations.”

The instructions were like choose three songs that you can sing really well and make a landscape video using it There were some rules like it has to be a cover, pick a nice setting, all that. So I made the videos. I'd f*ck them up probably like 20 times a piece for all three songs and after I was satisfied with them I sent it in to the guy he was like “Alright, thank you. So do you have any b-roll?”

And I was like “What's b-roll? *laughs*

Dannie: “Oh wow! Has it been a big learning curve? I remember you mentioned working on guitar with Colin Isotti.”

Jay: “He did give me a guitar class and some notes to start preparing me. I’ve learned if you're not confident your voice it shows. That's an issue I learned from people like Jun [Espinosa] and Ricky Pro and you, actually– like whenever you guys go up on stage it's not about worrying how I could deliver this is, it’s just delivering it to the best of my ability with the time that I have on stage. I don't want to get off stage and be like I could have done that better. Even if you do mess up, you don’t show at all; it's not an expression on your face.

So I took that with me into this experience. My throat felt like I was eating like bricks. *laughs* It's a great experience, but if you overthink it into something different from what it is, which is something to help you out as an artist and showcase who you are, then that's all that's going to play in your head and it's going to get into your mind. It's a really high stress environment, but fun if you know how to relax I'm a natural overthinker so it was tricky for me because my mind is just a lot. The staff and everything, they make it they make it as enjoyable as ever and you have fun, but the seriousness of how you keep taking your musical talent to the next level and never waver at all because you know, that's the stakes.”

Dannie: “I think it's also reflective of something that I saw you say in one of your Instagram videos too about showing up for your music showing up for your talent the way you want it to show up for you.”

Jay: “Sometimes I put out like stuff like that as a reminder to myself so if I ever stumble across it like whenever I lose sight of everything I go back and look at all the stuff that I've done. Every day I get up and learn a new song or I'm always trying to get a show or do a cover or something like that, just constantly this music all the time. I just want to perform so that's how I do ”

Dannie: “Thank you for letting me ask you about it. I'm so impressed with just the sheer brass balls that I think it would take to do all of that, to say nothing at all of the technical skill, like the editing skill in making the content.

Jay: “Thank you! I appreciate you all covering this, because without you all, none of this happens.”

ThefourthannualARTSVILLEFESTin October2024was‘Ville’sthirdyearof havingourownstageattheevent.Itwas extremelyexcitingandunusuallyhotfor outdoorinOctober,butwe’lltakeit! KickasssoundbyLawtonVierkant

PhotosKimCargill

BritDeweyandtheStruggleBus

JayAmmo

Lowdown

JunEspinosa

BeebsGotSoul

LucianGreene

SavedbytheMusic

CalebLake

JimmyPackes

40 years of Shreddin’

Jimmy Packes Bio

Jimmy is a unique artist with over 40 years in the music industry. He has worked with such artists as Zebra, the Good Rats, Steve Morse, Robin Trower, Blackfoot, Wendy O. Williams, Loudness, Queensryche and producers Nile Rogers and Tom Werman. Don't bother looking for a pigeonhole into which Jimmy Packes will fit. He just lives to rock and he rocks out how he wants. Which means he gets heavy with hard rock and metal, lays out the soulful blues grooves and just keeps it real with honest, straight up rock-and-roll energy. Packes packs a sound that sucker punches you in the gut and leaves you bleeding and begging for more.

Power and Beauty

Why is music such a universally popular force? Packes has an answer for you. “Music is the power and the beauty of life.” Period. It's the epitome of mankind's expression, the manifestation of sapient emotion, the reflection of the human condition, as well as the human spirit. “It encompasses all that was, is and will be,” declares Packes. As such, it deserves to be performed by the gifted, those born to manipulate music. Such a one is Packes, who understands the full spectrum of music's emotional capabilities. “It is love and hate, peace and rage, all wrapped up in one place.”

The Hook

All hail the mighty groove. While Packes puts plenty of punch into the smarts of music, he never loses his focus on the hook. It doesn't matter how thoughtful an artist is, if he or she doesn't master the groove, what's going to keep the audience addicted? It's what lies at the heart of music, and if the hook is there, the song is good and ready to go. “Anything that grooves is good,” declares Packes. And he would know. His music is good. And it grooves. Boy, does it.

The Artist at Work

Jimmy has been courted to play guitar for Ozzy Osbourne, Guns N Roses, Never the Bride, Faith No More, David Lee Roth, 21 Guns and others. Touring has carried him across the country and around the world. The UK press declared him one of the leading instrumental guitarists on the globe following the release of his “Axxe to Grind” album and he was also invited to the Montreaux Jazz Festival. He has been the principal musician and songwriter for an incredibly diverse number of projects including The Box Stompers, Gypsy Road, Cryin’ River Band as well as his many and numerous solo projects. His latest project, 52 in 52, saw him writing. Preforming, recording and producing one song every week for 52 weeks. He currently resides in Clarksville, TN and is spending time teaching guitar, bass, mandolin, ukulele, digital recording, music production, composition at Mary’s Music. You can hear the latest project at soundcloud.com/axxe

“Guitarists at the pinnacle of their craft are few and far between. Let's just say it's been a long time since someone like Packes has come along and there aren't too many like him.”

Chris Layton The Eyes of the Scene

Shortshorts

Apaperplate

Notplayinganote

Butsharingthestage

Capturingmoments

Frozenintime

Everyoneastar

Throughhiseyes

Thereforamoment

Thengoneinaflash

Thismemorychosen

Toeverlast

-IanCargill

Thismagazinecouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutthetireless photographyofChrisLayton.Heletusscourthroughhisphotosissue afterissue.Hewasalwaystheregettingpicturesthatcouldonlybe takenbyaprofessionalinthetrenchesoftherockandrollstage.

Hisloveforthemusicandthesceneareevidentinthethousandsof photostakenatdozensofshows.WithoutChris,thedocumentationof theyearsinthisscenewouldbesomuchless.Heisgoingtobeas missedasanybandthatstoppedplayingoranyvoicethatwentsilent. Chrismadeeveryshowaconcert!Hemadeeventhenewest,greenest musicianfeellikeaRockStar!

ChrisLaytonisatrueartistandtherealheroofthismusicscene.

Withlove,

James

'Villewouldliketoshoutouttoeveryonewhohaswritten, photographedandArtedforusoverthesethreetremendous years:

ChrisLayton

KimCargill

AshleyKettle

BettySammons

JonDuncan

CheyanneParkans

StacyLeiser

CodyParson