{"id":25863,"date":"2014-07-08T11:12:46","date_gmt":"2014-07-08T21:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=25863"},"modified":"2021-10-29T11:19:34","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T21:19:34","slug":"music-program-for-high-schoolers-has-ear-for-higher-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2014\/07\/08\/music-program-for-high-schoolers-has-ear-for-higher-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Music program for high schoolers has ear for higher education"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"676\" height=\"380\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8Ke-rP43-gs\" title=\"Youtube video player\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Every summer, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uhwo.hawaii.edu\/\">University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>&#8211;West <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span><\/a> offers a unique opportunity to musically inclined high school students from N&#257;n&#257;kuli, <span aria-label=\"Waianae\">Wai&#699;anae<\/span>, Waipahu, Farrington and <span aria-label=\"Anuenue\">&#699;&#256;nuenue<\/span> High Schools. <\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s called the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uhwo.hawaii.edu\/musicworks\/index.php\/about\/\">Summer Music Works program<\/a> and it&#8217;s a song writing class with an ear for higher education. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We are using music as a way, as a bridge, to college,&rdquo; said <strong>Jon Magnussen<\/strong>, a <abbr>UH<\/abbr> West <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> assistant professor of music. <\/p>\n<p>Over the course of the free, five-week program, each student writes and professionally records their own song. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The first couple of weeks are really about the basics of music theory,&rdquo; said Magnussen. &ldquo;What do they need to know in order to function in a recording studio and in a songwriting environment.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_25877\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25877\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/uhwo-music-workshop-williek.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"217\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25877\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/uhwo-music-workshop-williek.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/uhwo-music-workshop-williek-260x188.jpg 260w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-25877\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Willie K at the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>&#8211;West <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> Summer Music Works program<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The students also participate in a series of talk-story jam sessions with well-known artist mentors, like Willie K. <\/p>\n<p>The mentors play their own songs for the students, jam with the students and listen to the students play. They also describe their professional experiences, answer questions and offer songwriting advice. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I learned that you can&#8217;t just stay inside the box, you&#8217;re going to have to be outside the box in order to progress and express yourself more out in the professional life in music,&rdquo; said student Jeremiah Gionson, who attends <span aria-label=\"Waianae\">Wai&#699;anae<\/span> High School. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The mentors give them a peek into the real world into the music industry,&rdquo; said Magnussen. <\/p>\n<p>The students spend the second half of the program working with <abbr>UH<\/abbr> West <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> music instructors and writing their songs. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They taught me to open up my mind and not worry about outside opinions that is going to affect my personal style of writing,&rdquo; said student Tioata Faamata, who attends <span aria-label=\"Waianae\">Wai&#699;anae<\/span> High School. <\/p>\n<p>The students then record their songs during the last week of the program. <\/p>\n<p>Throughout the five weeks, the students practice college success skills like public speaking, writing and note taking, and they work with student tutors from <abbr>UH<\/abbr> West <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span>&#8217;s <span aria-label=\"Noeau\">No&#699;eau<\/span> Center. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It really has opened my eyes,&rdquo; said Jeremiah Gionson. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It prepares us with college skills,&rdquo; said Faamata. <\/p>\n<p>Near the end of the program, students take a day-long tour of the music programs at other <abbr>UH<\/abbr> campuses like Honolulu Community College&#8217;s Music and Entertainment Learning Experience or MELE program, the Leeward Community College theatre and Â鶹´«Ã½M&#257;noa&#8217;s music department. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It makes it for real for them that, that is their next step,&rdquo; said Magnussen. <\/p>\n<p>The program ends with a <span aria-label=\"hoike\">h&#333;&#699;ike<\/span>, or show, where the students introduce their songs to the public. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/uhwestoahu\/sets\/72157645626481882\/\"><abbr>UH<\/abbr> West <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span>&#8217;s <span aria-label=\"hoike\">h&#333;&#699;ike<\/span> photos on Flickr<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&ldquo;It felt wonderful to see the crowd&#8217;s faces too because they all looked like they understood what I was saying through the song,&rdquo; said student Skye Gionson of <span aria-label=\"Waianae\">Wai&#699;anae<\/span> High School after she performed her song. <\/p>\n<p>Summer Music Works is a collaboration between <abbr>UH<\/abbr> West <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bgch.com\/\">Boys and Girls Club of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>&#8217;s<\/a> <span aria-label=\"Waianae\">Wai&#699;anae<\/span> Clubhouse and was made possible this year through a <a href=\"http:\/\/www2.ed.gov\/programs\/iduestitle3a\/index.html\">U.S. Department of Education<\/a> Title <abbr title=\"three\">III<\/abbr> grant, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/diversity\/dei\/\">University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Student Diversity and Equity Initiative<\/a> and the <abbr>UH<\/abbr> West <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span> Music Fund. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&#8217;d like to thank the creators of this program because it is a good opportunity to all here,&rdquo; said Faamata. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><abbr>UH<\/abbr> West <span aria-label=\"Oahu\">O&#699;ahu<\/span>&#8217;s Summer Music Works program offers a unique opportunity to students from N&#257;n&#257;kuli, <span aria-label=\"Waianae\">Wai&#699;anae<\/span>, Waipahu, Farrington and <span aria-label=\"Anuenue\">&#699;&#256;nuenue<\/span> High Schools. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,12],"tags":[59,56],"class_list":["post-25863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","category-video","tag-uh-west-oahu","tag-video-2","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25863"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150846,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25863\/revisions\/150846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}