Thomas Detlefsen
Staff Writer
When you think of your favorite artist, how do you think that they got started making music? When they started, they didn’t have access to fancy midi keyboards and mixers, but at New Hope-Solebury, the Music Technology class gives students access to high quality music producing technology. As of this December, Mr. Bachart has assigned a project that brings students to the core of music technology: to write a song. The song is required to be two minutes in length and contain a bridge, chorus and verse with a chord progression and lyrics. Mr. Bachart also has an array of instruments and technologies at the disposal of students to bring their song to life.
Many of the students who have enrolled in the class chose it because of the opportunity it would provide them to express themselves. Roberto Escamilla stated that even though at some times it is difficult to express himself, he still likes the class because it challenges his creative skills. Many students in the class have also struggled with self expression and for most, it is their first time writing lyrics.
Grant Cheung, a guitarist, has taken a different approach to the process. He has chosen to write a song about time passing by and reminiscing about the past, but with a hint of self-awareness because of how common the theme is. He states that “I wrote the lyrics to be very sarcastic, but wanted them to sound believable... Some of the lyrics make no sense, but have a meaning and some just don’t make sense.”
“Sketching a timeline on the drywall, I probably shouldn’t be
Double captured overhead and ethereal imagery
Vinyl strawberries out for some sunshine, something I wish I didn’t see
Pulsars quartered down the hinge wishing it was me”
It is fantastic and fortunate that students at the New-Hope Solebury High School have access to these technologies and opportunities especially when many people around the world do not. Mr. Bachart is challenging students’ creativity and allowing them to express their emotions in a way that not many other classes can and that is what many high school students need.
