Through hard work, student musicians use their talent and dedication to practice, record, and perform while balancing schoolwork and extracurricular activities outside of school.
Senior Lucy Reilly plays bass guitar and the cello in her band called ‘The Scoops’. Reilly is also involved in several activities such as yearbook and work.
Fellow band member of Reilly, sophomore Clare Hassett plays electric guitar for ‘The Scoops’ and balances her activities along with prioritizing the band.
“Water polo and swimming get in the way a lot which is really sad because I love making music and I definitely don’t have the amount of time that I would like to practice and play,” Hassett said.
According to senior Jermaine Blassengale, he started recording music for fun last year with his friend and he has found a passion in making music since. Blassengale’s stage name is CoolKidMaine.
“It’s important because you can express your feelings, you can have fun, you can be sad with it, you can do whatever,” Blassengale said.
Blassengale participates in football as well, but he prioritizes rapping.
“Since I take music so seriously, I’ll get things out of the way like football and homework,” Blassengale said.
Sophomore Tyler Larson uploads covers of songs on YouTube and has released an original song called ‘Someone You Knew.’
Larson finds that having an organized schedule “makes it a lot easier to manage your time.”
Senior Toren Goering is currently working on an album that is centered around personal experiences. Goering started writing music as an “outlet to work out feelings.”
Freshman Sean Manalansan started playing electric guitar two years ago and has performed the Star Spangled Banner at multiple Souderton events. Manalansan participates in marching band and the rock band club at Souderton.
In addition to balancing work, extracurricular activities and school, student musicians have found fun, passion and importance through playing music.
According to Manalansan, “part of my family is basically saved by music.” Making music has played a big role in each musician’s life.
For Goering, music is important to him because it can “share a story” and people can relate to it.
Similar to Goering, Hassett enjoys sharing her musical abilities with others. “It’s a lot of fun and I like sharing it with other people,” Hassett said.
Reilly and Hassett rehearse with ‘The Scoops’ at Catherine’s Studio in Skippack every Wednesday night. The band plays a variety of pop and rock music. Both musicians have had enriching experiences.
“It’s just a nice way to relax and I enjoy playing music and learning new things,” Reilly said. Reilly also enjoys the community aspect and meeting new people while playing in a band.
‘The Scoops’ performed on October 4 at Skippack’s First Friday event.
According to Blassengale, “Music is an art so you can do whatever you want to do with it. As long as you have the right mindset for it, you can do anything.”
Blassengale has performed many times including small shows in New Jersey over the summer.