Two Gig Harbor teens get a chance to further their music education

For the past five months, Adam Hill has been taking weekly drum lessons at Allstar Guitar, a music store in downtown Gig Harbor. Hill, 15, started playing the drums a year and a half ago and said the instrument was a natural choice, since his two older brothers each play the guitar and the bass.

“I was just sort of drawn to the drums,” Hill said.

But his friend Jake Nelson, 16, tells a different story.

Nelson — who said he comes from a family that values musical talent — had been a musician since he was in third grade, when he first picked up a guitar. He’s been taking guitar lessons at Allstar for four years.

Last year, a friend left his drumset at his Nelson’s house, and for months, the drums sat unused and unplayed. Nelson asked Hill, his friend since second grade, if he’d be interested in picking up a pair of drumsticks.

“I talked him into playing the drums,” Nelson said. “He thanks me.”

Now, both Nelson and Hill have something to be thankful for: The two teenagers were accepted to the competitive Tacoma School of the Arts earlier this month.

SOTA, as the school is known by its students, is a public high school in the Tacoma School District that places an emphasis on visual and performing arts as part of the academic process. Since students are only accepted as sophomores, both Hill and Nelson will complete their freshman years at Peninsula High School in June before transferring to SOTA next fall.

When the teens first heard about SOTA from Dan Wilson, the owner of Allstar Guitar who is also Nelson’s guitar teacher, they were hesitant about transferring to a new school in the middle of their high school careers. But the personal attention at SOTA — there only 150 students at each grade level — and the hour-a-day music class convinced both students to apply.

“From what we hear, or from what I’ve read at least, it seems much different from a normal high school,” Hill said. “It’s more of a hands-on thing. It’s more into the arts and music part of it.”

Hill recently visited the school and said “it seems really chill.” Some classrooms, for example, had couches instead of desks for student seating.

It was the free recording studio and classes on engineering music that clinched it for Nelson. For the past year, he and Hill have been playing in “Monday Mornings,” which they describe as an “alternative acoustic band” modeled after some of their favorite musicians, including grunge outfit Blind Melon and alt-rockers Counting Crows.

They’ve written 11 songs but haven’t had the chance or funds to record them yet, since the duo most recently invested their spare money into buying Hill a new drum kit.

That kind of dedication to music is what it takes to succeed at SOTA, Wilson said.

“The people who are there are people who have signed up, auditioned and gone through the application process to go there,” Wilson said.

Part of what made Hill and Nelson good candidates for the school was the skills they picked up at Allstar Guitar’s music academy. Wilson and his music teachers do more than just train their students to replicate the songs they hear on the radio: They teach classic and jazz techniques, and they emphasize the importance of practice.

“Here, we’re interested in teaching them to be musicians, not just copying someone else,” Wilson said.

Wilson cites Grammy-winning singer-songwriter John Mayer as the kind musician his students can model themselves after. Mayer attended the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Connecticut before making it big, demonstrating that hard work and education can be as useful to music students as natural talent.

“Those people,” Wilson said, “can play classical, jazz — anything they want.”

Hill has been learning more about jazz lately — which he admits “is harder to learn” than rock beats — from his lessons with Tommy Morgan, the drumming instructor at Allstar.

But he said the most important skill he’s picked up is to keep practicing and get past the “bumps and plateaus” that come with learning a new instrument.

Nelson, who started taking piano lessons at Allstar in addition to his guitar lessons, agreed.

“You want to play all of the good songs (when you first start playing),” he said. “But you’re just not good enough yet.”

Both teens plan to continue taking lessons at Allstar while attending SOTA, but they hope attending an arts school full-time will bring them one step closer to their lifelong goal of making a living as musicians.

While both are undecided about college at the moment, they think extending their education might give them a stronger base for a musical career.

“If you start early and get out there,” Nelson said, “the more chance you have.”

Tacoma School of the Arts

The Tacoma School of the Arts (SOTA) was established in 2001 to provide an arts-focused education to its students.

Only 450 students in grades 10-12 attend the school, which has a competitive application process that requires a live audition and letters of recommendation. The school is public and free to students. For more information, visit www.tacoma.k12.wa.us/schools/hs/sota.

Classes at Allstar Guitar

Allstar Guitar and Academy, located at 3226 Harborview Drive in Gig Harbor, offers classes in guitar, bass, banjo, drums, piano, vocals, mandolin, fiddle, violin, oboe, harmonica and horns. Lessons offer one-on-one attention for students, who are taught music theory in addition to learning how to play. Cost is $100 for four weeks. Visit www.allstarstrings.com or call 253-853-5610 for more information.

Reach Lifestyles Coordinator Paige Richmond at 853-9243 or by e-mail at paige.richmond@gateline.com.