The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

That New Sound: Daisy Asuega and Jessica Whittemore concentrate on hitting the right notes in the recording studio.

Young musicians sing out-in their own words

Schallenberger music students will record a CD of songs they wrote

By Christine M. Lias

Thom Duell's third-, fourth- and fifth-grade classes have more than Beanie Babies on their minds. On April 8, 360 of Duell's music students from Schallenberger Elementary School will go into a recording studio to record 10 student-written songs.

The endeavor began last year when Duell took over the music classes at Schallenberger. A professional musician and songwriter, Duell said he thought it would be a waste of time to teach the children to sing "silly little songs," as he puts it.

"So I told the kids, 'OK, this is what I do. You guys want a taste of writing songs?' It just kind of happened," he said.

This year's fourth- and fifth-graders wrote the songs last year, and they're accompanied this year by the new third-graders. Last year's fifth-graders have graduated and unfortunately won't be hitting the studio, Duell said.

Duell began the song-writing process by drawing a C-major scale on the blackboard. The students learned each note with an accompanying number. With Duell's help, the kids found musical sounds that they liked and arranged them in a coherent manner.

"I would pick out various chords and play them against each other. I'd ask the kids what they liked. Everything was a vote," Duell said.

With the aid of professional synthesizers and musical samplers in his home, Duell began to experiment on his own with what his students had toyed with at school. "Every sound imaginable was on these tracks. They were all incredible tunes," Duell said.

One hundred hours of work later, he had something to show. "I wanted them to be blown away," he said.

They were. And his students continued in their musical creation by writing song lyrics to go with Duell's polished recordings.

Darla Crane, a good friend of Duell's, said she was impressed with the level of creativity from the students: "It's just amazing what these kids did."

Still, with song titles like "Ice Cream" and "Mansions," the listener is reminded that elementary students did write the lyrics.

In June, Duell's music classes performed their songs for parents at an end-of-the-year concert. That's when Principal Carol Garcia took an interest in the project.

With the help of the Home and School Club and Garcia's backing, the financial means to create a recording surfaced. Garcia said she provided roughly $2,000 to pay for recording time and transportation.

"I felt this was real important for the students," Garcia said. "What an experience! Children remember experiences. Plus, with a CD, they could say, 'See what I did when I was in elementary school.' "

Next week, school buses will cart the children off to Soundtek, a studio in Campbell where the likes of Sammy Hagar once recorded. One thousand copies of the CD will be produced, released in early May and sold for $10 at Schallenberger. Duell wants none of the profit--he is donating it toward beautifying the school.

"My son goes to Schallenberger," Duell said. "I want the school to take the money and fix up the bathroom or paint the cafeteria. I want everyone to benefit from this."

The school is currently having a contest to design the album's cover and choose a title. Results were set to be unveiled at the school's open house April 7.

"The words are so good. The music is so happening," Duell said. "This is a case of starting something and finishing it."

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