In a school full of quiet halls and rooms, there is one room that is lively and rather the opposite of quiet.
Guitar Club is one of the extracurriculars offered at Athens Drive Magnet High School. It first started in the fall of 2023. The club is led by Andrew Roberts, who is also a Science Olympiad sponsor and math teacher at Athens Drive. The club meets every Friday in room 2710 during SMART lunch.
¨I always loved playing guitar and wished I had started earlier, so I decided to start a club to help people learn to play guitar and encourage those who already play guitar,¨ said Roberts.
Roberts says that although many people develop a passion for music and the guitar at a young age, it is never too late to start.
The club hosts jam sessions, where members practice guitar strumming to a variety of old and recent music. In addition, guitar lessons are incorporated through mutual learning. While the class averages around 10-20 people, it can get deafening and sometimes overwhelming, but that does not stop members from learning new things.
¨I wanted to find people to make an alternative rock or jazz band with,¨ said Isaac Burkes, freshman.
Burke aspires to connect with others in the club who share his interests in music. He has found some students who look promising for his new band, but Burkes continues to search for the right people. Genre doesn’t pay much mind when making music with Burkes, allowing the music to flow and unfold naturally.
The environment in the club is filled with various sounds, which enhance the atmosphere in the school hallways. Students connect through their shared music taste, learning and playing guitar together to the songs they love. Music creates community, bringing people together in many ways. According to Greater Good Magazine, ¨Listening to music and singing together has been shown in several studies to impact neuro-chemicals in the brain directly…In addition, the performance of music resulted in greater positive emotion, suggesting one pathway through which people feel closer to one another when playing music together is through endorphin release.¨
Even just being around music can lead to increased happiness with yourself and others, fostering positive experiences and emotions. It also offers individuals a sense of belonging to other cultures or backgrounds. Music expression is a vast thing, allowing people to convey their feelings that may not be expressed in words.
¨I wanted a chance and opportunity to teach other people to play guitar.¨ said Eli Schram, sophomore.
In the guitar club, members, like Schram and Burkes, are determined to give back to the community and share their knowledge and skills. Learning the four basic chords is a staple for quickly learning songs and teaching students how to tune the guitar, identify its parts and perform regular care of the instrument. Students learn the chords D, C, G and Em, adding to the basic skills needed. By using these techniques, members remain motivated and apply what they have learned to play new songs.
“Guitar takes lots of practice and can be very frustrating, but with persistence, you can really build a skill that will benefit you for the rest of your life,” said Roberts.
