La Salle Secondary School in Kingston is striking new chords of creativity, thanks to a recent grant from the Community Foundation for Kingston & Area that brought vital upgrades to the school’s recording studio. For Andy Hills, who teaches history, law, philosophy, and guitar, the grant has made more than a technical difference: it’s built an environment where students feel encouraged to create, collaborate, and explore.
“I built the formal studio, in 2016,” Andy explains. “We had been holding regular coffee house style performances where students could perform original material. We recorded these performances to have a way of remembering what was done and also a way of learning about our performances. Over time, kids seemed less interested in performing at coffee houses, so I thought I’d build a studio to encourage kids to have access to music studio equipment and another way of refining their musical skills.” We built a studio with some of the equipment in an old storage room. Students were invited to paint the room, and the room is now filled with student art, a drum kit, an organ, keyboards, guitars and amplifiers. “It’s a good space,” he says simply.
Students use the studio for all kinds of projects, from practicing to recording. “There’s one wall that is filled with student signatures who have used the room over the years. Mostly from kids who used it pretty regularly,” Andy shares. “Some would come in and actually record and work on recordings as part of guitar class, others just rehearse and work away at things.” Even if numbers aren’t huge, he notes, “just having it is, students are pretty happy to be in there and they respect the space. Having a space that allows students to access studio technology shows the students that this is something that you could do even if professional recordings aren’t always coming out of it.”
The grant supported key technology upgrades: “The computer I got in 2016 was slowing down all the time, so I bought a Mac Studio computer…It’s an amazing piece of equipment and it should get me at least 10 years of life out of it, which will be great.” The funding also enabled new drum gear, high-end mics, and a new preamp: “it makes it sound more professional. The equipment improves the sound quality we are capable of and it is more user friendly. It sounds nice.” There is also money for time to learn the new equipment and to train students on the equipment.
Andy sees the difference the improved studio makes for his students: “You could feel it with them. They’re happy and they’re trying things out. They’re starting to learn the process and exploring what they can do. It’s a great thing.”
His hope for the future is both simple and optimistic: “I just hope the kids feel the same way here, that they’ve got access to good equipment and can play, and work away on things. It’s…just inspiring to watch.”
