What did you learn from your first week at your internship? Did anything surprise you? Who did you meet and what do they do? Did you engage in any code switching?
During my first week at my internship, I learned how amazing it is to have the opportunity to work in a creative place! I learned, listened, and did so many great things. I was surprised by how laid back the workspace was. It was a place where everyone was comfortable and had the opportunity to express themselves freely. I was also amazed that this is what some very fortunate individuals get to do for a living. I met some great people at Youth on Record. The first person I met was Tyler Breuer. He is a terrific musician and an amazing human being to be working for. He is a funny and down to earth guy. He is the main teacher at Youth on Record and teaches and mentors many of the students they have there. I also met Molina Speaks. He is an incredible musician and a really wise man. His lyrics and vocal skills are truly great. He is a partner artist with Youth on Record and is there a lot of the time helping students and recording. Afterwards, I met Jami Duffy and Andrea Murphy. They are incredibly kind and intelligent people. Jami is the Executive Director at Youth on Record. Andrea is the Operations and Media manager. They fundraise and put together classes and events there. They are currently working on their annual Real Rockstar Awards which honors their most hardworking and creative students. During my first week at Youth on Record I did not engage in any code switching. Everyone I encountered were down-to-earth musicians who had similar interests as I did. I thought that I fit in well without any code switching. I am very excited for what I will learn during my internship at Youth on Record.
What was the best thing that happened this week at your internship? How did it make you feel?
So many great things have happened during my second week interning at Youth on Record. I met new people, I learned new things, completed more tasks, made new music, and saw great sights. This week, Youth on Record hosted their annual Real Rockstar Awards where they honor their five hardest working and most creative students with a huge party. I got to help set it up and watch the show. I got to meet with the students that were being awarded and got to make music with one of them. The party was amazing; there was great music, emotional speeches, and money donated to keep Youth on Record alive. I got to meet with more of the partner artists that I’ll be working with, some founders of YOR, and even the drummer from The Fray. I even got to play on his drum kit which is absolutely amazing. The day afterwards I got to jam with one of the students, who was awarded the previous night, named Diego Florez. He is a great musician and a kind and lively person who is fun to be around. I also spent a lot of time making music with a man named David. He didn’t tell me his last name, so for now, he’ll just be David. We spent about an hour switching off playing drums and guitar. Spending time with so many creative and talented individuals made me truly happy. I have already learned so much and had many great new experiences. I am very happy with how my work with Youth on Record is going and am looking forward to what I will be doing in the future.
How do your actions affect your workplace? Do you contribute positively? How do your co-workers actions affect your internship?
First off, let me just say, being involved at such an amazing place is truly a blessing. I have had so much fun working at Youth on Record and meeting so many amazing people. Now, on to the seriousness. My actions affect my workplace incredibly positively. The staff there is not huge so I help take some of the jobs off of their plates. About a month or so before I joined, a staff member of their’s left so there was extra work to be done. I put in over 14 hours this week and even got paid for some extra hours I did. I helped set up for events, cleaned up around the space, worked on some computers, and other tasks that made Youth on Record work more efficiently. I believe that I am a positive contribution to the workspace. I help make sure everything is running smoothly and, sometimes, do tasks that no one else really wants to do but still has to be done. My co-workers work very hard. Mace, Reuben, and I worked until 10:00 PM on Friday helping set-up, run, and take-down the event. We all worked incredibly hard on Friday to make sure everything ran smoothly. The people at Youth on Record, including myself, all work together to make an efficient, fun, and creative workspace.
What are you responsible for at your workplace? What do you think is your main contribution to your work site?
My responsibilities week to week are relatively similar but somehow wildly different. This week I was able to help teach a student at Youth on Record how to play guitar. He had been listening to music for a while but wanted to learn how to play an instrument. I was able to spend about thirty minutes with him, teaching him how to play guitar. It really brought me back to when I was first learning to play guitar. How simple chord structures that used to tie up my fingers and rack my brain, now fly through my hands with ease. I was able to teach him a simple E minor blues chord progression. When he was able to get it down you could see how happy it made him. That was definitely a highlight of this week. I also have many other fun responsibilities. I get to make music with other creative individuals, work on improving computers in the workplace, setting up for creative events and many other things. I definitely get to help out with a variety of important jobs. This week was a relatively slow week, but I did do one more fun contribution. I help set up for an event that was being held for about forty people, all from different countries, that fight to make a change in their communities. Many of them are involved in programs to help give people more rights, and help give them access to a better life. They were learning about Youth on Record and their mission. It was really amazing to meet so many people from different countries. So, my responsibilities are usually pretty similar week to week but in the fact that they are so different from each other. I love working at Youth on Record and helping out in the creative world.
How do you feel like your internship is going so far? Are you forming good relationships with your co-workers? What can you do to improve your experience?
I love my internship with Youth on Record. I have a lot of amazing opportunities and have a lot of fun tasks to work on. In the near future, the band Twenty One Pilots is coming in to Youth on Record to record a song. I will get to be there through out the processes and see how the music industry works. I believe that I have a strong relationship with all of my coworkers. I am lucky to have such incredibly funny, talented, and honest coworkers that I get to spend time with on a daily basis. I am able to talk freely with them and share musical ideas. We have fun talking, working and creating music together through out the week. We are able to work events with each other and also make music together. Playing with other musicians is one of my favorite things, and the fact that I get to do it at work with other talented musicians makes me incredibly happy. I think I could improve these relationships by spending more time during when it is busiest at Youth on Record. I am there usually towards the end of the workday so my time with coworkers is limited to a few hours every day. Other than that I think my relationships with my coworkers and my internship over all are going extremely well.
How is your internship project going? Describe the progress of your project. How did the conversation about your project go with your sponsor? Did they have good insights into how to improve or expand the project? How does your project bridge what you do at your internship and what you like to create for yourself? Has your relationship with your sponsor evolved as you have engaged in a creative dialogue about your project? Are there any challenges you are experiencing planning or doing your project?
My internship inspired project is turning out incredibly. Although that was definitely not modest, I’m very happy with how it is turning out. For my project, I’m composing a song that I feel encapsulates my experience at Youth on Record and playing it in the many different styles of music I have worked on while there. The song will go from hip-hop, to rock, to alternative, and many other styles. I’m almost complete with the actual composition for my project but I have yet to record. This will be a fun project because I get to perform, compose, and record my music in many different genres. My sponsor, Tyler, was very supportive of my idea for the project. He said I could use the studio to record and perform in. We haven’t discussed how we can expand or improve the project yet, but we will in the near future. This project brings the different styles of music I have worked on in this new environment, with my love of performing, recording, and composing. The only problem I’m having is making sure it reflects my experience with Youth on Record and making it fit into the different styles of music I’ve worked on. I’m very excited, and a bit nervous, for how it will turn out. After a little more than two months of my internship at Youth on Record, I’m happy to see that I’m still having fun, creating, and learning from my internship. I’m excited to see how my project showcases my experience as an intern.
How do people at work treat you? How does it make you feel? If you have in intern one day will you treat them the same?
Another great week of work has passed at Youth on Record. All my coworkers are incredibly nice and honest with me. The students there are just the same. Everyone has an honest, kind hearted, down to earth attitude. It makes me feel like I am accepted and appreciated at work. The attitude of my coworkers and the students at Youth on Record is very conductive to a productive workplace. It helps build trust, which is great when sharing art with others. Art is a very personal thing, which can make it hard to share with one another, but when you are surrounded by open-minded and accepting people it makes it easier. If I have an intern some time in the future I would treat them exactly the same. My boss has been nothing but great to me through out this whole experience. He is always understanding, fun, and productive. He is beyond nice to me and has given me many opportunities already. He know that some of the tasks I have to work on can be boring, tedious, and stressful, and helps me deal with that by giving me the opportunity to play music. If I could treat my future intern half as well as he treats me, then I would be happy. All of my interactions with my coworkers and the students of Youth on Record have been nothing short of incredible and I hope I will be able to experience another work environment like this.
What is the difference between working on personal art projects and working in a creative business? What have you learned about working in a creative business?
Working on a personal art project has its differences to working in a creative business. While both are fun you have more flexibility when working on a personal art project. The insight and advice you receive while working in a creative business are priceless. While working in a creative business you don’t have full control over the project you are working on, but you still get to work creatively. While working alone on a personal art project you get to make every decision from start to completion but then you don’t get others ideas. I have learned that even though you are working in a creative business there are still many aspects of the job that don’t require creativity. Creative people still have to clean, take out the trash, and be organized. That is the less fun part of the creative business but there are many positives as well. You get to meet a lot of other great artists and sometimes work with them, which is a great experience. I have also learned that working in a creative business is the best kind of business you can work for. You get to do work that other wouldn’t even consider work. You get to create music, work on fun projects, and make art for others to enjoy. All in all, I believe a creative business is the best place a person could work in.
What have you seen or experienced in your internship that has inspired you the most on your own artistic journey? Has this experience changed your artistic ambitions? How?
Recently, I did a recording session with friend and fellow intern Marley Aiu. We tracked for about seven hours and it was incredibly fun. It made me absolutely positive that this what I want to do for a career. It inspired me to do my absolute best when I record. I often record my own music in the privacy of my own home so it can become easy to not work as hard on your own projects because most likely, you’ll be the only person listening to the songs. But when it’s another person’s song and you have great equipment, there are no excuses for not getting a good sounding product. This experience made me want to learn everything I can about recording, music production, and audio engineering. I want to be the best I can possibly be at whatever it is I am doing. The songs we worked on are available on the project page of my website. This hasn’t changed my ambitions; it just made me positive that I am on the right track to get to where I need to be to fulfill my artistic dreams. It was a great real world experience that will help me move forward as an artist.
Has this experience been a rewarding one for you? Why or Why not? How has the reality of your internship matched or contrasted with your expectations? What is the most important learning you did during your internship?
Being an intern at Youth on Record has been an incredibly rewarding experience for me. I got to explore so many different jobs in the music industry. I got to DJ, produce music, perform, teach instruments, repair instruments, and so many more jobs. I really got to go in depth and learn a lot about music production while I was interning. I’ve always wanted to learn more in this area and my internship gave me an amazing chance to do so. The studio and musicians at Youth on Record gave me a lot of information on recording, engineering, and producing. This internship far surpassed my expectations. I thought there was going to be a lot more “intern work” then there actually was. The work I did felt meaningful and not like busy work. I could not have been lined up with a better place to intern. The most important thing I learned is that music makes a lot of strong friendships. I have met so many great people during my time as an intern, and although it has only been four months, the people at Youth on Record made me feel welcome and part of their family. Now as my internship wraps up I’ve come out of it with a lot of very strong friendships. Even though my internship is officially over, I will still be working with Youth on Record and all the great people there. I want to thank everyone who has been apart of this experience as it has been truly incredible.