New Club at Central

Beats by Central is a new club at Central this year. The club aims to give kids who participate an opportunity to learn about different forms of music, that are now the typical kinds found in school. Club founder Brenden Smith said, “the main reason I started it was because there weren’t any clubs at Central that were for kids interested in music that was contemporary and that’s kind of modern unlike orchestra and jazz and band.” “We’re trying to bridge gaps between different people’s understanding of music.”

The club, which is for students of all grade levels, studies how the today’s modern music is made. “I think a lot of kids who are around the school maybe want to learn how to make a modern pop song. I want kids to come away with an understanding of how music is made here, like, when you hear a song on the radio”, Smith said.

The end goal for the club is to, “expand (the students) own music horizons.” Smith hopes the club, “is a place for students to talk about music, how to make music, sort of like appreciate different genres.” He says that the club helps students who might typically have these sorts of opportunities. “A lot of kids at Central might not have the opportunity to work with instruments.”

Smith said that music is his passion. He got the idea for the club, “from a podcast (he) listened to. It’s called the Music Production Podcast. The guy, he’s actually an English teacher in New York City, started something similar. I was like, you there’s no reason that we couldn’t get something like that started at Central.”

He was able to secure some grants from the Central High School Foundation to purchase instruments, including drums machines and synthesizers. Smith believes that every student at Central should have an extra-circular activity that attracts to them. Smith said, “there’s a lot of kids around the building that aren’t in athletics. They’re not involved yet. They just go home. (The club) just allows them a little bit more community to find some friends and know that teachers aren’t so bad.”