More Than Meets the Eye

by: Mariana Rosales

Teachers and students explain the hardships and triumphs in music

From the outside, Noah Musser, the graphic design teacher and yearbook advisor at EHS, is just an ordinary guy. But he does much more than that. Musser belongs to two bluegrass bands where he sings and plays the banjo.

He began playing stringed instruments in high school and started playing the banjo in 1997. He joined The Prairie Acre band in 2002, and still performs today alongside three other people, including his wife.

“Teaching pays the bills, and I don’t want to spend my life living out of a touring van!” Musser said. “Luckily I can do music as a side-project.”

But he does teach banjo at Americana Music Academy which he said, “combines teaching and music into one fun activity.”

Juggling teaching, being at home, and being in a band, Musser said, “It’s been really hard. We brought our young kids to a lot of shows when they were tiny, but as they have gotten older we realize they are happier to stay at home with grandparents.”

Right now music is just a hobby for him which he said, “means less stress and more fun. If it’s not fun, there’s no reason to spend time on it.”

Musser and his band have traveled all around the Midwest from Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa and Ohio. The band does have one local show soon at Art In the Park in Lawrence.

For more information about The Prairie Acre, visit their website at www.prairieacre.com, and visit the Facebook page for his new upcoming project, The Wheatbenders.

Joe Pickett, a science teacher here at EHS, started in music when he was just nine years old. His first instrument was the mandolin, and in high school he added the guitar, bass and violin. When Pickett was 12, he starred in a bluegrass band with his family.

“I really started getting serious about playing music after college,” he said.

Pickett right now is currently playing in a jazz trio called Pickett, Paull and Jeans,  and also with a Celtic artist named Ashley Davis. He has been working with the jazz trio for four years. and Davis for a little over a year. Pickett plays the mandolin in both bands, and the mandola and octave mandolin with Davis.

“Finding time for family, school and the bands is difficult at times, especially during track season,” said Pickett. “But my family has been very supportive and helpful in allowing me (to) be away from home to practice, teach lessons, and play shows.”

He added that “If I ever had an opportunity to play music full time I probably would, but I would have to be sure that I could earn enough to support my family.”

Pickett plays at weddings, festivals and restaurants, in and around Lawrence as well as teaching lessons. He will start playing festivals with Davis in spring and continue through the fall.

“I’ve had some great experiences performing, but the best part is definitely the lifelong friendships that I have formed through playing music.” he said

To learn more about the upcoming shows Pickett is performing, visit Davis’ Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/daisyrings or http://www.daisyrings.com/Home.html.

by: Billie Jean Peterson

Stephan Ogden is a junior at EHS. He has been rapping for about five years, but just recently posted his first song, “Predictably Unpredictable,” onto a social networking site called SoundCloud. SoundCloud is an online community where artists, musicians and bands can upload their work, collaborate with other artists, and promote their talent.

“It’s an amazing community with many amazing people working to better themselves and appreciate the talents of others,” said Ogden.

For him, creating music is no chore. With a pen, paper, his “good ol’ thinking cap”, Ogden created a song within three to four hours and was ready to upload it to SoundCloud.

Stephan’s writing process – like very other artists, has to be inspired by someone or something.

“I write about struggles, passions, love, hate, religion, etc. I pour my heart and my soul into my music. Every time you hear me spit a line, or read a verse, or whatever; you are listening to a little part of me. And that’s what music is about. It’s about expression,” said Ogden.

Although his first song “Predictably Unpredictable” took only a few hours to write, and one hour to perform, some songs can take up to days, or even weeks to complete.

Ogden was first introduced to rapping by his older brother, who also raps.

“My brother’s influence played a part in me deciding to pick it up,” said Ogden. “He was a rapper too, believe it or not, and a really good one. I don’t think I’ll ever get to his level.”

Although Ogden is passionate about rapping, he does not plan on going into a career that involves music.

“Hip-hop is, in a sense, slowly fading,” commented Ogden. “If you haven’t noticed, rap is underground now. Nobody wants to hear good rap.”

Even though Ogden doesn’t envision music being a huge part of his life later on, it definitely is now.

Junior Legend Coonfield is another student who has a love for making music. Coonfield is part of a band, Hotel Coffee, as lead singer. Hotel Coffee is a band made up of three people – Legend, Tsunami Steve and Luke. Their band plays alternative and rock music, but just like everyone else, they face everyday stereotypes.
“People call us a melodic punk band, but that’s not really true,” he commented. “A lot of people think rock musicians are just selfish and lazy, and that instead of getting real jobs, we’d rather just party all the time. But it’s really not that easy. It takes a lot of time and effort to get anything done.”
Coonfield has been apart of Hotel Coffee for approximately one year. They have played music in several different places, including The JackPot, The Bottleneck, Eagles Lodge, Mr. Luckys, The Replay Lounge, Studio B and Studio C, The Percolator, and even at house parties.
“We also have some gigs worked out to play in the art-tober fest in Kansas City next year,” he added.
Hotel Coffee got their first gig at a music store, Richards Music, that Legend interned at.
“Those guys have helped and supported us so much” says Legend.
As of now, Hotel Coffee has about 17 original songs. “We write songs, and then end up dropping them all the time,” said Coonfield.
His inspiration isn’t hard to find, for him and his band finds it everywhere..
“Most of our songs are just based on my interactions with the people around me, but honestly pretty much everything inspires us. We had a song about Twinkies once, but that got dropped.”
Splitting the money between the three band members is very simple for Hotel Coffee.
“We split the amount of money we receive into fourths, and who ever drove that night gets the extra money for gas,” Coonfield said. “We usually get about two dollars for every person that comes to watch us.”
Coonfield is hoping to pursue a career playing music.
“My ultimate goal in life is to be able to make a living playing the music that I’ve written,” said Coonfield. He believes the first step to doing so is getting out there and playing for anyone that is willing to listen.

Rather than singing or rapping, Nick Katzfey is more behind the scenes, and creates the beats to songs. For him, it is a fun hobby that he doesn’t have to spend a lot when it comes to equipment.
“I just use a simple mini keyboard,” said Katzfey.
Not only does Nick Katzfey use technology to create the music, but he also uses it to find inspiration and come up with new music ideas.
“I realized I wanted to create beats when I was on YouTube one day and found this guy named Fel. I really liked his music and I decided I wanted to be just like him.” says Katzfey. He is also inspired by other rap artists such as Odd Future and Kingicle Mar.
He didn’t always make beats, though. Nick Katzfey started off with creating dubstep, also by using a mini keyboard, before picking up creating beats.
“I have been creating beats for about three months now, and have been making dubstep for about two years. I lean more towards making beats.”
Nick Katzfey also enjoys creating beats because its not a quick project, it’s time consuming, and he gets to work with other local artists, such as Stephan Ogden.
“I had heard that Stephan raps and I listened to his music a few weeks ago. I really liked it,” says Nick. “I really wanted to produce for him. So we just uploaded a song to SoundCloud, where you can upload sounds or clips. He came over one night, he already had the lyrics, I already had the beat, and we were ready to record.”
Katzfey has also recorded with other close friends, and has uploaded four songs to SoundCloud including
vocals, but several with just the beats.
When asked how long creating a single beat takes, he said, “It could take me three hours to three weeks. It takes a quite a while to make them.”
Nick Katzfey is not quite sure if he wants to make music for the rest of his life. All he knows is that he is enjoying the hobby as of now, and that’s all that matters.