Nearly every piece of popular media created since sound was incorporated into film has employed some sort of music. Whether the audience recognizes it or not, many of the most popular shows and movies prominently feature themes and backing tracks during the most climactic moments. 

Just as music plays a vital background role in media, it also plays a large role within GlenOak High School, specifically in the context of the Music Production Career tech.

Beyond their primary role of playing and performing music for members of the district, Music Production members have been hard at work, attempting to streamline the process and broaden their audiences through livestreams. 

“I think a live stream is kind of a cool middle ground,” Music Production teacher David Thompson said. “It’s online, so it’s super accessible, but it’s also live so it’s got that excitement factor of a concert.”

Members of the career tech have been rehearsing and preparing setlists for these live streams, tenuously hoping to stream them monthly on YouTube starting in 2025.

Beyond livestreams, Music Production students are also involved in many other projects.

“We’re currently working on a collaboration with the Canton Museum of Art and their new exhibit,” Music Production senior Rivers Gayhart said. “The art museum wants to have music/soundscapes created by the Music Production students to complement the pieces in this new exhibit. A major theme of these works is darkness, nocturn, fear and dreams.”

Music production students use artist’s notes and their own general musical knowledge in order to create unique auditory entities to complement the pieces in the museum.

“Some musical elements and instruments work best to convey certain emotions (ie. strings are often used for tender emotions), so it depends on the piece and art style,” Gayhart said.

The Collaboration with the Canton Museum of Art is expected to take place some time in early 2025.

In addition to the livestreams and museum project, a small group of music production students also recently ran the sound during a football game at Tom Benson Stadium on Dec. 6.

“Any in game audio like commercial reads or scoreboard audio came through our soundboard,” Thompson said. “That was a huge audience. … Tens of thousands of football fans heard our music.”

Music Production students, also operating mostly in the background with GlenOak, play a vital role in creating music, something that every student can enjoy for not only the school, but also the community as a whole.