As a lifelong dancer and actor, Lydia Stoye believes in the transformative power of the arts and is drawn to the unique energy of creative communities.

A seasoned student affairs professional, Lydia brings nearly two decades of experience to her new role as the Assistant Head of School for Student Life. She is deeply committed to fostering inclusive communities where students feel seen, supported, and empowered to thrive.

Before joining 蜜桃直播, Lydia served as Upper School Dean of Students at Dana Hall School in Massachusetts. Lydia led initiatives to enhance student engagement, implement restorative practices, and restructure residential life programs. Her previous roles include Director of Community Life at Cushing Academy and Assistant Dean of Students at Interlochen Arts Academy, where she successfully blended strategic leadership with a hands-on approach to supporting student growth and well-being.

Lydia holds a Master of Education in Higher Education Administration from Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Grand Valley State University. She is a certified trainer with the International Institute for Restorative Practices and has presented at the annual conferences for the Small Boarding Schools Association and The Association of Boarding Schools.

Her work is grounded in creating spaces where students can take risks, lead with authenticity, and contribute meaningfully to the world around them. Outside of her professional life, she enjoys recreational volleyball, dance, and spending time with her family.

蜜桃直播 is excited to welcome Lydia and her family to the 蜜桃直播 community in July!

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Director of Art in Society

The mountains surrounding 蜜桃直播 have attracted creatives for over a century, and human civilization has sought the clear water, open skies, and coolness from the desert for thousands of years. There is a spirit that beckons us, and natural beauty that sparks the imagination. We find health, renewal, and space to work on artistic development that requires both inward and outward learning.

The villages of Idyllwild, Fern Valley, Mountain Center and Pine Cove share a commitment to the safety and welfare of all of their inhabitants, including support of the 蜜桃直播 campus. This coexistence and mutual appreciation for the arts, artists,
intellectuals, and entrepreneurs, surrounds the school with a support system uniquely adapted to its environs.

While students have the opportunity to explore the world outside within the safety of the mountain communities, they also have access to the protected forests on and off campus, that serve as a retreat and source of renewal for mind, body and spirit. 蜜桃直播 embodies the coming together of these essential resources that grow the creative artist inside and out.

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Director of Health Services

I knew that 蜜桃直播 was special from the first moment I arrived here in August of 2019. At the time, I was just a mom bringing one of my own aspiring artist children to campus to begin his journey as an 蜜桃直播 dancer. After parent meetings and unpacking a carload of belongings into his dorm room, I stopped at the Health Center out of mere curiosity. With 20 years of nursing experience, many of them with teens and in community and school health, I was curious about what the campus health center offered for students. I was welcomed and offered a brief tour, and I loved the warmth it offered students. Then I went back home to Texas, leaving my 15-year-old here to grow as a dancer and as a person without me by his side.

I could not get the school out of my mind. I wanted my son to have every opportunity as a boarding student here on his own, but I couldn鈥檛 stop thinking about what it would be like to work at 蜜桃直播. By November, I had applied for a position. My daughter would also be attending the following year, and my husband and I wanted me to be closer to our kids in California. COVID hit and delayed my initial start date by several months, but by Arrival Day in the fall of 2020, I was here with both my children.

From that first Arrival Day, and every arrival day since, it stood out to me that students were so happy to return to this place after being away. It amazed and impressed me that any teenager was that excited to return to school after a vacation or break, but it was true. Students could not wait to get back to the mountain. The joy and energy with which they greeted each other (and the staff) was palpable and remains a testament to the uniqueness of this place for me.

This is now my fourth school year working in the Health Center at 蜜桃直播 and my daughter is getting ready to graduate, two years after her brother. As a parent, I can attest to the ongoing benefits for my children in attending the healthiest, most nurturing, and well-balanced dance program I have ever seen, combined with academics that challenged them to think differently and creatively. They flourished and grew while living in dorms, learning how to share space with roommates, do their laundry, advocate for themselves, manage their time, and develop diverse friendships with students from around the globe. They developed identities and friendships of their own choices and began learning who they are and what they stand for, an 蜜桃直播 motto.

I plan to continue my work here as Health Center Director after my daughter graduates in May. I love what I do, even on the hard days. The Health Center team is incredible, and I truly love my job. My colleagues, at every level, and in every department, are inspirational and the work we do here is important. 蜜桃直播 has the best students in the world. I am proud to be a part of their lives for even a short time during their journey. I hope they grow up to remember the Health Center here not only as a place to go when they are ill or injured but also as a place where they were radically loved and accepted.

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Humanities Chair

When I ask myself, Why Idyllwild? two phrases come to mind. First, 鈥淩emember who you are and what you stand for,鈥� the words we chant as a community at the close of each week; and second, this invocation in our school song, written by Meredith Wilson: 鈥渕ake us worthy of this land thou hast chosen to bless.鈥� To me, Idyllwild, and the worthiness to live and work here, are synonymous with service to creative spirit and service to the community鈥攐ur tiny community and that of the world. Artists hold a crucial role in the making and remaking of human culture, in expressing the value and purpose of the human mind in uncertain times and in an uncertain universe. In Idyllwild, the mountain keeps us grounded, reminds us to approach art and life with wisdom, compassion, and intention.

Who am I? I鈥檝e known I wanted to be a teacher since the third grade, and I knew I wanted to teach at 蜜桃直播 probably about an hour into my first class here as a high school junior. An Idyllwild native, I was fortunate to grow up on the mountain because my artist parents decided the city was no place to raise kids, and this campus quickly became a second home. From my first 鈥渁ll-school meeting鈥� during ISOMATA鈥檚 summer camp to the hours I spent watching my dad plant trees along Apela drive and install the first computers on campus, I could feel the magic of this place and knew that important things happened here. When I joined the Creative Writing Department, after two years of public high school, I felt for the first time that I had found my people鈥攁 community that would support me in becoming fully myself鈥攁nd I knew I wanted to continue co-creating this space for other young artists.

What do I stand for, then? First and foremost, my students. Though I may occasionally call myself a writer or a bookmaker, the young people with whom I exchange daily knowledge and laughter, in my attempts to impart some useful skills for their futures, are my greatest works of art and the greatest acts of service I can give to the world. I am most fully myself when I see them thrive, and the eternal drive we share to make ourselves worthy inhabitants of the land, as we aim to become worthy stewards of humanity, is the most hope I have that a more just and beautiful world is possible.

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Mathematics and Science Chair

I have taught students science at eleven different institutions over thirty-three years, with the last twenty-two at private high schools, the last sixteen at boarding schools, and the last six at 蜜桃直播. IAA is a place like no other.

What distinguishes the students of Idyllwild is their passion for creation. They are not the bored or jaded students I have had elsewhere, young people who would struggle to identify anything in their lives that they care about deeply. Idyllwild students recognize the amazing opportunities they have, and want to be here, despite the equally amazing work loads. Many of them found the school themselves and then had to sell their parents on the idea. Few of the eighty-some students I have each year are considering a career in science, and fewer still will become biologists, but all of them know that they need to pass my class to remain here – and being at the school, with the chance to make their art surrounded by supportive peers and inspirational mentors, is sufficient motivation for them to pass my class. On their worst day, they recognize the necessity of completing Biology to remain in the place they love. At their best, they are incredibly eager and enthusiastic for what they are learning in my class. They are simply easier to teach, and more grateful for what they learn, than any other high school students I have taught. Nowhere else have I had so many students spontaneously thank me at the end of each class.

For me personally, living in a forest on a mountaintop is idyllic. It does my soul good to see the rabbits and quail every day, the deer and bobcat and coyotes on occasion. Having trained as a field biologist in the world鈥檚 largest wetlands, I thought that I would have to give up living in such close contact with nature when I left research for teaching. My first high school job entailed a 90-minute commute, each way, through a crowded and smoggy city. In Idyllwild I walk to my class in seven minutes, and along the way I breathe the pine-scented air and know that the abundant lichen is proof of its lack of pollution. I hear the rush of Strawberry Creek on my way to my classroom in the morning and the calls of the frogs and owls on my way home at night. I sample the occasional manzanita berry along the trail when I need a tart pick-me-up. Walking in the fog, I hear the collected dew pattering off the leaves overhead. The crunch of the snow in winter and the bearableness of the summer heat when the desert floor below is baking. The amber or rose afternoon glow on the white San Jacinto peaks above the school. Now, there are certainly plenty of students who find this place to be an unbearable wilderness in the middle of nowhere, but at the very least those who have never experienced nature before will come to know this about themselves and others will discover only after they leave how much they miss it.

I鈥檝e been at schools where the students had to stand up when a teacher entered the room, schools with uniforms, schools where part of my job was telling young people to tuck in their shirts or take off their hats indoors, schools where students were required to address me as 鈥淒r. Wackford鈥�. Here they call me 鈥淜irt鈥� and they are told to explore their dreams and to remember who they are. My days are marked by kindness, and by the concerns of a community of artists. When illness strikes, dorm parents offer to cover one another鈥檚 shifts and students bring back food from the dining hall for their friends. Prefects keep track of their podlings, and let dorm parents know when something seems off. Students can cry alone in their rooms, but if they cry outside they are soon joined by others, sitting silently in sympathy or murmuring soothing words. Students collaborate – filming each other鈥檚 dance performances, directing each other鈥檚 plays, attending each other’s recitals, and, when necessary, sitting in the awesome responsibility of deciding each other’s judicials. This isn鈥檛 paradise; there is no panacea for the indiscretions of youth, the pain of adolescence, or the scourge of social media. But if we can鈥檛 make a community of caring here, in an enclave of artists, where can we? And if we are making a community of compassion here, among such a diverse population and across all the bounds of nationality, religion, and gender expression, where can鈥檛 we? This, for me, is why Idyllwild.

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Paul studied East Asian languages at Columbia University, then went on to study Fine Art in Rome before moving to Wilmington, North Carolina for a writing MFA program. In his second year, he was encouraged to apply to the prestigious Iowa Writers鈥� Workshop. He was accepted, and the opportunity to develop his craft alongside some of the best writers in the world left him feeling accomplished and ready to start his writing career when he graduated in 2016.

A summer retreat in Wyoming and a fellowship in Santa Fe helped him begin his debut novel, 鈥淏indi,鈥� which was published by Little, Brown and Company in 2018. Paul鈥檚 passion for teaching high school-aged students began later that year, when he started working with disadvantaged and depressed youth using yoga-based mindfulness practices. He went on to work with a research program at UCSF, which uses MRI technology to measure the changes in the brain before and after these 12-week mindfulness courses.

When he was chosen for a Writer-in-Residence position at 蜜桃直播 last year, Paul鈥檚 many interests converged. He was already familiar with the institution through family connections; his stepmother attended the 蜜桃直播 Program for Theatre 55 years ago. In his new role, Paul is eager to bring more mindfulness to 蜜桃直播, claiming that 鈥渨riting is a cousin to meditation.鈥� His teaching philosophy centers around helping students make sense of a challenging and chaotic world by developing healthy relationships鈥揵oth with others, and with their own inner thoughts.

From a practical point of view, Paul aims to make our young writers into better readers. 鈥淲e practice close reading. We sit together and read stories. An important course I teach is Literature and the Writer, in which students learn to apply their own experiences and to expand their horizons by writing about more than themselves. I give them tools and space.鈥� He thinks that creating plot and character comes back to being meditative. 鈥淢y characters lead me. If I try to project myself onto them, I know I will have problems.鈥�

With 鈥淭he Writer鈥檚 Life鈥� series, launched this semester, Paul aims to bring another tangible benefit to 蜜桃直播鈥檚 writing students. This ongoing series of masterclasses and readings from guest artists will give students the opportunity to learn from renowned professional writers in the industry. Guest writers so far have included , , , and , and next week will feature (with a public reading on Friday, April 7th at 7:00pm, also available by livestream ).

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It is with deep sadness that I share with you that Carolyn Lowman passed away in Coronado, CA, on January 6, 2023.

Carolyn is known and cherished by the entire 蜜桃直播 community and everyone who had the privilege of knowing her. When IA was founded, Carolyn played several key roles, including Dean of Students and founder of IA’s library. Her most impactful role might have been in the classroom as an ESL instructor. Her former students are quick to share that her high standard and care for them as students and English learners played a key role in the successful lives they now lead as professional artists and business professionals who work and serve around the world. Carolyn’s full obituary can be found .

Carolyn is survived by her husband Bill (founder of 蜜桃直播), her son Nate and wife-to-be Rachel, grandson Wallace, and sister Mary Soule. In lieu of a memorial service, Carolyn’s ashes will be distributed to friends and family across the country for mini celebrations of her life. 蜜桃直播 will celebrate Carolyn’s life at its annual Founders Day on June 24, 2023. Bill has generously invited people to make donations in Carolyn’s memory to the 蜜桃直播 Foundation, P.O. Box 38, Idyllwild CA, 92349.

Our thoughts are with Bill, Nate, their entire family, and everyone who loved and cherished Carolyn Marie Soule Lowman.

With condolences,

Pamela

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It is with great sadness that we share the news that Ray Nelms McKelvain passed away on Tuesday, December 13, at his home in Yucca Valley, CA.

Nelms, as he was affectionately known, was a deeply loved and valued colleague who taught at 蜜桃直播 for decades. He joined the music department in 1989 and was appointed Music Department Chair in 1990. He was appointed Dean of the Arts in 1992, a role in which he served for 17 years. Nelms returned to the Music Department full-time in 2007 where he continued to teach a generation of young pianists who went on to attend some of the most competitive conservatories and universities and now concertize around the world.

We are not aware of funeral services for Nelms at this time. We will share more information as it is made available to us.

We will hold a memorial for Nelms in the spring to recognize his contribution to 蜜桃直播 and the students whose lives and careers were deeply impacted by his knowledge, talent, and care for them.

We offer our condolences to Howard Shangraw, Nelms鈥� partner of 38 years, his entire family, and the host of students and colleagues who mourn his passing.

With sympathy,

Pamela Jordan
President
蜜桃直播 Foundation

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Violist Kai Potts Smith has joined 蜜桃直播 as the new Music Chair, coming to us from the Maryland/DC area. Her daughter Maya and Maya鈥檚 father Aidan aren鈥檛 far behind with their two rescue dogs. Transitioning to her new role in Idyllwild hasn鈥檛 been too much of a culture shock for the Los Angeles and Las Vegas native, who studied at USC after Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. 鈥淐alifornia is my heart home,鈥� she says.

Kai first came up our mountain in 2010 as an Academy orchestra 鈥榬inger,鈥� and, fortunately for us, has since accepted every invitation to come back. A professional musician from the age of 15, Kai has played with countless orchestras in the USA and overseas, played on hundreds of movie/TV/recording studio projects, was Principal Viola for Santa Barbara Symphony and the Hollywood Bowl, and played with Celine Dion for six years.听 Fascinatingly, Kai is also a vibrational sound healer and yoga teacher who loves Harry Potter and throwing dinner parties. Her far-reaching talents will be evident during the Music Department Showcase performance coming up on Sunday, October 23 at 2:00pm in William M. Lowman Concert Hall, which will provide the opportunity for some of the music department鈥檚 brightest young artists to shine! The Showcase will feature students from across all of the music department鈥檚 programs, from classical and jazz to songwriting, and finish with a command performance from one of our competition winners, Rentso Stavrev.

As Music Chair, Kai aims to bring the community together with a goal of finding simplicity and encouraging each student鈥檚 unique interpretations of their art form. 鈥淚 hope to inspire everyone here to really connect to the larger arts scene, and even be on the cutting edge of contemporary performance. Tradition lives through the lens of what is possible in the now.鈥�

Kai will not be alone in this quest within her department; she will be supported in her mission by our new Director of Orchestras, Daniel 鈥楧an鈥� Bassin. 鈥淐ollective creation is a wellspring of joy,鈥� says Dan, whose duties also include serving as a Dorm Parent. Accordingly, he plans to cultivate this healthy cultural and creative 鈥渨ellspring of joy鈥� both on and off the podium. Dan is certain that interacting with students outside of the orchestra and the music department 鈥渨ill inform all of my other work here.鈥�

Like Kai, Dan embraced music early in life. A noted trumpet player and composer, Dan played his first professional trumpet gig at age 12. This was the same year he started assisting his father, a Chef, in food prep and catering, a line of work he used to support himself throughout college. Dan has his PhD in Composition from The University of Buffalo, NY, and before that spent five years conducting Youth Orchestras, touring over 35 countries. Dan describes himself as 鈥淭rumpet player, composer, conductor, improviser, and music educator.鈥� He also strives to be a champion of diversity; Dan鈥檚 first IAA Orchestra Concert, to be held on October 22nd at 7:30pm in William M. Lowman Concert Hall, will feature the first performance in Southern California of the 1932 orchestral tone poem Ethiopia’s Shadow in America by Florence Price, an underappreciated African American classical composer. In the 2017 Buffalo Festival of Women in Music, Dan conducted Price鈥檚 3rd Symphony鈥攖he work鈥檚 New York premiere, after 77 years!

Also joining the Music Department as new songwriting faculty are husband and wife musicians Josh Hogan and Katie Earl, both from the band The Mowgli鈥檚. After a very successful stint as 蜜桃直播 蜜桃直播 Program faculty this past summer, Josh and Katie agreed to stay on and will bring their perspectives as popular and experienced working musicians to benefit our Academy students. Their own unique incorporation of 鈥淐ultivating Connection, Community, and Joy鈥� in their teaching styles will be on display during the first student Songwriting Concert of the year on Thursday, October 20 at 7:30pm in Stephens Recital Hall. 鈥淲e had ten years to learn our craft, now we have somewhere to invest it,鈥� they affirm. 鈥淭ouring taught us about teenagers. We connect to them. Let鈥檚 find the artist in each student. You will be unique if you can be authentic. Young people are so eager.鈥�

We too are eager鈥攅ager to get to know our amazing new music faculty here at 蜜桃直播, eager to see and hear their work, and eager for everyone in our community to experience their musical cultivation of connection, community, and joy in our classrooms and concert halls.

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Catalina Alcaraz-Guzman says filmmaking is about 鈥渃reating worlds that did not exist before and making dreams come true.鈥� As the new Chair of 蜜桃直播鈥檚 Film & Digital Media Department, Alcaraz-Guzman has some dreams for her department that she wants to make come true.听

She credits outgoing Chair Shelly Short, who is leaving 蜜桃直播, with acquiring much of the state-of-the-art equipment and establishing an environment that enables Academy Film students to create works that are technically stunning. But while Short has bequeathed a superb department to her successor, Alcaraz-Guzman is determined to raise it to a higher level.听听听

Of course, 蜜桃直播 offers certain benefits for which no department Chair can take credit. Alcaraz-Guzman mentions Athena Stuebe, a 2022 Academy graduate, from New York, now headed for the University of Southern California to continue her formation as a filmmaker. Stuebe told Alcaraz-Guzman that one thing she鈥檒l miss about 蜜桃直播 is the freedom to 鈥渟it quietly by the creek, imagining my next film.鈥�

Yet the secluded mountain campus of 蜜桃直播 sits only two hours from the film capital of the world, Hollywood.听

鈥淲ith COVID winding down,鈥� Alcaraz-Guzman says, 鈥渨e鈥檙e going to take full advantage of how close we are to so many industry professionals. The mentoring of young filmmakers is very important to people in the movie industry. They get to do that when they drive up here to teach master classes, but they also get to enjoy the natural beauty that Athena and our other students love so much.鈥�

Challenging a Myth

It will be important to the new Chair to introduce her students to professionals in every creative and technical facet of filmmaking.

鈥淢ost directors depend on the professionals they work with in cinematography, sound, lighting, set design, and so on, to make creative contributions. Directors have authority to reject or accept those ideas, but they don鈥檛 come up with all the elements themselves. In the 蜜桃直播 Film Department we want our students to understand and experience the different opportunities for creativity in filmmaking.鈥澨�

Alcaraz-Guzman has taught at the Academy for three years. She comes from Medell铆n, Colombia, but she did her higher education in the United States, at Castleton State College (now Castleton University), in Vermont, and at Savannah College of Art and Design, in Georgia. In the film industry she has worked at a job that most movie-goers will never even have heard of: 鈥�creative producer.鈥澨�

鈥淣ew faculty hires, plus master classes with industry professionals, will enable us to cover all those specialties. One possibility we鈥檙e looking at is to offer students the chance to come here for one year to earn certificates in the various specialties. Also, we want to implement a badge system to honor students who gain expertise in certain areas. In any case, you鈥檙e going to see more and more of the kind of outstanding work that you鈥檝e already seen from students like Bella Bastos and Lulu Chiang, and more opportunities for our students to showcase their work around the world.鈥澨�

Both young women graduated in May. During their senior year Bastos screened one of her films in Times Square, at the All American High School Film Festival, where Chiang showed two different films.听

Bella Bastos comes from S茫o Paulo and Lulu Chiang from Taipei. The Film Department also enrolls a large number of students from Eastern Europe, as well as many other countries from around the world . The diverse makeup of her department reminds Alcaraz-Guzman of another important contribution that she has made to the 蜜桃直播 community, chairing the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Collaborative of students, faculty, staff, and alumni, during the past year.听 听

鈥淎lthough Hollywood remains the film capital of the world, there are tremendous filmmaking industries around the world. Russia has a wonderful tradition of filmmaking, and so do many other countries. So, increasingly, our department will teach global filmmaking.鈥澨�

But Alcaraz-Guzman has not finished dreaming 鈥� or working.听听

鈥淚f the imaginative future of cinema lies in global awareness, the technical future is in virtual filmmaking. 蜜桃直播 will be right there!鈥�

Clearly, the 蜜桃直播 Film & Digital Media Department has an exciting future. Just as clearly, Catalina Alcaraz-Guzman will be a visionary leader of her department.

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He is explaining his decision to accept an offer to become Chair of 蜜桃直播鈥檚 Fashion Design Department. The decision requires an explanation. As notes, without exaggeration, he had found himself suddenly 鈥�the newest member of fashion鈥檚 鈥榠n鈥� crowd as the winner of season 16 of Lifetime鈥檚 Emmy-nominated series Project Runway.鈥� As endray, the put it, his designs, which 鈥渁re often streamlined, understated, and neutral yet display sudden bursts of outlandish whimsy,鈥� would 鈥渢ake New York Fashion Week by storm.鈥�听听

His decision to teach at a high school 鈥� even one as extraordinary as 蜜桃直播 鈥� would not have been anticipated by other members of fashion鈥檚 鈥榠n鈥� crowd. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 all right,鈥� he laughs. 鈥淚鈥檓 not interested in the idea that people have about a fashion designer鈥檚 cool lifestyle. I want to inspire young people, like my teachers inspired me. You know, I hold several degrees and certificates, so I鈥檝e had the good luck to be inspired by many teachers!鈥�

He has earned a teaching certificate in his native Japan, and the demonstration class that he taught as part of the Academy鈥檚 job interview process, in April, was superb. Apparently, he did not disappoint the Fashion Design student who, according to an observing 蜜桃直播 faculty member, was so moved to see that Kameyama would be her teacher for the day that she wept.听听听听听

Yet, astonishingly, his diplomas and certificates from four different American universities are in music and in piano performance. He began playing piano at age three but he did not take up fashion design until he was already in his mid-thirties. This, too, requires explanation.听听

鈥淚t鈥檚 true that in fashion design I鈥檓 almost entirely self-taught. But I鈥檝e been a fashionista since I was quite young. I was always fashion-conscious, and people would notice how I dressed. Then one day, not even ten years ago, I suddenly asked myself what it would be like to die, knowing that I had never tried fashion design. I didn鈥檛 like the answer!鈥�

Musical Inspiration

Kameyama had not expected to win Project Runway.听

鈥淎ll of the other contestants had more experience, so I could only design what came to me spontaneously. It鈥檚 difficult to explain, but classical music is somehow the basis of my designs. My fashion shows follow the structures of classical music.鈥�

He told the Palm Springs Life writer that classical music 鈥渉as dynamics but also 鈥榩eaceful ocean鈥欌�� and added that 鈥�Sometimes the music might slow down to welcome the biggest moment, like with pianissimo.鈥�听

His activity as a composer points to the depth of his musical inspiration. He has written a musical about the legendary fashion designer Alexander McQueen and another about the monster of ancient Greek myth, Medusa. Currently, he is writing a tragic opera based on a centuries-old Japanese tale of a princess who falls in love with a monk.

He is excited to come to 蜜桃直播, in part, because the Academy offers him the chance to collaborate with its outstanding Music and Dance Departments. The existence of a department devoted to interdisciplinary arts underscores 蜜桃直播鈥檚 commitment to an interdisciplinary arts and academic academic education.

Fashion鈥檚 Next Generation

Kameyama鈥檚 enthusiasm for 蜜桃直播 is also rooted in his knowledge that he can inspire so many young fashion hopefuls. For example, Pin-Hsuan Chen, from Taiwan, who prefers to be called 鈥淩ebecca鈥� in the United States, won a handful of Gold and Silver Keys in Fashion and Jewelry Making in the 2022 competition. Rebecca is a graduating senior, headed this fall to Parsons School of Design at The New School, on a scholarship. Her achievements exemplify the outstanding talent that Kameyama will be able to work with at 蜜桃直播.听

Rebecca鈥檚 final major project was directing last month鈥檚 Spring Fashion Show, La m茅moire (鈥渕emory鈥�). She explains that directing is 鈥渕ostly about communication鈥� with the designers and models. She decided the order of presentation of the pieces in collaboration with Fashion Design teacher Minnie Walters. She also chose the venue, the set design, and, in collaboration with fellow student Aaron Kim, the music. Calling this a major project is an understatement, since Rebecca worked with about twenty designers. Including the models, she worked with a total of some fifty-five students.听听听

She designs primarily, though not exclusively, for women. She favors elegance and practicality and she strives to express a strong, independent femininity. She loves the work of Alexander McQueen, Iris van Herpen, and Robert Wun.

Enjoy these images of the show to be persuaded that at 蜜桃直播, Kentaro Kameyama will undoubtedly inspire the next generation of McQueens, van Herpens, and Wuns.听

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蜜桃直播 teacher Michael Quick is discussing the Music Department鈥檚 new offering of a Music Technology concentration. As it happens, he is speaking on Zoom, whose technology was crucial to the teaching of music during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, when many Academy students could not leave their own countries to travel to Southern California.听听听听

鈥淭he bar has been lowered to use music technology,鈥� Quick explains. 鈥滺istorically, the technology was expensive and complicated. Originally, only dudes in lab coats operated the equipment. But every year it gets more affordable, approachable, and portable. Buy a MacBook and you鈥檝e already got GarageBand. Anyone wanting a music career can learn some music technology skills. And, honestly, anyone like that should learn some of those skills.鈥澨�

He pauses. He realizes that the imperative needs justification.听

鈥淢usic technology isn鈥檛 just for people like Braden鈥� 鈥� his fellow teacher, Braden Diotte 鈥� 鈥渨ho compose and record electronic music. Say you鈥檙e a cellist, and a composer wants you for a new piece. Studio time is expensive and maybe the composer can鈥檛 afford it. But if you can record what the composer needs in your apartment, you have a huge advantage over musicians who don鈥檛 know how to do that. Never mind that maybe you live in Colorado and the composer鈥檚 in New York or Berlin!鈥溙�

He continues.听听听

鈥淎nyway, as our music faculty observed the growing trend of interest in music technology, we talked for a number of years about introducing a Music Technology concentration. This year it finally happened, in part because of Liam Creamer鈥檚 interest.鈥�

Poster Child

Quick goes on to describe Liam, a twelfth-grade Songwriting major whose home is now near La Paz, in southern Baja, as the 鈥減oster child鈥� for the Music Technology concentration.听

During the 2021-22 school year, Music Technology has had a handful of other students that Quick and Diotte are confident will produce outstanding work. However, Liam鈥檚 Senior Recital work, presented in April, has already underscored Quick鈥檚 point about the affordable, approachable, and portable nature of the new technology. With a grant from Arts Enterprise Laboratory (AEL), the Academy program that is unique among American high schools, he bought a state-of-the-art device, not much bigger than a cell phone, that converts sound signals into light.

鈥淚鈥檓 so grateful to Braden for locating it,鈥� Liam says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a piece of equipment that鈥檚 not easy to find. The price was only a few hundred dollars, and it uses the lights that are available at whatever venue you鈥檙e performing at. Think about how expensive it would be to acquire my own lighting equipment, and think how much work it would be to haul that equipment around. But this thing is easy to take on the road.鈥�

The small but mighty device that he bought with his AEL grant delivered the extra kick of a spectacular light show to his April performances, fortifying his original Indie rock and Indie folk compositions that are powerful on their own terms.听

Liam graduates on May 27 after two years at 蜜桃直播. In the fall he will take his fluency in piano, drums, guitar, and bass to The City College of New York. He will also take to CCNY his gratitude for the mentoring by Diotte and Quick.听

鈥淏raden and Michael are fantastic. I can鈥檛 say enough about what Braden鈥檚 done for me, and as for Michael. . . his influence has been profound. He鈥檚 taught me how to hear more intricately, and he鈥檚 helped take my maturity as a musician to the next level. And his professionalism has rubbed off, so now I have a much greater appreciation for how doing the little things 鈥� stuff like keeping your files organized 鈥� adds up to something big.鈥�

Playing to the Strengths

Doing the little things right is vital to Quick and Diotte as they teach their Music Technology students to do the work formerly performed by 鈥渄udes in lab coats.鈥� As one would expect, music technology is, well. . . highly technical. The titles of some of the Music Technology courses listed in the Academy鈥檚 current Curriculum Guide indicate this: Recording Technology I and II, Electronic Sound I and II, Introduction to Electronic Music Production.听

Technical knowledge demands specialization, and Quick and Diotte have different specialties.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of overlap in what we鈥檙e able to teach,鈥� Quick says. 鈥淏ut, basically, Braden鈥檚 strength lies more in the performing side of music technology and my strength lies more in the recording side. We鈥檝e designed the program in a way that plays to our strengths.鈥�听听

As Liam Creamer and the other 蜜桃直播 students learning from the Music Technology concentration are proving, the program designed by Quick and Diotte also plays to the strengths of these young musicians.

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