I got to know The People’s Music School through a friend from my college. I was talking to her about internships and she introduced TPMS to me and told me that it would be a great experience for me. So I checked out the website and I was shocked by the idea of this school – They teach music for free! When I was a kid, I always wanted to study music and it was too expensive for my family, so I had to struggle and learn by myself which was so not effective at all. But now a place like TPMS actually exists! Full of excitement, I emailed Natalie Butler to apply for an internship position.
I still remember the first day I went to TPMS for my interview, I was literally shocked the whole time. They had so many practice rooms, different instruments, a stage for students, and so much more! If this was available when I was a kid, it would’ve been heaven for me. A couple of days after I got interviewed by three very lovely people – David, Lilly and Natalie, I was informed that I passed my interview and I got to work for Back of the Yards Camp and Uptown Academy for this summer.
At Back of the Yards Camp, it was such a pleasure to work with all the young students. I got to talk and bond with them during breakfast and lunch time, got to know each other, helped them out with music theories and played basketball together everyday. I remember one day I was feeling tired and thinking about calling camp off for the day, but with all the images of those young students making jokes with me, I got myself up onto the subway.
At the Uptown Academy, I got my hands on so many different kinds of projects such as learning and working with a new database software, making sheet music with Sibelius, managing files and documents, and I even got to help with repainting one of the offices! One of the most memorable projects that I have to mention was designing and painting a mural in the library with artist Mario Gonzalez Jr.and all the young students. We started with just a boring gray wall and turned it into a real piece of art! It was still in progress by the time I finished my internship, and I’m so excited to go back and see the finished piece!
One more thing that I had to mention was the experience of working with all the lovely staff members and interns. Everyone here was so friendly and helpful, they made the working environment so fun and positive, and I never felt stressed even when projects piled up.
This summer has been such a great memory that I will always look back to. Thanks TPMS 🙂