Samo's newly-acquired music maestro
By Jadyn Miyahira, Staff Writer
From cultivating a list on the best equipment to use for online orchestra, to mastering Disney film covers on the ukulele, Jim Wang, Samo’s newest orchestra director, has got it up his sleeve.
After Joni Swenson, former orchestra co-director, announced her retirement from Samo during the summer, upon her request, Wang stepped up and is now co-directors with Jason Aiello. Wang transitioned from Lincoln Middle School to Samo in August, amidst a pandemic and distance learning and despite these circumstances, he is not unprepared. Many orchestra students have described him as tech savvy and energetic—a perfect concoction for inspiring music students during distance learning.
Wang described himself as very enthusiastic, mentioning that anyone who is familiar with him knows he’s a music teacher.
“If we go to someone's house and there's an instrument nearby, it's almost a guarantee that I'm going to touch it at some point that evening,” Wang said.
Even before teaching at Lincoln, Wang brought the same charisma he does now to his teaching style. He began his music education career in the Rowland Unified School District where he was a music teacher and strings coach for middle schoolers, and taught a seventh period music class at a high school.
Wang expressed how fortunate he is to be in Santa Monica because he does not want to relive that schedule.
Now partnered with Aiello at Samo, Wang is finding himself in yet another new environment. Despite having switched schools during a global pandemic, he still looks ahead with a positive attitude. Because many of the musicians he is teaching at Samo are his former students, he already has established bonds with many of them and is beloved by them in return.
“One word I’d use to describe Mr. Wang is passionate. Throughout my musical experiences with him in and out of Samo he’s provided such a fresh way of instilling interest and motivation in his students, and one can tell this comes from his dedication to music and how much he enjoys it,” Kaya Ralls (’21) said.
Similarly, Wang has been able to brandish his profound knowledge of technology on his new students, adding broader perspectives to the online orchestra curriculum.
Charlie Snyder (’23) expressed how Wang brought several different approaches to orchestra this year including Bandlab, a collaborative music platform, and how it’s refreshing to learn these techniques as it elevates the quality of her virtual orchestra class.
Despite the screen separating him and his students, Wang feels that his personal teaching philosophy is still penetrating.
“If I treat someone like a professional, however old they are, I know that they know that I expect them to be a professional. So how I talk to middle schoolers is basically the same as high schoolers,” Wang said.
This teaching doctrine, Wang said, has proven to be really helpful during his transition from Lincoln to Samo.
Wang was definitely not expecting March to be the finale of his teaching career at Lincoln and his sudden departure was sad for both him and his students. However, he reported that his students immediately came around—they would lose him for now, but would ultimately have him for four more years. Similarly, his time teaching high schoolers thus far has been an exciting adventure.
“There's a new layer of sophistication and perhaps sarcasm that middle school students didn't quite get. I get to sort of be even more myself now.”
--Jim Wang
In the long run, Wang has a plethora of ideas and plans he would like to infuse into the orchestra program. Perhaps a music production elective to broaden musical perspectives. Maybe next level recording equipment could be installed in Barnum Hall. He even discussed the possibility of Samo establishing a music studio where singer-songwriters or student bands could record.
There are so many things that are still music related that Samo musicians are equipped to do, Wang illustrated. He feels that it is his job to showcase to his students the countless branches of music that exist so that interest in musical professions can grow and a passion for music can expand.