Members of United Sound performed their final concert of the school year this past Tuesday, May 21, in the auditorium. 

Many students have helped the United Sound members learn the instrument of their choice throughout the year. Presidents Ayla Shapiro and Pranav Vaddepalli were responsible for directing this program and served as mentors for teaching music. 

“I decided to run for president because I really loved my first year of United Sound, and it was something that I was really passionate about,” Shapiro said. “I had a lot of ideas to grow the program and how to lead it. So, I decided to take charge.” 

Before the spring concert, United Sound students were learning their parts for “(Risk) Everything for a Dream” and “What was I Made For?”, which were both written by the students’ mentors. The groups would work on their own parts separately then come back together near the end of the class to play the two songs.

“We have been practicing our cakes [quarter notes] and soups [half notes], and we have all the mentors write their own part for each musician based on what their music abilities were,” Shapiro said when asked what the group was doing to prepare. “We practiced, all together, and the band was a big part in helping us out, too.” 

Unlike the students who signed up for this class to be a part of their study hall, guitar teacher Patrick Fritz was given this class in his first year teaching at Stone Bridge. Without having an immediate idea on how to run this class, Mr. Fritz had to do some research himself to figure out what the United Sound program is all about. 

“Well, part of it was with being a new teacher,” Mr. Fritz said. “That was one of the jobs that they gave me. As I started to research the program, and I watched a video that last year’s program made, I got to be more excited about it because I just think it’s a wonderful thing to bring music to all the populations that we can possibly reach in our school. Music changes lives.” 

In this program, mentors not only learn what teaching style best suits their students, but they also learn to be patient and how to make sure that no one gets discouraged by congratulating each other.

“I think it better helped me, have an understanding more of the Autistic community, and how much music can affect them,” mentor Sophia Cardona said. “I think it really benefits [the students].”

Everyone in United Sound signed up to be a part of this program because they wanted to either teach music to others or learn a new instrument. The spring concert shows how much work and commitment that United Sound students put into learning a new instrument, and the mentors could not be prouder of all the hard work.

“My favorite part of United Sound is teaching the music,” Cardona said. “I really like having the opportunity to be a mentor to people more interested in learning music.”