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Photos by Asia Morris. PWSOM creator Andy Song working with students at The Edison Theater in downtown.<\/em><\/p>\n Having originated in Hawaii, Pow! Wow! School of Music (PWSOM) creator and Long Beach resident Andy Song brought the residency to Long Beach for the first time in 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now annually housed during the week of Pow! Wow! Long Beach<\/em> at The Edison Theater in downtown, a select group of talented youth and young adults learn to collaborate with each other and work with acclaimed mentors.\u00a0<\/p>\n RELATED<\/small> <\/p>\n \u201cOur focus is to bring in different levels of interaction to Pow! Wow!\u201d Song told the Post<\/em>. \u201cStreet art has different interactive aspects compared to art in a museum. You can see it without making a schedule or paying for it. With music being the most powerful language I know, it\u2019s a useful tool to interact with the community in person. That’s how the idea of school of music came around.\u201d<\/p>\n This year\u2019s two-week intensive residency was introduced to the community when the students performed Sunday at MADE by Millworks during the opening of the Pow! Wow! Long Beach<\/em> pop-up shop. Three more performances will take place this week where fans of both music and visual art can experience the hard work and creative growth of these young musicians.<\/p>\n Song and Long Beach local and regional director Ronnie de Leon, are working to bring the students out of their shells, so to speak.\u00a0<\/p>\n “There\u2019s a skill level, but what they lack in general is being able to work with different people,” Song said about the students’ growth during the program. “Most of the music they make happens in their room in their house with their computer. So we want to bring them out of that box to interact with other musicians.”<\/p>\n Eighteen-year-old Jessica Sayno, who was one of the first students of PWSOM when it started in Hawaii four years ago, auditioned and was accepted to participate as a “socially awkward” 14 year old, she said. She had just started attending public high school, after a rigid and demanding Catholic school education from kindergarten to eighth grade.<\/p>\n PWSOM mentor Jessica Sayno at The Edison Theater.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI was super shy and honestly depressed at 13,\u201d Sayno told the Post<\/em>. \u201cWhen Pow! Wow! School of music came around I was so relieved because even in the Catholic school the music education was so competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n An avid songwriter, Sayno has attended every Long Beach session. For this third local iteration, Sayno is no longer a student, but a mentor to the current musicians-in-training. She says PWSOM offers its students a non-traditional form of education, one that you wouldn\u2019t be able to find in a more academically-geared music learning environment.<\/p>\n \u201cThe mentors teach a lot of \u2018unspoken etiquette,\u2019 as I like to call it,\u201d Sayno said. \u201cThings that you wouldn\u2019t cover in a music school where you learn theory [and technique]. We talk about everything you need to be an independent musician. In the beginning it wasn\u2019t always like that, but that\u2019s what Pow! Wow! School of Music is. It\u2019s casual, laid back, it\u2019s because of that casualness that I think the kids are able to be themselves and grow not only as musicians but as people, too.\u201d<\/p>\n The students will perform three more times during Pow! Wow! Long Beach<\/a><\/em> on Tuesday at the Art Theatre before Jeff Staple\u2019s conversation with artist Adele Renault, Wednesday at the Museum of Latin American Art before the Talk with Tatiana Suarez and likely on Saturday during the Art Battle hosted by Mike Giant.<\/p>\n RELATED<\/small> <\/p>\n
\n\n\u00a0<\/div>\nPOW! WOW! School of Music Connects and Engages Local Musicians, Artists<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n\n\u00a0<\/div>\nUPDATE: Schedule of Events for Pow! Wow! Long Beach Announced<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n