How Kye Laden has used music to learn real world skills

By: Allison Burke

Date: 10/13/23

Kye Laden performing at the Field School 2022 Winter Arts showcase        Photo Credits: Field School Flickr

Have you Ever been having a bad day and then one song comes on that turns your whole day around? Kye Laden has.. For him, music has helped build connections with unlikely friends through a mutual love..   “I like similar genres of music to those around me like my teachers growing up and my uncle. I was able to bond with them over it, and I’m my uncle’s favorite because of it.” Kye grew up around music– his uncle was a guitarist and many of his early teachers were musicians. This early exposure was what piqued his interest in music and playing instruments he found “really cool”.

But why is music so important? A study done by Frontiers in Psychology in 2017 found that pathways our brains used for music are the same pathways used for spatial reasoning. This has been reflected in studies where people who listened to music and then solved a puzzle were faster than those who didn’t, showing how listening to music while doing a task helps people focus on whatever they’re doing to get it done more efficiently. 

Standing to the right of the main stage, Kye stops to close his eyes and take some deep calming breaths. “2 minutes until go time” says a fellow bandmate walking by to grab their drum sticks. Broken from his daze, Kye wipes his hand once more on the now slightly discolored spots on his jeans. With that he walks out on stage Bass in hand, signature curly poof atop his head, and newfound confidence in his stride.  

Music has also been found to affect dopamine release. The findings of the Frontiers in Psychology study is reflected in the exuberant personality and relationships Kye holds with the people in his life. Walking in the hallways you’d think Kye was a celebrity with the amount of “Hi!” and “What’s up?”’ he gets as he walks to class. Kyes mood is always one of delight and up-beatness no matter what is going on or where he is. Always cracking jokes or fist bumping his friends in passing.  When a friend of Kye, Cj Hanauer was asked to describe Kye as a friend he states “Kye is a very talented musician and he’s also a really kind and caring person”.

The benefits of music aren’t limited to just the passive act of listening. There are numerous benefits of playing instruments and creating music. The act of playing an instrument engages the entire brain, developing better cognitive function. Penn University Medicine conducted a study in 2017 with ordinary people having no piano playing experience. In the study they found after six months of playing the piano their memory, verbal fluency, information processing, and other cognitive functions had increased compared to those who hadn’t. When asked how he sees these skills reflected in his own life, Kye brushes it off in humble fashion saying “Supposedly my hand eye coordination is better but I’m still bad at sports so I don’t think it’s doing much for that.” .

When not rocking the meeting house at school, Kye spends time at The School of Rock in Silver spring –  “a passionate community dedicated to enriching the lives through performance-based music education.”. For Kye, this started as one-on-one lessons once a week. Every week Kye and 18 other musicians are assigned a song to learn by Friday inorder to perform it at a venue on Saturday. “Collaborating in a group environment at then performing has seriously impacted my confidence” These skills could not be more important to an aspiring artist like Kye.

Kye (left stage) playing in one of the group lesson performances

Jammie Moffett, bass instructor at the School of Rock has been a role model and mentor to Kye for as long as he has been attending. Kye explains how “When I started at School of Rock I would keep my amp at half the volume than anybody else in the class. This really annoyed him because he used to do it too and did it in experiences when he felt uncomfortable so he understood me, but he helped me work through that”. When Kye got that push from someone he looked up to, it helped build his confidence on stage and off, which he states he could not be more grateful for. 

Being a part of the School of Rock group collective has allowed Kye to make connections with other musicians and build his confidence– even so far as being a part of a band. Kye explains, “Performing on stage because of that instrument(the bass) has made me less shy and more open, more confident, and I connected with a lot of musicians through that(playing) and so I’ve built friendships”. 

Although being in this band wasn’t one of the best experiences, it did teach Kye how to deal with conflict–another important life skill learned from his musical experience. He recalls– the sounds of people milling around the damp and muggy venue travels through the stage curtains as they wait for the next performance. It was the first performance for Kye and his new band mates. While Kye had performed in front of crowds before this was different, with people he had just met and music that he found not so enjoyable. His nerves were through the roof, his pants now had sweat stains in them from the amount of times he had wiped them off. His normally calm demeanor is transformed into a nervous shaky mess. 

The show kicked off without a hitch, things were going great, the amps were set to the perfect level, mics were at the right height, and the crowd was permeating with excited energy. Then all good things must come to an end. Half way through the set the lead singer just stops mid song. The instruments mellow out as everyone looks around for what’s going on. “Did the mic die?” thinks Kye, but now the lead singer just picks up with a plastic water bottle off the ground, the crinkle of the water bottle sounds throughout the venue. The bright colorful stage lights shine down on as he tries to piece together what’s happening. Finally the drummer walks up to ask what’s happening. That’s when the lead singer says “oh nothing i was just thirsty.” Standing there looking around him trying to understand the absurdity of what just happened, Kye realized this band isn’t gonna be all sunshine and rainbows. Although being a part of the band was a subpar experience, Kye did end up learning some value, life skills about how to deal with conflict. 

Music is vital to everyday life– from the simple act of  listening to one song to the dream of performing on stage for thousands of people. Some lucky few are able to do both. There are many developmental advantages to playing an instrument, but music means so much more for Kye. For him it is a way to “access other peoples experiences, like if you want to learn about a culture, you can just listen to their music and you have a look into their culture.”. For Kye, music is a way of sharing experiences and making connections with unlikely people.