Wish Book: Seven Trees center aims to restore studio and teens’ music outlet

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SAN JOSE — The music is still playing and recording at the Seven Trees Community Center — just a little differently.

The professional-grade mixing equipment that filled a back room for at least a decade is gone.  Alas, it had belonged to another youth services group who has since moved to a different site in the city.

So Kim Ross, a recreation specialist with San Jose’s division of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, and other workers banded together and created a makeshift studio. They want to make sure there continues to be a place for teens who rely on the studio as a refuge from lives affected by homelessness, gang violence, and other challenges, and where safe creative activities are often too far away or too expensive for their families.

“We can’t turn them away. Some of the kids here have it rough,” Ross said. “We’re big on giving kids experiences and access to things they don’t necessarily have.”

Some brought microphones, keyboards and guitars from home, and studio director Sebastian Scheinhart is lending his personal laptop computer, customized for recording, to keep things going, albeit at a reduced level.

“This is just to keep the program up and running,” Ross said. “Ultimately, we want to rebuild the studio.”

Over the summer, as many as 40 teens made use of the studio’s keyboards, recording software, and microphone booth to experiment and develop their music. Now, about 15 teens use the makeshift set up weekly. But its capacity for unlocking potential for young adults remains steady.

Lucy Gonzalez, 15, of San Jose, says she didn’t think of music as anything more serious than recreation until she learned about the studio.

“Playing and singing was more like a hobby and now I feel like, ‘Oh, I can actually do this,’ ” Lucy said. “And it’s free, which helped convince my mom to let me come.”

Lucy, who plays guitar and ukulele, hopes that the studio can be fully rebuilt soon.

“This was something where I would build my skills,” she said. “I don’t just want to go home. There’s nothing to do at home.”

Michaela Collins, 19, of Gilroy, started going to the studio when she was Lucy’s age and living near the community center. She learned about songwriting there and has pursued it ever since.

“The studio is such a big part of my life,” she said. “It shows they really care about the kids here. Coming here makes me feel sane.”

Along those lines, Collins said the studio is an entryway to the assorted youth-oriented and mentoring resources hosted at the community center.

“Seven Trees is not just music, but a big support system. You talk about anything here,” she said. “I’d rather have kids in here sharing their feelings than doing it out there.”

That’s a big reason why Scheinhart, 26, took on the role as studio director. He first began visiting the studio about six years ago, as a San Jose State University freshman, when it was run by his predecessor Ronnie Patania, and in the ensuing time became a local music producer. But earlier this summer, he was drawn back to the community center.

“The studio gave me a direction and kept me on a straight path,” he said. “It’s a blessing to give back to these teens. I want to be the person to show them that side of the business, and show them it’s not that far away.”

Scheinhart said the goal of helping teens grow from amateur recorders to potential songwriters and producers is greatly accelerated by the grade of equipment that was once housed at the community center, and why bringing the studio back up to speed is so vital. Hourly rates for recording-studios can range from $30 to hundreds of dollars, all of which are beyond the reach of the teens who make use of the Seven Trees facility.

“If you have a place to go with someone who knows this equipment, it’s mind-blowing to come in and be around,” he said. “We can really make opportunities.”

Jane Kovac, 20, is also now working at the center, teaching kids songwriting and recording theory, after spending her teen years in the old recording studio. She is now a music student at De Anza College with a focus on music technology and credits the Seven Trees studio with helping her find a calling when she was struggling with her place in life.

“If I didn’t have this, I might not have finished high school. I don’t know what I’d be doing now,” she said. “It’s a really important thing to have a creative outlet. It’s a safe way to express your emotions in an artistic way, and a way for people to tell their stories.”

Rebuilding the studio — for which the center is seeking $30,000 from Wish Book donors — would be a huge boost in continuing that mission, she said. But no matter what, she believes that she and her colleagues will figure how to keep it going given how valuable it has been to her and others like her.

“It’s hard to record if you don’t have equipment. We’re barely getting by,” she said. “But this space is not going to go away, whether we have equipment or not.”

THE WISH BOOK SERIES
The Wish Book is an annual series of The Mercury News that invites readers to help their neighbors.

WISH
Donations will help the Seven Trees Community Center replace music and recording equipment to rebuild the center’s youth music program that serves underprivileged teens. Goal: $30,000

HOW TO GIVE
Donate at wishbook.mercurynews.com or mail in the coupon.

ONLINE EXTRA
Read other Wish Book stories, view photos and video at wishbook.mercurynews.com.