The musician/producer and I.M. Terrell Academy for STEM & VPA senior’s life has oscillated between passion-driven pursuits and studious efforts to master instruments and music theory. The fruit of these effort is a record new label, Villainous Verse Records. 

Peoples’ formal musical training began at age six with private piano lessons. At ten, he began teaching himself pop tunes on piano before picking up guitar in his early teens. His passion for music increased when he realized he could rearrange songs or develop his own tunes.  

“I was jotting down lyrics, riffs, and trying to get bands together,” he recalled. “We had a trio. We performed at this theater show during an intermission. That was my first self-made performance.” 

While many young musicians are content to enjoy the pleasures of covering popular tunes, Peoples deconstructed tunes to learn the underlying structures that tied various genres of songs together. 

photo credit: Miriam Wamsley

“I saw how song structure worked and how chords can complement melodies. I told myself, ‘I think I can do that.’ Eventually, I ran into alternative rock music. I saw how they were pouring their emotions out in their songs… I thought I could do that.” 

As Peoples started his freshman year at I.M. Terrell, he became fully engulfed in music-making and improvisation.  

“It started by recognizing simple patterns,” he said. “There were certain chord progressions that I noticed lots of songs were using. I started taking notes. They will change the verse, chorus, and pre-chorus… [but] a lot of the structures were the same. Pop music is like a puzzle. You can take out and put in different pieces. I’d do these improvisations, taking some chords from a song and playing them in my left hand while improvising melodies in my right hand.” 

In January, Peoples launched Villainous Verse Records, the North Texas-based label that produces rock, hip-hop, and alternative forms of music. As the venture’s producer, Peoples auditions prospective songwriters, mixes and edits songs, and promotes sales of the final recordings. He didn’t realize how extensive his theoretical knowledge of music was until he started working with other musicians in a professional capacity. When musicians experience writer’s block, Peoples uses his knowledge of chord structures and melodies to nudge the creative process forward. 

The label now represents several artists across the country. Two albums have been released under Villainous Verse Records as well as “a lot of singles,” Peoples said. 

Peoples completed GRAMMY Camp, a five-day summer music industry program for high school students who plan to pursue a career in music, over the summer. Faculty and industry professionals lead workshops and masterclasses with the small percentage of applicants who are accepted into the prestigious program. During our interview, which took place right before the camp started, Peoples said he was excited about the opportunity to network with like-minded teens. The young producer said he plans to enroll in a music business program in college. 

When asked which educator Peoples singled out as guiding him toward his current music career path, People said that credit “200%” belongs to Timothy Brendler, director of music theory and piano at I.M. Terrell. 

“That man is amazing,” Peoples said. “Freshman year was a bit of a struggle getting back into classical repertoire before I appreciated it. I remember he would hassle me to practice. I appreciate that because the final outcome of that year was pieces that I never thought I could play. Props to Brendler for not only pushing me that hard but letting me mess with the school’s equipment. I would stay hours after school just working on random songs with him. Honestly, no one expected that of him. I don’t think I would be where I am now” without him. 

As a young but accomplished musician, songwriter, and producer, Peoples has this advice for aspiring musicians. 

“If you’re an aspiring artist looking to get into music, but it isn’t quite clicking, evaluate your balance on the technical side of music versus the creative,” he said. “You can’t have one without the other.”  

The post Advice from a Young Record Producer first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.

In 2016, my father took me to see a historical landmark in downtown Fort Worth: I.M. Terrell High School, the city’s first African American high school. The school is not only a landmark of segregated education in our city, it is where my grandfather, Dr. Ambrose Adams Sr., taught. Little did I know that two years later, I would start high school in that school, now known as I.M. Terrell Academy for STEM and VPA.  

Knowing I had a legacy to uphold, as well as being a part of the first graduating class of my school, the pressure was on. Before freshman year at I.M. Terrell starts, the school hosts Panther Camp, a time where new apprentices can meet teachers, see the school, and even get a head start on meeting other apprentices. (I.M. Terrell has apprentices, not students.) My Panther Camp, being the first one ever, was filled with establishing class traditions and talks from our principal, Mr. Brown, about the responsibilities our class faced as the first graduating class. I remember him telling us that we would be the seniors of the school for all four years. At the time his words seemed insignificant; senior year felt so far away. We soon understood there would be classes coming in under us every year, looking up at us.  

Once Panther Camp was over, it was time for our first day of high school. We walked into a year of uncertainty and (in all honesty) trial and error, not only for the students, but for the teachers and administrators as well. We were learning the Cowan Academy in the Humanities model of teaching for the first time. Many of us were taking physics as a freshman. And there was the expectation to achieve and excel for the brand-new school and its pioneering class. However, I would not change anything. By the end of the year, the bond my class built with our first-year teachers is something that cannot be duplicated. Subsequent classes and teachers will build their own bonds, but they will never truly understand the experiences of that first year.  

Class of 2022 their freshman year
I.M. Terrell Academy for STEM & VPA

With freshman year under our belt, I.M. Terrell’s 2019-2020 school year would be a breeze, right? The year started off strong. The energy within the school with another class under us made me feel happy to be there. There were more opportunities to get involved, including student government, the Black Student Association, the National Dance Honor Society, and much more. Sophomore year gave me great opportunities within my art as well. I danced in my fellow apprentice Ella Ratcliffe’s piece, which was accepted at the National High School Dance Festival in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We performed her piece in front of college representatives and other high schools, and most importantly, we represented how far our new program had come within just one year. It was so rewarding, and for the first time, I felt like all the hard work we had been doing to get our school recognized had paid off.  

Soon after our trip, however, COVID-19 changed everything. A fun spring break soon turned into an extended spring break, which then turned into online learning. After one year of experimentation and bonding, we faced a year of global uncertainty. 

With the school district trying to figure out online learning, my class began the most academically important year of high school in a pandemic. As students at our school, a hands-on STEM and art magnet school, we lost important time in our studios, practice rooms, and labs. I think I can speak for the class when I say it took some time for everyone to get into the groove. But we did. Students and teachers both learned how to work with restrictions. We did classroom streams and online performances to get back to “normal.” Now, with only a few weeks left of my Junior year, honestly, I’m feeling a little afraid. The long talks Mr. Brown gave our freshman year about the expectations for the first graduating class are finally soaking in, and the pressure to excel is truly on now!  

Looking forward to our senior year, I am filled with excitement, joy, relief, and sadness. Thinking about saying goodbye to the classmates and teachers I have experienced so many “firsts” with feels unreal. Yet, I also feel honored. Not everyone gets to say that they were a part of the first graduating class of the “Old Gold and Blue.” After three years of the most unconventional school years, I cannot wait to see what is in store for I.M. Terrell’s class of 2022 in our senior year and beyond!  

Amaya Adams is a member of the inaugural graduating class of I.M. Terrell Academy of STEM & VPA and will graduate in May. She hopes to get her B.F.A. in musical theater.

The post The Old Gold and Blue first appeared on Tanglewood Moms.