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Feature
Blake Grad’s Passion For Jazz Has Earned Her A Spot At Prestigious School Of Music
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
At a time when hip-hop and rap make up the musical palette of most young people, Karlea Boswell-Edwards dances – or rather, scats – to a different beat.
For the last two years, the Plant City resident has been molding her career as a jazz singer at Blake High School. In a few weeks, she’ll begin formal study in the genre as a student at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.
It’s a path that has sur- prised Ms. Boswell-Ed- wards, who’s attended performing arts schools since grade school.
Jazz singing is a compli- cated and complex style that isn’t easily mastered. But Ms. Boswell-Edwards said she’s dedicated to doing just that.
“I’m not just good at singing,” she said. “Music is what I have to do.”
Initially drawn to acting, Ms. Boswell-Edwards, 18, began participating in musi- cal theater in middle school and selected it as her major at Blake. But being an actress wasn’t in Ms. Boswell-Ed- wards’ future.
Everything changed when she entered a music competi- tion at school. She didn’t win, but her voice made a lasting impression on band teacher, Carmen Griffin.
“She told me she was being overlooked in musical theater,” Ms. Griffin said. “I said ‘you can sing with jazz band anytime’.”
What began as a casual in- vitation developed into a mentorship that Ms. Boswell-Edwards credits for transforming her from a student who can carry a tune into a bona fide musician.
“She made me more than a singer,” Ms. Boswell-Ed- wards said.
In the midst of her new- found career choice, tragedy struck. Two days before Christmas in 2014, Ms. Boswell-Edwards’ father died of a heart attack.
She used music to help her ease her grief, she said. “I focused on doing things that made me feel better,” she said. “Eventually, the music got all of my attention.”
When she entered her
KARLEA BOSWELL-EDWARDS
my attention.”
For five months, the two
worked together daily to en- sure Ms. Boswell-Ed- wards would be ready for the audition with Berklee. The preparation was intense. Ms. Boswell-Edwards quickly had to learn instrumentation, how to pick out notes on the piano, and bone up on in- verted chords.
“It was like a crash course,” she said. “At Berklee, if you say you do music, they expect you to know it.”
The grueling coursework paid off. She breezed through her audition and aptly played chords on the piano, thanks to Ms. Griffin’s tutelage, she said.
“There were a lot of things they were expecting me to know that she taught me,” she said.
Her performance earned her an admission to the col- lege and helped secure a $20,000 scholarship.
She returned in February to Boston to participate in the Berklee High School Jazz Fes- tival Jazz Singer Showcase. There, Ms. Boswell-Ed- wards placed first in the solo
singer competition. She per- formed before an audience of 5,000 and won a $5,000 scholarship, which will cover the costs of Berklee’s summer program.
She’s also earned other small scholarships but needs about $40,000 more to cover tuition and room and board costs in full for the 2016-2017 academic year.
It’s a daunting situation that appears insurmountable. But Ms. Boswell-Edwards said she refuses to give up.
Music, she said, is her des- tiny. “This is my job,” she said. “I wouldn’t be good at anything else.”
Fundraiser Concert
A fundraiser concert for Karlea Lynne will take placefrom3to7p.m.on Sunday, June 26, at Keel & Curley Winery, 5210 Thono- tosassa Rd., in Plant City. Ad- mission is free and donations of any amount will be ac- cepted. Money raised will help cover Karlea Lynne’s tuition and other costs at Berklee College of Music. Learn more at www.kar- lealynne.com.
senior year, Ms. Boswell- Edwards devoted herself to studying vocal performance. She stocked her schedule with related classes including music theory, band, and harp. She also began researching college music programs, with Florida State University and the University of Central Florida at the top of her list.
But she decided to set her sights a little higher and looked at Berklee, a school she had considered for study- ing musical theater. It soon became her number one pick, she said.
The school’s outstanding reputation – and its roster of notable alumni such as songstress Layla Hathaway and bassist Esperanza Spaulding – was the decid- ing factor, she said. “With Berklee, you’re not just ad- mitted to a college, you’re ad- mitted to an industry,” she said. “You get training with people who are constantly working.”
Ms. Boswell-Edwards
said her decision was met with some skepticism. “One of my teachers was like ‘do you really think you can get in?’” she said.
Ms. Griffin, however, was on board.
Ms. Boswell-Edwards’
“raw talent” made it easy to want to help her reach her goal, Ms. Griffin said.
“I haven’t met a young person who was as organ- ized...and driven,” she said. “Anyone at that age with that foresight obviously deserves
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