By Brooklyn Williams

The city of New Orleans has many nicknames, NOLA, The Big Easy, and even The Birthplace of Jazz. With every person that steps foot in the city, the beautiful art form of music finds a way to reach them. but for the individuals that were born and/or raised in the city music has had a unique touch on our upbringings and is a very important part of our culture. Flavia Crovesi in her article titled “Rebirth Melodies: Music’s Instrumental Hold in the Rebuilding Efforts of New Orleans after Katrina,” explains how “Music lies at the very core of New Orleans’ culture which makes the people from the Big Easy tick to the melody of their sweet jazz” (Crovesi). In New Orleans music is everywhere, it is heard during parades, funerals, daily events, and even television commercials for local lawyers. In this city music’s prevalence is a reflection of its importance in the community. This importance strengthens the drive to teach the youth how to read music and play music. Crovesi explains that “...using music education to inspire the youth of New Orleans, the seed for a stronger, livelier music community in New Orleans is planted early, ensuring an extended blooming period for the musical culture as a whole” (Crovesi). Educating the youth about music and its importance is a key component of helping music in the city thrive for several years to come. “Planting the seed,” as Crovesi wrote, by introducing music to the youth of New Orleans allows for that seed of inspiration and drive to grow, allowing for the impact to grow larger and larger with each generation. This impact is shown through the experience of the two individuals I interviewed whose names are Anthony Scieneaux and Kendrick Williams.

Before we start to explore the impact of music we must discuss the history of the art form in New Orleans. A website called neworleans.com explains how the history of the city causes the city to have a soundtrack of its own. The city is mainly known for birthing jazz, but the city has had a major impact on the hip-hop, rap, bounce, and gospel music genres. This causes individuals that call the city their home, “...care deeply about family, faith, food, traditions, and, perhaps most of all, about making a joyful noise.” This explains why the citizens use music in celebration of “...life, death, and everything in between.” However, in 2005, the city of New Orleans and its inhabitants experienced Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 hurricane that caused tremendous damage and had a major impact on not only the city but the culture as well. The city was able to rebuild, and while doing this music was included in the conversation. Flavia Crovesi highlights that the, “...true meaning of rebirth in New Orleans does not only lie within the newly constructed buildings, health relief efforts, or the economic growth but lies at the cultural heart of the city where musicians continue to play their hopeful melodies' ' (Crovesi). During the storm, instruments were washed away, which affected both local musicians and high school bands. Charities and programs such as “Instruments A Comin’' provided over two million dollars worth of brand-new and high-quality instruments to local schools with bands. As the city was being rebuilt, people knew that music was a major part of the process, showing the true impact that art has on the city and the people that live within it. 

Anthony Scieneaux, a man who lived in New Orleans almost his entire life, ex-baritone player, drum major of two years of the McDonogh 35 Senior High School Marching Band from 1996-1998, and one of my fathers. He has been able to directly experience the unique relationship that the city of New Orleans has with music, and has been impacted profoundly. The sun was down and the house was for the most part quiet. We had just finished eating dinner as a family, as we do every night, and my father and I sat at the table getting ready for an interesting discussion. “Music in this city has affected me in a way that made me want to learn more about music,” Dad stated. His interest in music sparked in elementary school when he started to participate in band classes, and that spark fueled a fire that continued to grow by watching his cousin march with his middle school, which was named Livingston, in parades. When he reached high school, he joined his school’s band (McDonogh 35) playing the baritone. Additionally, because of the city and its connection to jazz music Mr. Scieneaux and his bandmates tried to imitate jazz bands, and were even playing with the idea of starting their own jazz band. During his sophomore year, which was his second year playing in the band, during summer band practice when their band director walked out of the class, Mr. Scieneaux would stand in front of the band and get them in order and conduct practice. This led his band director to give him the position of drum major for both his junior and senior years. The marching band experience and music allowed my father to experience and practice leadership helping him develop the characteristics of being a man today. Overall from living in the city Mr. Scieneaux, “…began to listen to music and songs in a different way as well as, having an appreciation more for instrumental music and other varies or genres of music…” as we could see the way the city of New Orleans shaped his perspective of music allowed for him to take part in activities that helped to shape him as a person, in ways that living somewhere else might not have. My other father, Kendrick Williams has also been living in New Orleans for the vast majority of his life, he was in John F. Kennedy High School’s Band, and Southern University’s Band playing the beautiful gold cymbals and has a side hustle of being a professional DJ named “DJ Ike T”. For this interview, I had to call him on the phone. Mr. Williams was also introduced to music and the unique styles this city had to offer by watching marching bands in parades. He was amazed at how the marching bands took songs from the radio and were able to play them using instruments, and them sounding like the record itself. Mr. Williams’ mother sang in the choir at their church, and he and his sister were brought to the choir rehearsals often, and additionally, all of their aunts sang in the choir as well so in addition to band music gospel music played a major role for him in regards to his experience with it. Additionally, he stated that “You had several bands growing up for us in our generation, and you know we were kids, we were teenagers, we were 14, 15 years old marching in parades…watching them saying I would love to do that.” He said he kept the tradition by marching in Southern’s band. Additionally, he started being a professional DJ and has traveled to do so, always ending his sets with second-line music, showing them how we close out parties or celebrations, in doing so he pays homage to the unique sound the music of this city produces. “It's funny how the culture of New Orleans music has spread across the country now you have a lot of artists now that have what I like to call Nola-inspired beats because of our bounce history and the culture of our New Orleans music,” Mr. Williams stated. A few years ago he had the opportunity to DJ a celebration for Beyonce’s mother, Tina Knowles’ 50th birthday and, “...she [Beyonce] asked me to do a New Orleans set, and that is when you play the brown beat and I sing over the record and she was amazed.” It is known that with songs of Beyonce’s such as “Formation” and “Break My Soul”, and her Coachella performance in 2018, she had elements that were inspired by New Orleans music and culture. Additionally, musical artists such as Drake have also released songs inspired by the city's music, showing its true impact on the world. Later on in the interview, Mr. Williams mentioned the important detail of how the city’s rich history keeps giving to the culture and music, affecting every generation brought up in the city. “It's a part of our history, it is a part of who we are…I’ve gone to second lines and I’ve seen Anglo-Saxons, Asians, African Americans and they all come together and dance to this music that is 100 percent authentically New Orleans and there is no other place on the planet that has that culture.” He highlighted that the impact of music is so strong in this city to the point where it brings different groups of people together, which in turn brings a strong sense of community to the city. This act of coming together shows generations the importance of unity, which is an important value in this world. In New Orleans music can be found in every corner of the city, and because of how prevalent it is in the culture, people’s experiences with it teach valuable lessons, encourages growth, and emphasizes the celebration of life and all the little things within it. Since the city’s upbringing was so unique, the music that came out of it was too, and with that, the art form has been able to affect generations in ways that are eccentric and special, which is truly and purely beautiful.