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Guitar: The Baseline of John Grismer’s Basketball Career

By Baker Reding '21

John Grismer ‘21 is not just a Cadet and a basketball captain, but is also a musician. Grismer has found his passion for playing the guitar and writing music. High school students tend to have a lot on their plate, especially at STA, and on Grismer’s was the challenging basketball season:“Obviously, it was not the ideal season, but I found playing my guitar as a way to combat the stress built up from losing so many games. I am fortunate that I have something that I can do to relieve my stress because, without it, the winter would have gone by in slow motion,” said Grismer. 

Grismer has been fascinated by music since his days playing the piano routinely and claims, “I get my musical curiosity from my sisters,” who both play piano and guitar. Watching his older sisters thrive on the guitar, John was eager to give it a try. Throughout the summer before junior year, he spent hours learning the basics of the guitar and quickly began to write his own lyrics to complement his style. 

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Bon Iver Album Cover

In Defense of Good Music

By Jack MapelLentz '22

Genres: the quest to fulfill humans’ insatiable desire to sort everything; to quantify. One might think that pop music would be the most, well, popular, right? Think again: rap and hip-hop, as I’m sure you’re all well aware, have taken the world by storm. The vast majority of kids don their headphones and queue up some Juice WRLD, Trippie Redd, or Lil Uzi Vert.

I, too, as I write this, am listening to a masterpiece. Yet, if I had to guess, I’m sure that none of you have heard of it: Bon Iver’s 22, A Million. Few other albums or artists — and few other things, in general — can etherealize my emotions anywhere near as eloquently as Justin Vernon’s aching falsetto and exquisitely enigmatic lyrics.

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Bach, Beethoven, or Bastida? 

By Andrew Walsh '21

Just like the intro of a song comes the start of a great story. When piano teacher Mrs. Teri Larson first met Saint Thomas Academy’s very own Freddy Bastida, she recalled thinking that “this child could be anything he wants to be, and I want to work with him.” Today as she reminisces of her years teaching Freddy to play, she still firmly believes that “It will be his life’s work to bring to the surface and allow everyone to see and witness the beauty he brings to the piano and his voice,”   Piano and his music enable Freddy to connect with others on a musical and conversational level.

Freddy starts to play. His eyes lock onto the keys with unbreakable focus. Then for the duration of the song, he puts everyone around him in awe. As his playing slows and the notes come to an end, he leaves his audience immediately requesting an encore. Freddy remarks that “piano makes me feel like I can escape from everything around me.” While Freddy's music amazes all of those around him, for the moment he is playing, everything else is nonexistent. It's just him, the piano, and the sound of remarkable music.

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