Students Combine Talents to Make Music at Southern Virginia
Kyle York and Elijah Mendoza Bring Electronic Music and Rap to Campus
By Zachary Bearnson
Music is one of the prime motivators for students to attend Southern Virginia, from musical stage productions to orchestral groups and the many choirs. Two students have decided to bring a new brand of music to campus, specializing in two styles of music: Rap and EDM.
Elijah Mendoza, Undecided ‘21, and Kyle York, Politics and Computer Science ’20, are part of Southern Virginia’s commercial music program taught by Professor Mark Milberger. This program helps students with musical aspirations achieve their dreams by teaching them the skills necessary to succeed in the music industry. York and Mendoza explore different facets of this program: rap music and music production.
York and Mendoza work closely together in the class, producing music different from other students in the class. When asked about their music production, Mendoza said, “Kyle and I work in one section in the class because what we do isn’t the same as everyone else. Other students do more jazz or rock style stuff, but Kyle and I were able to put pieces together for the concert in April.” Southern Virginia will be showcasing the talents of their commercial music program in a concert coming in the spring, where York and Mendoza will perform some music they have produced together.
These two musicians began making music before they came to Southern Virginia, and the beginnings of their musical careers are very similar. Both Mendoza and York were encouraged by friends to foster their talents in the industry.
Mendoza described his experiences learning how to rap saying, “Back home it’s either country music or rapping, and I’m not that into country music. An so we were playing music and my friends kept being like “Go, go, go! Free style! Free style!” and I did, and they said it was good.” With some more encouragement from friends, Mendoza continued to pursue more opportunities in music in his home town of Memphis, TN.
York was similarly introduced to the industry by his friends. “ I was going through a rough patch, and one of my buddies DJ’d for a local station and invited me out to an event,” York said. “Being out helped me realize I could better myself. I had a little $100 deck [DJ stand] from Guitar Center.”
York and Mendoza continued to expand their musical skills, entertaining at larger and larger events. Mendoza has played shows at several fraternities and last semester, he performed at a larger show in Virginia Beach, which several Southern Virginia students attended.
York began much the same way, playing small events and releasing small mixes on the internet. This lead to him getting a foot in the door with a much larger producer, DJ Wicked, a well-known name in the community. This helped him find new places to DJ, as well as more opportunities to expand his craft. York said “From there I got way more gigs in Chicago. I was then getting gigs at the Sound Bar and the Mid, places where other big DJs like Marshmello and the like play.”
Both artists have used these experiences to boost their careers, which led them to pursue new avenues of music production here at Southern Virginia. While York is currently taking a break from mixing, he does help the students of the Commercial Music produce their music more professionally. “When Dr. Milberger got the equipment set up, no one knew how to use it.” York said, describing the new recording and production equipment. “The next project I want to work on is getting some of these talented vocal artist on campus to send me their amazing work so we can spread SVU’s amazing talent and help build up the portfolios of students here.”
York and Mendoza are just two examples of Southern Virginia students using their talents to change the perception of performance music. Being a musician doesn’t just mean singing or playing an instrument, but can include all aspects of production. And these two students have expanded the boundaries of music production on campus further.
