Outside of their professional careers, English teacher Ms. Kara McPhillips and counselor Mr. Jibri Mr. McLean produce their own music. In Ms. McPhillips’ current band, Tell Me Monday, and in Mr. McLean’s solo work, they each work to write, sing and perform original songs.
Ms. McPhillips has had a love of music for much of her life. She expressed this passion earlier in her life with her high school’s radio program, going to shows and befriending band members. However, playing and making the music she enjoyed never occurred to her.
”I think it’s because when I looked at the bands I liked, it was all men,” Ms. McPhillips said. “And when I saw women on stage, it was often hyper-sexualized pop stars that I didn’t see myself in.”
It was not until she went to college that her perspective began to change.
”It really wasn’t until I went to college, and I sort of discovered punk and the riot girl in the indie rock scene,” Ms. McPhillips said. “I saw women in T-shirts and sneakers playing music, and I realized I was sort of invited to music. I started playing music as a hobby in college and then just never stopped.”
Much like Ms. McPhillips, Mr. McLean has had a longstanding passion for music as well. Since the age of three, he has been singing, but he began writing his own songs much later during junior college after his father’s passing.
“At the time, I was doing football and Acappella,” Mr. McLean said. “But I needed another outlet with my grieving process.”
In seeking emotional expression, Mr. McLean made his feelings into songs, and he began sharing them with others on platforms like SoundCloud.
“Slowly, it became a way for people who enjoyed it to just continue to follow me and that kind of thing.”
Mr. McLean’s songwriting starts with a beat. He lets the words and rhythms come to mind while keeping the message he wants to convey through the song in mind.
“The message is usually based on how I’m feeling. I usually write my best music when I’m in a more downtrodden place of mind, just to release maybe my anger or sadness,” Mr. McLean said. “So usually during times like that, I turn to my music to use it as a therapeutic release and sometimes I use it for just fun when I’m just trying to kind of express myself.”
Songwriting plays a major role in both Mr. McLean’s and Ms. McPhillips’ music careers. In contrast to Mr. McLean’s more individual musical experience, however, Ms. McPhillips more often collaborates with other artists in various bands.
“In most of my bands, I’ll come up with a chorus, a chord progression, maybe a melody and some lyrics. And then we’ll kind of jam on it, build it out into a bridge and finesse the lyrics, and we’ll kind of go from there,” Ms. McPhillips said. “I like writing somewhat collaboratively with my bandmates, so everyone writes certain parts and makes suggestions, but I tend to be the person in a band who comes with something to sort of start with.”
However, professional musical careers come with a variety of challenges. Ms. McPhillips has faced challenges in making time for her music, but also in other aspects of the music industry.
“When I was younger and playing out more often, I think a challenge is being a woman in a male-dominated industry,” Ms. McPhillips said. “I have had the experience of going to load into a show, load into a venue, and had the staff deny me access backstage because they thought I was a girlfriend of a band member, as opposed to a member of the band.”
Mr. McLean has struggled in his production as well. He faced some challenges in balancing and maintaining a distance between his music and work, but he also struggled with the COVID-19 pandemic, a major obstacle in his musical career.
Many shows, tours and other opportunities were shut down due to the pandemic. Mr. McLean’s performances in Los Angeles, in London and for rapper D Smoke were canceled and set back his music career.
“That kind of took the wind out of my sales because of COVID and not knowing what to do from that, like, how to get a show again,” Mr. McLean said. “And that’s when I went into counseling and getting my degree and that kind of thing. So l had to shift gears to kind of survive financially and just kind of change my priorities.”
Mr. McLean in his independent work and Ms. McPhillips in her band are both working on or planning to work on new pieces. Ms. McPhillips and Tell Me Monday performed their first show over winter break in collaboration with music teacher and string orchestra conductor Mr. Chris Horner and his band. Mr. McLean recently put out his EP, Beauty of the Mind, and he plans to get back into songwriting this summer.