Meet Jen Hodges | Musician and Mentor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jen Hodges and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jen, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
Music has always been controversial. Different people have different reactions to art. Music sparks debates, revolutions, introspection; all which can be uncomfortable to society. However, without art to move us forward, we would be stuck in a draconian mindset. When the people making the art are young, stronger opinions are formed by the listener. This is evident throughout history. Older generations look down upon the music being made by younger people. In my experience, this triggers heavy emotion and real dialogue between my youth who are making the art, and the adults who hear their art. I’ve always felt strongly about protecting freedom of expression. This freedom is perhaps most sacred within our youth. They are in a vulnerable time in their lives. They are figuring out their identities. Music helps them navigate these challenges and experiment with different personas in a safe environment. During this process, listeners sometimes have an emotional reaction when they hear lyrics from young artists in which the listener interprets as anything but positive. This process has even triggered me when I hear youth use lyrical themes of violence. I have had 3 or 4 young artists die due to gun violence in their community. It’s a solvable problem in my mind. This makes me sensitive to violent themes when I hear them. The remedy to this is always a conversation. It’s true, we don’t censor our youth. We also implement a policy of open communication as mentors to be sure youth are staying safe. Through these conversations, we are able to build strong foundations of trust and honesty with our youth, so that if there is unsafe behavior or temptation in the young persons life, they will seek our advise. The risk comes in when adults are not present for these discussions and are triggered by our youth’s music. This is always a risk worth taking. Our young artists deserve an outlet for their emotions.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The most fun I have in my career is collaborating with others to create music. Typically, this takes the form of my young artists singing their ideas acapella to a click track, then I come in and build an instrumental around their melodic form. Everyone gets so into the process. As the instrumental takes shape, they hear their vocals being fit to the music and get a rush of excitement. We then track their vocal parts again to polish them up. There are smiles, laughter, shouts of encouragement, small talk, talks about dreams, possibilities, and just plain life. I feel a sense of connection when I create with my young artists. It’s these connections that make us stand out as an organization. People hear the music and see the pictures, and can sense how sacred and unique our studios spaces are. We’ve been facilitating these connections since 2012, and as a result, have seen immense growth. We went from 2 studios in 2012 to 28 studios in 2020. Sometimes it blows my mind to look back and realize how quickly we grew. I am so proud to be part of our team and proud of the work we do to further our mission. In the past 5 years, the focus has shifted immensely from dollars to cultural understanding. Sometimes this is a challenge, but everyone’s head is in the right direction and we want to ensure we are making the space safe for everyone on the planet while simultaneously preserving absolute freedom of expression. Sometimes the two can be at odds. That’s when we rely on conversation to guide us forward.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
When you visit Atlanta you should for sure check out some local music. My favorite spots are Star Bar, Boggs, 529, and The Earl. We also have great DJs spinning at The Basement and MJQ. If you’re into the queer scene I’d hit up Mary’s and MSR. In terms of food my favorite spots are Harold’s, Ton Ton, Woody’s, Gaja, and Wylie and Rum. If you just want a classic bar experience my favorite spots are Mambo Zombie, Estoria, and Joystick.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Huge shoutout and thank you to my parents and grandparents for always being supportive of my passion for music. They drove me to gigs, paid for instruction, paid for college, gave me a place to stay while I was getting my feet on the ground, and never once doubted me.

Website: https://www.notesfornotes.org

Instagram: /notesfornotes

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenhodgesbassanddrums/

Twitter: /notesfornotes

Facebook: /notesfornotes

Image Credits
Steel String Photography, Ross Tyler, Actor’s Express