By Martha GrovesWith a dad who played drums in church and a mother who sang around the house, Jasmine Nicole Keys ’23 developed an appreciation for music early on.
She dabbled in piano, not very enthusiastically, and sang in a choir.
In seventh grade, she joined the strings program at the nondenominational Christian school she attended in Westlake Village, California, and found her passion: playing the viola.
Music has been a colossal part of her life ever since. Now, as a fledgling high school teacher, she seeks to inspire students to love the art form as much as she does.
In August 2023, Keys channeled her love of music into teaching the marching and symphonic band programs at Hueneme High School, a Title I school in Oxnard, California, where about 90% of the nearly 2,300 students are Latino and come from low-income families. She is the first African-American female band director in the Oxnard Union High School District.
“I couldn’t read music for the first year and a half,” Keys said of her middle school music studies. “But I picked it up and made some friends. And I started composing.
“Music is such a gift if you allow it to be, and it’s such an escape from everything around you. I found a lot of comfort in music.”
When Keys, 23, began teaching at Hueneme High School, was she nervous about wielding her baton in front of teenagers just a few years younger than she is?
“One thousand percent,” she said with a laugh. But she said the students gave such a warm welcome that she immediately felt at home. They are helping her to learn patience as she encourages them to work well as a team and develop leadership skills, she said.
She selects a variety of music in an effort to expose the students to unfamiliar genres. They play popular tunes for football games and pep rallies. Their marching season theme in fall 2024 is “How to Train a Dragon,” with selections from the soundtrack by the composer John Powell. Keys also has introduced them to pieces by the late Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla, a tango legend.
“They really give it their all,” she said. “They come early to practice and stay late. Providing a space where they can practice and chill is important. They’re all incredibly talented, really driven. That’s something I constantly foster.”
Keys credits Yoshika Masuda, DMA, who was an assistant professor of cello and director of string studies at California Lutheran University, with kindling her interest in attending the school after her graduation from Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard. When she auditioned at Cal Lutheran, she recalled, he told her parents: “Your daughter is super-talented. I’d like to work with her and cultivate those talents. If she goes to another school, she’ll get lost in the crowd.”
A full-ride Visual and Performing Arts scholarship helped to seal the deal.
Keys’ senior year corresponded to Masuda’s move to another. Violinist Andrew Towsey-Grishaw replaced Masuda on an interim basis, and he, too, proved to be a fine mentor. She also praised Michael D. Hart, an associate professor of music and associate dean, creative and performing arts, as “a fantastic professor.”
“Those were probably the best years of musical growth I’ve had in my life,” she said.
Keys is in demand as a violist. She has played with the Thousand Oaks Philharmonic, the Santa Barbara Symphony and the Ventura College Symphony Orchestra. She is among the musicians listed in the orchestra credits on the soundtrack for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, the Eddie Murphy action comedy released by Netflix in July 2024.
She expects to complete her master’s degree in education at Cal Lutheran in May 2025 and then continue teaching at Hueneme. She said she gets a charge out of seeing her students enjoy the fun and challenge of music, and she sees ample evidence that music helps to improve their academic performance.
“I feel that every kid should be exposed to music,” she said. “Seeing that spark as they get it and connect with it is huge. All of the Hueneme kids have been really amazing and have helped me grow as an instructor and a musician. They keep me on my toes. I love the challenge.”
