Jason Hawkins may seem like the typical 14-year-old listening to dubstep music in his headphones. However, once the headphones come off, he picks up his viola and combines elements from both genres into his songwriting.

In sixth grade, Hawkins began playing the viola and was introduced to the world of classical music. At first, he struggled to learn unfamiliar hand movements on the neck of the viola.

“Learning so many different hand motions were really difficult, but I practiced regularly and quickly adapted to them,” Hawkins said.

The Otis Music Camp allows Hawkins to blend styles from his own music taste — dubstep and hip hop — into classical pieces.

“I still get inspired by dubstep a lot — by the way they just take a melody and roll with it and build the whole song around that,” Hawkins said.

The piece he created with his group takes the tune from Beethoven’s Fur Elise but adds a beat and rhythm.

“We wanted to take a classical tune and make it different in our own way by adding more to it,” Hawkins said.

“I still get inspired by dubstep a lot — by the way they just take a melody and roll with it and build the whole song around that.”

Though he is fairly confident when creating music, he considers stage fright to be one of his weaknesses.

“Nervousness can really wreck you when it comes to instruments that take a lot of patience and confidence like the viola,” Hawkins said.

Music has impacted Hawkins in numerous ways. He said he “made lots of friends through music, been emotionally impacted, and gained lots of insight on the way that other people feel when they listen to music.”

It has made him more confident in his songwriting, improving his ability to build around a melody and create a lively persona during his performances. He also says that the Otis Music Camp, “helps kids explore their music and take it to places that they never thought were possible.”

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