The group performed for the school and with the SVA band in advance of the annual Switchfoot Bro-Am
On Monday, May 11th, students at Spring Valley Academy (SVA) received a special visit and performance from Grammy® Award-winning, San Diego-based rock band Switchfoot. The visit celebrated the school’s recent grant of instruments from the Save The Music Foundation. It also gave SVA band students a chance to rehearse a song with Switchfoot that students will be playing with the rock band on stage at the annual Switchfoot Bro-Am on June 13th.
After performances by SVA’s beginner and advanced bands, three members of Switchfoot, singer/guitarist Jon Foreman, bassist Tim Foreman, and drummer Chad Butler, sat for a Q&A session with Save The Music Foundation’s Tanya Hilton, before performing a version of their hit song, “Dare You To Move.”
Rehearsing For The Stage at the Switchfoot Bro-Am
After that, SVA band members returned to the stage to rehearse the classic song, “Lean On Me”, alongside Switchfoot. The students will join up with the band again at the annual Switchfoot Bro-Am event on June 13th, performing for a larger crowd. Switchfoot has invited and performed with San Diego County school musicians at the event for several years, an aspect of the event that celebrates the band’s desire to give back to the community.
“The Bro-Am was started with the kids of San Diego in mind, being San Diego kids ourselves,” says Switchfoot’s Tim Foreman. “Music and surfing kept us out of trouble growing up, so Bro-Am is our way of giving back to the kids of tomorrow, right here in our own backyards.”
About the rock band’s new musical collaborators, Foreman said, “I was really impressed. Some of the kids that we just heard playing have only been playing for a couple of months. I was blown away, honestly. And music is such a life-giving thing. You hold an instrument in your hands, and your whole world opens up. Anything’s possible.”
A World of Possibility for Students
The sense of possibility was felt by the student musicians as well. Harvey, a seventh grader who plays trumpet, was encouraged by the chance to play with the band and looks forward to the larger stage of the Bro-Am. “All the practice paid off today. I was a little nervous, but I’ll be able to do it [at the Bro-Am]. If I can do this, I can do that.”
Sean, a sixth-grade violin player, also reveled in the opportunity. “That was really crazy. I didn’t ever think I would get to play with someone that was that big.”
SVA Music Teacher Tino Fellicetta was impressed with how his students handled their first performance in front of a larger audience. “I noticed that they were listening a lot more, especially when the lyrics came in. We’re just used to band music not having any lyrics, and as soon as [Switchfoot] started singing, I could hear that the students were listening to each other and really trying to lock into what the lyrics were doing and following what the song was doing. That’s all you want them to do.”
Rebuilding a Music Program
The Save The Music Foundation grant has been an integral part of rebuilding a music program that was diminished during the COVID-19 pandemic. The visit from Switchfoot gave the school’s bands a larger spotlight to continue their growth.
Says Felicetta, “The five-year plan at SVA is to have an orchestra; we’re starting a choir next year, which is awesome. So we just want to build up the music program and the interest. And I think that this concert definitely did that.”
Save The Music Foundation’s Hilton explains the organization’s purpose. “Our mission is to support schools, students, and communities through the power of music-making to reach their fullest potential. And our partnership with Bro-Am allows us to do that.”
After the Covid pandemic, the school found itself with fewer instruments than the number of students wanting to participate. The Save The Music Foundation grant has eliminated that gap. Says Hilton, “There were students trying to sign up for band, and there weren’t enough instruments for them to use. With the combination of Prop 28 funding to hire a fabulous teacher, and the support of Bro-Am and Save the Music Foundation, we’ve helped to resurrect this band program, and they’ve grown so much that we have to get them in a new classroom because they can’t fit in there anymore.
“We want kids to have musical experiences as a part of their everyday education, and we’ve seen the power of what music can do to encourage and strengthen and provide guidance and responsibility and leadership and all of these things that you learn from this beautiful thing called music. And so that’s our goal.”
Event Information
The Switchfoot Bro-Am Beachfest takes place on Saturday, June 13th, from 7:00 am – 5:00 pm at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. Spring Valley Academy band members will join Switchfoot onstage.
Bro-Am Schedule – Subject to Change
- All Day — Vendors, Food, Brand Activations & Fun
- 7:00 am – 3:00 pm — Surf Contest
- 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm — Live Music
Tickets are free, with VIP options.
For more information, visit the Bro-Am website.
