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  There’s a sense of freedom and discovery in the videos and songs coming out of Pachyderm Music Lab. In “Tiger,” 6-year-old Liam, in matching animal face mask and ears, prowls and growls in front of green-screened footage of forests and tigers. Over blurting electro-funk keyboards and hip-hop rhythms, he recites a reverberating dada poem: “Stripes look nice/ Powerful bite/ Day and night.”
  
  Two 7-year-olds, Evelyn and Cadence, celebrate friendship with “Butterfly Cockroach BFFs.” Over bouncy ’80s synthesizers and a chunky bass line, the two girls sing and shout about how the titular insects bonded over their shared love of ice cream. The accompanying video features bright colors, frenzied dancing and plenty of butterflies and cockroaches.
  
  Thirteen-year-old Logan’s ethereal “February Sun” features imagery so haunting that a video is not necessary. Over pensive, pulsing indie-rock instrumentation, Logan’s airy vocals spiral in freefall: “Gaze through the window as I spill upon the ground/ Fill to the brim, I could sink until I drown.”
  
  “As the song progresses you hear her voice get stronger until the end when she yells,” Logan’s teacher Krystle Baller says. “You hear how she found her power voice.”
  
  Helping students like Logan find their voice through music is a mission for musician, mother, teacher and TED-talker Baller, who founded Pachyderm Music Lab (PML) in Indian Trail in 2016 then relaunched in Optimist Park in 2019. The LGBTQ-friendly school teaches music to students aged 5 through 50s, or at least that’s the range at the moment, but anyone is welcome. Baller and her team operate out of a renovated house on East 22nd Street, teaching students to play instruments, write songs and gain the confidence to access their inner power.
  
  Fifteen of those riotous, pensive and powerful tunes are compiled on the music school’s first album, Elephant in the Room, which drops on Bandcamp and the PML website April 2. Pachyderm Music Lab will also unleash a Facebook livestream the same day.
  
  “Think Headbangers Ball meets TRL,” Baller offers. “We’re adding all of these cool transitions with animation and claymation of the PML [logo] and interesting sound clips like back in the golden days of MTV.”
  
  Proceeds raised by the album go to scholarships for families that can’t afford regular lessons at PML. T-shirts featuring the album’s elephantine cover art, done by local artists Elizabeth Palmisano and Lo’Vonia Parks, will also be available for purchase.
  
  Read the full article here: https://qcnerve.com/pachyderm-music-lab-krystle-baller/
  
  Pat Moran, QC Nerve ... more
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