Jazzbird Molina ‘20 spent 10 years at PCM, studying classical guitar with Bryan Barany and recently graduated with honors from Occidental College in the Spring of 2024 with a bachelor’s in jazz guitar and group language. He will spend the next two years pursuing his master’s degree in jazz studies at Cal State Northridge. He continues to expand his musical experience by directing music groups at Eagle Rock High School and performing live with Enny Owl at the Sled Island Music Festival in Canada. He also remains heavily involved in the PCM community as he served as our 2024 Education Programs intern and played in our 2024 Alumni Concert. Read on to hear more about his music education, his return to PCM, and what it was like to switch from classical guitar to jazz guitar.

What motivated you to apply for the education programs internship at PCM?
My main passion is teaching. I spent a lot of time doing that at Occidental College. I was part of a really small group of students who were really passionate about jazz education, performance, and practice. The school had just hired a new director, and we wanted to expand the program. I learned through this process that there’s an unspoken part of teaching, the administrative side, which requires a lot of organization. I saw this internship at PCM as an opportunity to expand those skills to be as efficient as possible as a teacher.

What are your responsibilities as the Education Programs Intern?
There’s construction going on, so making sure everything functions. And right now we’re preparing for the fall semester which means helping the administrative staff input the class catalog and making sure that the teachers have all the necessary resources.

How does it feel to be back at PCM?
My last memory of PCM is during COVID because I graduated in 2020. I was supposed to have my senior recital, which did not happen. So it’s really weird to be back and not be a student and not even be a teacher. I’m adjacent to music, but I’m not in it. It almost feels like a twilight zone/strange dream. But it’s nice to be able to support students and teachers. It’s also motivated me to come back and teach here when I’m done with my master’s degree.

You just graduated from Occidental College with your bachelor’s in jazz guitar. What was that like?
It’s interesting and funny to talk about it here of all places because I started classical guitar here with Dr. Brian Barany and studied it for 10 years. It was a huge part of my life and I have so many good memories from that time. So it was a bit intimidating to move away from that in college and switch to jazz, it felt like a betrayal against my teachers and even me. I love and enjoy jazz but needed a lot of help in making that adjustment because it’s a whole different way of thinking about the music and listening to it. However, my time here served as an important foundation for my jazz education.

What else have you been up to since your time at PCM?
I play guitar for an LA-based UK artist, Enny Owl. I went on tour with her and we went to Canada for the Sled Island Festival which was super fun. The cool thing about jazz is we’re always playing different gigs and I’m still loving learning everything.

You’ll be pursuing your master’s degree in jazz studies at Cal State Northridge?
I spent the last six months of my undergrad preparing and creating tapes for auditions for masters programs. I considered going to USC to study with Scott Tennant but I’ll instead be going to CSUN to pursue my master’s in jazz guitar. For the next two years, I’ll be amongst some great faculty and staff. I just found out that one of the PCM guitar faculty that I hadn’t met yet, Brian Fasola, also works at CSUN. Maybe under his direction, I’ll get back into playing classical chamber.