Toledo School for the Arts feature is live today on Ohio Department of Education Web

 American Idol Roots

Toledo school prepares students for arts, college, careers

With the sun at their backs and reflecting off the chalkboard on an 80-degree day, eight teenagers focused intently on the numbers in front of them. Some standing and some sitting in various poses in a small room, the 16- and 17-year-olds strummed and picked gently on their electric or acoustic guitars as they looked at the digits – 1, 80, 100 – sketched out by Ken Zuercher, also known as “Mr Z.” He explained the how and why of cable and voltage differences for amplifiers and microphones and applications. It was a lesson with formulas involving tone changes with effects on equalization, compressions, distortion and other aspects of sound.

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