Student Spotlight: Sam Banister The music therapy major unpacks his Berklee summer program experience, shares insights about the psychology of music, and picks songs from Sons of Kemet, Kamasi Washington, and more.
By
Editorial Staff
June 12, 2023
Image courtesy of Sam Banister
What's it like to study at Berklee? Our Student Spotlight series asks current students all about their Berklee experience-what they're learning in class, what kinds of projects they're involved in onstage or behind the scenes, how they recharge, and of course, what they're listening to. This week, get to know tenor saxophonist Sam Banister, an eighth-semester music therapy major from Paducah, Kentucky.
Tell us about your path to Berklee. What made you decide to come here? I have always wanted to follow my path to becoming a musician ever since I was young. I knew I wanted to study in New England for school and dreamt of being a part of a big city music scene. After moving away from my small hometown to pursue the Youth Performing Arts High School in Louisville, Kentucky, I learned about Berklee and heard about its Five-Week program from a close friend of mine that had attended. After a few short weeks of engaging in the coursework and mini-industry, I was absolutely hooked on the school and the community of artists that it fosters. I later came back and auditioned on saxophone to pursue music business before I learned about the power of music therapy.
Whats been your favorite class so far, and what has it taught you? Each class has been extremely insightful and humbling, especially within the music therapy major. But, one of my all time favorites was Psychology of Music with Professor Renate Rohlfing. The course taught me more than just the explicit applications of music in our brains and psychology, but it also supported the complex implicit ideas taught and heralded in the music therapy field-the immense connection to music that we have as humans. Most importantly, the class put me on course to continue my research into vocal improvisation's effects on our brains and health.
Whats a project youve worked on since coming to Berklee that youve been especially excited about? There are so many projects musically that I have been a part of, including some really profound work with music production and engineering (MP&E) students, the L.A. Studio Ensemble, community homes, and other local artists. But, during my semester abroad at Berklee Valencia, I completed a pilot research project on extemporized vocal improvisation's effects on quality of life in young adults. During the study, three individuals explored their intrapsyche with music through a series of vocal improvisation experiences. This project helped me center my ideas on my future research goals, and it showed me where I want to commit my efforts in expanding upon the previous work of analytic music therapy and Nordoff-Robbins music therapy.
How do you typically recharge or find new ideas outside of class? Finding calm in the storm-the best way for me to relax and reset is to run about Boston and turn on a record I haven't listened to before for each run (the storm being the running in this instance). This helps me to focus on the music rather than the running, which isn't exactly my strong suit, but still getting outside and away from the hustle of Berklee. Doing activities outside of music listening alone is imperative for my self-care practices at a demanding music institution like Berklee.
What careers are you interested in pursuing in the future? I want to become a music therapy researcher and continue to find ways for others to find wellness. I want to encourage clients to be willing to seek their path to wellness physically, biologically, psychospiritually, psychosocially, and existentially in order to continue to engage the psyche in all ways-always forging their own paths through music. In order to do so, I want to pursue graduate studies in neuropsychology and in the expressive arts therapies to help grow the field into something that's accessible, accepting, and inclusive to all people, wherever they are in their journey to wellness.
When you think towards your own future, who inspires you most? I think to all of the people who are searching for their direction in life, and seeking guidance in whatever form that may come. It is naturally challenging to accept when its time to find help and seek a new path in life. As a soon-to-be music therapist, those who have started a new journey or have found their current path are more than inspiring.
Whats one piece of advice youd give to your high school self? Fan your flame. Fly your flag. Protect your energy. Continue to find how to use the world's music to support those around you.
Sam's Top Five Artists We asked Sam to share tracks by his favorite artists. Here's what he said:
1. To Never Forget the Source, Sons of Kemet Sons Of Kemet's ability to profoundly remind the world of the Afro-diasporic tradition and music is beyond explicable. Their presence combined will be missed as they have since separated, but their music will prevail in their individual journeys.
2. The Emancipation Procrastination, Christian Scott aTunde Adujah Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah's influence on Afro-diasporic music cannot be overstated. His journey to combine stretch music with the postmodern movement of sound is illustrious-it brings the listener through a journey that can only be found through the dwelling of his music.
3. So Ubuji, Makaya McCraven Another force of sound and Afro-diasporic music, Makaya Mccraven has been there for my struggles throughout Covid and has served as a starting point for a lot of my transcription work when I felt alone. This song encompasses the future, and brings it to become the present.
4. Qu Hice Mal, PES PE
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Student Spotlight: Sam Banister The music therapy major unpacks his Berklee summer program experience, shares insights about the psychology of music, and picks songs from Sons of Kemet, Kamasi Washington, and more.
