The house just up the road from Viewpoint is more than a classroom for Bill Brendle, Middle and Upper School Music Teacher. The Castle Oaks recording studio, once a hub for Grammy-winning artists and film composers, helped shape his career as a professional musician. Today, it introduces Viewpoint students to the same creative process that once brought world-class artists through its doors.

That connection was on display last month when Brendle’s Voices Now students, a select group of Upper School vocalists, took the stage at Catalina Jazz Club. The annual performance gives students the opportunity to experience what it feels like to perform in a professional venue.

“The goal of this concert is for students to have a spotlight, either as a soloist or as a duet,” Brendle said. “Their job is to choose their own song and find something that connects with them somehow. From the beginning, I treat them as if I were working with professional vocalists.”

That philosophy reflects Brendle’s own background as a professional musician, arranger and musical director. He collaborated with Brazilian music legend Sergio Mendes on two Grammy-nominated albums recorded at Castle Oaks, including one that won.

Brendle first connected with Viewpoint in 2001 when he was hired to play keyboard for a Middle School production of “Annie Get Your Gun.” Soon after, he began accompanying a vocal jazz ensemble at the school, which evolved into what is now Voices Now.

His role eventually expanded to include directing the ensemble, composing music for theater productions, and launching Viewpoint’s Digital Music program. Today, he teaches multiple levels of the course, where students learn songwriting, music production and recording technology while creating their own music.

Many of those classes take place inside the Castle Oaks studio. Now part of the Viewpoint campus, the space gives students the chance to step into a professional recording environment once used by artists including Destiny’s Child and Lisa Marie Presley.

“I love seeing their reaction the first time they walk in,” Brendle said. “They realize they’re in a place where real records were made.”

The same space where Brendle once worked alongside professional artists has become a place where Viewpoint students can discover their own artistic path, whether they are performing at Catalina Jazz Club or producing music in the studio just up the hill.