LYNN — When Isabella Pavei took up playing bass guitar at 11 years old for her church’s youth band, she thought it would be “boring, basic, like, hitting one note.” Little did the Lynn resident know that come college time, bass would earn her a four-year full scholarship to one of the world’s prestigious music schools, the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
“For me, it’s like the backbone of every band, of every song,” Pavei said recently. “Without the bass, there’s no pump to the music. It drives me crazy how great the bass is in every song, and I can point it out and outline it, and every single music that I listened to, I can hear what I would play over a certain song on the bass.”
Pavei, 18, is among eight high school seniors who received the scholarship at a ceremony on Aug. 10 through Berklee City Music, a nonprofit organization run by the school that works with youth from underserved communities.
“(There is) a very high-talent applicant pool and (it’s) very highly competitive,” said Kasey Cox, manager for enrollment and advising for the Berklee City Music program, about the scholarship. “It is a huge honor.”
Berklee City Music Network provides high-quality contemporary music instruction at low or no cost to over 50,000 students annually through 46 organizations in North America, Puerto Rico and Ecuador. The Boston branch of the network, Berklee City Music Boston, offers a five-week summer performance program called “Aspire,” the Berklee City Music Preparatory Academy for actors, dancers, musicians and all-around performers in grades four through eight, and the Berklee City Music High School Academy for grades nine through 12 during the school year.
At the High School Academy, which Pavei attended for three years on top of being a student at the Boston Arts Academy, students study theory, take master classes and ensemble classes. Most classes take place on weekdays between 4 and 8 p.m. after school. Students play genres ranging from rock to jazz to R&B and participate in multiple concerts throughout the year.
“She was extremely talented in our program,” said Cox of Pavei. “She’s very bright in addition to just being a very skilled musician.”
Pavei was in multiple ensembles this year, including jazz and electronic ensembles, and took the highest-level theory class.
Cox also described Pavei as someone who shows up and is very supportive to others.
“I feel like (these) are also two really great qualities for playing electric bass,” said Cox. “They kind of anchor the ensemble in a way.”
As a young child, Pavei picked up music from her father, Ralfy Pavei, who always loved music and played it at home. He exposed Isabella to his very eclectic tastes, from rock ’n’ roll to punk and heavy metal, to bossa nova to country music.
Ralfy Pavei had an electric guitar and acoustic guitar.
“I wanted to learn the acoustic guitar because I wanted to play the music that I was listening to at home,” Isabella said.
So, at 8 years old, she learned a few chords on the acoustic guitar from her father. “Then I started learning stuff on my own and he just let me do my own thing.”
When Isabella joined the church band, they already had two guitarists and a drummer, so Pavei was left with no choice but to play bass. She started getting private lessons from her pastor at church, and then went on to study music at a Zumix, a youth music program in East Boston.
“I learned how important the bass is and how fun it is,” said Pavei.
When choosing a high school, Pavei approached the decision thoughtfully. She looked around and assessed her options. She got accepted into the Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School in Danvers, but computer science or culinary arts never really called out to her as much as the music did, she said.
“I made the strong decision to go to a performing-arts high school to go further into music, and see if it was really what I wanted,” said Pavei.
She got accepted into the Boston Arts Academy, where her choice was soon validated. While at BAA, she learned about Berklee City Music Boston. She did a summer program there her freshman year and got into the High School Academy in her sophomore year.
“For me, it is like a dream,” said Ralfy Pavei about Isabella’s experiences with the Berklee youth programs. “She was so happy to be able to get into that program. She was living a dream, getting all of those teachers, learning all of those things.
“Growing up in Brazil we don’t have all of that. Musicians in Brazil are really struggling. If you are going to be average, nobody is going to invest in you.”
“It was as if I was a college student at Berklee,” said Isabella Pavei about her experience in the High School Academy. “Meeting musicians from around the world, seeing what the music life at Berklee would be like, playing jam sessions until 11 p.m..”
Pavei was notified that she would be getting the scholarship back in April.
“I was in complete shock,” she said.
She didn’t believe the email at first and had to double-check with her advisor Kasey Cox. When Pavei ran to her mother with the news, her mom thought someone had died of COVID-19 because so many negative things had been happening everywhere in the pandemic. But, of course, she rejoiced hearing the news, embraced her daughter and cried.
To top off the great news, Pavei’s younger brother, Mateo, who is 12 years old now and plays drums at their church, has just been accepted into the Berklee City Music Preparatory Academy as well.
As of now, Pavei doesn’t know yet where she wants to go with her music career. She would like to perform and try writing and producing more music. She likes meeting new people and gigging with different musicians.
“I want to see where my music takes me,” she said.
