Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Karnavas.
Andrew, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I bought a guitar with birthday money from my friends at age 13 but I didn’t start writing songs until I was in college, where I majored in English. When I finished college, I decided to skip medical school after I got in and I started a band instead. After working two jobs in my early twenties as a research coordinator at the Texas Medical Center and as a waiter at night for a few years. I had saved enough money to record a couple of albums in a major recording studio and then I took the leap to become a full-time musician, first as an Americana solo artist and as the bandleader for delta rock band Runaway Sun. A few years later I launched my children’s music project, Andyroo, and the Andyrooniverse. I currently perform 100 Andyroo shows per year and have been featured at the Smithsonian NMNH in DC, Mall of America in Minnesota, NYC Parks, and at other schools, libraries, and museums nationwide. I wanted to do more than just record music and tour, so I launched Yawp Records, a creative audio agency that handles all aspects of sound, from live audio production for events to commercial A/V system installations at hotels to custom music composition for videos and video games.
Two years ago, Yawp Records launched Just Add Beats, a creative audio production and entrepreneurship program for kids grades 4th-12th. We teach students important 21st-century skills like critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity through our project-based learning curricula focused on beat making, podcasting, and sound design. Just Add Beats is offered in-school and after school at several HISD schools and private schools, and we have conducted summer camps in partnership with UH-Downtown and the ERJCC. We live in a time where a kid can record a hit song in his or her room, at school, or at a community center with a portable, affordable, USB-powered recording studio. It’s imperative we teach kids media literacy and how to continue thinking creatively as they get older and must adapt to an ever-changing career landscape.
Has it been a smooth road?
If you strive for mastery, autonomy, and purpose, I think the road is the roughest when you’re figuring out who you are and what problems you want to solve in the world. When I was in college, I didn’t know what I wanted to do after school, so I explored a lot of things while in school – majored in English, took all the pre-med courses, played college soccer, studied abroad in Italy, wrote songs, shot a documentary and wrote a manuscript for a fiction novel. When I worked in the hospital and saw life for med students, residents, fellows, and world authority specialists on rare diseases, I knew that med life wasn’t for me. I also knew that just writing songs and performing wouldn’t have had enough purpose for me; there was something missing. It was teaching. I love teaching young people and encouraging them to explore their potential. I love writing, and I love singing and recording, and now I get to do all of those things every day in a Preschool-12th-grade world. So, I have autonomy and purpose in my life, and hopefully, I will stay on the endless journey to mastery, which has many roads, and some are smooth and some are rough.
The other thing I’ll say is that you must be able to adapt to change, and your health is the most important thing. One of my biggest struggles was being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis three years ago. My whole body went numb and I even lost the ability to play guitar for a few months. I spent all of my money on medical testing since I didn’t have insurance at the time and suddenly I had to think about scary things like, “What will you do if you are not physically capable of doing anything you love to do anymore?” I have some ideas, but hopefully, I don’t have to travel down that road. I still have MS, but I am healthy, I eat right and exercise, I sleep, and I am grateful for my family and friends.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Yawp Records – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Yawp Records is a creative audio agency that handles all aspects of sound, from live audio production for events to commercial A/V system installations at hotels to custom music composition for videos and video games. We specialize in creative audio production and entrepreneurship programs for kids called Just Add Beats.
Our team of audio professionals has experience in all career pathways in the field of audio, from live performance and production to studio production to sync licensing to AV system design and installation. We have a project-based learning curriculum aligned with Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, and we offer both high-tech permanent installations and mobile solutions for instruction in just about any learning space available.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love our diversity and the friendly spirit of the people of Houston. When I’m in other major cities similar in size to Houston, I always feel like people are competing with the city itself, but Houston doesn’t feel that way. It feels like a big town, and it’s easy to form working and personal relationships here, and that’s because the people are so nice. What I don’t like about Houston is that we are a few years behind when it comes to interactive, multimedia artwork, and I think a big reason why is that arts funding in Houston has been heavily skewed towards safe-bet, visual art projects. We have great museums, the quality of visiting interactive art installations is growing, and now it’s time to support homegrown interactive art projects.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.justaddbeats.com
- Email: andrew@yawprecords.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/icanjab/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndyRooniverse/
- Twitter: twitter.com/andrewkarnavas
- Other: www.andyrooniverse.com
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
