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Heads bobbed and drumsticks swung through the air as Shamir Jeng, an 18-year-old senior at James Hubert Blake High School in Silver Spring, pounded out a tune on the keyboard. Following their instructor's suggestion, the teens "vibed out" to the tune, just one layer of a song they produced after school last week.

It was go-go day in the music room at Paint Branch High School, explained Jordan Lloyd, a senior and the school's drum captain for the marching band. A sub-group of the county recreation department's Sports Academy after-school program has almost 10 high school students learning to produce their own music, a skill instructor Collin Fotia says is valuable but can be expensive to learn.

"My whole goal is to empower them early," Fotia said. "The music game is just crazy." Fotia said many of the students didn't realize how many steps went into laying down a track until he started their recording sessions several weeks ago.

Fotia is the regional director of recording arts and technology for the Bethesda-based music school Bach to Rock. He's volunteering with the students to create several tracks, one of which will be featured at the Department of Recreation's talent show in December.

"Cool, we're ready to rock it," he said, as the kids assembled into their roles, some on drums, some on keyboards and some strategically holding microphones. "Combine the best of analog and digital, that's how we do it."

The teens say Fotia's "music chemistry" has helped their sound develop. His constant reminders to keep the beats simple seem to help the song from getting out of control.

"It's just a group of people getting together and making their own music," Lloyd explained. "For a lot of us, it's a pretty big deal to be able to make your own music — to play a CD and say, ‘That's mine.'"

At the end of the last school year, a few students expressed interest in learning how to lay down beats and layer vocals, so Recreation Specialist and academy head Jewell Lyons called Fotia. Lyons said having a volunteer leading the program is a win-win because it saves the recreation department, which funds the academy, from having to spend extra money.

She said she uses the program to motivate the students to keep their grades up. Students with below a 2.0 grade point average must also attend an academic support program to be able to produce tracks with Fotia, she said. Lyons also said she has a personal goal of empowering each student with a skill they can use after high school.

"Everybody's not going to be highly successful academically, so [it's important] to find a niche in something they love to do that takes them to another level," she said.

Each week, the teens say more and more people have popped their head into the room, asking to join.

Shamir Jeng is one of them. A member of a local go-go band, he said he plays the keyboard, drums, timbales and bass. A few friends told him about the group, so he checked out the group after school last week.

"I looked in and said, ‘Yes! I could do this,'" he said. It was his first time in the recording sessions, but he already helped give the tracks a go-go vibe through his part on the keyboard.

The group meets twice a week and usually creates two or three songs each session, Fotia said. And the number of kids showing up just keeps growing, he added.

"These kids are just extremely talented, and they're just coming out of the woodwork every day," Fotia said.