Fourth and 5th grade students gathered inside a recording studio at the famous Capitol Records building in Hollywood on Tuesday morning to record contemporary and classic pop songs — thanks to their music teacher’s connection.

Students from Noble Avenue Elementary in North Hills recorded inside Studio B at the famous Capitol Records building Tuesday morning. Their chorus instructor, Avah Ham, arranged the visit. (photo by Luis Rivas)

Avah Ham, a music instructor with the Los Angeles Unified School District for the past seven years and chorus instructor at Noble Avenue Elementary School in North Hills has been bringing her students to the Capitol Records building’s Studio B for the past three years. Ham’s longtime friend, Paula Salvatore, is vice president of Capitol Studios.

“We’ve known each other for 20 years. One day, we started talking about bringing my students to record. We’ve been doing it ever since,” Ham said.

Capitol Records only charged Ham for the sound engineers time. The studio time, which is $400 per hour for a four-hour minimum, was donated.

The students fundraised hundreds of dollars to pay for the sound engineers.

The students chose from 10 Beatles songs that Ham selected for her chorus class to record. They chose “Eleanor Rigby” from the 1966 album “Revolver”. The Beatles recorded most of their albums on the Capitol Records label.

Additionally, students recorded “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift and “Best Day of My Life” by American Authors.

Liat Broome, a pupil services and attendance counselor at Noble Avenue Elementary School, accompanied the students and teachers to the recording studio.

“We have a chorus program at our school, which the kids love. These are low-income students with talent and with parents who have had limited education,” Broome said.

Valerie Munoz was one of nearly 40 students who visited the recording studio. Munoz said she loves to sing and was excited when she learned that she would be going to the Capitol Records building to record songs with her friends.

“I really like singing and being with my friends. It’s fun,” Munoz said.

Juanita Valdez, a 1st grade teacher at Noble Avenue Elementary School, said Beatles songs were selected because of their positive messages.

“There’s no cussing, no sexism. They have messages in the songs,” Valdez said. “I’m here to support my students — many of them were my students in 1st grade and now they’re in 5th grade.”

Daniela Hernandez, a 5th grade student at Noble Avenue Elementary School, wants to continue singing after elementary school.

“I really like it. It’s fun. I want to be a professional singer when I grow up,” Hernandez said.

Ham said that encouraging students to go into the arts not only can build a child’s creativity, it can keep them out of trouble.

“Arts can raise people in their situation and give them hope for the future. If they get into the arts, it could give them a group to hang with that has positive direction,” Ham said.