Not every aspiring young composer sits beneath a bust of Bach or Beethoven. An imposing crucifix looms over the students in a classroom at St. Ignatius Loyola Academy in the 700 block of N. Calvert Street in Mount Vernon. The instruments blessed by the presence of that crucifix include bongo drums, a tambourine, and a piano. Also hanging on the wall are framed essays by Thurgood Marshall and Malcolm X.

Just a short walk from the Peabody campus, this is the inspirational setting for a "Junior Bach" program in which Peabody student composers mentor primarily African-American 6th- through 8th-graders at this all-boys private school. The youngsters develop their musical ideas during weekly after-school lessons, the Peabody student composers capture these ideas in notated form, and then other Peabody students collaborate to perform the middle schoolers' compositions in concerts held at Peabody.

Among the pieces crafted last spring was Angels Harmony, whose composer, Keon Smith, is a slightly built and very serious-looking 12-year-old.

He's initially shy when talking about the piece but soon opens up, and the words bubble out with quiet enthusiasm: "Before I actually completed it, my godmother got in a car accident and I meant it especially for her," he says. "She's OK now. After what happened, I decided to dedicate it to her. I wanted the harp with piano and drums. I chose the harp, because it plays a peaceful harmony. And I also chose a flute, because I have my own flute and play it now and then. It also has a peaceful harmony. And the drums are like thunder," he says, noting a section of the score marked "extended solo—thunderstorm," which is achieved with a thunderous piano and vigorous drumbeats. Keon continues, "The composers helped me to hear how it would sound, and we go in steps as we work on it. They're there for me when I make a mistake and they help me with the sound. It's a chance for me to learn music."

Keon's words are music to the ears of St. Ignatius Loyola Academy administrators, who want to provide life-altering options for students who often face significant challenges in their city neighborhoods.

"One of our basic goals is to provide care for the whole child," says principal Christopher H. Wilson. The after-school Junior Bach program "provides them an opportunity to be creative," he says appreciatively.

The junior composition program is the brainchild of Kevin Clark, 23, who graduated last May with a bachelor's in music composition from Peabody and a bachelor's in philosophy from Hopkins' Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. As a leader of Peabody's Mu Phi Epsilon music fraternity, Clark was intent on finding a community outreach program that truly reached young students in Baltimore.

"When it came to the chapter doing community service, I didn't just want us to paint a wall," says Clark with a smile. He notes that Mu Phi Epsilon is something of an anomaly at Peabody (which might help explain its T-shirt logo: "Peabody Athletics — Still Undefeated"). The music frat "has no hazing at all," he says, and on the weekends, "we get together and have fondue at our parties."

Each semester since the program started in 2006, several Peabody student composers volunteered to work with about 10 St. Ignatius middle schoolers in weekly lessons. Roughly a dozen more Peabody student performers got involved for the culminating concert. The Peabody participants include both undergraduate and graduate students, and not all are members of the fraternity.

Building on its initial success, the program has now been listed as a course in the Conservatory catalog for 2007, allowing Peabody students to receive credit for their volunteer efforts.

At a concert rehearsal last spring, the lanky, pale, and sandal-clad Clark towers over the Catholic school students. He and his Peabody compatriots are casually dressed, a striking contrast to the smartly attired St. Ignatius students, in their pale blue shirts, maroon ties, tan slacks, and black shoes. A mirror hanging in the classroom is flanked by small signs advising, "Check yourself" and "Tuck in your shirt."

In the year-plus he's spent coordinating the Junior Bach program, Clark says he's been continually impressed by the youngsters' creativity. "These students don't have formal training, but they have ideas. They don't know notation, but they have instinct," he says. "We supply the experience in getting those ideas into notated form."

"These are the students' original compositions," he emphasizes. "We just supply what it takes 20 years to learn. We don't have the time to give them the whole experience, but we give them the experience of working on a professional level. Organizing their creativity is the most important experience."

The boys almost uniformly come up with short compositions that reflect their high energy levels, prompting Clark to note that "almost every piece has drums." He pauses, then adds: "I'm always surprised at how good the pieces are. I'm always blown away. They're not big on development, but the pieces are only two or three minutes long. I'm astounded at the quality of musical ideas, and how many of them have a balance between hip-hop and classical music."

The experience also has taught Clark and his Peabody pals how to apply aspects of their own musical education.

"When you teach, you don't say that something's bad, but that their composition will make the audience or performers react a certain way, and that may not be what the composer really wants," he says. "It's important for the students to realize that what we say is based on experience, not taste. And if a student, for example, writes a rap saying he doesn't like school, we point out that it might not go over so well at a concert with teachers and parents there. It's all about being supportive."

The weekly lessons during the school year are an incremental way for the students to gain greater awareness of the compositional process: "The students get more familiar with what we're doing, bit by bit," Clark says. "Knowing how to organize your thoughts for music is important. Although notation is not taught, they start to retain information. They recognize their music on the page. They can tell it's their piece."

Among the Peabody student performers bringing the music alive at last spring's concert was Sean Cunningham, 22, who graduated in May with an undergraduate degree in violin performance.

"It's really cool," Cunningham says, during a break from that concert's rehearsal. "Basically, the kids have the raw talent. It's great to try to expand and nurture it as much as we can. These kids are our future."

One of the most promising young student composers is Tariq Al-Sabir, a precocious 13-year-old who graduated from St. Ignatius Loyola last spring. He takes piano lessons at the Preparatory, sings in a community choir at the Eubie Blake National Jazz and Cultural Center in Mount Vernon, and this fall will attend the Baltimore School for the Arts.

Tariq's contribution to last spring's concert was an ambitious piece, What Makes a Song Take Flight. Its orchestration features a string quartet with Sean Cunningham as one of the violinists, and also a guitar played by David Cohen, who graduated in May with an undergraduate degree in composition and recording arts. One of the piece's vocal parts includes Tariq as the tenor.

Tariq's eclectic musical influences include such semi-classical sources as Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway musical Phantom of the Opera. Inspired by a keyboard that his grandmother gave him for his 10th birthday, Tariq is a prolific composer.

"I would be on the bus and music would come into my head," he says. "I've got about 30 songs now. A lot of them are vocal, and some are just music. A lot of my songs have really deep meanings. Peace is a theme."

Principal Wilson says that for Tariq, as well as the other St. Ignatius students who have completed the Junior Bach program, the positive effects have been immediate—and they promise to be long-lasting.

"There's definitely a confidence in Tariq. He lives and breathes music," Wilson says. "This has given him a creative outlet he needs and has changed his life."