Julia Ramos’ beatboxing career began when she was 13 years old. During a routine YouTube visit, Ramos stumbled upon a video of beatboxer Joel Turner from the 2003 season of “Australian Idol” and, having never heard beatboxing before, was intrigued by his unfamiliar sounds. Read more...

Photo: Graduating fourth-year Design | Media Arts student and Random Voices beatboxer Julia Ramos was featured on a “Pitch Perfect 2” CoverGirl commercial and placed in the top 16 twice in the American Beatbox Championship. (Lisa O’Brien/Daily Bruin)

A spruce top can do more than make classical guitars sound clearer and crisper. It can capture the essence of the musician by morphing its resonance to the style of the player. Read more...

Photo: Coming to UCLA, fifth-year music performance student Tung Vu had no music theory background, causing him to fall behind in his classical guitar studies and lose motivation. However, he said he purchased a custom-made guitar to revive his passion for music and went from wanting to drop out of school to graduating. (Max Himmelrich/Daily Bruin)