Berklee College of Music’s new Berklee Shares is a programthat provides free music lessons and encourages musicians to share anddistribute these music lessons online. The Berklee Shares lessons arefree and are made up of a growing catalog of MP3s, QuickTime movies andPDF files from curriculum developed at the college. The lessons areavailable for free download on www.berkleeshares.com, affiliate partner sites andpeer-to-peer networks including LimeWire and KaZaA.
According to the school, the program is designed to create an openexchange of ideas for musicians everywhere and to evangelize theInternet as a means to gain unprecedented access to quality education.Berklee believes that digital distribution networks will have asignificant impact on the future of music and music education.
“Berklee Shares was born out of Berklee’s commitment to furtheringmusic education through innovative means,” said Dave Kusek, associateVP. “Offering free education on the Internet and through file-sharingnetworks underscores the college’s core belief that these channels arean effective way to openly distribute meaningful educational content toa global audience. It also serves as a powerful promotional platformfor artists to market, distribute and sell their music.”
The Berklee Shares program launches with more than 80 music lessonsspanning instrument performance, music production and technology,songwriting and arranging, music business and careers, music educationand music improvisation. The number of lessons offered will increaseover time. The project will use licenses provided by Creative Commons.”Berklee College of Music will prove to many the innovation andeducation that can be supported through a more balanced system ofrights,” said Lawrence Lessig, chairman of Creative Commons. “We arehonored to help Berklee College of Music spread educational contentbroadly.”
For more information, visit Berklee online at www.berklee.edu orvisit Creative Commons at creativecommons.org. For more education-relatedstories, visit mixonline.com/education_articles/index.htm. Perusethrough this year’s “Audio Education Guide” at mixonline.com/ar/audio_audio_education_programs/index.htm.
