This past summer, the Manhattan Producers Alliance (aka Manhatpro), New York City’s premier collective of award winning composers and music producers, launched SoundBites, a music technology camp for middle school students. SoundBites was developed to foster personal expression and provide tools for working in a collaborative environment.
“SoundBites provides intensive instruction in music production and songwriting using an immersive, rapid-results approach,” says Joe Carroll, founder of SoundBites and Manhatpro. “We teach the creative, technical and interpersonal skills needed to create pro quality, original music productions using inexpensive consumer technology. The kids collaborate with each other to compose, write lyrics, perform the tracks, produce, engineer— everything—with a bit of help from the award-winning professionals at the Manhattan Producers Alliance.”
The camp took place the week of June 18, 2007. Collaboration, songwriting and recording workshops provided the backdrop for a week of intensive music production. From start to finish, every aspect of a four-minute song was written, recorded and performed by the campers. The talented group also designed their own CD covers. All of the music was produced using Apple Computer’s GarageBand software.
Future plans for the program include after-school versions of the camp, an expanded multimedia camp slated for summer 2008, and professional development/teacher training programs intended to make the curriculum widely available.
“Without a doubt, SoundBites stands among the most important work we’ve done at The Manhattan Producers Alliance,” Carroll concludes.
For more information, visit www.manhatpro.com/education/soundbites.
