I created curricula, digital strategy and managed partnerships for the inaugural Notes For Life Signature Program at Microsoft's New York Flagship Store.
Session 1: 1/17/17
We introduced ourselves to the students and exposed them to their digital music production suite through videos, demos and hands-on participation.
Session 2: 1/24/17
We explored the influence of African Culture on modern music and the origins of Electronic Dance Music. Our guest, Scratch DJ Academy instructor & New Museum resident artist, Vyle explained the relationship between the two cultures with a brief survey of House, Techno and electronic music tech. We then split into groups and attempted to fuse Afrobeat loops with EDM sounds.
Session 3: 1/26/17
We explored the modern musician's team through a survey of pop music, the business model of making things popular and a conversation with our guest, rapper Sincere DaVinci and his manager & publicist, Heather West. We broke into groups and did a collaboration exercise, allowing the students to mock team roles in preparation for next week's production challenge.
Session 4: 2/3/17
We explored the various national cultures of Asia and attempted to fuse their indigenous sounds with those of Country, which is rooted in the folk music of European immigrants to the US.
Session 5: 2/8/17
We explored the indigenous culture of Australia and sampled its instruments, then reviewed the evolution of Jazz through its movements and luminaries. Following a survey of women in jazz, we found parallels between the South Asian influence in Alice Coltrane's music, and the folk music of Australia. Our students finally attempted their own fusions, with exciting results.
Session 6: 3/3/17
We surveyed Hip-Hop and explored the present state of Russia and its cultural implications to create a 30 second ad tailoring the sounds of the genre to a Russian demographic.
