Photos From Truth About the Booth
Thanks to everyone who came to the Truth About the Booth workshop, and a special thanks to our panelists: Herman Pearl, Riccardo Schulz, E-Nyse, Freestyle and J Armstead Brown.
Arts Greenhouse Workshop Announcement
Truth About the Booth:
How To Record Hip-Hop Like A Pro
For those of us outside the music industry, “the booth” is the sound isolation room in which a vocalist records their performance. Movies and TV shows give us a glimpse of how professional artists record in the booth, but their full process is rarely revealed.
On Friday, February 19th, the Arts Greenhouse will be cracking open the world of hip-hop recording and sharing insight into what goes on beyond the studio door. The event will feature talented rappers, hip-hop producers, and recording engineers from across the region—including Freestyle, Riccardo Schulz, Soy Sos, and J. Armstead Brown. Poet Luqman Abdus-salaam will moderate a panel discussion, followed by a recording demo with rapper Freestyle. Participants will have an opportunity to engage with professionals, ask questions, and learn how tracks are produced.
The workshop aims to empower young people by helping them understand how to create their own music. The Arts Greenhouse believes that hip-hop can be a vehicle for artistic, social and economic empowerment by enabling teens to own and create their own culture. The potential of hip-hop is often obscured by the sensationalized and corporate hip-hop that reaches mainstream magazines and TV often obscures the real potential of this art. The Arts Greenhouse is committed to building positive hip-hop culture from the ground up by working directly with teens.
All teens and university students interested in recording hip-hop or being a producer of any sort are invited to participate!
The event will take place at Carnegie Mellon’s College of Fine Arts Building, Room A6 (the recording studio) between 4:30pm—6:30pm. For more information contact the Amos Levy at (412) 268-5269 or visit .
click for map and info on the featured guests:
Free Download – Teaching Music With Reason
This past Fall I learned that Propellerhead Software had made their “Teaching Music with Reason” package available as a free downloadable package. Ostensibly, they made this decision because Teaching Music with Reason was not updated for their most recent software version. Rather than totally scrap the package, they took a philanthropic step to give it to the education community. However, the company has wavered in their noble intentions, as the software download link on their website no longer works.
Since Teaching Music with Reason can no longer be found for download anywhere on the internet, I’ve decided to make it available through the Arts Greenhouse page. Click the following link to download: http://www.divshare.com/download/10326250-9a2
Reason is the primary program that the Arts Greenhouse uses to teach hip-hop music composition. We are working on adapting portions of Teaching Music with Reason for our workshops. If you have made your own adaptations, are interested in comparing notes, or have any related questions, feel free to contact us.
Arts Greenhouse Workshop Announcement
Time To Build: Hip-Hop And Community
“A Queen and Pittsburgh Teens Present the Positive Potential of Hip-Hop”
On Friday, January 22, 5:30pm, teens, families, and community members are invited to participate in a free, two-hour concert/workshop at Homewood-Brushton YMCA. The event—presented by The Arts Greenhouse (Carnegie Mellon) and The Westinghouse Lighthouse Project (YMCA)—will feature award winning singer, poet, playwright, and rapper, Queen Godis, alongside performances by local teens. The event’s goal is to showcase the community building potential of hip-hop music.
The event will kickoff with an introduction from poet, educator, and activist Luqman Abdus-salaam. His talk will address the potential of hip-hop for community building by bringing people together and carrying empowering messages. Examples of positive hip-hop will be performed by teens from 4 different after-school programs, Arts Greenhouse, Westinghouse Lighthouse, Hip-Hop on L.O.C.K. and Community Empowerment Studios. Visiting Pittsbugh from Brookyn, NY, for this Friday evening performance, Queen Godis will take the stage to present her own music and messages. Throughout her career, Queen Godis has mastered the art of bridging diverse audiences with art that is as spirit moving as it is thought-provoking. She has worked as an education consultant, youth mentor, and guest lecturer at schools and universities across the US. In 2007, she coached a NYC teen poetry slam team to the top 3 in national competition.
