By Peter Leggett, Walker West Music Academy

This February, Walker West Music Academy began the new Young Artist Professional Training Program, a program giving young artists the chance to compose, record and produce an album of original music. Program participants just completed the first section where they’ve composed five original jazz tunes with the support of Walker West jazz director Felix James. Students have described the experience of working to compose their own music as amazing and as something they’ve never envisioned doing before. Students found that the greatest challenges were in building  melodies, harmonies, arrangements and structures within a group setting but ultimately found this to be the most rewarding part.

Now that students have composed and begun to rehearse these brand new original tunes, they’ll begin the recording process.  Walker West faculty member David Billingsley will be leading this section and will help students learn about the intricacies of Pro Tools recording software. Using the Academy’s computer music workstations, students with then embark upon a series of recording sessions to capture the tunes they have composed.  This section will present the unique challenge of providing students real time feedback on their performances as well as the opportunity to fine tune each composition before committing to a final take.  Mixing and mastering will follow before students move onto the final section of producing an album.

Academy faculty member Solomon Parham will work with students to take the mixed and mastered recordings and create a fully packaged album. Students will design original artwork and design all packaging before submitting for duplication.  Finally, students will work with Solomon to book a final gig to showcase the tunes they’ve created as well as promote the new record they’ve created. Stay tuned for videos!

Go to www.WalkerWestMusicAcademy.org for more information or call 651-224-2929.