A culturally responsive online learning platform for songwriting, performance, and music production.
Like many other artists and people in our profession, 2020 was a year that was rich with promise, full of in person engagements and exciting performances, yet it had all disappeared…. seemingly overnight. Not only was the world plagued by a new virus that we knew nothing about, people were sick and all of our financial opportunities disappeared. For a moment things were dark. We didn't know much about this thing….Covid...newly introduced into mass consciousness, but we knew we didn’t like what it was doing to our lives and the people around us.
Our journey in creating a vehicle for joy, transformation and learning.
As difficult as it was, we decided we couldn’t be paralyzed by the uncertainty and despair of the moment. We had to figure out how to pivot if we were to remain committed to our musical and social mission. Prior to the pandemic, we were commissioned by Carnegie Hall to create Make A Joyful Noize, a one-time live performance of original songs that focused on Black joy through a musical and visual presentation. Due to COVID-19, this show became indefinitely postponed. Our minds raced as we asked ourselves, “How can Make a Joyful Noize still exist in a virtual context?” Our charge, after all, is to inspire our people, young people and people in general to center joy and purpose in their creativity and lives! This show and idea was needed now more than ever! After some reflection, a new vision emerged. We re-imagined the project as a digital offering complete with a visual album, documentary. Not only would we create dope music, accompanied by dope visuals but we would create a dope curriculum that showed people how we created what we created all while they learned the technical skills needed for songwriting and music production.
This general shift in paradigm inspired us to create something new, a seamless way to teach remotely….leading to the creation of the Soul Science University, a self-paced online learning tool for songwriting, performance and music production. This became the vehicle we would use to share our passion for education in a way that anyone could experience anywhere at any time.
With over 200 minutes of on demand educational videos, over 50 lessons and activities, these self paced master classes have already created an impact with countless educators and students. All of the courses are culturally responsive with countless activities and worksheets to make sure educators have all the resources they need to help their students tell their story in empowering and authentic ways.
Learn more at SoulScienceLab.com/courses