Tennessee Music Programs Produce Digital Works

Students in music programs across Williamson County use music production software to compose original works.

Music classes in Williamson County in Tennessee are nearly silent. Instead of playing instruments, students are using computers in music class to compose songs, podcasts and more, in an effort to learn production skills that are used in today’s music industry.

Heritage Middle School is the youngest of several schools in Williamson County to have a digital music program that uses computer software. Students in the program create digital music products by utilizing MIXCRAFT, music production software, and MIDI keyboards that plug into the computer to create melodies. The program allows students the opportunity to publish their works.

According to the digital music course description, works will be created using the following methods:

  • Organizing pre-recorded music loops;
  • Creating unique music loops using virtual instruments such as synthesizers;
  • Recording and importing live music performances;
  • Improvising melodies using virtual and acoustic instruments;
  • Creating and incorporating audio and video clips;
  • Re-mixing existing works; and
  • Producing podcasts.

Larry Dickens, a band teacher who leads Heritage’s music digital music program, told the Tennessean that he started the program four years ago when he was looking to teach music beyond traditional avenues. “Most music is digitally produced today,” he said.

Heritage is one of several schools in the county with a digital music program. Renaissance High School has a recording studio and offers courses that teach audio production. In addition, Page Middle School has a music technology program.

Further information about the computer software is available on the MIXCRAFT site.  

About the Author

Sri Ravipati is Web producer for THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  •  laptop on a clean desk with digital padlock icon on the screen

    Data Privacy a Top Concern as Orgs Scale Up AI Agents

    As organizations race to integrate AI agents into their cloud operations and workflows, they face a crucial reality: while enthusiasm is high, major adoption barriers remain, according to a new Cloudera report. Chief among them is the challenge of safeguarding sensitive data.

  • chart with ascending bars and two silhouetted figures observing it, set against a light background with blue and purple tones

    Report: Enterprises Are Embracing Agentic AI

    According to a new report from SnapLogic, 50% of enterprises are already deploying AI agents, and another 32% plan to do so within the next 12 months..

  • stacks of glowing digital documents with circuit patterns and data streams

    Mistral AI Intros Advanced AI-Powered OCR

    French AI startup Mistral AI has announced Mistral OCR, an advanced optical character recognition (OCR) API designed to convert printed and scanned documents into digital files with "unprecedented accuracy."

  • student using a tablet with math symbols dissolving into a glowing AI

    Survey: Students Say AI Use Can Reduce Math Anxiety

    In a recent survey, 56% of high school students said that the use of artificial intelligence can go a long way toward reducing math anxiety.