iCreate Music Workshops by the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica – Nurturing Young Musical Creatives
Despite our country’s size, Jamaican music is LARGE across the globe. Check on any music chart and you will find foreign artists who have created their own brand of reggae or music that is directly influenced by our dancehall, dub or ska.
Jamaican music is a powerful force yet, so few are properly educated on the fundamentals of making music, the industry and how to launch a profitable career. The iCreate Music workshop is a creative experience launched by the Broadcasting Commission in February 2014 to attract and hone musically inclined students aged 13 through to 21 years old. Through rigorous yet innovative weekend sessions, students will refine their musical and creative skills in an actual studio via sessions curated by some of the local music industry’s top professionals and performing artistes.
iCreate Music intends to bring together like-minded young musicians based on their natural talents — playing an instrument, lyric writing or singing — and aspirations in music to learn, exchange creative ideas and collaboratively create an original song. Throughout the series, 10 of the participants who sign up will explore the mechanics of song with special emphasis on popular song formats, build their vocabulary, become familiar with creative practices of songwriters and be introduced to the business of music.
For six sessions every weekend, iCreate Music sessions will take place at Grafton Studios operated by popular songwriter and producer, Michael ‘Mikey’ Bennett. The facility, located at the beginning of Grafton Road in Vineyard Town, features a main studio with an accompanying voicing room, three (3) rehearsal rooms and a writing room. The studio was selected as it is recognised in the industry as being the best for vocal sound and recording and is equipped with basic to advanced tools and instruments for song creation. By the end of the series, participants would have collaboratively created an original song that will be filmed as a music video.
Participants, their parents, friends and fans in the Broadcasting Commission’s online community will be able to follow the iCreate Music series via it’s website and the BCJ’s Youtube page every week.
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