From trap tunes to pop hits, the music production course creates pieces in a variety of styles. Students are given access to professional grade equipment and softwares, as well as multiple opportunities to showcase their work.

“Honestly, it was kind of the just the drive to like make things that made me join,” junior, Holden Parker said. “I really wanted to be a game developer. So I thought if I’m gonna make a game, I’m gonna have to write music for it. So I thought I’d go just try it out, write music and it just kind of went from there.” 

The music production room has 16 Mac lab stations, each equipped with the Ableton Live software, which is an industry standard digital audio workstation (DAW). Each station also includes a midi keyboard, which allows students to digitally produce hundreds of sounds on one keyboard.

“I’d say just getting a chance to work with the audio stuff and working with Ableton and learning the software and stuff, being able to produce music on there. That’s just my favorite part,” senior, Michael Amzayan said. “Actually making the music is so cool. The creative process is very interesting.”

While some music theory is taught in the class, students are not required to come into the course with any previous music or theory experience. The class used to require an application, but is now open to anyone who signs up on a first-come-first-serve basis.

“I’ve had students come in with absolutely zero keyboard or music theory experience and they figure out enough to get by,” instructor, Kristine Coreil said. “And I have some that have great keyboard experience and then they’re just adding to it.”

Students are free to creatively express themselves through a myriad of music genres. The course includes units for trap music, movie scoring, Christmas remixes, pop tunes, and more. Students can also sample or reference music from their favorite artists in their work.

“I’m more of an R&B and rap guy, but the pop unit was pretty fun because my song came out pretty good that time,” Amzayan said. “But they’re all [the units] pretty good, I have to say.”

Production students are offered the chance to create their own DJ sets and present them during certain Friday lunches. Principal Dustin Toth is currently looking into expanding this opportunity by purchasing the program professional turntables and lighting. He also seeks to eventually expand their DJ abilities to pep rallies and school dances.

“You know, it was kind of scary at first, like going up on stage and presenting in front of people, Amzayan said. “That went away eventually when I realized people are actually starting to like it. It’s kind of just YOLO at this point. I’d say that was definitely a very interesting experience, but it was definitely worth it.”

Students in the class also put together 4-6 minute radio sets which are currently aired on Grove Media’s “Wildcats Waves Radio”. This station is available for teachers to play in classes, and plays during passing periods and lunches.

“I was actually leaving school and I decided to stop at the restroom. And out of the corner of my ear is my song playing out of nowhere,” Parker said. “I ended up grabbing my phone and taking a video because I was like, there’s no way my song is playing radio.”

Coreil seeks to provide even further performance events for students by creating school-wide “beat battles” next year. These battles would allow students to compete against each other and perform or play their creations live.

“I’ve had a few people record their own drum parts at home on a drum set and then bring it into Ableton and write other stuff around it,” Coreil said. “And we’re gonna get more into that because next year we plan to have some beat battles that are school wide and then it can be a combination of what you’re doing on Ableton and a live performance.”

The fulfills the fine art credit requirement. It will also expand by adding another class period section next year, making a total of three available class periods.

“I’m gonna be like a mechanical engineer when I’m older, and obviously that means I take a lot of like STEM oriented classes. I find myself oftentimes doing lots of math work or just that kind of logical training, and you need to be able to do something like that. I do that a lot,” Amzayan said. “This kind of gives me that break from that, like using that part of my brain. This is so creative. So I’d say it’s a good break from your school, just being able to come in and being able to produce music and stuff and just make what sounds good come to life in like a really cool way.”