The Beat Club at Scarlett Middle School is a weekly music technology workshop for students in grades 6-8. The students work with adult mentors to learn music production using both software on their school-issued devices as well as modular synthesizers provided by Media Ensemble. The program was created to provide youth an alternate path to engagement in the arts, outside of the traditional band, orchestra and choir model, which is not always accessible, culturally relevant or inclusive to all youth. In Ann Arbor Public Schools, youth of color are grossly underrepresented in the established high school music programs. Furthermore, these traditional programs do not offer youth an opportunity to compose original music, nor do they incorporate STEAM integration. By providing an alternative model for creating music, particularly following a youth-driven model by allowing students to choose what genre or style of music they wish to create, we can reach many of the students who have not previously been served by traditional music education.

Goals of the project:

● Increase engagement of youth of color in music technology programs;

● Develop a flexible curriculum that uses modular synthesis as a tool for STEAM learning;

● Provide educators tools and skills to use music and multimedia technology in the classroom;

● Create online resources to support project sustainability.