This article was published in Issue 5 of Volume 68 of The Mirador.
Next fall, music teacher Carl Oser will introduce the Acalanes School District’s first Digital Music Production (DMP) class. Students will use computer-based technologies, such as loops, chop and reverse, samples, and live audio to create original music. Oser currently teaches AP Music Theory, Vocal & Instrumental Music, Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, Musical Theater Workshop, and Jazz Band.
Oser began planning the class in spring 2024, prior to working at Miramonte. “When I got hired here, maybe my first email or my second email was, hey, can we get started on that digital music production proposal?” Oser said.
In the course, students will study contemporary music — including Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, Drake — to develop their own musical style and sounds. The class will be collaborative, allowing students of all experience levels to work together. Oser also hopes DMP will collaborate with other music classes, just as the other music classes currently do. For example, in the musical, the pit orchestra involved students in both jazz band and AP Music Theory, both of whom also collaborated with the performers and stagecraft. “Our music courses in general and the department as a whole…[are] a community.”
Students will use the software Soundtrap to create their music and podcasts. Soundtrap’s various features include a patterns beatmaker, vocal tuning, and plug-and-play, where users connect their own microphone or instrument to the app. It is cloud-based, so students can access it on any computer, including at home.
During the Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) Day in October, Link Crew leaders and first-years explored Soundtrap, designing their own beats and rhythms. The VPA day excited many prospective students and Link Leaders about the class. “Based on the Link Crew Day, I think it’ll be an interesting class,” senior and Link Leader Mia Kimball said. “We used this software [Soundtrap] to make a beat, and then he [Oser] put it on the whiteboard so that a girl could sing to it. I thought it was fun.”
One unit Oser is particularly excited for is the Make-Your-Own Song Explorer Podcast, where students will reflect on interviews with mainstream artists to create their own musical podcast about their identities. The episodes will feature students’ musical compositions and audio biographies.
Since 2019, Miramonte’s music enrollment rates have dropped from over 200 students to approximately 75 students. Oser hopes the class will combat these trends. “[Students] connect with music through listening to hours of recorded music a day. At…Miramonte HS, enrollment in music courses has declined in the past five years, not reflecting students’ larger interest in music,” Oser said in his Digital Music Production proposal.
Music enrollment rates are already on the rise thanks to DMP. “I like music. I think it’s fun. Plus, you have to have a good balance between academic and fun classes and music is a good way to have a class that can do that for you,” sophomore and future-music-student Kathryn Nguyn said.
Oser – a vocalist and pianist — has loved music his entire life. From 2021-2022, he performed in the 24-member, LA-based vocal ensemble Tonality. There, he performed on the soundtrack to a National Geographic series and at the Walt Disney Concert Hall to promote social justice, empathy, and community activism. He started teaching at USC through their outreach program, before teaching in Quito, Ecuador at Berklee College of Music. “I wanted a way to be able to do what I love professionally [music] and I love teaching. So I think it’s a really good combination that I get to help other people become their best musical selves,” Oser said.
Engaging in music combats loneliness, fosters community, and reduces stress.“Students these days have a lot of pressures on them to be so many different things for so many different people. Music is a great way to ground ourselves in who we are. So if you’re interested, you have the opportunity to take a class that will make you feel good, will make you be around people that make you feel good, and that will allow you to listen to music that you like.”
