It’s the New Year and what greater way to celebrate than taking a trip around the world vicariously through music?! For 2019, Sunburst Rocks Band will grab their passports and learn songs from international artists and bands that inspire young Americans! Your band will get to hand pick their favorite international songs to play, as well as writing original songs, recording and performing our own live concerts. To go with the international music theme, we’re encouraging our young musicians to research their favorite bands and find those who originate from different countries to share with their group.
Durand Jones & The Indications are the leaders of the new “deep soul” movement coming out of the midwest. Their record company, Colemine, specializes in a curated collection of modern soul and funk music. Where the self titled record shines the most is its unabashed authenticity and realness. This doesn't feel like a rehash, but a new spin on an old classic. Jones’ singing is matched by the swing of his band. If that isn't enough, check out drummer Joe Jones falsetto on the track “Is it Any Wonder?”.
TL;DR: Want to feel like you’re on Queens Blvd in 1959? Put on this record.
Key Tracks: Make A Change, Giving Up, Can’t Keep My Cool
See performances from your favorite Sunburst Instructors!
Chloe, Max
Working Breed Music Video Release w/ Wreck Loose - Spirit Lodge - Fri, Dec 14th
Chloe, Kiki, Shane, Max
WYEP Holiday Hootenanny - August Wilson Center - Thu, Dec 6th
See performances from your favorite Sunburst Instructors!
Jonathan C
Hedwig and the Angry Inch - Pittsburgh Musical Theater - Begins Fri, Nov 9th
Chloe, Ben R.
The Friday Night Special - Market Square - Nov 16th
Chloe, Kevin
Chloe Wiecz Collective - Cattivo - Sat, Dec 1st
See performances from your favorite Sunburst Instructors!
Max
Wreck Loose - "Trapped in the Basement" Single and Video Release - Spirit - Fri, Oct 26th
Shane
Buffalo Rose w/ Pokey Lafarge - The Rex Theatre - Sat, Oct 13th
Sunburst is well, partnering with the CMU Cognitive Development Lab to help with some studies involving learning in adolescence. If you’re interested in having your child be a part of one of their studies, please find and complete the questionnaire in our waiting room and be a part of some exciting and important research!
You’ve been working hard, practicing and perfecting your craft, now it’s time to hit the stage and perform! Recitals at Sunburst are the most fun time of the year, when all of our students showcase their musical growth with their peers, their friends and their families. Whether you’ve been at it for years, or just learned your first melody last week, it’s never too early in your career to start sharing your music with an accepting audience.
Sunburst Students! Send us a video of you practicing or performing something you've been working on, cover or original and we'll post it to our instagram on #tunesday! Send submissions to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
This years Camp Studio was the biggest and most fun yet! We had a great team of creative young musicians and producers, who really worked hard on the camp's number one goal: making an album in a week. We began with songwriting on Monday and moved our creations through the music production process throughout the week, including basic tracking, overdubs, mixing and mastering. We also crafted music videos for a few of our songs and put on an all original concert for friends and family!
Here's our album:
And music videos for "Friends" and "Dead Dancer":
At the request of some of our campers, here are the stems for some of our tracks. "stems" are the individual tracks that make up a song, which can be used for making your own remixes. Basically each layer of the song becomes it's own audio file, all of which are exactly the same length, so that when you load it into your favorite DAW software (check out Sunburst's Music Production Buyers Guide for tips) everything lines up correctly. If you're using Garageband, loading stems as as simple as opening a new project and just dragging all of the stem files together into the arrange window.
If you have any questions about how to do this, let us know, we'd be happy to help.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DrQicjiAkai8ph05D5XLZ5y6vdGm1ZU0
Thanks everyone for an amazing week!
Whether you’re taking music production lessons with us at Sunburst, recording your band, making beats, or composing chart topping EDM there are a lot of directions music production can take you, but only one place to start!
