Media
published february 9, 2005
Urban music in focus
UMAC's music labs pair locals with the pros
Deborah Castello
The Urban Music Association of Canada (UMAC) has created a series of intimate and interactive music workshops matching local urban artists with industry pros.
Designed not only to assist urban music artists in their creative process, but UMAC's hands-on Music Lab Series also has continued to help place Canadian urban music centre-stage nationally and internationally where popularity charts suggest it belongs.
"The fact that basic infrastructure such as commercial radio was not available to urban artists until FLOW 93.5 FM launched in Toronto in 2001 has been an undeniable barrier to the growth of Canada's urban music scene," UMAC officials say.
UMAC suggests that as the lab series gains momentum by pairing with other like-minded arts outlets that promote urban talent nationally, the series will continue to generate awareness of Canadian urban music as a global contender.
The Music Series includes labs specific to the needs of performers, producers, songwriters, DJs, management and business and marketing A&R-types.
The labs focus on areas such as production and songwriting technique, artist management, promotion, how to access funding and, more importantly, how to represent oneself as both an artist and a unique brand.
Through the process of creating and developing live tracks provided by or through assistance from songwriter, performer and producer Marcus Kane and other industry urban music producers, selected attendees gain practical experiences using production equipment and techniques such as sampling and mastering in the producers' lab.
In the 20-person songwriting lab, Fundamentals Of Songwriting, song length, use of words and language, clarity of chorus and the art of telling a story through music are put to the test as attendees placed in pairs to create their own songs based on the theories learned.
According to UMAC, songwriting lab participants receive up to 50 hours of production time at Moonraker Studios to produce a "radio-friendly" track.
Songwriting lab participant, university faculty of education educator and vocalist Deborah Castello teamed with independent songwriter Tafar-I to create the track I Adore You.
"Being selected afforded me the opportunity to work first-hand with producers like Marcus Kane and live musicians. They weren't easy on us - having to write and re-write edits throughout the two-month process, but in the end the process helped me hone my talents to a new level," says Castello.
Throughout her curriculum delivery, Castello mentions she integrates music, visual arts and theatre whenever possible to get students thinking outside of the box, whenever possible.
"The (UMAC) music series inspires creative artistic expression and, as an educator, creativity is to me the soul of teaching."
Visit www.umac.ca for more on UMAC's music lab series.
