Peace Jam Group from the Denver Waldorf School at TEDx Youth @ MileHigh

Last week Youth On Record ran a workshop at the Denver Opera House, demonstrating how music production is used in the classroom as a tool for students to engage in the educational process. Each student recorded their voice and selected a sample from over the 60,000 samples in the Youth On Record sample bank, and together we made the song posted below. We wanted to demonstrate to the students that just about any sample can be used in conjunction with another for the purposes of making a song. You were a great group!!! Thanks so much!!

Peace Group Jam

While the rest of the world rests and recuperates, our students plug ahead towards their dreams. The images below are just a few snapshots of the work that Youth On Record students over the break. There is a core group of students that meet monthly for our Transition Program, but this is simply not enough for them; so, we meet bi-monthly for the purposes of moving faster towards our goals. Below are the snapshots for this weeks Transition get together.

RAD on the mic with RISKK on the beat and manning the board.

Killah Womp posing in the alley behind our space.

We met with the HiLo architecture firm, formed specifically for the purposes of building the Youth Media Studio in the La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood of Denver. For those of you who don't know, this project is being built in partnership with the Denver Housing Authority, and unlike anything that has been built in the United States before- LEED plus certified and without displacing any of the residents currently living there. The Youth Media Studio will be a 3,000 foot, state-of-the-art facility that will be the future (September of this year) home of Flobots.org, our students in transition and a resource of Denver Public Schools.

Second artist rendering of the Youth Media Studio by Lo-Hi Design Group, future home of Flobots.org and our students.

Compilation album from Devereux Cleo Wallace - find the album in the "Student Music" section of the YOR website.

Student compilation from Third Way Center, Lowry. You can find the album in the "Student Music" section of the YOR website.

This has been another amazing quarter and we thank all the students, partners and teachers that helped make the most recent magic happen. Youth On Record is in its fourth year and we are happy to announce our programming developments in the public school sector as a means of supporting student graduation rates. This could have never have happened without the incredible dedication of our instructors, the belief in what we do by Flobots.org, the consistent support from our educational partners, and most of all, the focus, energy and willingness to become better human beings from all the students that grace our classrooms.

This quarter was filled with challenges in and out of the classroom and we will hold dearly the experience and the lessons these challenges present. Thank you to each of you who hold personal, artistic development dear to your hearts. There is nothing that together we cannot do.

Two of the best from DCW, Ganja (left) and Raug (right) finish up their projects for the quarter. By finishing I mean recording in the closet...say Wu-Tang!!

Beat battle at West Career Academy.......and the winner is RISKK! The students had one hour to produce a beat and then were judged by their peers for a prize of $10. It was close, but super-producer RISKK took the cake. Great job to the whole class, there were some dandies.

Here is the winning and runner-up track (JRO).

DJ SuperFluff- Rock

A great week in all our classes. This week's lesson was MIDI and all the classes impressed. Above are a couple tracks from DJ SuperFluff, a great student at Third Way Center, Lowry.

Student producer, Galaxy (left) and Teddy (president of the Art Institute's Ableton club), listen to some suggestions from Brute Squad 85.

A couple weeks ago I spoke at the Ableton Live Club at the Colrado Art Institute and extended the invitation to help out in the classroom to the students there. Teddy has been in the classroom ever sense. We paid him for his services with Cora Faye's Soul Food. If you don't know....

Student producer Elemental

Flobots.org teacher, DJ Rashka, killin it at the Submission DJ Battle.

An original Bansky seen on our last trip to LA.

To supplement our lessons we are watching "Exit Through the Gift Shop," the film that documents some of the best street artists in the world. Its cool to be able to show students that there are dedicated, hard working adults on the grind for what many consider just vandalism. These folks push the social commentary and provide aesthetic pleasure to the people at the same time.