presentations

👋

Hi, I’m Mrs. Levy

My name is Sophia Levy. I was born in Indonesia. I moved to Vancouver, Canada when I was 17 to finish high school.

I received my Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston, where I majored in Music Synthesis.

The program covered the whole spectrum of music technology, including songwriting, recording, producing, and performing.

The stuff I was learning at Berklee is basically what I am teaching here at Colgan now.

Industry experience

I wore many hats in the music business. I was a published songwriter, producer, recording artist, actress, and performer. I can give you my bio link later if you’re interested to read a little bit more about me.

Teaching Experience

I established my own music studio 12 years ago, and was teaching piano, voice, performance and coaching rock bands. I taught hundreds of students, all ages. But my favorite age group is high schoolers! So I’m really happy to be here.

Coming to Colgan

A couple years ago, I was invited by Mr. Mills to host a masterclass on songwriting and project feedback, and I was so impressed with the talent of the students here and the work they were doing.

So when the opportunity came up to be the new Music Tech teacher at CFPA, and continue the amazing work that Mr. Mills started, I knew this was where I needed to be.

This is my first time teaching in a public school system. As you may know, I’m currently on what’s called a “temporary teaching assignment” for one year. My plan is to get my teaching certification during this time and continue on as a regular full-time teacher.

Vision For This Program

• Accepted the position while I was still in Indonesia this summer.
• Only had I week between the time I came back and starting onboarding.
• Drinking from the fire hose!
• That said, I’ve started to articulate my vision for what we’re going to do this year and how we’re going to evolve this program.

Project-Based Courses We will learn about music technology by focusing on projects centered around creating and sharing music. We’re not going to have tests on music theory, but students will have to demonstrate they understand and can apply the concepts. We will do check-ins along the way to make sure they’re making progress and staying on track.

Positive Feedback Loops Getting feedback on your music is an important stage of music making. Getting feedback may include constructive criticism, but we also understand music is highly subjective and there are no right or wrong answers. Our goal is to create a safe class environment where students feel comfortable giving and receiving feedback.

Well-Rounded Musicians CFPA Music Technology consists of 4 practice areas: Composition, Recording & Production, Performance, and Live Sound. Everyone will get a taste of all four areas. But they can dig deeper into the areas they are most interested in.

Two-Way Teaching and Learning Learning music is an endless road. It’s a collaborative effort all around. I’m an educator but I’m also a learner. Students will learn from me and I will learn from them. The beginner students will learn from the more experienced students, and vice versa.

Open-Source Education Music is meant to be shared, and by making our Music Tech courses open and available to everyone, we can have a greater impact. Instead of keeping material confined to complicated systems and PDF documents, my goal is to make as much as I can available on public websites like the one I’ve created for our handbook. (Students always have the choice of whether or not to publish their own music.)

Projects

• We have a wide range of students in these classes!

Some of the projects we will do this year:

• My Music Story Podcast: a 3–5 minute recording of a narrative of your journey with supporting music and other audio.
• Cover / Remix: your creative take on an existing composition of your choice.
• Live Acoustic Performance: a simple stage experience with 1 or 2 people using voice or acoustic instruments.
• Music for Multimedia: compose music for some type of visual media, for example, movie trailer, video game, or commercial.
• Class Show: a 60-minute live show with the whole class collaborating on music creation, selection, and performance.
• Original Composition: compose a work in the style of your choice that includes a mix of software instruments and audio.
• Performance / Live Sound Choice: a more complex performance experience that can include electronic instruments, more people, and the opportunity to practice live sound.

• End-of-Year or Senior Exit Project: the project agreed on between student and instructor.

  Handbook

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colganmusictech.github.io/handbook/

• This handbook contains everything you need to know about the CFPA Music Tech program and its courses.

• This is a live website and a work-in-progress that will evolve as the year progresses and we have more details to share.

  Communication

  levysm@pwcs.edu

• If you have any questions or suggestions about any of the content in this handbook, or anything at all, please email me at levysm@pwcs.edu.
• Stuff will be on Canvas. (You can follow along if you want. Or you’ll be able to check in on ParentVue.)
• We will share work through various online channels, like SoundCloud and other social media. (I’m still organizing this stuff so I’ll have more on that later.)

Great Year!

I’m so excited to work with all your kids! I know we’re gonna have fun making music together.