Page 6
August 14, 2019
CAREERS Special Edition
MCS Still in
Business
Martin
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Service
Carpet & Upholstery
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CARPET CLEANING
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A Digital Music Niche
Pair teaches
art of making a
record
d anny P eterSon
t he P ortland o bServer
Two local entrepreneurs are
finding their niche in the age of
digital music by bringing an ac-
cessible form of music education
to East County.
Longtime musical collabora-
tors Grant Burgess and Jeff Mac-
Call opened “Midschool” at 45
Powell Rd. in historic downtown
Gresham this summer.
They teach courses in digital
music production at a fraction of
the price of many college music
courses, but students won’t be
subjected to learning sheet mu-
sic or even learning any instru-
ment, per se. Instead, the focus is
on computers and sample-based
methods of music production.
“It replaces so many parts of
making a record, making music.
30, 40 years ago, you had to go
to a studio and you had to know
15 people whose job it was to do
each part…now you can do it all
by yourself and you don’t need to
rely on others and you also don’t
need to be classically trained or
particularly wealthy or connect-
ed,” Grant Burgess, the school’s
by
Photo by d anny P eterSon /t he P ortland o bServer
Jeff McCall (left) and Grant Burgess are the creators of
“Midschool,” a new inclusive and low barrier digital music educa-
tion program in Gresham.
co-founder, explained.
“Waiting for your friends is the
best way to never put any materi-
al out your whole life. Come learn
how to do it yourself, all the way
from start to finish,” added Jeff
McCall, Burgess’ business partner
and longtime musical collaborator.
Burgess said that the high ac-
cessibility of the music produc-
tion techniques they employ is
bolstered by the provision of new
and vintage music equipment the
school provides to students.
Though electronic music pro-
duction crosses many genres, the
pedagogical approach the instruc-
tors take is rooted in the origins of
hip-hop, when its early founders
changed the music scene perma-
nently by adapting turntables and
vinyl LPs to become instruments
onto themselves, in the late 1970s.
Burgess and McCall—who
together go by the name Widow-
maker--share over 40 years of mu-
sical production experience that
has included big names in hip-
hop, commercial, and community
projects. Notable collaborators in-
clude Sage Francis, Slug of Atmo-
sphere, Ayatollah, Westside Gunn,
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and Conway the Machine.
One of their beats was recently
featured on the Cartoon Network
programming block Adult Swim,
which features adult oriented
comedy shows--both animated
and live action--that are often sur-
real. Their breaks between shows
have amassed a cult following for
showcasing up and coming indie
hip hop acts.
Though there are plenty of
hip hop producers to-be at the
school, which specializes in
small class sizes, there’s also a
variety of other genres that co-
alesce under the same roof, such
as singer/songwriters, and neo-
soul and k-pop fanatics, Bur-
gess said. The instructors also
encourage students to record
with real instruments, too, such
as pianos and string instruments,
even if students don’t know how
to formally play them in a tradi-
tional sense.
Burgess and McCall also in-
struct students to gather sounds
from unorthodox places, such
as sampling old VHS tapes, or
even recording natural sounds--
like pebbles being thrown into a
stream--for texture.
The school provides all the
equipment students need, such
as the latest professional Abelton
software, fast computers, and
an extensive vinyl collection for
sampling.
Burgess previously taught mu-
sic production classes at Mount
Hood Community College and
MetroEast Community Media in
Gresham.
He said the goal of the organi-
zation includes creating a space
where musical and cultural bar-
riers are lowered by cultivating a
“community of artists.”
“Regardless of skin color, clas-
sical musical training, gender
identification, or physical ability
or disability, everyone can do this
work.”
Midschool holds classes Mon-
days through Wednesdays, as well
as open labs Friday and Saturday
evenings. Their next five week
course begins the last week of
September and costs $500.
For more information, visit
midschoolgresham.com.