N4N DIGITAL
Amidst the myriad of COVID-19 e-blasts assuredly in your inbox, Notes for Notes has been noticeably absent in announcing our response. With all that weighs on us through this unprecedented time, testing us all personally and professionally, we’ve chosen to wait until NOW to deliver not just a response but a solution to how we will continue to exact our mission and give youth access to explore, create and record music… while at home.
Over the past few weeks and into the next, N4N has developed and is now testing our digital infrastructure across key markets (San Francisco, Austin, Nashville, Atlanta) before rolling it out nationwide. The reality is, all 25 N4N Studios are currently closed with tentative reopen dates based on imposed restrictions as well as our host partners’ reopening capacity. Therefore, a pivot is required to meet the demands of our mission. N4N Digital is our answer.
“Necessity is the mother of Invention”- Anonymous
N4N has always been at the crossroads of humans and technology. The 1’s and O’s of the digital world have provided the infrastructure for recording the sounds, emotions, thoughts, and expression of our members. However, it’s the guidance and unwavering support of our talented Program Directors that make these recordings and creations possible. We must now lean even more on technology, not only as a tool for creativity, but connection between our members and Program Directors where the N4N Studios were once the conduit.
Throughout this time the most critical aspect of our mission we can maintain is the sense of community amongst our members, by giving them hope while building excitement for our return to the Studios. We can also help them continue on their creative journeys while inspiring new paths they have yet to imagine. To blaze a path forward, we must provide the focus and support through music that are core to N4N and more important now than ever.
So, how will N4N transform the experience of making music in its Studios to a solely digital one?
It will be a combination of THREE things that all relate back to our pillars of Confidence, Creativity, Compassion and Community.
N4N Resource Guide: A compendium of music resources; those innately free and others available only to N4N youth thanks to our partners, to access for learning and creation on their own.
Digital Recording via Soundtrap: N4N has activated Soundtrap Edu to build out collaborative recording projects, lessons and access for youth to make music via home computers, tablets or cell phones. Soundtrap is an app and browser based DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) like Pro Tools and Logic which youth can create and record in. Combined with Zoom classrooms run by N4N Program Directors, N4N Members will have the opportunity to continue producing music. It will also be a resource for new members throughout N4N’s host partner networks to be introduced to a version of the N4N experience for the first time.
Digital Artist Visits: A staple at N4N Studios, Artist Visits infuse new expertise and energy into our studios to inspire our members personally and creatively. Leveraging Zoom and the host of artists, producers, engineers, songwriters and industry pros who’ve already made an impact on N4N, we will be scheduling sessions for youth to chat, learn, audition their tracks for feedback and potentially collaborate with artists from all backgrounds. So, if you are an artist and would like to drop some knowledge please send us a note at info@notesfornotes.org to get involved in a session.
While it’s all hands on deck and N4N Digital is on the fast track to meet the demand of our mission, we are inspired by the potential it may continue to create in the future. Will this inspire more of our youth to collaborate across studios? Might we be able to bring the N4N experience to even more youth, especially those without access to an N4N Studio? Will more artists see how they can make a huge impact even if they can’t physically come to a studio? We are approaching this pivot with a focus on necessity in the short term and optimism for greater impact in the long term.
Just because we find ourselves held up at home with the inability to work as we used to and in N4N’s world, change young lives through music like we used to, it does not mean the need has lessened, in fact it has increased. Our members are assuredly finding challenges during these times from adapting to digital schooling to the realities of a life at home. While N4N Digital won’t be a solution to everything they are facing it will be an outlet for them to express themselves and release the weight of these realities, if only for a moment, through the creation of music. Any outlet we can provide we hope translates to relief in their lives.
We will address the present, plan for the future, adapt and innovate along the way in order to serve our mission and Produce Tomorrow’s Musicians!
Sincerely,
Philip Gilley