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Inspiration visited Delta State University’s Delta Music Institute (DMI) on Tuesday, Jan. 26, in the form of the Winona School District Show Choir. Approximately 135 choir members in grades four through 12 gathered in Studio A of the DMI to record a song to be entered in the Kennedy Center School of Distinction in Arts Education competition.

Winona Elementary School Music Teacher Patti Finley directs the choir and arranged for the recording session with DMI Director Tricia Walker. “Patti has done an incredible job with these students and we were happy to welcome them to Delta State and introduce them to the DMI,” said Walker. “Studio A is a large format tracking room capable of accommodating up to 150 musicians and is probably the only recording studio in the region that has a recording environment to handle a choir of this size.”

Ol' Skool Revue, R&B/Soul/Funk/Blues band from the Delta Music Institute at Delta State University, represented the Crossroads Blues Society of Rosedale with a blues set during the Youth Challenge showcase at the 26th International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN. The band performed at the historic New Daisy Theatre on Beale Street.....congratulations to the band and thanks to the Crossroads Blues Society for sponsoring this opportunity!

As part of Delta State's Year of the Arts: Crossroads of Creativity celebration, DMI Director Tricia Walker submitted the following letter to the Editor to area news publications last week...enjoy!



WE’RE ROLLING
Moving forward in the Year of the Arts

“We’re rolling….”

Traditionally, these are the words a recording engineer utters when he’s about to begin to capture a musical performance in a recording session. Think of your favorite music, in whatever format it may be…LP, 45, eight-track, cassette, CD, mp3…have you ever wondered about the effort it took, both creatively and technically, to have that music reach you as a music lover?

As a singer/songwriter/producer and longtime veteran of the music business, I understand that many people consider the recording process a technical, rather than creative one. As we move forward into the Year of the Arts: Crossroads of Creativity, I would propose, however, that the recording process happens at a true crossroads, in a collaborative effort uniquely blending art and science in order to achieve the desired vision and goal of an artist.

In the glory days of recording, from the 1940s through the 1970s, large sound stage studios in New York and Los Angeles captured magical moments with artists such as Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Kate Smith, and Nat King Cole. Studios in Detroit, Nashville, and Memphis produced the music of Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and Elvis Presley. In addition to these artists whose names we know, countless musicians and audio engineers from these sessions whose identity is known only to audiophiles and record jacket junkies, were essential in giving us the music we love…the soundtrack of our lives. Studios make it possible for music to get to us.

Who could have known that when little Dolly Parton recorded some of her first music in a small studio in Lake Charles, Louisiana, that she would go on to become the megastar she is? Who could have known that Macon, Georgia would be put on the map because of the Allman Brothers (after they were first mesmerized, they say, by B.B. King performing in Nashville)? Or Lubbock, Texas, due to the recordings of Buddy Holly? Or Muscle Shoals Sound and Fame Studios in Alabama?

Mississippi has been identified as the Birthplace of America’s Music, and it would be almost impossible to dispute that fact. We proudly lay claim to the Father of Country Music, the King of the Blues, the King of Rock and Roll, and more Grammy™ winners per capita than any other state in the Union.

As the next generation of young musicians, singers, songwriters, and entertainers are working to hone their craft and “find their voice,” let me pose again the thematic question of this series of essays for the Year of the Arts:


DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE HERE?

The Delta Music Institute on the campus of Delta State University is a recording arts and music industry program now in its fifth full year of operation. Approximately 50 students take courses in music business, audio engineering, songwriting, and other aspects of the music industry. The DMI, housed in what was previously Whitfield Gym, contains three exceptional recording studios. Studio A is a large format tracking room, large enough to hold a 150 piece choir or orchestra, and is one of the few studios of this scope in the eastern United States. Studio B is a digital room, versatile enough to record various types of ensembles and mix in 5.1 surround sound, and Studio C is a practical demo project studio. The DMI promotes two student ensembles…one R&B/Soul/Funk/Blues band called Ol’ Skool Revue, and one Classic Rock band called DeltaRoX.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE HERE? To further the educational mission of the DMI and Delta State, the DMI studios are made available to the public in order for our students to learn and practice the art and science of recording clients in a real world situation. Grammy™ award winning artists Keb’ Mo’, Ashley Cleveland, and Kathy Mattea have visited our facilities and worked with our students, and they stand amazed at what we have here. Combine the art of music and the technology of recording at the DMI with the history, mystique, and vibrant culture of the Mississippi Delta, and we’ve definitely got a ‘win-win’ situation in which to honor the past and embrace the future of music technology and the recording arts.

SO, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE HERE? WE DO: The opportunity to capture for all time the music and the sound of what could be the next wave of great moments in American music. There is much to look forward to. Right here: Cleveland, Mississippi.

Everything’s in place…the red light is on….we’re rolling.


Tricia Walker
Director, Delta Music Institute
1/10/10

http://www.mpbonline.org/news/story/marty-stuarts-sparkling-obsession



Great piece from reporter Ron Brown on Mississippi Public Broadcasting...enjoy!

Ol’ Skool Revue, the Delta Music Institute’s (DMI) Blues/R&B/Soul/Funk band, has been selected to perform at the 2010 International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Memphis, January 20-23, 2010.

Ol’ Skool Revue will represent DMI and Delta State University in the Youth Challenge (IBC) during this 26th year of the International Blues Challenge. The band, made up of Delta State college students, will compete during the afternoon lineup on Friday, Jan. 22, showcasing their talents for record labels, media, festivals, managers, talent buyers and the fans.
The IBC has evolved into the nation's biggest and most respected showcase for Blues musicians ready to take their act to the national stage. The IBC is a judged "Battle of the Bands" in which competitors take the stage and play a short set for a panel of judges. The acts are judged based on an established set of criteria.

Each Affiliate of The Blues Foundation has the right to send a band and solo/duo act to represent the organization at the IBC Semi-Finals. Ol’ Skool Revue competed and was selected by the Crossroads Blues Society, an IBC affiliate from Rosedale, Mississippi.

In 2009, 100 bands and 60 solo/duo acts entered, filling the clubs up and down Beale Street for the semi-finals on Thursday and Friday and the finals at the Orpheum Theater on Saturday.
The Delta Music Institute is an independent center of study under the College of Arts & Sciences at Delta State University. It began with a generous donation by Fred Carl of the Viking Range Corporation in 2003.

The focus of the DMI is to provide students with a broad and thorough education in the technological, creative, and business areas of the music and entertainment industry.

For information, contact the DMI office at (662) 846-4579 or e-mail dmi.deltastate.edu.

DMI Director Tricia Walker, along with several friends of DMI, performed last month at the 20th Annual Evening in December concert, benefitting Daystar Ministries of Nashville, TN. Women in the Round singer/songwriters Tricia Walker, Ashley Cleveland, Karen Staley, and Pam Tillis originated the event in 1989. Master of ceremonies for the event was writer/artist Buddy Greene, with special guest performances throughout the evening by Jeff Taylor, Grand Ole Opry stars Connie Smith and Marty Stuart, Women in the Round, and Grammy award winning writer/artist Amy Grant. (All photos © David Durham)