The story of Push The Sound Inc. began in 2020 at the height of the global pandemic. Remote schooling proved challenging in many subject areas, not the least of which was music education. While watching his son struggle through the boredom of music homework that involved no music or creativity in the Spring of 2020, Geoff Moody saw a need. A record label owner and electronic music producer, Geoff decided to draw upon a career in higher education, online course development and education administration to build an organization designed to provide exciting, modern music programming for all students, no matter their background (musical/economic/geographic), medium of study (remote, hybrid, in-class, homeschool), or musical tastes.
A long summer.... The summer of 2020 had been spent in a months-long sprint to build out the curriculum and infrastructure for Push The Sound LLC. Video tutorials by a global team of music producers and educators, a textbook, along with exercises and standards mapping were in place by August and in September 2020, five middle and high schools in New Hampshire were utilizing Push The Sound curriculum and support in the classroom. In the countless discussions that were had with music teachers across New England, a common theme developed: teacher budgets wouldn't allow for the additional costs associated with licensing music technology curriculum, even with Push The Sound's modest costs. At this point, Geoff gathered the highly talented Board of Directors and kicked off a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Push The Sound Inc. to help provide this crucial educational funding to the schools that weren't able to afford it on their own. Push The Sound Inc. has a simple mission: provide music technology curriculum to every teacher, school, or district that wants it. You might wonder why music technology is so important. One reason is that eighty percent of our middle and high school students do not actively participate in music education. Traditional music course enrollments are falling across the US, and reasons may include the following:
In addition to these issues, traditional music programs are simply not equitable or accessible. Many require students to rent instruments or take outside lessons, excluding students without the means to do so. Others exclude students who are interested in modern music or creating music the way the artists they love do. Hip hop and other forms of electronic music require a completely different approach than traditional music courses. Push The Sound looks to appeal to a wider range of students and pays close attention to providing curriculum that will allow students without significant music theory background enjoy the same creative process as their more experienced peers. By providing the tools needed to grow as music producers AND creative license to students, we look to provide music education that our 'Gen Z' digital native students love. Looking forward... The next year or two for Push The Sound is very important. We've built a platform that teachers can access for music technology resources, curriculum and support services. It is ready to scale to meet the needs of our teachers across the country and internationally. With your help, we can begin to partner with schools everywhere to help meet our children's music education needs while lessening the prep time burden on teachers, all while allowing complete creativity and expression for our young people. Let's do this together... |