[106] MTSU, ASCAP Reaffirm 'Partners In Craft' Songwriting Program

FOR RELEASE: Sept. 22, 2010
EDITORIAL CONTACTS: Professor Hal Newman, MTSU, 615-898-2949;
Gina E. Fann, 615-898-5385

MTSU, ASCAP REAFFIRM ‘PARTNERS IN CRAFT’ SONGWRITING PROGRAM
Working with Industry Mentors Gives Students ‘Distinct Advantage’ in Careers

(MURFREESBORO)—MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry and the Nashville office of ASCAP are turning education into careers with a successful commercial-songwriting partnership, “Partners in Craft.”
The program, which began in 2006 at MTSU and matches veteran songwriting and publishing mentors with students majoring in commercial songwriting, will celebrate with a special gathering on Friday, Sept. 24.
Representatives from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and MTSU’s recording-industry program will toast the success of the partnership with a press conference at the fall 2010 mentors’ meeting at the ASCAP building at 2 Music Square West in Nashville at 2 p.m. Sept. 24.
Partners in Craft grew out of a long relationship between ASCAP and the Department of Recording Industry, said MTSU Assistant Professor Hal Newman. Talented students, in the past, would pass through the university’s internationally recognized program and set their own career paths. Partners in Craft, which led to the commercial-songwriting concentration for recording-industry majors in spring 2009, has provided networking and training opportunities as well as specialized courses tailored to students’ career goals.
Newman’s songwriting classes also are part of MTSU’s experiential-learning program, which merges classroom knowledge with real-world work environments.
“It’s really helped my classes learn, and it gives our students a distinct advantage,” said Newman, one of the creators of Partners in Craft and the coordinator of the department’s commercial-songwriting concentration. “We’re only in our fourth full semester of this program and we already have 53 student majors! We’ve had eight successful internships, and our ninth and 10th students have their songwriting internships this semester.
“I’m excited about working with the new team at ASCAP and very happy with the interest in the partnership and the efforts to maintain and strengthen our relationship.”
Several MTSU graduates already have found songwriting success; one of the most recent is Eric Paslay, whose internship at Cal IV Entertainment helped refine his songwriting abilities and turned into a publishing contract. The 2005 grad is close to signing a record deal with a major label and is now being booked by the William Morris Agency.
Tim DuBois, ASCAP Nashville’s new vice president and managing executive, is “very excited about our program,” Newman said, adding that the company recently put its new Creative Manager, Ryan Beuschel, in charge of coordinating the ASCAP end of Partners in Craft.
ASCAP continues to provide mentors to guide Partners in Craft students through the songwriting process. This semester’s commercial-songwriting mentors include producer-writer-artist-engineer Walt Aldridge, Greg Becker of Sony/Tree, Jon Nite of EMI, singer-songwriter Mando Saenz and MTSU alumnus Rich Karg, while the advanced-songwriting course mentors are Matthew Miller of Carnival Music, Freeman Wizer of Universal Music Publishing, MTSU alum B.J. Hill of Warner-Chappell Music, Sarah Johnson of Bug Music and Jesse Frassure of Major Bob Publishing.
ASCAP also hosts a showcase each semester, “Hot on the Row,” featuring MTSU student songwriters and attended by music-industry publishers hoping to sign their next stars.
The Department of Recording Industry, part of MTSU’s internationally recognized College of Mass Communication, is one of the largest and best equipped in the country. Undergraduate recording industry students choose between three concentrations: music business, audio production and commercial songwriting. The department now also offers a unique graduate program in recording arts and technologies. For more information about the department, visit http://recordingindustry.mtsu.edu.

Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree—the only one in Tennessee—as a model program. This fall, MTSU unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.

For MTSU news and information, visit www.mtsunews.com.


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ATTENTION, MEDIA: If you’d like to attend Friday’s event, or to arrange for a color JPEG from the event, please contact Gina E. Fann in the Office of News and Public Affairs via e-mail at gfann@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-5385.

Thanks!