Top DJs and musicians rally around the future of music education.

26 August 2020 - Press release

An all star line-up of musicians and DJs including Drum & Bass legend Goldie MBE, Double Ivor Novello nominee  and Radio1 DJ Tiffany Calver announce they will be joining forces with in-school music initiative FutureDJs to inspire more students to get into music by offering free online music classes. The new education programme - which launches this week and takes place in the world’s first virtual music classroom, Virtuoso -  will see a cast of top British artists offer their time and expertise across a series of cross-genre music courses, including DJing, Production and MCing. 

As the nation’s students head back to bubble-grouped schools, the impact of Coronavirus threatens to cull creative subjects, including music, from Britain’s classrooms. To ensure that each and every aspiring young musician across the country is guaranteed access to music education, FutureDJs has pledged to provide free weekly classes hosted by some of the UK’s top music artists and teachers as part of its programme of courses. 

The first masterclass kicks off this Sunday 30th August, hosted by special guest tutor, Ghetts. The one-hour session will see the acclaimed British rapper introduce students to the art of MC-ing, including structuring lyrical flow. The following weeks see more top talent-cum-teachers head up lessons, including DJ workshops with Goldie, Danny Howard and Tiffany Calver, plus a production masterclass with platinum-selling record producer  the beat-maker behind rap sensation, Aitch.  

UK MC and Rapper, and FutureDJ ambassador Ghetts, commented: “FutureDJs brings music education up to date with DJing, MCing and production lessons and it doesn’t matter where you live or what school you go to. Hopefully it’ll give more kids the chance to get into music" 

The only DJ education platform to be accredited by London College of Music, FutureDJs has been working in schools around the UK since 2015, when DJing and music production were first added to the national curriculum and, more recently, the world's first graded DJ exams were introduced in partnership with the University of West London. Recognising that, despite demand from students  to learn different types of music such as electronic, rap, MC-ing and grime,  most music departments were missing the skills to teach DJing and music production, FutureDJs set out to bridge the gap. 

With the development of the new virtual classroom, Virtuoso, that real world experience becomes accessible to pupils everywhere, online. The Virtuoso studio, based in Manchester, adapts state-of-the-art software utilised by internationally-renowned educators, such as Harvard University, to provide a fully interactive learning environment that simulates a physical classroom through multi-camera angles and fully optimised audio. 

Austen Smart, Co-Founder of FutureDJs, commented: “FutureDJs is all about making music education accessible for all. Our ambition is to unlock the creativity of as many young people as possible, and carry on inspiring the next generation of MCs, artists and creators - especially during this time of social distancing and reduced education”  

FutureDJs courses will begin on 25th August, and are open to students of all ages. The courses available at launch will include Music Production (using the Spotify-affiliated “Soundtrap”) & DJ courses, as well as DJ performance and MC courses. The courses do not require any equipment or prior experience and are available to book through the Virtuoso website. Each course will be taught by a fully qualified music teacher, with free and subsidised lessons being made available to kids from underprivileged backgrounds.  

For more information visit: www.playvirtuoso.com