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\u201cMusic helped me cope through a lot of struggles I went through in my community, like losing friends, stuff like that,\u201d he says. \u201cI made a song about my friend that passed away and it was deeper than I would think. It showed me not only just the aspects of myself, but it showed me how influential music is in my life.\u201d
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Through an initiative that has been years in the making, Berklee Online is offering music scholarships<\/a> to students like Mekhi, allowing them to earn college credit by taking online music courses that are taught remotely by Berklee professors. The majority of the partnerships are in Massachusetts through DYS, with additional partnerships in California, Texas, and Missouri. Michael Moyes<\/a>, Chief Operating Officer and Associate Vice President of Enrollment Strategy at Berklee Online, is leading the endeavor. \u201cBerklee Online has a responsibility to make music education an empowering and enriching journey for everyone, yet students who have experienced the juvenile justice system have unique perspectives that often lead to a complete mistrust or disinterest in formal learning,\u201d says Moyes. \u201cI believe music is the right language to get these students excited about learning and to show them they can do amazing things.\u201d This past semester, Mekhi took the Music Production Analysis<\/a><\/em> course with Berklee Online professor Sean<\/a> <\/a>Slade<\/a>, who famously produced, engineered, and mixed albums for Radiohead, Hole, the Dresden Dolls, Warren Zevon, Lou Reed, and more. Knowing his younger audience, Slade adapted the curriculum to focus more on hip-hop and rap, as well as musical concepts like prosody and groove, where he would bring out his acoustic guitar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSean is very helpful,\u201d says Mekhi. \u201cStudying with him is different than a lot of teachers. Sean likes to play a lot of music during the Zoom meetings and it gives you a different context because there\u2019s songs I would never play that actually sound good to me when he plays them. And then there\u2019s the older songs; he taught me how rap started with the Sugarhill Gang. So it just showed me a lot of different aspects of what hip-hop came to today.\u201d Slade says that he learned a lot over the semester as well, and that the students turned him onto many artists that were new to him in their class discussions. \u201cIt really touched me that the students were very, very appreciative and they let me know it at the end of the class that they really enjoyed hanging out with the old man once a week to listen to music and to get some insights into how it was made,\u201d says Slade. \u201cAnd that was very gratifying to me to know that it was something that they might actually look forward to. What could be more fun than hanging around listening to music?\u201d On the other side of the US, Kenny, a student in the Probation Department\u2019s Youth Development Academy in San Diego, is taking Berklee Online\u2019s Music Production Fundamentals<\/a><\/em> course. In a story produced by the County News Center<\/a><\/em>, Kenny shares a similar sentiment to Mekhi about how music has helped him. \u201cMusic is teaching me how to express myself, honestly,\u201d says Kenny. \u201cI have a problem expressing the way I feel. I can lyrically tell somebody, I can write it down, and then this is how I would explain myself.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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