The Del Couch Music Education Foundation is a non-profit organization formed to provide our youth with the opportunities to create and learn the art of music, to record and listen to their musical creations and to provide a platform at which they can enhance their musical, cultural, academic and life opportunities.

Focusing on underprivileged and disadvantaged youth, but available to all, we are working with local schools and civic organizations to provide services that have been drastically reduced over the years or are no longer available in our schools. To provide musically inclined kids with these opportunities, we have arrangements with organizations such as The Boys & Girls Clubs, The YMCA and the Palmetto Youth Center.

Virtually every day we come in contact with music. Music has a powerful force that creates deep emotions in humans. Music has the power to enrich our communities, in that music inspires and cultivates creativity, critical thinking and self expression.

Production Classes

We are currently teaching two levels of recording/ production classes at Manatee School for the Arts in our studio. Recording I & Recording 2, cover the basics from system selection to setup, microphone techniques, basics of compression, equalization and reverbs. Recording 2, students get hands on experience with current technologies, recording actual musicians in the
studio, editing and mixing techniques.

All equipment and software have been furnished by the foundation and students learn the most advanced recording techniques utilizing current technology. These services are provided by the foundation completely free to MSA and all students.

For the 2015-16 school year, we are increasing our classroom training to 4 levels of recording and production including 2 advance levels of mixing & mastering. The classes will allow 9th graders to start with recording one and complete the entire series before graduating. We are partnering with St. Petersburg College, which has established the only Associate of Arts Degree in Recording Arts in our area, and will be offering a dual enrollment through MSA for our students. With this program, a student could earn their AA while attending high school. Nationally recognized Avid Certifications in Pro Tools, will be offered to students interested in obtaining this level of training. We are establishing a working relationship with Feld Entertainment where our student can intern and obtain jobs in audio production after graduating.

We have established a new class —”commercial music“—which will teach kids how to form, manage, and promote their bands or musical talents, learn about songwriting, social media, copywriting and more. Our production students will work with the commercial music students as producers/engineers – recording CD’s for them. This class is in partnership with the electric guitar class at MSA taught by Roger Hudson who holds a Masters in Music Theory and was a Nashville session player for 20 yrs. Selected students also receive specialized training from foundation mentors in vocal performance, guitar performance, and instrumental performance. Our mentors are nationally recognized in their fields or hold advanced degrees in their respective fields.

The Del Couch Music Education Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation EIN#27-1759668.