Over the course of six years of both harm reduction and education focused music performance and composition programs, PMHU has worked with over 2,400 incarcerated women and men in programs that span from single day to semester-long endeavors.
9-WEEK INTENSIVE MUSIC COMPOSITION COURSE
Born from the belief in the power of the creative arts as a tool for social change, the Music For The Future (MFTF) 9-Week Intensive Music Composition Course is an immersive musical training course to educate and encourage incarcerated students across the country.
The MFTF 9-Week Course comprises three phases: an initial 2-week deep dive into Project: Music Heals Us’ online digital library, led by Five Keys Schools and Programs teachers; a subsequent 5-day in-person residency led by a Project: Music Heals Us Teaching Artist alongside a Juilliard-trained string quartet; and a 6-week remote-learning class taught over Zoom through The Juilliard School’s Extension Division.
The course’s overall objective is to introduce justice-involved students to a new creative process for safe, healthy self-expression, ultimately bringing novel musical compositions to life through collaborative writing and live performance. The process of creating ensemble music—trust-building, inspiration, constructive criticism, problem-solving, and dedication to a purpose greater than oneself—encompasses a collection of skills that pertain to any worthwhile endeavor in life. The MFTF 9-Week Course aims to delve deeply into honing and encouraging the use of these skills in the collaborative classroom setting and beyond.
Students who complete the Music For The Future 9-Week Course come away with a completed string quartet composition, a professional recording of their work, and a live-streamed world premiere of their composition broadcast from Lincoln Center, which their family and friends are invited to join and watch. They also receive accreditation via the Five Keys Schools and Programs and a course completion certificate signed by Project: Music Heals Us and The Juilliard School Extension Division.
5-DAY IN-PERSON RESIDENCIES
PMHU’s Music For The Future 5-Day Residency introduces justice-involved students to the creative process, ultimately bringing novel musical compositions to life through collaborative writing and live performance. The process of creating ensemble music—trust-building, inspiration, constructive criticism, problem-solving, and dedication to a purpose greater than oneself—encompasses a collection of skills that pertain to any worthwhile endeavor in life. MFTF residencies aim to delve deeply into honing and encouraging the use of these skills in the collaborative classroom setting and beyond.
Through five days of in-depth, in-person work, the students are led through a series of lessons and exercises taught by world-class Teaching Artists and Juilliard-trained musicians as their guides. This hands-on approach allows the students to encounter the creative process of writing music in real time, interacting with the musicians as they breathe life and sound into each new creative work. The residency culminates in a final celebratory performance of each participant’s artistic contributions at the end of the five days, in the form of a live-streamed Zoom event to which students’ family and friends are invited to join and watch virtually.
Students who complete a Music For The Future 5-Day Residency not only come away having expanded their palette of tools for healthy creative expression by crafting original musical compositions but also receive degree accreditation via the Five Keys Schools and Programs upon receipt of a course completion certificate signed by Project: Music Heals Us.
SINGLE-DAY CONCERTS AND WORKSHOPS
PMHU brings single-day concerts and interactive workshops into the NYC Department of Corrections as well as carceral facilities around the tri-state area. Each season, PMHU artists present bi-monthly programs encompassing collaborative music performance and discussions, song-writing workshops, and improv “jam sessions” together with our incarcerated listeners.
Are you interested in bringing Music For The Future to your facility? Please contact Program Manager Dana Martin at dana@pmhu.org.
