Music Education

UK’s FutureDJ’s Launches Virtuoso

August 26, 2020

Our friends at FutureDJs announced the launch of an exciting new initiative: Virtuoso is the world’s first virtual classroom for music education. With the support of an all-star line-up of musicians and DJs, the program is free for students to join and offers a series of virtual cross-genre music education courses—including DJing, Production and MCing—using Soundtrap as it’s online, collaborative studio. See below for more information about the program and how to register:

Today an all-star line-up of musicians and DJs including Drum & Bass legend Goldie ​MBE, ​Double Ivor Novello nominee ​Ghetts ​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 ​Saturday 29th 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 produce​r WhyJay, ​the beat-maker behind rap sensation, ​Aitch.

UK MC and Rapper, and FutureDJ ambassador Ghetts, commented​: ​

“F​utureDJs 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. O​ ur 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 o​n ​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

About Virtuoso (Virtual Classroom)
Virtuoso is the world first remote music classroom – ​a participant-centered, interactive learning platform, located in a studio in Knutsford in the South of Manchester. The only space of its kind in operation in Europe, the virtual classroom can host 1-32 kids on individual screens, alongside unlimited viewers watching a teaching session. The classroom is fitted with over 20 TV studio cameras, that provide multiple angles so kids can switch between viewpoints. Perfect for learning and teaching music, the classroom is fitted with fully optimised audio, so the user can experience full, lossless audio without compression (just as if they were in the room), as well as high-definition interactive whiteboards and presentation monitors with content sharing and integrated collaboration tools.
About FutureDJs
FutureDJs was founded by brothers Austen and Scott Smart in 2015 with a mission to reimagine the music classroom of the future and provide best quality, affordable music education, in tune with modern music tastes.
Prior to launching Virtuoso, FutureDJs has been working in schools around the UK since 2015, writing books about ‘How to DJ’ and setting the standard for DJ-ing with the world’s first graded DJ exams — operated and awarded in partnership with the University of West London and accredited by Ofqual. All their tutors are used to providing the highest-quality education and have experience teaching in schools and are qualified to degree-level at a minimum.