North Springs Awarded $10,000 Grant For Music Studio

SANDY SPRINGS, GA -- Thanks to the generosity of the Sandy Springs Society, music, film and video broadcast students at North Springs Charter High School will soon be able to produce and record live music.

A $10,000 grant largely funded by The Sandy Springs Society will allow the school to open a new music studio on campus. This is the third such grant made to North Springs by the Sandy Springs Society over the course of three years.

The first supported specialized science lab equipment for use by all science students while the second supported more than 1,600 students taking math classes with hand held response devices. This grant now reaches nearly 600 students taking electives through the school’s outstanding Visual & Performing Arts Magnet program.

The recording studio will join two rooms: currently, choral music teacher Van Craven’s office, with an adjoining practice room. With the addition of a window, the recording operator and performer will be able to see each other and will be able to communicate using an audio connection.

The recording suite will also include a specialized computer and monitor as well as recording components, a monitoring system, headphones, amplifier, acoustic treatment, cables and tables. Universal Studio Plug-Ins will allow recording from the classroom/chorus area.

“We are so excited to have this studio,” said Craven, a North Springs’ piano and choral music teacher who this year is teaching a new music technology class that will be using the new studio. “We have many students already professionally involved in music, or who want to be, as performers or producers. This studio will help prepare students for careers in both.”

Craven is also starting an extracurricular club called Spartan Mixers, which will work on special projects outside of the school day. This initiative will draw an 30 additional students who will use the studio.

"We can't wait," said North Springs senior Justice Michael, an accomplished jazz pianist and drummer who is helping Craven and whose band played at the Atlanta Jazz Festival and has already recorded its first album.

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Photo: Music teacher Van Craven, and senior Xavier Jones, work on recording a tract in the new music recording studio being built at North Springs thanks to a $10,000 grant from the Sandy Springs Society. Jones and classmate Justice Michael, are members of the band Anonymous Da Band who recorded their own album after playing the Atlanta Jazz Festival this summer. Credit: North Springs Charter High School