RallySound

RallySound & The Adam Ezra Group Supporting Teachers & Students

We are often taught at a young age that we either have, or do not have musical "talent".  We believe that if a person can be moved by music, they have the ability to move others through the same medium. More importantly though, it is our belief that art is the act of self expression, and when done earnestly, it has the ability to remind us that we are all connected. 

As arts budgets continue to diminish, and we find ourselves in a digital culture that increasingly isolates individuals, we at RallySound believe that sharing the human experience through art and music has never been more important. 

AEG & RallySound have worked on campuses and classrooms throughout the country and are happy to customize a musical experience for your students or classmates.

Writing Workshops

Over the years Adam Ezra Group has developed an innovative way to demystify the songwriting process and demonstrate that writing a song can be simple, fun, and a harnessing of the very same concepts we are taught in english class.  While AEG has worked with many music programs over the years, this workshop is designed to connect with students who do not necessarily consider themselves "musically talented".

Typical workshop (50-90 minutes): 

Step 1:  Adam talks about a personal experience that was impactful to him.  He then plays a song acoustically that expresses that same experience in musical form.  Students discuss the difference between connecting to an experience through spoken word and song.    

Step 2: The band then joins Adam, playing a full arrangement of the same song.  We discuss how additional instrumentation can add depth of feeling and emotion to the listener. 

Step 3: The students and AEG decide what their song is going to be about, working out the story they want to tell, and talking about the emotions they wish to communicate to the listener.  

Step 4: The students create the musical accompaniment to their song by steering the parts and sounds of each instrument as band members work out their parts in real time.  As they go through each instrument, they combine these parts until the entire band is playing a composition that everyone created together.  

Step 5:  The students break up into groups, each in charge of writing lyrics to a different section of the song.  These small groups work together while the band, in the background, simultaneously plays and refines the piece they just created.  

Step 6:  The groups bring their finished lyrics back to Adam who then sings the finished song back to the students.  

Teachers have found wonderful ways to individualize workshops for their specific students.  RallySound connects with educators before each workshop to tailor this program to their goals.   

AEG has done this workshop in single class periods with students, and they have done multiple day residencies culminating in a concert, sometimes incorporating school choruses, bands, and orchestras into the performance.  

While originally designed for high school and middle school students, we have found this workshop to be just as effective in colleges, elementary schools, and camp settings. 

We also have the ability to then take your song into the studio to make a professional recording. 

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Performance Workshops 

Adam Ezra Group works with beginner to advanced music students of all kinds in order to perform with them in concert.

During these workshops, depending on teacher/student goals, we not only concentrate on concert preparation, but also talk about arranging music together, how to sound like one instrument and tell one story, as well as how to improvise within a group performance.  

AEG has worked with student rock bands, marching bands, jazz bands, orchestras, choruses, and dance teams, having students arrange their own parts or learn pre-existing arrangements.  

A video from a 3 day performance workshop with middle school students in Vero Beach, FL

Here are some arrangements we've used in the past: 

Half a Hero (beginner middle school students)

Let your Hair Down (beginner middle school students)

Miss Hallelujah (intermediate middle school students)

I believe (intermediate middle school students) 

Soldier (intermediate/advanced middle school students)

Arrangements used by the Bangor Symphony Orchestra: 

Let Your Hair Down

Miss Hallelujah

I Believe

Soldier

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