Crystal Sellers-Battle, professor of music and chair of the music department, and Kendall Nesbitt, grammy-nominated songwriter and producer, are co-teaching Bluffton University’s first ever digital music production class, MUS 161. The 13 students in MUS 161 have spent the entire semester individually creating a song from scratch with the help and guidance of Nesbitt and Sellers-Battle. The end product of their semester-long efforts is a class album that will feature all 13 of the songs. The album will be unveiled at an album release party that the music department is holding in Founders gym on April, 30, 2021 in partnership with the Marbeck Center Board.
“The students in this class are learning the song making process from beginning to end,” said Nesbitt when asked about the specifics of the class. “Theory, writing, arraignment, production, mixing, editing, cutting vocals and acoustics. They’re doing it all.”
Kendall Nesbitt, Grammy award-winning songwriter and producer and co-teacher of MUS 161. Photo by Claire Myree.
Nesbitt usually co-teaches the class remotely via Zoom from Chicago, but I got the chance to sit down in-person with him and Sellers-Battle while Nesbitt was spending the week in Bluffton to help students put the finishing touches on their final projects. I interviewed the pair in Mosiman Classroom 2, a classroom in Mosiman Hall that has undergone a complete renovation in its transformation from an old-school piano instruction room to a state-of-the art digital music production lab with industry-standard equipment and software.
“This lab opened officially in October 2019,” said Sellers-Battle. “The music department got funding from capital grants and private donors to help with the renovation.”
Spencer Garrison, a student in MUS 161 and junior double major in Spanish and business, was sitting at one of the computers using some of the engineering software to work on mixing and editing his song. Sellers-Battle called him over and asked him to share some of his experience in the class.
“I’ve learned a lot about song composition and software elements and features that have been really helpful to me when composing original songs,” said Garrison. “Kendall has helped me to become more familiar with identifying sounds that can be used to help add a little extra coolness that I wouldn’t have thought to add myself.”
Garrison also told me about a friendship he has formed with another student in the class, Vincent Smith-Anderson. Smith-Anderson, sophomore psychology major, specializes in rapping. Smith-Anderson and Garrison have collaborated with one another throughout their song-creation processes.
“I’d heard some of Vincent’s music before, and I really liked it,” said Garrison. “I showed him one of my songs and asked if he would rap on it. He said yes, and then we just worked together to fine tune it. The song came out really nice, and it allowed for both of us to step out of our comfort zones. I am excited for our future collaborations.”
Smith-Anderson agreed that collaborating with Garrison was a valuable and helpful experience.
Vincent Smith-Anderson, sophomore psychology major. Photo by Claire Myree.
“I’m glad I got the opportunity to collaborate with Spencer,” said Smith-Anderson. “Last year, Crystal got me a job working in Yoder, so that’s where I heard Spencer singing in chapel and I was really impressed. Working with Spencer has allowed me to explore and improve my own music while continuing to learn more about other music genres.”
Sellers-Battle then played me the song that Garrison and Smith- Anderson collaborated on. While we all head-bobbed to the music, Sellers-Battle and Nesbit filled me in on what it was like taking the initiative to create MUS 161.
“The music industry was already moving digital, and the pandemic has just helped to solidify that,” said Sellers-Battle. “It’s important that artists and musicians learn the skills to be able to navigate that change. We wanted to create a structured course so students could learn to do it the right way.”
Nesbitt began as just a consultant for the course, but Sellers-Battle asked him if he would co-teach with her in order to incorporate more of his expertise and experience. Nesbitt has been in the music industry for 23 years and has worked with artists such as Brittany Spears, Jay-Z, Charlie Wilson, Micheal Jackson and Beyoncé.
“He’s my brother-in-law, so I got the family discount,” said Sellers-Battle. “This class is, hopefully, just the tip of the iceberg for the exciting things happening in the music department.”
The students of MUS 161 are almost done with their final projects. All of the songs have been recorded and they are in the final mixing, blending, and editing stages.
“This album is hot,” said Nesbitt when I asked if he had any final remarks. “There is something for everybody on this album: classic, EDM, Hip hop, country and pop. I’m proud of how hard these students have worked this semester, and I can’t wait for the world to hear their work.”
