It has long been my belief that collaboration is one of the most important elements of musical education. One-on-one instruction lets the teacher tailor lessons to each individual, but if students don’t have a chance to collaborate with other musicians, they miss out on an important opportunity for growth.

With this in mind, this past fall I decided to embark on a large scale multi-track recording project with my students.

Between November 15th and December 22nd, we recorded a total of nine Christmas songs. 20 individual students participated, and the recordings feature a wide range of instruments – drums, bass, electric, acoustic, and classical guitars, piano, synthesizer, shakers, glockenspiel, alto saxophone, and vocals.

Students contributed artwork for each of the songs, and and on December 23rd, the album was uploaded to YouTube.