JGD-USA’s “Songs & Beats” program supplies instruments and digital recording equipment to youth in area schools, community parks, and juvenile detention centers to facilitate their creativity and self-expression. During the workshops, students learn and practice songwriting, beat production, guitar, and digital recording techniques to create their own original musical compositions. Students also collaborate, composing songs as a group, drawing on their shared experience to choose subject matter, write lyrics, and arrange musical ideas. Every cycle ends with a celebratory performance and listening party and all are awarded certificates of completion. Students receive digital copies of their original recordings and are offered the opportunity to continue working with us at our C.A.P.O. (Community Arts Programming & Outreach) Center.