Rudolf Koch School meets Parkdeck Studios: a musical cooperation project

"We worked on our own songs, shared our ideas and wrote and recorded a song together despite our different musical tastes," reported Dilara at the final event, at which Jirehl, Taxiarchis, Elena and Elias also presented their results to an audience in the Parkdeck Studios. The results were impressive: Guitar solo, rap in Greek, arranged pieces with piano and vocals or the jointly composed song, showed individuality and talent. "I'm proud of the five students who took this opportunity and rocked it all out at the end of the school year alongside their regular school work," says RKS music teacher Joana Brudy, who teaches the students in the year 12 music course.

Equipped with a total package of ten hours, which were financed by the Hessian coronavirus recovery program Löwenstark, they worked on their songs alone or in groups and gained their first studio experience. The producers and owners of the studios, Patrick Faubert and Lenny Voigt, provided assistance and support.

"It was a mega feeling when the song was finally finished and recorded," Taxiarchis replies when asked what the students were particularly grateful for. Elias says: "We learned that it's better to turn off the cell phone completely when recording vocals, otherwise there's constant static." And Dilara adds: "I worked step by step, setting the right chords and working out which verse goes where."

The idea for this musical collaboration came from Eda Baslevent, a teacher at an integrated comprehensive school, training officer at the Hessian Teachers' Academy at the Studienseminar Frankfurt and acquainted with the owners of the studios. "I want to give young people the space to find their own talents, try them out and develop them further, whether it's songwriting, composition, producing or basic musical knowledge. The Parkdeck Studios are a very special extracurricular learning space that can be used for this."

Baslevent fed the idea into the department of Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke, via Head of Education Paul-Gerhard Weiß, and thus reached the Offenbach Adult Education Center. The Education Coordination and Advice Department based there picked up the ball and was able to win over the RKS for an initial cooperation. The school provided funding through Löwenstark funds. Principal Ursula Wachter-Bieri, who also attended the final presentation, was enthusiastic: "This is exactly what Löwenstark funds should be used for, because in coronavirus times there was hardly any personal interaction, almost only a retreat into private life. All the better that young adults were able to try things out and be creative together in this special place of learning."

The cooperation with Parkdeck Studios is also open to other educational institutions in the city of Offenbach. The music project is also aimed at young people with German language support needs, who can gain a different approach to the educational language German through songwriting and working with lyrics.