After School Sessions: Music Creators Join Forces With ASCAP and America SCORES to Teach Kids the Art and Craft of Songwriting, Filmmaking and Film Scoring

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - October 23, 2009) - ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) and America SCORES have teamed up for a fourth year to present its national songwriting mentorship program, ASCAP Songwriter Residency @ America SCORES. The program was established in 2006 to create a collaboration between songwriters and students utilizing songwriting and music as another engaging and inspiring way for kids to express themselves. This year's program will feature a diverse group of music creators and an animation filmmaker who will visit schools in three cities across the country: Atlanta, Los Angeles and St. Louis.

As part of the program, ASCAP selects its talented members from a variety of musical genres to teach songwriting workshops during America SCORES after-school poetry classes. By the end of three sessions, the ASCAP member will have co-written and recorded a song with the SCORES kids. The kids also learn about the importance of labeling their own creative work with the copyright symbol, year and their name just as they would see on any published, professional creative work. The ASCAP Foundation, a public charity dedicated to supporting music education and talent development programs, funds the program.

To further support this unique program, ASCAP produces a special compilation CD of the songs created, which is distributed to each of the schools involved, as well as to music industry decision makers.

The details for this year's program are:

St. Louis, MO:

Who: Grammy Award-winning producer Alonzo "Zo" Lee, Jr.

When: October 26 & 28 and November 2, 2009

Where: Nance Elementary School, 8959 Riverview Blvd., St Louis, MO 63147 and Shock City Studios, 2200 Gravois Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63104.

Alonzo (Ludacris - "Release Therapy," Usher - "Confessions," Chingy - "Jackpot") will collaborate with a group of 15 boys and girls, ages 8-11. The classroom sessions will take place at Nance Elementary School on October 26 and 28, followed by a recording session at Shock City Studios on November 2, 2009.

Los Angeles, CA:

Who: Composer Shawn K. Clement and animation filmmaker Roger Blonder

When: October 26 & 28 and November 2, 2009

Where: Palms Middle School, 10860 Woodbine St., Los Angeles, CA 90034

As an interesting departure from the regular ASCAP Songwriter Residency @ America SCORES program, animation filmmaker Roger Blonder and composer Shawn Clement will work with a group of 20 students, ages 11-13, from Palms Middle School to create a short experimental film based on their own original poem. The students will work with the educators from America SCORES to write a group poem which captures the essence of their personal life experience. Blonder will then work with the students to envision, animate and record the digital imagery that will be assembled into a poetry-based experimental film. Clement will work with the team to develop sound designs and will create three different film scores for the film to illustrate to the kids how different music brings out the different emotions of the final film.

Atlanta, GA:

Who: Grammy Award-winning songwriter and recording artist Johntá Austin

When: November 5, 10 & 12, 2009

Where: Carter G. Woodson Elementary School, 605 Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30318 and PatchWerk Recording Studios, 1094 Hemphill Ave NW, Atlanta, GA 30318.

Johntá (Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You," Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together") will collaborate with a group of 16 boys, ages 8-11. The classroom sessions will take place on November 5 and 10 at Carter G. Woodson Elementary School, followed by a recording session at PatchWerk Recording Studios on November 12, 2009.

Atlanta, GA:

Who: Chart-topping songwriter Cri$tyle "The Ink" Johnson

When: November 12, 17 & 19, 2009

Where: Carter G. Woodson Elementary School, 605 Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30318 and Icon Studios, 710 Berkeley Ave NW, Atlanta, GA 30318.

Cri$tyle (Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body," Natasha Bedingfield's "Angel") will collaborate with a group of 16 girls, ages 8-11. The classroom sessions will take place on November 12 & 17 at Carter G. Woodson Elementary School, followed by a recording session at Icon Studios on November 19, 2009.

Special thanks to Shock City Studios in St. Louis and PatchWerk Recording Studios and Icon Studios in Atlanta for generously supporting the program by donating free studio time, and to Blue Microphones for providing four of its award-winning microphones for the Los Angeles sessions.

During the first three years of the program, songwriting workshops have taken place at schools in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, San Francisco and Washington, DC, featuring a diverse group of music creators, including: Grammy Award-winning songwriter/producer Adonis Shropshire (Mariah Carey, Usher, Ciara); indie rock band Birdmonster; singer-songwriter Algebra Blesset; hip-hop group Da Internz; Grammy-winning children's songwriters Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer; Americana/rock songwriter John Francis; songwriter/producer Chris Keup (Jason Mraz, OAR); Americana roots-rock artist Johnny Lloyd Rollins; songwriter/producer Dan Mackenzie (Joss Stone); songwriter/producer Michael Pruitt; songwriter Dwayne Simmons; Latin music songwriter Roberto Poveda; hip-hop artist Psalm One; songwriter/film-TV composer David Rice; rock/alternative/indie songwriter Vince Scheuermen (from the band Army Of Me); hip-hop songwriter Lysette Titi; and rapper, actor and spoken word artist Saul Williams.

About America SCORES: America SCORES is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to use soccer and poetry to inspire among urban youth a lasting dedication to health, literacy, and community service. America SCORES operates soccer teams in urban public schools in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods across the country. Teamwork developed on the field is translated to the classroom and the community. The program operates five days per week after-school and has recently been recognized by Charity Navigator as one of the most administratively efficient nonprofits in the country. For more information, visit www.AmericaSCORES.org.

About The ASCAP Foundation: Founded in 1975, The ASCAP Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education and talent development programs. Included in these are songwriting workshops, grants, scholarships, awards, recognition and community outreach programs, and public service projects for senior composers and lyricists. The ASCAP Foundation is supported by contributions from ASCAP members and from music lovers throughout the United States. www.ascapfoundation.org

About ASCAP: Established in 1914, ASCAP is the first and leading U.S. Performing Rights Organization (PRO) representing the world's largest repertory totaling over 8.5 million copyrighted musical works of every style and genre from more than 360,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members. ASCAP has representation arrangements with similar foreign organizations so that the ASCAP repertory is represented in nearly every country around the world where copyright law exists. ASCAP protects the rights of its members and foreign affiliates by licensing the public performances of their copyrighted works and distributing royalties based upon surveyed performances. ASCAP is the only American PRO owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. www.ascap.com