My Great Experience in OCSA’s ‘OC Musique’ Program

My son, Garrett, recently had an experience that was so terrific I just HAD to share it with you all. I’m sure most of you know about Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA). If you don’t it’s a wonderful school right here in Orange County whose mission is “to provide a creative, challenging, and nurturing environment that offers bright and talented students unparalleled preparation for higher education and a profession in the arts.” The school is tuition-free and donation-dependent and no student is admitted or denied based on financial capacity. To be admitted to OCSA, your student must apply and audition.

OCSA also offers the CSArts Academy with classes during Fall, Spring, and Summer for any students age 8 – 15 to participate in. This is what we signed up for as Garrett has recently found a passion for singing. These classes do cost tuition, and they are not inexpensive, but this experience for my child was well worth the cost. I enrolled him in their new OC Musique program last Fall with no idea really what to expect, but the result of this 8-week program was just breathtaking. Read on for Garrett’s review of OC Musique and then watch the professional music video that was the result of this class.

I had a great time at OC Musique, an extracurricular program put on by Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA). We made a music video and it was awesome! It’s called “Go to Paris” by Karmina. Class happened every Saturday morning for about 8 weeks. First, we got to know each other. We learned each other’s names and played a few musical games and name games. Second, we got music books and started to divide into groups to start memorizing the song. While we were at home we had to work on memorizing the lyrics for the song “Go to Paris”. Over the next few weeks we continued memorizing and learning all of the choreography, it was fun. Once we were ready we all went to the recording studio and recorded all the music, it was an awesome experience. The recording studio was cool and fun, it had a headset, drums, and other instruments in the background. I got to put the headphones on and sing into a microphone. The last part was recording the dance moves with a professional videographer. We all wore “summery” clothes and matching socks. It looked really fancy. Finally, we premiered the video to our parents on the last day of class and shared it with everyone we knew via social media. In addition to the video, we also learned how to sing several more songs. The other songs we sang were shorter than “Go To Paris” but they were fun and easy to memorize, some were in different languages. Overall, I think that this OC Musique program was a very fun experience. If I could, I would do it again.

Watch for Garrett’s solo right at 2:58. So proud of that kid, and all of the kids involved in this program!!!

For more information about OCSA and regarding OC Musique, here are several links.

Information:

• Registration for the Spring semester opens on January 29th.  Anyone can sign up, but we are capping the class at 36 so the sooner people register the better!
• The Spring class will have an additional week, so the price will be a little higher
• Financial aid is available! email Cindy at [email protected]
• Class begin Saturday, March 3rd
• OC Musique! provides access to a professional studio recording experience for young students through CSArts Academy
• Singers range from potential OCSA candidates to students who have never been in a choir before.
• The class is offered by Classical Voice Conservatory in partnership with recording artist Karmina, who was recently featured in the Wonder movie trailer. 
  

Links:

• video: bit.ly/ocmusique-gtp
• Karmina band website: http://www.karmina.com/
• CSArts Academy website: https://www.ocsarts.net/community/csarts-academy/overview
• Classical Voice Conservatory: https://www.ocsarts.net/areas-of-study/school-of-music/classical-voice/overview

Last Updated on May 24, 2023 by Pattie Cordova