Instructor Helps Students Learn the "Music Biz"
in Foothill’s Commercial Music Program

Each quarter, some 150 students enroll in Foothill’s popular Commercial Music Program. Some say the program unleashes their creativity. Others say the program gives them an outlet to learn the skills they need to train for a career they love. Foothill Instructor Mark Anderson created the popular program in 1996 to introduce students to career opportunities in the music and entertainment industry. Students learn about recording arts, music management, songwriting, production and multimedia.

"We developed the Commercial Music Program because that’s what young adults in California told us they wanted," Anderson says. "Our students are hungry to learn not only music production but more importantly to develop the business experience they’ll need to make it in the music industry. Foothill’s program is the only one in the Bay Area that emphasizes real-life application of getting ‘music biz’ jobs. "

That real-life experience includes writing, producing, recording, duplicating a variety of music compositions as well as marketing, licensing, copyrighting and promoting original music. Students who have completed the Foothill program have gone on to positions with major labels throughout the U.S., signed recording contracts, started production companies and licensed their songs for films.

In the past year, Anderson has written and revised 16 courses; secured equipment and funding for a recording studio and secured a donation from Sunnyvale’s DigiDesign Corporation for recording equipment. Anderson was named recipient of the 1998-99 Foothill-De Anza Innovator of the Year Award for developing the successful program.

For more information, call (650) 949-7326. For registration instructions, call (650) 949-7325.