Music faculty member Eric Wills (music technology) is helping unknown Jamaican musicians gain a new audience.
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Eric Wills, center, doing field recording in Jamaica.
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On Saturday, April 15, he and four SUNY Fredonia students will visit Port Antonio in northeast Jamaica to conduct eight days of music instruction accompanied by sound recording to local citizens. For the students, it will mean three credit hours and immersion into the colorful world of Jamaican culture and music.
What made it possible was a project that Mr. Wills and his wife, Rachel – an adjunct professor in music–undertook together. They built a recording studio in Port Antonio as part of an endeavor supported by Rotary International and Apple Computer, Inc. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wills are alumni of the Fredonia School of Music.
“I really saw a need for it,” said Mr. Wills, who visits Jamaica as a tourist, musician and sound recording specialist up to five times each year. “We see a lot of demand among singers and musicians to record their work. Our access to technology is something we take for granted. For these artists, this is what they have been waiting for.”
Music is a passion in Jamaica. Even street-corner musicians can realistically bolster their income selling self-released albums to tourists. However, many Jamaicans earn around $70 a week. Purchasing studio time at $50 to $100 per hour can be impossible.
“A lot of these musicians get excited, like this might be their huge break,” Mr. Wills said. “Sometimes, that is unrealistic. Other times, I come back a year later and find out that they have literally been able to change their lifestyle.”
Early in 2005, the Port Antonio Rotary Club asked Mr. Wills to discuss the importance of technology literacy. During the talk, Mr. Wills pitched the idea of a local studio. The Rotarians enthusiastically agreed to fund the project. Mr. Wills then contacted Apple Computer, Inc. Although 
Apple has no corporate presence in Jamaica, the company offered its standard educational discount as well as warranties that are normally voided when its products go overseas. The equipment was installed at the Port Antonio Life Center, an HIV-awareness facility. Students use the studio for free, and adult musicians pay a nominal fee. All proceeds go to the Life Center’s efforts to stop HIV in Jamaica.
So far, the equipment has worked flawlessly. Volunteers from the Peace Corps safeguard the machinery, and the Apple software has proven to have a smooth learning curve. “I was nervous that there would be a need for a lot of tech support, but so far, that hasn’t been an issue,” said Mr. Wills. “Everything has been fine.”
Mr. Wills hopes to take a larger group of SUNY Fredonia students to Jamaica in the Spring 2007 semester and to address other issues, including literacy and therapy, in addition to music. “My students are really excited,” Mr. Wills said, “and my experience is that they may end up forming some lifelong friendship with the people they meet.”
