Christmas has come early for the Harmony Lounge & Music Club’s Young People’s Recording Studio (YPRS) with news of a $2,500 grant from the Town of Greater Napanee Community Grants Program.

In February 2024, “Origin Story” became the first full length album to come out of Harmony’s Young People’s Recording Studio (YPRS): web link

That project was led by a Napanee-based college-age student who was pursuing a career in music production and engineering. The album featured original music by under-20 musicians from Greater Napanee. The YPRS was free to access, and musical mentorship—including song development—was provided to singers and songwriters who wanted to develop their work. The YPRS gave local musicians access to an affordable, full-service recording studio. The album went into production in May 2023 and was live on all major streaming platforms in February of 2024.

The legacy of “Origin Story” continues as an alumnus of that album’s performers has partnered with Harmony to produce “Origin Story, Volume II.” Young performers from Napanee, Belleville, Kingston, and other communities in our region, continue to write and develop original songs and there is a group of app. 8 youth who have started work on the next album. Lessons learned from Volume I will be applied to Volume II with a view to increasing streams, as well as earned media--print, radio, and television. All performers will contribute to a team approach to marketing that is designed to equip them with invaluable communications and entrepreneurship skills that they can take into their future careers, whether in the arts or other sectors.

“We are grateful to the Town of Greater Napanee for their belief in this innovative, youth-centred arts and culture project, and to the Community Foundation for Lennox and Addington for their role in helping to facilitate the grant award,” says Michelle Hauser, Program Coordinator and Registrar for the Harmony Lounge & Music Club. “These funds will help us invest in the equipment we need to make recording arts a permanent part of our program. The growth in musicianship that we see in our more ambitious students makes this a natural expansion of our creative sandbox.”

The album is currently being produced in partnership with Angus Drive Recording Studios, led by Napanee-based music producer and recording engineer Isaac Harvey. “Isaac is a multi-instrumentalist and recent graduate of Ernestown Secondary School, and an alumnus of the Long & McQuade Rock Skool and our own Rock Skool,” says Hauser. Harvey was among the featured musicians and composers on Harmony’s first YPRS album ‘Origin Story’ and is planning to attend Toronto’s Harris Institute in September to study music production. “Isaac is deeply connected to the sonic culture that is moving through his generation,” says Hauser. “This album will be a capstone gap year project for him while also benefiting our community of youth musicians who have original songs and who are keen to record quality demos that will help them further their own personal and artistic goals.”

As with the first YPRS album, this next project—currently titled ‘Origin Story Volume II’—will feature original music by under-20 musicians in Greater Napanee and surrounding communities, most of whom are connected to Harmony as students or peer mentors. “We’re hoping to have all of the tracks recorded by the end of March,” says Hauser, “and are currently planning for an album release party in May, right around the time when we wrap up our 2024-2025 season.”

Launched in 2022, the Harmony Lounge & Music Club is a youth-centred not-for-profit now in its third season of providing barrier-free access to music instruction, and unique performance opportunities in an encouraging atmosphere that is built on a peer mentorship model. Posted: Dec 16, 2024 Originally Published: Dec 13, 2024