Students are typing furiously, and the sound of clicking keyboards fills the classroom. They are attempting to create a viral social media experience for local indie-pop band Roll Acosta. This isn’t a hobby or a side project — this is Music 109H, a classroom full of young honors students in charge of managing the band.
The instructor leading this classroom experiment is Brian Moon, who developed the concept to get his class involved in Tucson’s music scene while teaching them the ins and outs of consulting for a band. Roll Acosta volunteered to be managed by the class, both facilitating an educational experiment and reaping the benefits of a free managerial team.
“Last semester was the first time we had started this assignment, so the students were essentially guinea pigs,” Moon said, adding that there were frustations trying to make such a novel project work with a crop of inexperienced students.
Getting a band’s name out there is never an easy task, and Moon knows that. “The class was split into groups that each had specific roles,” he said. “Getting Roll Acosta on the radio, getting them on Pandora, booking shows and also a group for videos.”
This semester, the students are not broken up into groups. Instead, they collaborate with each other on every aspect of managing Roll Acosta, which Moon feels has made the project more effective.
Jacob Acosta, guitarist and singer for the band, agrees.
“The students seem extremely more invigorated and excited this time around,” Acosta said.
Roll Acosta is “at the mercy of the excitement of the students,” said Kevin Frederick, violinist for Roll Acosta.
Recently the class directed and produced a music video made for the band’s song “The Deep.”
“We were especially pleased with the video and how it came out — it looked professionally done when it was completed,” Acosta said.
Not only did the band get a music video from the deal, but it is also on Spotify and Pandora now because of the students’ persistence in creating what Moon calls a “viral experience.”
“I wanted to share with the class how reinforcing with social media and creating overlap with personal invitation and download cards, and how incorporating moments of viral activity by way of conversation and social media, could make such an impact on managing and promoting a band,” Moon said.
Acosta said he hopes that this project will spread the word about Tucson’s creative community and that being involved with the UA will encourage more student activity within that community, which Acosta calls “a growing music Mecca.”
Roll Acosta’s show at Club Congress this Sunday with local band Union Pacific seems to be a direct result of students getting involved.
Zach Vito, a member of Union Pacific and a marketing senior, said that Moon’s students asked his band to play Sunday night’s show via Facebook.
“It should be really fun, and it will get U of A students to come too,” Vito said.
Roll Acosta and Union Pacific will be playing at 7 p.m., along with Phoenix-based band Run Boy Run. Join the local music scene, and show some support for your fellow students — this show is sure to entertain.
