MURFREESBORO, Tenn.  — The March episode of Middle Tennessee State University’s “Out of the Blue” television magazine show spotlights commercial songwriting students from the College of Media and Entertainment who are mentoring Rutherford County fifth graders about the art of songwriting.

Thanks to a program through the Country Music Hall of Fame, this is the third year MTSU songwriting students and faculty have worked with students at nearby McFadden School of Excellence.

“The Country Music Hall of Fame Words and Music Program is an educational series for elementary, middle and high school students to learn the basics of songwriting through the Country Music Hall of Fame,” explained Bess Rogers, assistant professor of songwriting. “Students write an original song over a semester, and at the end, they bring their lyrics to the Country Music Hall of Fame, and they get paired with a professional songwriter who puts it to music.”

Watch the full segment below with host Andrew Oppmann, vice president of the university’s Division of Marketing and Communications.

Alexander Roberecki, a sophomore commercial songwriting major, is one of the MTSU students mentoring the students at McFadden, which is part of Rutherford County Schools.

“They’re asking the right questions, and they’re very interested in different types of music; some of them had really in-depth questions. It’s really fun, and you learn by teaching too, so it’s like, ‘OK, here’s what I learned, now how do I communicate that to someone who has never heard anything about this?'” Roberecki said.

The fifth graders will visit the Country Music Hall of Fame in downtown Nashville next month for a tour and a workshop, during which they will hear their original songs set to music.

“The students get to hear their songs that they wrote come to life by a professional; it’s really cool,” said Rogers.

“Out of the Blue” is available anytime on the university’s YouTube channel, the True Blue TV channel, Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. It also airs on Murfreesboro cable Channel 9 daily at 6 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; NewsChannel5+ at 6:30 p.m. Sundays; and streamed on the MTSU Jazz Network through WMOT.org at 7 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month; and on other cable outlets in Middle Tennessee, so check local listings. 

It is also available as a podcast on iTunes and Google Play and as individual interview segments on Spotify at https://spoti.fi/453hxg3. 

Watch previous episodes of “Out of the Blue” at https://mtsunews.com/out-of-the-blue.

—   DeAnn Hays (deann.hays@mtsu.edu)