Musician Rachel K. Collier, Welsh-born electronic music producer and performer, led a master class during a guest appearance on the virtual interview series “Montco@Home: Global Perspectives on Electronic Music.”

The show, hosted by MCCC Computer Science Professor Kendall Martin and Sound Recording and Music Technology (SRT) Instructor Jen Mitlas, was on Thursday, Dec. 10. This was the fourth episode in the ongoing series, which began in September.

The online show aims to demonstrate how music is integrated with technical disciplines like programming to connect students with diverse artists and views of artists and musicians. Martin and Mitlas recently were awarded an MCCC 2020-2021 Year of Learning Innovation Grant for their efforts.

Collier, 31, performed her original work, including the pop song “Paper Tiger,” as a one-woman band, using a technical set up that included the digital audio workstation, Ableton, along with synthesizers and microphone.

Growing up with a more traditional singer/songwriter musical background, that included “tinkering” on the keyboard, Collier said her experience with Ableton has provided a freedom for her as a solo artist and performer.

When Collier first began performing on her own, she was in her zone and quickly realized she had to make the show more attractive to people to see her in person, she said.

Collier walked her audience through how she writes a song, starting with looped basic percussion, to adding vocals and keyboard arrangements. She then spoke about online success and the numbers on social media.

“After I released my album, she said, “I felt a bit like I didn’t get the 10 million streams. I thought I failed. Then I was like, hang on a minute, what’s going on here? I’m judging myself on numbers I cannot control,” she explains.

“Basically, I retrained my brain to feel success every day I get to make music,” she said. “What everybody wants to do is build an audience – whether you sign a deal or not, it’s still the end goal. Success for me is really trying to be grateful for every day I get to play.”

For more information about MCCC’s Sound Recording & Music Technology program, visit https://www.mc3.edu.