Singing back-up for R&B vocalist Erykah Badu, engineering sound for hip-hop duo Blackalicious and sharing a classroom with the drummer of rock group Third Eye Blind are just a few experiences of students from SF State College of Extended Learning’s Music Recording Industry Program.

For nearly 50 years, the MRI Program has taught students how to break into and survive in the music industry. Composed of more than 25 classes and a dozen professors, the MRI Program offers courses to prepare students for professions like record producers, music publicists, agents or managers. While the program is separate from SF State’s main campus, students do not have to be enrolled in SF State to take classes.

Joy Thompson, the program coordinator of the MRI program, said the program helps implement students’ dreams of working in the music business by pairing them with professionals in the music industry. According to Thompson, the strength of the MRI program lies within the faculty. Many of the instructors work as Bay Area recording artists, producers or independent music entrepreneurs.

“What makes our program [special] is that the professors are doing whatever they’re teaching,” Thompson said. “Our instructors are professional folks.”

MRI Program professor Jon Bendich teaches two courses, the Artist & Repertoire and History of the Popular Music Industry. He is also a producer, songwriter and musician who has appeared on albums for artists like En Vogue, Lenny Williams and Jesse Colin Young. Bendich said his two classes teach the historical perspective about the music industry and discuss how much the music industry has changed in the last five to ten years.

Bendich explained that his courses contain a cross-section of students who are already artists, musicians and songwriters. “[The students in my classes] all have a connection to music,” said Bendich, 50. “[They want to become] managers, record producers or are just interested in being involved in the entertainment industry.”

According to Bendich, the MRI Program provides courses for all aspects of the music business, ranging from audio production to artist management and concert promotion. He said A&R classes teach students how to recognize and develop talent, while marketing courses help students use the Internet to promote artists. Meanwhile, the program’s business classes teach students about topics like signing contracts for touring and the fundamentals of negotiating a record deal.

“Our program has an emphasis on do-it-yourself type of etiquette,” Bendich said. “We really try to focus on teaching skills that let [students] control all aspects of their art.”

Claytoven Richardson, another MRI instructor who teaches Studio Training Workshop for Vocalists, said the MRI Program mirrors the professional industry by allowing students access to actual recording studios.

Richardson, 52, has worked in the music industry for more than 30 years and earned a Grammy in 1991. He is currently the head of his own company, Claytoven Music Enterprises, and has worked as a background vocalist on albums for Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion. He said the MRI Program calls for instructors who have had actual experience in the recording industry and not just knowledge attained from books.

Since the MRI Program is offered through SF State’s College of Extended Learning, its classes are located in the downtown campus, and most of the courses are taught in the evening. Richardson said he believes there isn’t enough support towards the MRI Program from the main campus and said its downtown location has both benefits and setbacks.

“The bad side is the fact that separation from the main campus makes it very difficult [for] students to know about the program,” Richardson said. “[The MRI Program] and the music department on the main campus should be working together [because] The MRI Program is the final bridge to the professional world.”

On the other hand, Richardson said having courses downtown helps attract younger people who are looking for an environment that might be more fun. “I like that the MRI Program is downtown because it can draw in younger people,” he said. “It’s a little more freedom as to [where students can go] and who they can bring in as instructors.”

According to Thompson, the MRI Program and the music programs on SF State’s main campus teach two different kinds of music education. “[The MRI Program is] a little different in the way that we approach [music education],” Thompson said. “We specialize in things like software and audio production. We don’t teach music theory...We teach music business courses [and] have audio classes.”

Bendich said the main campus is more focused on music theory and teaches music in an academic environment, while the MRI Program is more focused on teaching hands-on skills for the music business. In addition, he said that the main campus seems to use much older equipment, whereas the MRI Program uses modern technology, which includes access to professional recording studios, recording gear and tools that are used in recording studios worldwide.

“[The MRI Program teaches] less music theory that you would study in an academic program,” Bendich said. “It’s more of a vocational program.”

For more information about SF State College of Extended Learning’s Music Recording Industry Program, visit http://www.cel.sfsu.edu/music.