Red River Reverb
Students Rocked Studio 6B with PBL!
Spring 2025
Professor Peyton plays the harmonica in between sets (Photo by David Schneider).
Designing the Course for Project-based Learning
Professor John Peyton's passion for the music industry drives his PBL teaching style. He wanted to maintain the rigorous academic momentum begun in the fall of 2024 as a "repeat performance" in the spring of 2025 with another student-led concert initiative. As emerging music industry professionals, students developed expertise in this PBL course through supported opportunities to apply what they were learning for real results.
Peyton encourages his students to always be EPIC - Engage, Participate, Innovate, and Collaborate.
Students secured Doritos as their flagship sponsor allowing concert goers to help themselves to tasty corn chip snacks. During intermission, Professor John Peyton and Radio-Television-Film Department Chair, Cindy McCreery, hosted a music business swag giveaway (Photo by...)
I have never had first-hand experience in the music industry, and getting to produce our own class concert was a great way of teaching students about all of the different aspects and parts of a show.
Project-based Learning (PBL) is...
Authentic! Interdisciplinary! Collaborative!
A Challenging Problem and Driving Questions
Students in John Peyton's class discover from day one that learning will be different in this course. As a student-led PBL experience, they encounter in real time the issues that professionals in the music industry grapple with on a daily basis. Guest speakers, representing a spectrum of diverse roles in the music industry, provide insights from multiple perspectives to acuire real-world knowledge and skills. Over the course of the semester, they address the driving questions of how to bring all roles together successfully to produce a live music event.
Members of Lumasonic designing stage lighting before the show (Photo by Shelly Furness).
I really enjoyed the whole process of our class concert; I think project based learning is so helpful and unique. I felt like I was really able to bond and work well with my group, which is usually pretty rare in group projects. ... and I loved how "real-world" it was.
The Launch
The launch of a PBL course orients students to begin solving the real-world issues in the music industry, activate prior knowledge, and pique their interest in the discovery process. Students were introduced to the professional roles that mirror work in the music business to produce a music event. Industry stakeholders representing multiple career pathways visited the class to convey anecdotes from the field and share wisdom gained from experience.
Industry Stakeholders in Class
Students learned from professional guest speakers from the music industry. Guest speakers encouraged students to reach out beyond the class to begin networking in the field.
Project-based Learning (PBL) is...
Challenging! Engaging! Rewarding!
Working sound for the Red River Reverb was something that was way more stressful than I originally imagined, but I loved every moment of it. Having the pressure of getting closer and closer to the deadline, as we were still setting up mics was a little uncomfortable, but we were able to finish just in time... Learning how to set up and control the soundboard for live performances was cool. My favorite part of the concert was seeing old professors and people I knew enjoying themselves to the music that we as a class all had an effort in putting on. It was the most enjoyable final I have ever been a part of and I would love if every class I was in had something like this.
A student guitarist of band, Late Registration Fees, performs before a live audience (Photo by Shelly Furness).
Benchmarks and Feedback Cycles
From early group contracts to all final contributions to the live concert, students had to apply course content and project management skills to deliver a polished public event. Throughout the semester, the groups had time to collaborate on completion of benchmarks. Planning included visiting the site, the famous Moody College of Communication Studio 6B of Austin City Limits live music fame. Each company synthesized the weekly topics into their respective learning products based on input from the instructor and peers.
I loved working together with my team to create the hospitality and technical riders, making sure the artists had everything they needed to perform at their best. It was incredibly rewarding to see all of our hard work pay off, from the lighting and sound setup to the amazing turnout from the audience. One of my favorite moments was helping coordinate the Doritos vendor; it added a fun and unique touch to the overall vibe of the event. Overall, being involved in this concert reminded me why I love working in live music and how much joy and fulfillment I get from seeing a vision turn into a successful event.
Members of 512 Stage Crew oversee the technical aspects of the concert including staging, lighting, and sound (Photo by Shelly Furness).
Assessment AS the Learning
Effective PBL, as a unique environment that encourages hands-on and practical learning, allows students to experience productive struggle in iterative cycles of feedback. Students have autonomy in creative and critical thinking to solve problems independently and as groups. Students reported that the work was challenging, but engaging and offered the chance to grow transferable skills.
PBL educators intentionally shift the focus of assessing learning to more authentic approaches such as reflections. In this environment, students can leverage their prior knowledge, unique talents, and new learning to perform at higher levels such as analysis, evaluation, and creation.
Collaborating closely with the producers and talent management teams, the Guad Graphics team designed promotional collateral (digital assests, social media, posters, fliers, and Moody monitor screens) to ensure consistency with the bands' brand and concerts' visual identity (Photo by...)
For Red River Reverb, I truly found that this was one of the most valuable projects I've done. Having the whole class put on a real concert was such a unique experience... I wanted to learn a little more about the behind the scenes and what goes into contracts and booking. It didn't let me down... I'm thankful for the lessons on negotiating deals and how contracts work... This project should be a tradition for years to come.
The ultimate goal of project-based learning (PBL) is to provide students with an authentic audience for their learning product. In this case, the Red River Reverb student concert drew a crowd of music enthusiasts (Photo by...)
PBL Beyond the Classroom
Student Volunteers
Students in David Schieder's RTF 340 course volunteered their services to practice their skills in delivering a high quality recording of the concerts. Using the state-of-the-art videography equipment available to Moody College RTF students, the volunteer team captured the concert with the Blackmagic ATEM switcher and 2 Canon C300 cameras. They demonstrated expertise in the field through professional operation of equipment with the cameras set up on a riser to position the shoot from the same height as the stage. Check out the videos!
Videography student volunteer operates a Cannon C300 camera during the show.
(Photo by Shelly Furness)
RTF 340 student volunteer operating the Blackmagic ATEM switcher.
(Photo by...)
Student video production volunteers from David Schnieder's RTF 340 course at Red River Reverb, Spring 2025 (Photo by Shelly Furness).
Professor John Peyton and Cindy McCreery present Red River Reverb's partnership with Doritos.
Collaboration Across Moody College
The Red River Reverb run of show list highlighted behind the scenes support from Moody College staff across departments. Jeremy Gruh (Moody College Studio Management), Keefe Boerner (Moody College Technology Services), Elana Wakeman (RTF), and Alexis Cabrera (Course Teaching Assistant) lent their expertise to the successful event.
Get quote from the camera control center student....
Some of the many job roles are captured in this image: student musical performers, graphic designer for concert aesthetic, camera operators, and video shoot controls. (Photo by Shelly Furness).
The Learning Product!
Student band, Off Guad, performing a live cover at the end of semester music event.
Off Guad
Late Registration Fees
Student band, Late Registration Fees
The full class, all responsible for organizing and performing Red River Reverb. RTF 347C, Spring 2025.