It Takes a Village
Providing a meaningful and unique learning environment for our students takes a team of individuals coming together to enrich our curriculum and to cultivate our students' understanding of their world by interacting with inspirational and nurturing industry professionals. Below are some of our program's guest speakers and patrons.
music production professionals
Alec loshonkohl | audio ENGINEER & PRODUCER
Freelance
Audio Engineer Music Producer |
ABOUT ALEC
Alec Loshonkohl is a Los Angeles based member of the music community. Most recently, Alec served as a freelance marketing assistant for The Constellation Quartet, as well as the Operations Manager for Sound Tiger Songs – a full-service music production team. Alec has also worked as a music producer and audio engineer with various local artists. In conjunction with his work, Alec also has a passion for the field of music education. He has presented numerous workshops on music creation to students without formal music training and of low-income communities. Alec received his Master’s in Music Industry Administration at Cal State University Northridge and Bachelor’s in Composition from Cal State University Long Beach. ALEC'S IMPACT ON OUR PROGRAM
[Coming soon] Alec demonstrating the Ableton Push (2021)
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Jared forman | composer
Composer
for Film, TV & Video Games #janethevirgin #makingamurderer
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ABOUT JARED
Jared is a composer and music producer for film and television. He has worked with renowned composers Danny Elfman (Nightmare Before Christmas, Men in Black, Justice League, The Simpsons, Dr Strange 2), Kevin Kiner (Ghost in the Shell, CSI Miami, The Peacemaker, Titans) and Gustavo Santaolalla (The Last of Us video games, Brokeback Mountain, Babel). Along with his own work, he wrote music for many television series including Making a Murderer, Star Wars: Rebels, Jane the Virgin, Hell on Wheels, and Transformers: Robots in Disguise. Jared has been involved in music from a very early age, playing on beginner’s guitars & his dad’s Wurlitzer organ. He started playing clarinet, bass clarinet, and guitar (formally) around the age of 10. Shortly after, he picked up electric bass, saxophone, and drum set. Writing songs and small compositions throughout high school, he quickly found that his niche was composing. Jared started working as an assistant engineer to the late Brian Friedman (Ike & Tina Turner, Jerry Fuller, Michael Bloomfield) in his mid-teens where he got a lot of experience with musicians, singers, and producers. Continuing producing & engineering through college, he also began being mentored by music producer Marc Mann. After receiving his Bachelor's degree in music from California State University, Northridge, Jared started working alongside Steve Bauman and together they wrote for various music libraries, and have seen placements throughout many television shows, films, and commercials. JARED'S IMPACT ON OUR PROGRAM
[Coming soon] Jared showing his DAW session of a movie score (2020)
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Chucky Kim | producer & Mixing engineer
Producer & Mixing Engineer
@ Sony Music |
ABOUT CHUCKY
"Chucky Kim is a Los Angeles-based music producer, mixing engineer, and bassist. Spanning genres, his unique production process incorporates unique generative environments to aid artists in exploring out-of-the-box creative experiences. He is currently Artistic Director of CultureHub Studios (Los Angeles), a creative center that explores the convergence of art + technology, while also serving as an Advisor/Producer to BiotaBeats, an initiative of the MIT Media Lab and EMW (Boston). As a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, he has written extensively on community studies, the nature of creativity, and ethical formation. His most recent productions "Great Sinners EP" (HC Smith) and "Ukulele Days" (Cynthia Lin) gained first round Grammy nominations (Best Rock Song, Best Rock Album, Best Rock Performance) and Billboard #8 (World Albums) + #15 (Jazz Albums) respectively." -ChuckyKim.com CHUCKY'S IMPACT ON OUR PROGRAM
On April 2021, Chucky gave Poly students a unique experience to see a piece of music being created from scratch. Chucky, an established musician and producer for a major record label who has made instrumental tracks for some of K-Pop's biggest acts, demonstrated how to create and build upon the fundamental elements of music (such as tempo and rhythm) and layering it with commonly used tools as well as extracting certain components in order to create the music we hear everyday. Chucky encouraged us to pay attention to the characteristics that differentiates each song, genre and style of music. In doing so, Chucky showed us that we too can be the creator of great music once we realize what we are trying to express and how best to represent those expressions with sound. 
Chucky collaborating with Poly students in April, 2021 to create a song from scratch using Ableton
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PERFORMING artists & musicians
JESSICA BRIZUELA | MUSIC THERAPIST, HARPIST
Board Certified
Music Therapist Freelance Harpist, Singer |
ABOUT JESSICA
"Jessica Brizuela, MT-BC is a harpist, Board Certified Music Therapist, and Certified Neurologic Music Therapist from Southern California. Graduating from Berklee College of Music, Jessica has joined a new harp generation trained not only in classical but also jazz, latin, and other contemporary styles. Upon graduating, Jessica continued her studies at Azusa Pacific University majoring in harp performance. With her unique background as a cultured harpist, Jessica has performed in a variety of places such as Boston Symphony Hall, The American Harp Society National events, France at the Festival international de harpe Camac, and in Hollywood for the NALIP Latino Media Awards where she was featured performer showcasing her original music. As a Board Certified Music Therapist, Jessica believes that the harp is an instrument perfectly suited for helping and healing others. Jessica has worked in a variety of populations including geriatrics, psychiatrics, pediatrics, special needs, and medical settings. Jessica's compassion and empathy shines through her work, making her a great person to work with for your event whether it be a wedding or memorial service, she will make sure the addition of a harp to your event be special." -TheBash.com JESSICA'S IMPACT ON OUR PROGRAM
[Coming soon] Jessica showing students how to play the harp (2021)
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music TECHNOLOGY professionals
MUSIC DISTRIBUTION PROFESSIONALS
arbel bedak | music publishing, sync licensing
Founder & CEO @
Spectra Creative Agency #syncagent #musicpublisher
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ABOUT ARBEL
"Arbel Bedak (he/him) is a multi-faceted music creative who has worked across many aspects of music in media over the past ten years, from sync to publishing to composer representation. A creative at heart, Arbel holds a Bachelor’s degree in composition from UC Davis and is passionate about helping composers at all stages develop their careers, taking a hands-on, collaborative approach to working with artists. He firmly believes in giving more opportunities to a more diverse pool of composers and is committed to raising up marginalized voices and promoting inclusion and diversity in the sync and scoring spaces. Arbel’s previous experience includes working as an agent at Evolution Music Partners and serving as Vice President of Sync A&R/Creative at Decca Publishing. Through the course of his career, he’s had the pleasure of representing and collaborating with talents like Abel Korzeniowski, Lesley Barber, Fil Eisler, Clint Mansell, Max Richter, Clark, Alex Somers, and Kelly Lee Owens, to name a few. He is now excited to be curating this new space for emerging talent to enter the scoring and sync space." -Spectra Creative Agency ARBEL'S IMPACT ON OUR PROGRAM
[Coming soon] 
Arbel as a guest speaker in September, 2021 as then VP of Sync at Decca Publishing before founding his own company, Spectra Creative Agency
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yvette martinez | music publishing
Director, Writer & Publisher Relations for Film & TV/Latin @ Kobalt Music Publishing
#polyalum2004 #musicpublisher
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ABOUT YVETTE
"Yvette Martinez has worked as Senior Manager on the Writer & Publisher Relations Team since 2016. VP of Writer & Publisher Relations Sophie Watt describes Yvette as 'an incredibly hard worker' who always approaches challenges with a smile'. Yvette serves as the main point of contact for clients with ranging questions, from contracts, to payment collections, to introductions to the Synch team, and the list goes on. With a good percentage of the work and communication going on behind the scenes, clients may never know the extent to which Yvette and her team is doing on their behalf, but the effects of her hard work are felt. ... [they] put clients in touch with the right people to make sure their needs are met. Learning the ropes isn't always easy, and Yvette... has taken on even more, acting as the resident expert for Kobalt's Film and TV clients, and most recently overseeing servicing of the Latin American roster." -Kobalt Music, 2021 YVETTE'S IMPACT ON OUR PROGRAM
When Arbel created the opportunity for music industry professionals in publishing and sync (music placements in film and television) to become involved with the Poly music program, Yvette - graduated Poly in 2004 - was incredibly gracious in wanting to give back to the school that defined an early part of her life. She has virtually visited Poly to speak our students on multiple occasions about careers in publishing and being the voice that represents artists on how they want to protect and exploit their work. 
Yvette as part of a panel of Poly alumni guest speakers in summer of 2021 to incoming Poly students
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RUDY CHUNG | music SUPERVISION
Music Creative & Production @ Netflix
#syncagent #musicsupervisor
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ABOUT RUDY
Rudy Chung is currently in charge of music creative and production of original Netflix content and a partner at HTGR (Hit the Ground Running) and was the music supervisor of Silicon Valley (HBO), Rapture (Netflix), Andre the Giant (HBO), and the forthcoming Eric Andre/Tiffany Haddish film Bad Trip (MGM). He is also currently music supervising documentary projects on Michael Jordan, Biggie Smalls and the Wu-Tang Clan. Rudy is the founding partner at Pusher, an artist agency that specializes in licensing and creating music for Film & TV marketing campaigns. Pusher is proud to have been the recipient of numerous awards, and honored to represent some of the dopest artists across the world, including Nils Frahm, Moby, DJ Shadow, Helen Money, The Haxan Cloak, Zola Jesus, emptyset, Zack Hemsey, and more. In 2017, Rudy co-founded CLOAK, a new agency providing music and audio solutions for premium VR/AR experiences as well as to artists looking to work in this space. Rudy's awards include several wins at the Guild of Music Supervisors including "Outstanding Music Supervision of a Documentary Series" for The Last Dance in 2021 on ESPN/Netflix and for Wu-Tang of Mics and Men in 2020. RUDY'S IMPACT ON OUR PROGRAM
Rudy first virtually visited Poly as a guest lecturer in late 2020 to speak to students about music and its use in film and television, as well as the ecosystem and network of individuals involved to make sure that the music being used has clearance and permission from all parties involved. We learned from Rudy how composers and music supervisors work with those making the film to deliver a powerful story. Select Poly students even got the chance to showcase their music-video sync projects for an incredible once-in-a-lifetime feedback from an individual who has had an illustrious career in the field and has racked up numerous industry awards for his work. 
Rudy guest lecturing on music in film and TV (2020)
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