Curriculum
The 14 Missions of the year-round Rainbow DJ Lab, the Passport skills for each, and how every Tuesday class is shaped.
The curriculum at a glance
- 14 Missions, two for each color of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
- One Mission at a time: a single goal your child can say in one sentence.
- 3 Passport skills per Mission, 42 in all. Six stamps complete a color badge.
- Year-round, every Tuesday, 4 to 6 pm. Children join any Tuesday and learn at their own pace. Each Tuesday the instructors feature one Mission for the room, and every child also works on their own next skill. The featured Missions cycle 1 to 14 across the year.
- No grades and no tests. Kids rate themselves and mentors award stamps.
- Graduation is on mastery, not a date: all 42 skills stamped and a final set ready, then the child plays the next Rainbow Showcase, which families attend.
This curriculum is already written and runs in the live class app. See the schedule.
All 14 Missions
| # | Color | Title | Mission ("I can…") | Passport skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red | Meet the Machine | I can play a song and bring in a second one. | Load and play two songs · Fade between them · Find a song in my crate fast |
| 2 | Red | Build Your Crate | I can find the right song fast. | Build a clean crate · Read BPM on screen · Find a song in under 20 seconds |
| 3 | Orange | Beats, Bars and Phrases | I always know where I am in the song. | Count 8 bars while mixing · Point to the hook · Name the parts of a song |
| 4 | Orange | Mix on the One | My second song starts at the right moment. | Count phrases out loud · Start song B on the one · Cut on a phrase change |
| 5 | Yellow | Tempo with the Lights On | I can make two songs the same speed. | Match tempo with the lights · Explain BPM · Know when to use Sync |
| 6 | Yellow | Beatmatch by Ear | I can hear when it drifts and fix it. | Match tempo with the guide · Hear drift with the guide off · Rescue a trainwreck |
| 7 | Green | The Three Knobs | Two songs play at once without sounding muddy. | Swap the bass on a phrase · Blend 16 bars cleanly · Explain why two songs fit |
| 8 | Green | Make a Third Song | My blend sounds like a new song. | Blend for 16 bars · Use key lock · Name a mashup |
| 9 | Blue | Hot Cues and Loops | I can grab any moment in a song instantly. | Set 4 hot cues · Loop one word · Build a pad phrase |
| 10 | Blue | Word Flip | I can make songs talk to each other. | Do call and response · Build a lyric sentence · Use a roll or slicer |
| 11 | Indigo | Theme Clash Lab | I can drop a theme into a hit and make the crowd laugh and dance. | Play one Theme Clash · Check tempo and key · Keep the theme to 16 bars |
| 12 | Indigo | Mic, MC and Live Lab | I can read the crowd and play with a live musician. | Deliver one MC line on the beat · Play with a live musician · Read the crowd |
| 13 | Violet | Build Your Set | I have a 10-minute plan I can follow under pressure. | Follow my Set Map · Use my Plan B once · Record and listen back |
| 14 | Violet | Rainbow Showcase | I play my set for a real crowd. | Play 10 minutes for a crowd · Give glows to others · Earn the full spectrum |
Listen-back Missions are 6, 10 and 13. When a child works on one of them, they record 2 minutes of mixing and review it with a mentor: one glow, one grow, one goal.
Mission 14 is the Rainbow Showcase. A child plays it at the next Rainbow Showcase after earning all 42 stamps. Families attend. Every child plays a 10-minute set, or 5 minutes with a partner if they prefer. Every performer gets glow cards.
The shape of every class: 9 blocks
The core of every Tuesday class is 90 minutes (4:00 to 5:30 pm) and follows the same pattern, so children always know what comes next. The live class app shows the current block on screen. From 5:30 to 6:00 pm a guest woman DJ takes the room; see the schedule.
| Block | Minutes | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Drop In | 0–7 | Kids arrive to music already playing and warm up by clapping on beat 1 and stomping on beat 4. |
| 2. Mission Card | 7–12 | Everyone hears today's one goal and predicts whether it will be easy, medium or hard for them. |
| 3. Watch Me Think | 12–20 | The coach demonstrates while saying their thinking out loud, so kids hear how an experienced DJ makes decisions. |
| 4. Deck Time 1 | 20–35 | Hands-on time at the controllers. Everyone starts at the Mild level. |
| 5. Move Break | 35–40 | A movement game set to music. It's part of the lesson, not a reward: it resets attention. |
| 6. Deck Time 2 | 40–55 | Another round. Each child picks Mild, Medium or Spicy, and can switch any time. |
| 7. Wordplay Lab | 55–70 | Word games with song titles and themes: puns, title chains, shout-outs. Clean words only. |
| 8. Spotlight | 70–82 | Volunteers play 60 seconds on the main speaker. Classmates give one glow and one grow. |
| 9. Check Out | 82–90 | Kids rate their progress with a traffic light, write "Next time I'll…", earn stamps, and put gear away. |
How deck time works
- Groups of 4 share one controller. Up to 3 stations makes a class of up to 12 children.
- Jobs rotate every 3 minutes 45 seconds, so nobody waits around:
- DJ: hands on the decks, trying the Mission.
- Co-pilot: headphones on, counts the beat out loud, asks the DJ "Did it work?"
- Hype: plays the crowd and practices one MC line on the beat.
- Logger: writes in the Mix Log: which songs, what happened, what to change.
- Challenge levels: in Deck Time 2, each child chooses Mild, Medium or Spicy. In Mission 1, for example, Mild is "fade from one song to the other," and Spicy is "bring song 2 in exactly on the chorus of song 1."
- "Data!" is our word for learning from a mistake. When a mix crashes, the station shouts "Data!" and the DJ names one reason before trying again.
How we measure progress
- Traffic-light self-rating: I got it / Getting there / Not yet.
- A "Next time I'll…" line, written by your child.
- Passport stamps from mentors, for the 3 skills in each Mission.
- No grades, no tests, no rankings. Red ("Not yet") is treated as useful information, not failure.
Spotlight is always voluntary
Spotlight is volunteers only. Coaches never call on a child who didn't sign up. A child who would rather not play on the big speaker can give glows instead. See Performing: opt out.
Gear and music
- Controllers: one beginner DJ controller per station, chosen with our equipment partner. We look for controllers with visual beatmatching guides for the early Missions.
- Software: Serato DJ Lite from Mission 9 on.
- Hearing: headphone volume is capped on every laptop, and earplugs are available free. See Hearing safety.
- Clean lyrics only: radio edits, checked when crates are built.