Purple Mystery Mash. Robot Teachers. Helpful Heroes. Crop Circles. Whew! The “Mystery League” detectives have been busy going places and solving cases, but who I am is no mystery. My name is Prentice Dupins, Jr. I work at Arkansas PBS as an education and instruction coordinator, and let me tell you, being part of “Mystery League” was a blast! Come with me now to learn all about how this amazing Arkansas PBS-original series was created.
Doing My Part
In this mysterious saga, my role was three-fold. First, I was part of the writers’ room with an awesome group of creatives who worked to come up with the most peculiar plots. It was a wild ride of imagination, and I loved it. The second role was in education: making sure the scripts contained the necessary educational content. Finally, my favorite part was my role in creating “The Dancing Detective” segments.
The Origin Story
“The Dancing Detective” segments are animated music videos that educate viewers about geography, community engagement, citizenship and more. I had the opportunity to create the music and lyrics for each song and was blessed with the opportunity to perform the lyrics as well. Fun fact: the name “Dancing Detective” started out as “The Crooning Detective” but, in the writers’ room, we felt like kids may not go for the word crooning. We also thought about “The Singing Detective,” but it was already a thing. In the end, our manager of curriculum and learning services, Elizabeth Dru Yates, brought forth the idea of using dancing instead of singing. And, thus, “The Dancing Detective” was born.
Starting From Scratch
When I sat down to begin creating the songs for “The Dancing Detective,” I was a bit overwhelmed at first; there were so many factors to consider. My approach went something like this: Make 10 songs with groovy beats across multiple musical genres and write catchy, repetitive and educational content-filled lyrics, all while working within time constraints of one minute, 30 seconds to two minutes for each song. Yep. A bit overwhelming, but I loved the challenge.
Typically, I don’t have a step-by-step process per se when it comes to writing a song. I just start with the music and let the lyrics flow from there. However, in this case, I had to start with the lyrics because the sole focus was on the content. This presented a challenge because I wasn’t sure how it was going to sound. I had some idea of a rhythm, but the melodies weren’t there.
Once the lyrics were created, I jumped into my element, music. I can tell you there are at least four different versions of every song I created! For some songs, I would scrap what I had written months ago and write something on the spot that was infinitely better. I guess that’s just the way it works.
Performing the lyrics was an even bigger step outside of my comfort zone. I’m usually behind the music, not the mic, but I felt like I could and needed to do this. I couldn’t do it alone though. I had help.
Tag Team
One of the best things about working on “The Dancing Detective” segments was working with other artists. To add some variety to the songs and give them a nice touch, we reached out to the Emmy-nominated rock and soul duo Dazz & Brie. Now, if you’ve been watching our summer series “Rise and Shine,” you probably have heard them because they also created that theme song. Adding Dazz and Brie to “The Dancing Detective” project equaled instant success. They were featured on three songs for the digital series: “Working Together,” “A Brighter Future” and “Rules and Consequences.”
What was so special about the song “A Brighter Future” was that I had not recorded any vocals to that song. I only had the lyrics and the music. Dazz and Brie did their thing to bring that song to life, and I’ll never forget receiving the recorded version back from them and hearing it for the first time with the lyrics. I was smiling from ear to ear and playing it on repeat for at least an hour.
They added so much to this effort, but they weren’t the only ones. There were also a few guest singers on some of the songs with me. Neba Evans, a former Arkansas PBS producer, is featured on the song “From Farm to Plate.” Two of the main actors, Eden Gross and Daniel Stapp, also contributed their voices. Eden Gross is featured on the song “Facts v. Opinions” and “Be a Good Citizen,” and Daniel is featured on the song “Where You Are.”
It was truly fun working with these singers, but the digital series isn’t just music. It’s also a video. The visuals and animation behind the music make it even better. Bronson Crabtree is an animator here in Arkansas, and he was responsible for all the animation of “The Dancing Detective.” With his creativity in bringing the visual of the Dancing Detective, I knew this was going to be a special project. Then we added some amazing sound designs from our audio guru Bryan Frazer and, as the saying goes, “We were cooking with gas!” Now, like any music video, there has to be dancing, right? I mean, how could we not have dancing with a name like the Dancing Detective? 
And “5 … 6 ... 7 ... 8!”
In a meeting with the other producers of “The Dancing Detective” segments, it was mentioned that we should have choreography go with the video series, and there was already an actor in the show who could do just that: the multi-talented Sean Christopher-Freeman. I saw his demo reel and thought this guy was really good. The more I watched the reel, though, I kept thinking he looked familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. Fast forward to a meeting we had with Sean, and it was revealed that we attended the same high school: he was only a year younger than me. As they say, it’s a small world.
Sean developed the choreography for seven out of the 10 songs and handpicked Kennedi Severns and Jackson Yager to be background dancers. I was blown away by the choreography he developed and the dancing they performed. We even got to film the dancing portions at our alma mater, Parkview Arts/Science Magnet High School!
What It’s All About
It was always about education. As a licensed Arkansas teacher, I am very proud of the effort to bring learning to kids in a variety of forms. Bridging music and learning is right up my alley, so it was and is essential that each song contains educational content kids can learn and apply. Whether it’s the song “Symbols of Arkansas” – which teaches kids about the different symbols that represent our state, the song “Rules and Consequences” – which appeals to kids to follow the rules and think about the results of their actions – or the song “The Past, The Present” – which highlights how life has changed throughout time and in some instances remained the same – our audience will always have something educational they can take away from this series.
But wait ... there’s more!
When it comes to McGillicuddy, you’ll have to keep watching to find out more, but this spring, it’s going to get even more thrilling! The town of Mulberry Springs is about to become the epicenter of mysterious occurrences. Everything from vanishing items and hidden fortunes to a masked sloth and the puzzling identity of McGillicuddy. The “Mystery League” kids will certainly have their hands full connecting all the clues. Don't miss a beat: join the adventure every Sunday at 4:30 p.m. to watch “Mystery League.” Also, be on the lookout for more moving and grooving Dancing Detective music videos!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Prentice Dupin is all about music, winter, catfish dinners and cheering on Alabama football (Roll Tide!). An Arkansas PBS education and instruction coordinator, Prentice worked on the “Mystery League” series as a writer, educator for instructional materials and as a songwriter who created and voiced “The Dancing Detective” segments.