BELOIT - "The creative possibilities are endless. You can create a whole scene in just sound."

That's what Aldrich Intermediate School music teacher Lisa Reshkus said about her newfound love of digital music production and songwriting. Since discovering the art four years ago, she's taken more than a dozen classes in the subject. She's written half a dozen songs in the last six months alone.

"I can't stop. I'm addicted," she said.

Those who wish to sample Reshkus's work can do so at https://soundcloud.com/lisa-reshkus.

Reskus, mother of six grown kids and a self-identified introvert, has always been a bit of a traditional girl. She was an acoustic musician, never using an electric piano until a year or so ago. Her extra performances were as a church musician at First Baptist Church in Delavan.

When Aldrich got iPads, however, Reshkus decided to explore technology more. She figured if she could learn how to use musical software, she could help her students produce their own music via computer.

To learn more about digital music production she started online classes through Soundfly. Soon, she was making her own beats and tracks, thanks to guidance from online music coaching platform Soundfly and its mentors.

Reshkus said she fell in love with the unique sounds she can create digitally, with it sounding better than anything she heard on the radio. She found the mentors at Soundfly went beyond basic commercial music and she was able to stretch her creative muscles. She could create new sounds, beats and even learned to write song lyrics.

Another benefit of digital music production, she said, was its affordability and flexibility when compared to paying someone hundreds of dollars an hour to use a recording studio. She liked being able to create music whenever inspiration strikes, and lately, it's been all the time.

Many of her songs come to mind when thinking of the advice she wished she would have given her adult children when they were younger.

"It's anything but motherly, but it is inspiring," Reshkus said.

Inspired by the MeToo movement, Reshkus wrote a song titled "Refusing Silence." After an online assignment to read a story about homeless woman suffering from mental illness, she wrote "Nakesha."

She's currently polishing up "The Edge" which she plans to be her official first song to be released.

Meanwhile, Reskus has dreams of turning a room at Aldrich into a studio where students can produce music. It may be a couple years off, due to some technology limitations, but she hopes to continue to spread her love of digital music. She said her students are inspiring and talented.

"Part of the drive is to give all these kids a voice. I could produce their music and push it out for them," Reshkus said.