Independent Songwriting & Performance (IPS)

In this course, students learn how harmony can help to articulate the essential meaning of a song and the best ways to adapt chords and progressions to suit their unique songwriting style and ideas.

Students will learn how to generate lyric ideas and how to organize those ideas, creating songs that communicate effectively, eliciting emotion, thought and other desirable reactions from the listener. Using metaphor, simile, alliteration, repetition, changing rhyme schemes, different perspectives, the employment of realism and fantasy, along with other literary devices and techniques, the student will write lyrics that are increasingly ambitious and effective. Learning to write from a title, to write about an assigned topic, to write from a particular point of view: all of these approaches will contribute to the students’ abilities. Critically listening to great lyricists from throughout contemporary pop song history will enhance the students’ learning experience.

In this course, students work closely with a professional performance coach to develop their individual potential as performing songwriters. Students will develop their stage presence and performance chops each semester through the use of video-taped and live performance critiques.

Students have a weekly one-on-one instrument lesson with an instructor who guides the student in developing technique, musicianship and style in support of core curricular goals. Private music instruction allows intensive study geared to the specific needs of the developing musician as an individual. It informs his/her theoretical and practical insight of music, therefore allowing him/her to take greater advantage of performance, songwriting and ensemble work.

his course introduces students to the basic knowledge necessary to create good quality reference or working recordings of their songs, using simple techniques and readily available software. In addition, the students will learn the steps, skills and language to effectively prepare for a recording session in a professional studio.

Music Publishing provides a step-by-step guide to setting up a publishing company, including administration of copyrights, the role of performance rights organizations and preparing  functioning accounting system for a catalog of songs. Students develop their own publicity plan, submit songs to the instructor for critique, and register their songs with the copyright office. Students learn how to market and promote their compositions and writers by developing effective pitch and promotion strategies, and discover how to turn that stack of demos and lyrics in the closet into a real, independent business. Students will apply the knowledge and skills learned to self-publish or to seek a publishing deal for their original songs.

This subject introduces students to the theory and application of contemporary music. Students learn to play, write, identify and aurally recognize the basic vocabulary of music theory. Topics include musical terminology, time signatures, key signatures, intervals, scales, and chord structures.

Students have a weekly, small group, instrument lesson with an instructor who guides them in developing technique, musicianship and style in support of core curricular goals.This course takes the theory off the page and into practice. Learning to play well is one thing, but having a chance to exercise your developing skills in a group setting is another. The most effective way to understand theory is through practical application. Analyzing the theoretical concepts applied to a song provides context and a deeper understanding of the craft. Songwriters from the 60s and 70s for example, before ever putting pencil to paper, would have played and performed 100s of songs extensively, thereby acquiring the ability to apply the concepts behind what they played more fluidly to their own songwriting/performing. The student of this course will be able to take these concepts developed in the practical application of theory and apply them to their own songwriting. Students will be placed in an ensemble where they will learn, analyze and play a song each week. The ensemble will receive sheet music for the song that they will be working on one week in advance, as well as a YouTube link and (if applicable) lyrics for the piece. Genres explored will be a cross section of American popular music.

This class returns in greater depth to the topics covered in IPS101, learning how to communicate more effectively through songwriting. Concepts examined include structure, rhyme schemes, payoffs and punch lines, prosody, idea sources, co-writing, writing in (and out) of genres, writing from a title, and more. Student songs will be critically analyzed to see how they work, to help develop the students personal songwriting aesthetic. Discussion will touch on the concepts of copyright, performing/mechanical and other rights, as well as music publishing, and will also cover some very basic music theory that all songwriters should know.

Students learn how to generate lyric ideas and how to organize those ideas to craft contemporary and conversational songs. Using the skill of re-writing, concrete metaphor along with other literary devices and techniques, students write lyrics that are increasingly ambitious and effective. Critical listening labs will enhance the student learning experience.

This subject provides an introduction to the anatomy and physiology of the voice. Topics include vocal physiological terminologies, breathing (and how it affects the act of singing), effective practice habits, and voice-protection techniques, understanding the nature of human voice production and learning to recognize different vocal functions through analysis and review. Students will also work on ear training matching pitch, major scale melodies, and melodic intervals in the context of examples drawn from contemporary popular music.

This class uses the Nashville Numbers scale as the basis for teaching how to identify notes on the scale by ear, including tone matching, intervals, and chords. Testing is in the form of notes to numbers, meaning hearing a series of notes and identifying them on the Nashville Numbers scale.

This course is a continuation of IPS115, Performance 1. Students will continue to work closely with faculty to develop their individual potential as performing songwriters. Students will develop their stage presence and performance chops each semester through the use of video-taped and live performance critiques, in preparation for their year-end showcase performance.

Students continue their weekly one-on-one instrument lesson on guitar or piano with an instructor who guides them in developing technique, musicianship and style. Intensive study is geared to the specific needs of the developing musician as an individual, informing their theoretical and practical insight, and allowing them to take greater advantage of performance, songwriting and ensemble work.

A continuation of IPS151, Master Class 1. Students have a weekly small group instrument lesson with an instructor who guides them in developing technique, musicianship and style in support of core curricular goals.

Vocal exercises to strengthen the voice and allow singing at full power are discussed and practiced. Vocal Skills II also addresses the formation of vowels and consonants, techniques for connecting with the lyrics and associated emotions of songs, the application of vocal technique to assist in learning songs, and the analysis and imitation of contemporary artists voices as a means to develop a deeper awareness and understanding of the vocal instrument. Weekly one-on-one vocal lessons will continue.

This course teaches students the essential components of a successful tour, including assembling a team, putting together a tour plan appropriate to specific situations, typical types of industry deals, and alternative streams of income.

In the second semester, students will complete a recording project that showcases the culmination of their applied musical abilities in songwriting, performance and studio production. This course will provide students with guided studio time to begin the production of their final recording projects. Over the course of 7 weeks, with the guidance of faculty, students will complete a pre-production demo of an original composition using their home studios and school facilities.

Students will have the opportunity to complete the recording of their final projects. A fully realized session plan, demo and musical charts will be prepared to facilitate an off-campus recording at a professional facility, utilizing professional session musicians.

This 7-week course is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate and thrive in the digital music industry. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, artists and music professionals must adapt to new ways of connecting with audiences, promoting music, and generating revenue. With a focus on contemporary methods of audience engagement, music promotion, and revenue generation, students will explore the intricacies of their digital careers, from initial planning stages and online presence building to executing strategies and utilizing digital tools for maximum impact.

This course will use the web-based digital audio workstation Sound trap as the platform for student to record original and cover songs with two and three-part harmonies.

This project-oriented course presents various models of songwriting collaboration, including differentiated roles for lyricist and composer, the co-writing model prevalent in current Nashville-centered country songwriting, and emerging collaborative roles in production-driven contemporary genres such as pop, R&B, and hip-hop. Students play varied roles both in-class and in serious project collaborations, including writing to theme on deadline and for specific industry artists and/or selected student vocalists. In-class co-writing sessions, partner projects, and technology-supported virtual collaborations are explored. The course also covers issues in professional co-writing, including co-writer selection, decision-making and consensus, and contractual and business issues of co-authorship and co-publishing.

This course encourages singer/songwriters to expand their knowledge of rhythm in a variety of genres and feels. In the first few weeks we explore the rhythmical dynamics of quarter notes, straight and swung eighths and sixteenths, triplets, half time, double (cut) time, 12/8, waltz time, and how they appear and function in popular music. In the second half of the course students will workshop their own compositions in different rhythmical styles. In addition to these workshops students will also work on assignments requiring the rhythmical analysis of the interplay of various instruments in different musical contexts.