MUSA120-17S2 (C) Semester Two 2017

Song Writing 1

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 17 July 2017
End Date: Sunday, 19 November 2017
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 28 July 2017
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 13 October 2017

Description

This course deals with the basics of song-writing including creative approaches to song writing, song notation skills, listening-based analytic techniques of songs from a wide repertoire.

MUSA120 takes a practical approach to the basics of song writing; structure, lyrics, harmony and melody, and aims to provide students with an overview of song writing styles from the 1950s onwards, and further develop skills of song writing.  The course explores in detail many song-writing styles, trends in lyric writing, and brings analytic skills to songs from a wide repertoire.

Learning Outcomes

Students who pass this course will have acquired:
*  listening-based analysis and commentary skills;
*  knowledge of a range of songwriting styles and genres;
*  lyric writing skills;
*  music writing skills;
*  will have compiled a portfolio of both notated and non-notated songs within a specific timeframe.

TRANSFERABLE SKILLS:
The ability to work in a disciplined and persistent way on an individual project; peer review skills; the ability to criticise one's own work.

Prerequisites

Application via portfolio submission, and approval by Head of School. The portfolio should contain approximately three songs that demonstrate the applicant's song-writing abilities. The songs may be recordings and/or notated songs, and the notation format may include anything from a lead sheet to a fully notated music score. While the MusB degree does not have a special deadline, there is a deadline for submission of portfolio of the first Friday in November of the previous year.

Timetable Note

Student workload (150 hours) will be allocated to:
*  24 hours attending lectures
*  18 hours attending composition workshops
*  6 hours completing workshop diary
*  102 hours drafting, writing, rehearsing, recording / realising portfolio content

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Glenda Keam

Lecturer

Justin DeHart

Lecturer:  Yoomia Sim

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Song No. 1 17 Aug 2017 10% (Folk song arrangement) full written draft
Portfolio 19 Oct 2017 70% (Scores, recordings, documentation)
Workshop Diary 20 Oct 2017 20%


All assessments are due on the specified dates.  Submit a hard copy of each piece of work to the assignment drop-box in the School of Music foyer with an Assignment cover sheet attached.

The assessments for this course are a portfolio containing three works, and a workshop diary for this course.  A full draft of the first song has an independent deadline as noted below - after feedback, and with revision, that work should be included in the final portfolio.

You must present at least one song from your portfolio in a composition workshop during semester.  This is a compulsory requirement for the course.

Notes

Use of Technology

This course assumes that you have sufficient information and technology skills to confidently use a computer to access material for your course.  Your written work should be submitted typed, using standard word-processor software.  The School of Music has iMacs you are able to use which have all standard software required for this course.

You will be required to access our learning management system - Learn - and to become familiar with its tools.  Learn provides easily-accessible information about the course and assessments, topics and deadlines, and supports the learning you will gain from attending all lectures and tutorials.  For help using Learn, refer to: http://learn.canterbury.ac.nz/

Additional Course Outline Information

Assessment and grading system

The following shows how to translate grades to numerical scores:

A+  90–100;    A   85–89;    A-  80–84;    B+   75–79;    B 70–74;    B-   65–69;     C+  60–64;     C  55–59;     C- 50–54;     D  40–49;   E  0–39
In a course at 100- or 200-level examiners may grant restricted credit (R) which will be equivalent to a pass for all purposes except as a prerequisite.

A pass is 50 marks and over.

Please see the School of Music handbook for information regarding the following:  late submission of work, aegrotats, plagiarism and dishonest practices, appeals, and reconsiderations.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $817.00

International fee $3,525.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Humanities .

All MUSA120 Occurrences

  • MUSA120-17S2 (C) Semester Two 2017