Songwriting Courses

This class explores sampling methods from other forms of music as a means for writing songs. Students will learn the technology of samplers as well as the history behind their inclusion in contemporary music. Each class will further develop the student's understanding of sampling technique through in-class exercises, projects, and group assignments. The course will be structured to cycle through phases of theory, technique, and creative exercises. In each class, key concepts (transcribing, looping, chopping, etc.) will be linked in a visual, tactile way to the sampler (Reason), as well as drawing on ear training and harmony materials from core classes. Although in format this class will resemble a lab, the combination of technical and writing assignments presented will require delivery as a full 2-hour class session. Emphasis will be placed on transcribing prerecorded music to provide a blueprint for the compositions students create.

This course serves to reinforce and build upon the concepts and skills acquired in Arranging 1, Lyric Writing 1, Songwriting 1, and DAW for Songwriters. The course emphasizes the role of musical parts in supporting a lead vocal melody by employing a range of arrangement tools and techniques. This includes arranging techniques as voicings, pads, stabs, call and response; making rhythmic, harmonic, and instrumentation choices; as well as incorporating strings and horns into an arrangement. Throughout the course, students will be required to develop chart notation skills for their original songs, record and produce audio/midi mock-ups, and will have the opportunity to rehearse and record an arrangement with a project band. These practical experiences will allow students to apply their knowledge and skills in a real-world setting.

This class provides a stylistically open foundation in guitar playing focused on the needs and working processes of songwriters. The class integrates knowledge of theory approached in terms of the guitar fingerboard with songwriting/composition concepts and skills. Each session introduces technical work on guitar skills development, along with small composition exercises, performed and evaluated in class by the instructor and peer critique.

This class will offer a foundation in keyboard and piano playing specifically for songwriters. The course will integrate keyboard technique, specifically theory as applied to seeing and playing it on the piano, with songwriting and composition techniques and processes. The student will work with scales, major and minor triads including inversions, suspensions and colors/tensions, voice led I-IV-V progressions, and excursions into blues and dorian and mixolydian modes, with attention to emotional tone and compositional color. Writing assignments will allow students to learn concepts through creative work. The course will also serve as a survey of basic piano pop rhythmic styles, working with rhythm templates as bases for individual embellishment. Although in format this class will resemble a lab, the combination of technical and writing assignments presented will require delivery as a full 2-hour class session. The goal of this class is to provide a foundation for creative work on the piano for students for whom piano is a second instrument.

This course provides an overview of the contributions that songwriters have made to 20th-century American culture, analyze historical songwriting and production styles, determine characteristics of periods and genres, and apply them to new original works through songwriting assignments. Included will be the sources of, and trends in, various popular American styles, including spirituals, blues, jazz standards, show tunes, country, rock, R&B, soul, reggae, folk, and hip-hop. This course will use the basic analytical tools taught in SW-221 and SW-211 to study, analyze and apply significant popular songs and song styles.

This course explores the deep craft and artistry of songwriting and instrumental tune composition in American and related roots music traditions, and the ways contemporary artists have drawn on and evolved these styles. Students will examine songs and tunes in diverse roots genres, analyzing them using both general songwriting tools and techniques (e.g., as introduced in Lyric Writing 1 and Songwriting 1), and structural, lyrical, and musical techniques distinctive to roots styles. While the course emphasizes critical listening, analysis, and comprehension of the historical and  cultural context of the source material, it is primarily a project-oriented songwriting course. Students work with models drawn from roots source repertoire as points of departure for new original creative work, ranging from work directly identifiable within a roots idiom, to work incorporating techniques from these styles in contemporary and students' individual creative styles. As this course brings together students from diverse backgrounds (contemporary songwriters, roots players and tune writers), there is a strong emphasis on collaborative listening and analyzing as well as co-writing in class projects.

Rooted in the African cultural diaspora, improvisation is an ancient form of musical communication. The process of discovering and collaborating on ideas in the moment is at the core of productive learning, and provides a solid foundation for songwriting. This workshop introduces improvisation tools and techniques to explore effective processes of creating music and lyrics. Students learn via action-based teaching methodology in the classroom, where students’ instruments include voices, hands, feet and desks, as well as piano and guitar. Students improvise and perform original songs in the classroom and create a final performance presentation at the end of the semester. They learn various approaches to finding and cultivating song ideas through the art of playing improvisation games including free word association, singing melodies, clapping and rapping rhythms, jamming with instruments, object writing (stream of consciousness), and rhyming (games are loosely based off of those presented in the famous television show Whose Line Is It Anyway? but in a songwriting context). Students develop words into lyric rhythms, lyric rhythms into melodic motifs, and melodic motifs into longer phrases over harmonic and rhythmic ideas. Students successfully apply improvisational techniques to their songwriting practice in order to become more prolific and have an intrinsically rewarding experience. With emphasis on incorporating musical dialogue, student-run composition, and instructor-initiated improvisation techniques, students find total engagement in creative activity as a means of initiating more possibility for inspiration, innovation, and song collaboration.

This collaborative course provides a hands-on exploration of rhythmic accompaniment for original songs. Students will learn improvisation tools and techniques for discovering and developing grooves for their top lines in a positive and productive learning environment. Through instructor-initiated exercises, students will hone their inner drum and percussion clock and expand their understanding of rhythmic subdivision and syncopation. Using claps, stomps, taps, vocal sounds, and other available objects as percussion instruments, students will create ostinato rhythm patterns to connect rhythmically to their lyrics, to one another, and to the outside world. Students will improvise and perform groove-based original music in the classroom to create a final performance presentation at the end of the semester. With an emphasis on dialogue and student-run composition, this class will cultivate total engagement in creative activity, initiating more possibilities for inspiration, innovation and song collaboration. By successfully applying improvisational groove- and jam-based tools and techniques to their songwriting practice, students will expand their knowledge of groove, become more prolific as songwriters, and have an intrinsically rewarding experience. 

This course will reinforce production concepts and expand upon prior skills developed in SW-161. Topics will cover a wide variety of useful tools for songwriters including drum programming, virtual instruments and software synths, mixing and FX processing, and utilizing Logic’s flex time tools. There will also be a focus on recording and processing vocals. This will cover correct mic techniques, comping, editing, tuning, and final processing and fx. Throughout the course students will also work with DAW specific features and shortcut keys to integrate into their workflows. 

This course will offer a foundation in writing topline for pop songs. Toplining is the practice of creating and recording the melody and lyric line for tracks that have already been created by beat makers or producers who specialize in creating rhythmic and harmonic structures. The practice has become the industry standard for pop, R&B and hip-hop, EDM, and Latin music genres. This introductory course will focus on techniques for creating a topline for tracks including: writing vocal hooks, placement of lyric concepts, developing melodic motifs through judicious melodic, rhythmic, and note choice; defining sections through melodic contrast, modern pop forms, and basic vocal production techniques. Through a series of weekly exercises, assignments and two complete song projects, students learn how to craft a topline, use a DAW to record their voice, and deliver a finished topline work. 

This course explores the field of music supervision, which
 is an in-demand field due to the increased use of existing songs in TV shows, films, live events, advertisements, websites, and
 other media. This course reviews the entire music supervision process, from choosing the
 perfect song/lyric to strategies for securing licensing with
 artists and publishers, and offers students a hands-on opportunity to
 make music selections fit a variety of media, as well as structuring licensing/contract deals for composers, publishers, and
 record companies. The final project involves networking with
 songwriting majors, contemporary writing and production majors, students from Berklee Online, and external rights holders to license and place music into a series of scenes and advertisements. Students learn how to work effectively on a production
 team, locate resources for licensable music, offer creative
 options, select and license appropriate music, combine music with
 a variety of media, and generate detailed license requests,
 agreements, and cue sheets. The student gains a thorough
 understanding of the elements that make a piece of music a
 perfect fit for a production, in addition to addressing the
 needs of both the project (directors and producers) and the
 rights holders (writers, publishers, and master owners). The
 course will explore the viewpoints of publishers,
 songwriters/composers, master owners, and executive producers, in
 order to gain skills needed to effectively work within the
 creative and budgetary aspects of combining music and other
 media.

This course will explore contemporary R&B and reinforce the tools and techniques gained from the core of the Songwriting program. Topics will range from contemporary lyrical themes, crafting melodies that define Contemporary R&B, analyzing the fusion of soulful harmonies, and studying the various artists and songwriters that have gained prominence in Contemporary R&B.  This class also explores the trends in contemporary R&B songwriting styles from the 90's, 00's, 10's, and current decade. Uncover the intricacies of the production process where emotional depth meets cutting-edge production and discover the pivotal role of vocal arrangement in conveying the genre's expressive narratives.