Berklee Songwriting Class - update
Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 4:50 pmSo, into week 5 of this online (free) class.
Each week there are videos to watch, short quizzes to take 9which you can retake until you get them perfect), and an assignment. After the assignment date, you have to review at least 5 other student's assignments, grade them and comment on them per the guidelines.
The intial videos and assignments were about lyric stability/instability, rhyming and now we're into lyrical and melodic stresses.
This week's videos are over 3 hours total length (most of any week) and have to do with putting lyrics together for a song, starting with just a title )all by example). In the first video this week, the teacher says this is a good way to ge tpast writer's block. then the assignment is to go throug the exercise and write a song.
Well, quite simply, I don't write songs that way! So, using some of the first 2 weeks work, I've written out my lyrics (and have a chord structure/melody in the 'working' stage) and then have gone back and faked a 'worksheet' as if I was doing the exercise as demonstrated.
I have learned a few things taking this class, but from the class discussion forums, I see that a large number of the students are not songwriters - many have never written ANY song before, some are not musicians at all.
So would I recommend this online class? Probably only for someone who is struggling to learn how to write a song. For me that was never an issue - I started writing my first songs as soon as I could half-play a couple of chords on my first $40 guitar!
Each week there are videos to watch, short quizzes to take 9which you can retake until you get them perfect), and an assignment. After the assignment date, you have to review at least 5 other student's assignments, grade them and comment on them per the guidelines.
The intial videos and assignments were about lyric stability/instability, rhyming and now we're into lyrical and melodic stresses.
This week's videos are over 3 hours total length (most of any week) and have to do with putting lyrics together for a song, starting with just a title )all by example). In the first video this week, the teacher says this is a good way to ge tpast writer's block. then the assignment is to go throug the exercise and write a song.
Well, quite simply, I don't write songs that way! So, using some of the first 2 weeks work, I've written out my lyrics (and have a chord structure/melody in the 'working' stage) and then have gone back and faked a 'worksheet' as if I was doing the exercise as demonstrated.
I have learned a few things taking this class, but from the class discussion forums, I see that a large number of the students are not songwriters - many have never written ANY song before, some are not musicians at all.
So would I recommend this online class? Probably only for someone who is struggling to learn how to write a song. For me that was never an issue - I started writing my first songs as soon as I could half-play a couple of chords on my first $40 guitar!