MUS 155 - Contemporary Songwriting (1)

This course is designated for aspiring singer/songwriters who have an interest in pop and commercial music, including rap. This class will focus on how to craft a successful pop contemporary song through targeted songwriting assignments, which includes heavy instruction on writing lyrics. This course will also put heavy emphasis on collaborations, along with daily professional and peer-to-peer critiques of each student’s work in-progress. This class will conclude with an overnight trip to downtown Chicago to record students’ tunes at the Chicago Recording Company. There are no official prerequisites but having some basic facility over your instrument (knowing a four-chord progression) or voice (singing in tune) is helpful. If you don’t play an instrument and make music by your own means of electronic construction, this is acceptable. If you’re solely a lyricist, this too is acceptable, and we will pair you up with a collaborator that plays an instrument. There is a $100 fee to help subsidize the studio and hotel costs for this course. Please know that there are no texts required for purchase for this course.

This course is pre-approved for the Ingenuity in Action categeory, Creative Expression. To participate and earn notation of completion on your transcript, please complete the Ingenuity in Action application.
(Fine Arts)