Song Writing & Analysis

This class is designed to help students sharpen
critical skills that will help them analyze and
perform songs from a mix of styles ranging from
those found in the medieval era to those of the
present day. These skills will then be linked to
students' practice at applying a healthy amount
of analytical thinking to their own compositions.
Subjects will include lyric writing, the
relationship of text to music, standard and
non-standard forms, common compositional tricks
and starting ideas, differing concepts of
harmonic function, hooks, stylistic referencing
and mixing, the role of oral musical traditions
and individualism, the role of technology, and
aural dictation.