Songwriting & Music Production
Tutors: Natalie Beridze / Nika Machaidze
Duration: 3 months
Hours: 4 hours per week
Price: 1290 GEL
Language: Georgian / English
Related Courses: Ableton Live / Sound Engineering / Music Production with hint of Songwriting
Participant of the course must be famillier with music software such as Ableton Live / FL / Logic pro / Cubase...
The course involves producing music from the scratch and getting famillier with songwriting skills.
During the course students will experiment various musical genres such as: electronic, contemporary, pop, experimental and film music, which will help them discover their own unique sound.
Lecture 1
Getting to know each other / listening to each other's music.
Lecture 2
Class work: Natalie and Nika present several pre-prepared loops and showcase building melody line on top of the loop, after which they remove the loop and begin to create a different harmony on the melody line.
homework: The student chooses the loop and uses the same technique independently.
Lecture 3
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: A lecture from folk to electro to techno.
homework: Arrangement & finishing the track started at lecture 2.
Lecture 4
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: We listen to Reich's work based on transcription and record our own conversation and show in a small section how any sound can be turned into a musical notation - i.e. transcription.
Homework: students are required to cut and prepare the recording made in the studio into samples & loops, arrange them in the software and decode them with any instrument of their choice (midi).
Lecture 5
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: arranging harmony and production on a transcription task. We work in class.
Homework: Completion of the track.
Lecture 6
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: In the classroom studio, we record the sounds of objects in the room and create a sound bank that we use as the only source to compose the track. Homework: students carry out the presented work independently.
Lecture 7
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: The group pairs up and exchange the stems used in the previous assignment, i.e. they exchange each other's Sound Bank.
Homework: Everyone makes a track using their pair's sound bank.
Lecture 8
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: Dramaturgy in music & cinematography. Natalie and Nika will present to class finest examples of narrative music, which tells the story to the listener without frames. Students choose a story or a fairy tale of their choice.
Homework: Students are tasked with retelling their chosen fairy tale in music. First, we start by selecting themes for each character.
Lecture 9
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: We start to bring the selected themes - characters to life / to tell the story. These musical productions should have a strong narrative side and dramaturgy.
Homework: Continue to work on the track.
Lecture 10
Class work: Jam Session. Students are required to bring any instruments or gadgets of their choice, play and record an improvised jam session. The purpose of this session is to be able to listen to each other and accumulate interesting musical material.
Homework: Work on the material recorded and making an individual track from it.
Lecture 11
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: Students start to work on a new track
Homework: Completion of a new track.
Lecture 12
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: We begin to break down the previous week's assignment and change them stylistically (if the track was ambient, we make noise or hip-hop (or any other genre from its constituent components).
Homework: We are working on a track.
Lecture 13
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: Lecture-collage in art and music.
Homework: Make samples using music by different composers. Make your own track from the samples.
Lecture 14
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: "legal theft" - we will extend the topic of the previous lecture - micro sampling, using other people's music as quotes.
Homework: We use and process samples of other people's music with such skill that it is impossible to recognize them in the track.
Lecture 15
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: Choir: In class, students will record the names of their favorite composers sung by each student in the octave according to the principle of the chromatic scale (every semitone). Using this recording, Natalie and Nika will showcase the principle and technics of creating choir.
Homework: Building the desired harmonic progression (polyphony) from the recording with the technique presented at the lecture.
Lecture 16
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: We carry on the production of the same track ,adding instruments and rhythm.
Homework: Complition of the track.
Lecture 17
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: Lecture on film music. How to replace image with music.
Homework: Studets can shose a task: 1. Creating music for the scene of the film. 2. Creating music and sound design for the film trailer.
Lecture 18
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: Production of Hip Hop acapella in class.
Homework: Completing the existing task.
Lecture 19
Guest lecturer. Format Q&A.
Lecture 20
Class work: Vocals in music. We listen to different genres of vocal works and discuss the dramatic and musical differences. During the lecture Natalie and Nika will showcase different songwriting techniques.
Homework: Students start to write song.
Lecture 21
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: Working on the lyrics of the song.
Homework: Completion of the song.
Lecture 22
Listening and analyzing the assignment.
Class work: Music Cover. Natalie and Nika choose 2 compositions and showcase techniques and processes of creating a cover.
Homework: Create a cover of the desired song.
Lecture 23
Summarize the course - Q & A
Lecture 24
Final jam session - dubbing a silent film.