new free berklee songwriting course coming up - 27 jan

domhatch · 2014-01-16T14:04:19+00:00

howdy. another one of them berklee songwriting courses is due to start shortly. i am taking it as a sign most auspicious in nature that this date coincides w...

new free berklee songwriting course coming up - 27 jan

CDee

Thanks Dom! +1 and thanked

FRIX

Just signed up as well. Thanks Dom.

Talentloos

Glad I found this thread. I am an pretty ok guitar player and a pretty good writer, but I can't for the life of me mix the two. Just signed up. Shot Dom.

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Stoffeltoo

Thanks Uncle Dom +1 and thanked plus two kowtows.
I joined as I can only get through the first two lines and not even the music. I trust this will help.

Talentloos

Anyone started with the videos yet? Totally spaced about the start date. Will have to catch up tonight.

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domhatch

been hectic at work, and going away on friday for the w/e. will have to work through this week's stuff between tonight, tomorrow and sunday night. but looking fwd to it!

NorioDS

Yeah also hectic here but Tanya is away next week so maybe I'll have some time in the evenings to start. Really hoping!

Stoffeltoo

First two videos done, Bandwidth availability sucks ☹ (but got through them) Will do the rest during the weekend and then the assignment

NorioDS

Going thru the videos now meself and had to laugh out loud at his quirky line while developing a love song, at around the 14 minute mark in the 3rd video,

"Everyone I've ever loved is still with me..."
"In the freezer downstairs..."
"Let us always be together..."
"In love love love"
(darker) "love love love"
(creepy voice) "love love love"

?

NorioDS

Just finished this week's class, quizzes and assignment. *whew* Hectic 1 hour and 45 minutes! (I watch the videos at double-speed in VLC to save time.)

The videos are fun to watch, entertaining and informative. He gives you great tools to use to develop an idea from nothing into a complete idea.

The quizzes are also fun and make you think about the songs you're listening to and really apply what you've learned.

The assignment is downright SCARY but fantastic as it forces you to start developing a song and forces you to at least TRY (using the tools he teaches) to make it interesting and have a gradual build-up.

V8

Errr, as usual I'm on Cape Town time for this party...(aka as late) - Just saw it today! Thanks for head's up Dom :goodtimes:

Spent about 4hrs on it today, have managed to get through the 1st stage of vid's, quizzes and assignment - Well worth the time and effort as everyone has mentioned. Them tools are powerful things for keepin one focussed on the original song idea.

Really have to give two thumbs up to the presentation, structure and content in general - really impressed so far.

Just a quick question : anyone using the recommended reading (or have used it in the past?)

NorioDS

Argh! Haven't watched the videos or done the quizzes at all yet!

I did, however, do the peer-evaluations yesterday which was very interesting. Some really good stuff out there (and some really terrible stuff ?).

One thing I learned is the stuff that was most compelling was the stuff where the student let you in on something DEEPLY personal and private. The other "fluff" was just hard to even get through. Sadly I think I erred on the side of fluff as I didn't feel comfortable opening myself up like that to my peers. Lesson learned - you wanna write something compelling, open up till you're wearing your heart on your sleeves.

The good news: We have until midnight tonight to complete the quizzes. (2pm PST = midnight SAST)

If you're like me and procrastinated till the last minute, you can still squeeze them in after work today! Good luck!

V8

Norio wrote: The good news: We have until midnight tonight to complete the quizzes. (2pm PST = midnight SAST)

If you're like me and procrastinated till the last minute, you can still squeeze them in after work today! Good luck!

Grin, seems I'm a somewhat like you - left it to the last minute - unlike you I calculated PST to GMT wrong and had to use a few late days for the quizzes. Thankfully week 2 assignment isn't too tricky and that is already in.

Week 3 looks like a bit of a slog with the videos (around 90mins) - but it's really quite enjoying filling up a songwriting toolbox with the techniques. I'm finding the techniques damn useful for directing inspiration and focusing the perspiration of songwriting.

How's everyone else coming along?

NorioDS

V8 wrote:Grin, seems I'm a somewhat like you - left it to the last minute

Brother you don't know the half of it. STILL not done. Hard deadline is tomorrow midnight. Hopefully I'll get it done before then ?

He'll drop your lowest score. So as long as I only do this once... I'm okay. Let's see ?

V8 wrote: it's really quite enjoying filling up a songwriting toolbox with the techniques. I'm finding the techniques damn useful for directing inspiration and focusing the perspiration of songwriting.

Awesome course. Really agree with what you said above.

V8

Norio wrote:
V8 wrote:Grin, seems I'm a somewhat like you - left it to the last minute
Brother you don't know the half of it. STILL not done. Hard deadline is tomorrow midnight. Hopefully I'll get it done before then ?

He'll drop your lowest score. So as long as I only do this once... I'm okay. Let's see ?

You can do itttttttttt.... ?

Thanks Norio, I didn't know the lowest score will be dropped - is this for quizzes or assignments or one of each?

I did come across this while checking out the forums - someone put together a really nice summary of the whole course in a pdf format - note : it's considered a spoiler (and shouldn't -imho- repace your own notes) : https://class.coursera.org/songwriting-004/forum/thread?thread_id=209