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| At the heart of the definition of a seminar lies student participation and involvement in the delivery of the course. To this end, students will prepare presentations for almost every class meeting. The seminar will break into teams that will lay out the processes by which composers created songs, musicians created, rehearsed, and performed arrangements, and producers and engineers captured and transformed these sounds. Teams will present at least one song-recording every class meeting and report on the following questions: |
| 1. |
Who is the primary composer? Did anyone else assist in the writing of the song and, if so, how so? Under what circumstances did he write the song? What were his likely models? |
| 2. |
Presentations should include an essential analysis (melody, meter, harmony) of the musical materials and the playing of the recording and any additional materials (e.g., demos and out takes). [See instructor about possible additional materials.] |
| 3. |
How was this music presented to the other members of the band? How did the members of the band, the producer, and/or session musicians change the music in the rehearsal and recording process? |
| 4. |
How did the production process change the way the recording sounded? How did the producer manage the sessions and studio resources? What roles did others (e.g., balance and technical engineers) play in the creation of the sound? What technology did they use? What differences can you describe between different versions of the same "recording" (e.g., mono and stereo)? What changes happened to these recordings in the post-production process (e.g., in the US)? |
| 5. |
How did the Beatles and their organization promote the recordings they made? How did the press react to these recordings? How did these recordings do in the charts? Which charts? |
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12 December, 2011 |
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