In the Music Education for Teachers specialization, you will explore ways of integrating popular music into your teaching. You'll begin by learning from two highly experienced teachers, Krystal Banfield, the Vice President of Educational Outreach for Berklee College of Music, and David Alexis a Berklee Professor and long-time instructor for the Berklee City Music Program. They will take you through their process of incorporating popular music, improvisation, arranging, and music technology into the classroom while still fulfilling the common core learning standards.
You'll continue with a deeper dive into these topics that will help you build your popular music curriculum. In Jazz Improvisation taught by Grammy-winning Gary Burton, you'll learn how to use improvisation as language and story-telling. You'll also learn how to use a variety of chord scales, modes, and improv techniques. Next, in Arranging for Songwriters taught by renown Berklee faculty Bonnie Hayes and Sarah Brindell, you'll learn how to create arrangements of songs. Finally, in The Art of Music Production, taught by producer Stephen Webber, you'll learn how to begin to record music in a meaningful, yet approachable way.
This specialization will give you the tools you'll need to develop effective, relevant, and compelling lessons for your classroom, online learning space, or private lesson instruction.
Overview
Syllabus
Course 1: Teaching Popular Music in the Classroom
- Offered by Berklee. Teaching Popular Music in the Classroom explores approaches to teaching popular music from culturally rich communities ... Enroll for free.
Course 2: Jazz Improvisation
- Offered by Berklee. Learn the basic concepts of improvisation from Gary Burton, one of the most renowned improvisers in the jazz world, ... Enroll for free.
Course 3: Arranging for Songwriters
- Offered by Berklee. You’ve created a song. You wrote the lyrics, decided on the melody, and maybe even recorded a simple demo. Now what? If ... Enroll for free.
Course 4: The Art of Music Production
- Offered by Berklee. Explore the art of record production and how to make recordings that other people will love listening to. This course ... Enroll for free.
- Offered by Berklee. Teaching Popular Music in the Classroom explores approaches to teaching popular music from culturally rich communities ... Enroll for free.
Course 2: Jazz Improvisation
- Offered by Berklee. Learn the basic concepts of improvisation from Gary Burton, one of the most renowned improvisers in the jazz world, ... Enroll for free.
Course 3: Arranging for Songwriters
- Offered by Berklee. You’ve created a song. You wrote the lyrics, decided on the melody, and maybe even recorded a simple demo. Now what? If ... Enroll for free.
Course 4: The Art of Music Production
- Offered by Berklee. Explore the art of record production and how to make recordings that other people will love listening to. This course ... Enroll for free.
Courses
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Learn the basic concepts of improvisation from Gary Burton, one of the most renowned improvisers in the jazz world, including the mental, melodic, and harmonic processes that contribute to the instinctive skills that an improviser puts to use when taking a solo. While many people are fans of jazz and understand that musicians are often “making up” the notes they are playing during a performance, most people—often including musicians, themselves, who are beginning to learn improvising—aren’t clear about what exact processes take place to enable this to happen. The purpose of this course is to introduce the basic concepts of modern improvisation and how to go about mastering the different musical and mental skills involved. Course author Gary Burton codifies a sought-after approach to improvisation that has been at the core of Berklee College of Music's curriculum for decades. Students who complete this course will know what to practice and how to practice the various aspects of improvising, in addition to understanding how the improviser spontaneously communicates to the listeners through their musical creations.
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Explore the art of record production and how to make recordings that other people will love listening to. This course will teach you how to make emotionally moving recordings on almost any recording equipment, including your phone or laptop. The emphasis is on mastering tangible artistic concepts; the gear you use is up to you. You will learn to develop the most important tool in the recording studio: your ears. You will learn to enhance every aspect of your own productions, both sonically and musically, by employing deeper listening skills. Assignments will include posting your own recordings for peer review, and reviewing your classmates’ work by employing specific tools and strategies. If you use a digital audio workstation to record and mix, that’s great, but as long as you can record into your computer and post an MP3, you can complete the assignments. As you learn about the art of record production in this 4-week course, you will also learn about yourself and who you are as an artist and producer. It is not necessary that you read music or play an instrument to take this course.
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You’ve created a song. You wrote the lyrics, decided on the melody, and maybe even recorded a simple demo. Now what? If you have a basic knowledge of how to use a digital audio workstation (DAW) and are passionate about being a songwriter, this course will help you take your song from a simple recording on your phone to a fully arranged song ready for the recording studio. You will be learning from two Berklee College of Music songwriting professors, Bonnie Hayes and Sarah Brindell. They will show you how to arrange original songs in a digital audio workstation. You will learn tools to heighten the emotional response of your listeners and you’ll broaden your understanding of instrumentation and how to add sounds to your song without distracting the listener from the most important aspect: the vocalist.
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Teaching Popular Music in the Classroom explores approaches to teaching popular music from culturally rich communities in the United States. Students in the course will learn teaching methods that engage youth with the basics of improvisation, technology, songwriting, arranging film score, and writing to the strengths of small bands. The course models how to integrate principles of authentic cultural relevance and positive youth development with contemporary music instruction, while providing tools for assessing and documenting learning and program progress. Students in the course will refine their own pedagogical skills, applying principles of contemporary music instruction. Content and approaches are intended for secondary music programs, but can be adapted for elementary grade levels. All lessons are based in core standards for music education with recommendations for assessments.
Taught by
Bonnie Hayes, David Alexis, Gary Burton, Krystal Banfield, Sarah Brindell and Stephen Webber
