Week 5

The course that I’m developing will consist primarily of resources and instruction intended to guide the students through technical processes that once captured will enable the student to utilize the featured technology to create their own individual musical compositions.  The course will be segmented into several topics, each of which will focus on a specific component of digital musical composition. This will be a cumulative process whereby the end of the ten-week course, each student will have completed an original musical composition in its entirety. The course will be structured so that each topic builds upon the previous week’s activities, yet are still self–contained in a sense. Though each week’s topic will cover a separate element of the musical composition, the connect activities will correspond with one another. The course is designed for adults, but won’t be restricted to only adult students. I just recommend that the student have a basic understanding of music composition and be fairly adept at using computer software to sequence musical arrangements.

The customary methods used to teach a course with comparable content would normally include very descriptive text and diagrams due to the complexity of the assigned tasks. In order to accommodate all learning styles, I plan to have learning resources available in multiple formats. I will have video tutorials with audio as well as an alternate PDF guide that will incorporate screen shots captured from the video tutorial. Doing so will also ensure that the course is AD compliant.

I can foresee the largest difficulty for the students occurring within the assigned tasks. There are numerous steps to each process so one mistake would jeopardize the entire procedure. Since I plan on this being a long-standing course, I would create a troubleshooting guide for each topic based on student feedback. The basic structure of the course would remain the same, but the content would evolve from class to class.

There are both convergent and divergent elements within the course. The convergent would include the structuring of the recording devices within the computer-based technology. The students will need to set up digital devices within the audio sequencing software before they record.  The divergent content would be the audio the students produce using the computer-based technology. Though there are certain guidelines in place for each lesson, every student’s interpretation of these guidelines will vary as well as the musical renditions that they record.

The most salient of the characteristics within the content will most likely be the video tutorials. As an online instructor you can explain something and even illustrate it, but I find that the impact is greatest when a student can actually see the process being explained. I know that this was the most effective learning method for me when I began studying the topic.  It’s very advantageous as a learner to have the ability to reference a video at your own pace when duplicating a complex process. Using strictly text as a guide wouldn’t be efficient at all in this case. This is especially true with the content in this course because the directions need to be elaborate, yet not too wordy. Too much text could overwhelm or confuse the student, whereas with a video you can deliver the key information without having to verbalize as much of the supporting detail.

Though I find myself to be fairly technically savvy, I will not let this have too much of an influence on my teaching style. I’m approaching this course from a student’s perspective in hopes of making it as user friendly as possible. I realize that those who have either a lack of experience with music or computers or a combination of both would be completely lost if attempting my course. For this reason I will have a few pre-requisites posted as well as the general expectations that I have for my students. Students will be presumed to have some level of experience in sequencing music on a computer and have a general understanding of a modern musical composition. I believe that the most important characteristic for a student to possess in a course such as this would be a genuine passion for the subject matter. This is true with anything you pursue in life. You don’t become an expert over night and I don’t expect any student with little or no prior knowledge to grasp every concept presented. I believe that after the first two weeks of the class I’ll have a good idea of each of the student’s experience levels and will take this into account when grading their projects.

My overall goal for this coarse is to familiarize students with sequencing music within one of the most advances digital audio workstations (DAW’s). I will be using the most recent technology available, at the same time keeping in mind equipment/software that is affordable for the students without sacrificing quality. Some primary objectives that I have for the students are to gain a better understanding of the basic structure of a digital music composition, to gain confidence in their own creative abilities and to find a systematic approach that works best for them when applying this creativity using the tools that I’ve taught.

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