Bath Spa University, MA, Songwriting

There are a number of modules: Solo songwriting (every week, each student plays a new original song to the group; songs are discussed within the group, and each student writes a short 'song critique' in their personal journal); songwriting in context (lectures on and discussion of existing songs from the Western canon circa 1920 to present; students are required to evaluate 4 of their own songs within the context of existing repertoire; the module culminates in a 30 minute presentation in which students place their original work in context, illustrating and discussing resonances between their own work and the work of historically successful songwriters); industrial context (an initial series of seminars informs a research project in which students critically examine a range of options relating to the commercial placement of their creative work within an industrial context); solo songwriting 2 (the group continues to write and perform new songs as before, but this time each student is invited to respond to critiques of earlier songs as provided (anonymously) by the rest of the group); collaboration (the ability to collaborate is vital for many songwriters, particularly those working at a commercial level; to develop this skill, students are asked to co-write with a minimum of 5 collaborators); recording plan and evaluation (prior to beginning work on the studio portfolio double module, students submit a detailed 5,000 word plan that takes into account pre-production, song selection, arrangement, recording method, sequencing and other aspects integral to the recording process); studio portfolio (students record and submit a CD of original songs written during the course).