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Hello you all,
Receder and I have signed up to the coursera songwriting course. Anyone has followed it? All stories about songwriting are welcome!
Fred
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Hey Fred, There's a post in the Recording forum related to these courses: Introduction to Music ProductionI'm taking the theory course now. Will take the Songwriting later. I've had the Pat Pattison books for years and he's the instructor for it.
 Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
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To me Pat was a revelation. I have followed the first week now. Being an intuitive songwriter and musician for 30 years I guess I should improve on theoretical knowledge and it's looking good ☺
Pat is a gifted storyteller!
To be continued
Fred
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Great! Look forward to hearing your progress. I'll probably hit that course by the end of the year.
Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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Hi Fred,
Thanks for starting this thread. Let's hope some others will join in and we can share some useful info. Well done on completing the first week. I have 2 more lessons and quizzes to do before Monday. Doesn't seem to onerous so far. How are you finding it?
Steve, the music production course sounds interesting (pardon the pun). Maybe I will do that one after the songwriting course.
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I took Pat's class back in March 2013. I thought it was a fun and helpful class! Be involved in the forums, but be careful. We did have one guy that started out super helpful and then went non-linear on us.
DON'T GET HUNG UP ON THE GRADING! You will have folks that don't know what they are doing, non-english speaking folks and all sorts grading your stuff. Take the bad with the good and move on.
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DON'T GET HUNG UP ON THE GRADING! You will have folks that don't know what they are doing, non-english speaking folks and all sorts grading your stuff. Take the bad with the good and move on. That's what I'm worried about on my first peer review coming up next week.
Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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That's what I'm worried about on my first peer review coming up next week. I got more of the class by grading and the forum than I did from getting reviewed (although there were a few good points here and there). I think I did at least 10 grading reviews each assignment and I was pretty lenient. Oh, by the way, for our class you got 10 bonus points if you were involved in the forums. There weren't very many posts required, but I can't remember the minimum number.
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Thanks for the forum tip.
Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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Well I survived the course to the end and it was a great learning experience. I will definitely be trying their other courses and maybe even signature track. Week 5 was very busy and, as I was away for week 6, I had to do both assignments at the same time. I received some excellent feedback from peers and found the whole thing very well run. I also bought Pat Pattison's book (Writing Better Lyrics) to act as a memory jogger and also as a thank you to Pat. I received the following feedback on my week 6 assignment which I found quite amusing: Beautiful song!!! Good job — very David Bowie. Like seriously VERY David Bowie. I can't get David Bowie out of mind. Seriously. Now I hate you . . . . I'm gonna have to see Bowie in my mind for the rest of the day! But every original too — oddly beautiful — almost like a SPACE ODDITY! Not quite sure what he meant, but here is my week 6 submission (The Secrets of the Trees): https://soundcloud.com/receder/secrets-of-the-trees-v2-songwriting-assignment-6FYI I used BIAB for the backing track: ****** Song Summary ************* Title: Secrets of the Trees Key=B , Tempo 80, Length (m:s)=2:00 Style is CRYSTAL1.STY (Crystal1 - 4/4 New Age style) BassCustom Synth is Hi-Q 082 01 Synth, Analog, 80sPad SampleTank.tgs PianoCustom Synth is Hi-Q 005 01 Piano, Electric, Classic SampleTank.tgs GuitarCustom Synth is Hi-Q 026 03 Guitar, Acoustic, 12 String SampleTank.tgs StringsCustom Synth is Hi-Q 050 01 Strings, Ensemble, Movie SampleTank.tgs Style MIDI Instruments are : Saw Wave Lead (82), Electric Piano (5), 26/1 12-Strings Guitar, GM2 Bank 1, Slow Strings (50), MIDI Drums :1 Standard Drum Kit (1) RealDrums will be substituted :CountryEven16: a: Brushes b: Snare, HiHat ******************* How did you guys get on? Rec
BIAB 2022 UltraPAK, CbB, Studio One 5 Pro, Fender USA Tele, Harley Benton Fusion & others.
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Well I survived the course to the end and it was a great learning experience.
...
I received the following feedback on my week 6 assignment which I found quite amusing:
...
Not quite sure what he meant, but here is my week 6 submission (The Secrets of the Trees)...
Well it IS very Bowie like. But there is enough of you in it to be original. Well done. I enjoyed taking that class back when I did.
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Well I survived the course to the end and it was a great learning experience. I will definitely be trying their other courses and maybe even signature track.
Great news. I just finished the theory course and will take the recording course next time around. I am in the signature track. One of the Coursera admins put a post in our class forum saying that the next Berklee classes will be offered in April. Hope that ends up true!
Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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Well it IS very Bowie like. But there is enough of you in it to be original. Well done. I enjoyed taking that class back when I did.
Hey thanks Kemmrich! Maybe I should do an album in that style 
Great news. I just finished the theory course and will take the recording course next time around. I am in the signature track. One of the Coursera admins put a post in our class forum saying that the next Berklee classes will be offered in April. Hope that ends up true!
Thanks Steve. I was also tempted by the signature track but missed the deadline to sign up. Do you know if there is any way that I can use my Songwriting Course results if I sign up to signature track for the Modern Musician specialization ( https://www.coursera.org/specialization/modernmusician/5?utm_medium=listingPage )?
Last edited by receder; 03/24/15 12:24 AM.
BIAB 2022 UltraPAK, CbB, Studio One 5 Pro, Fender USA Tele, Harley Benton Fusion & others.
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Yeah, I think you're right. You have to sign up for it in the first few weeks of the course. Drop them an email though. It doesn't hurt to ask. They may be able to work something out.
Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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I took the class in 2013 and learned many useful tools in the class. I think its a great course. Two things stick in my mind clearly: The boxes concept and 3 line pre choruses work great.
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Hey Receder, I got official emails from Coursera today. Next round of Berklee courses start on April 20th.
Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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Sounds good Steve. I am still waiting to hear whether I can count my Songwriting course results towards "Modern Musician" specialization.
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