Curriculum and Activities

This is a half-hour lesson each week on your principal instrument.

Three hours each week will be spent in instrument-specific small group courses to develop instrumental style, reading, and technique.

Instrumental/vocal departments will present a survey class, which examines various performance styles and techniques from a historical perspective.

Ensembles will run for two hours each week. Instrumental and vocal groups are available in a wide range of contemporary styles, including  jazz, pop and rock, funk/fusion, pop/R&B, bluegrass, salsa, and world music. Additional ensembles are available depending on instrumental balance and need. Twenty-three ensembles will be selected to record in one of Berklee’s 10 state-of the-art recording studios. All ensembles will perform a short set in an on-campus venue during the final week of the program.

You will spend four hours per week developing your musical ear, performance skills, and reading ability. This class level is determined by your entering musicianship assessment.

You will spend three hours per week studying the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic elements of music as they relate to playing your instrument. This class level is determined by your entering theory assessment.

Performances/discussions are held two hours per week to expose you to valuable career insight from music professionals in every sector of the industry: performance, songwriting, film composition, music business, and more. Notable guest artists who have recently visited Berklee include Victor Wooten, Cory Henry, Crissy Collins, Charlie Puth, and Livingston Taylor, among many others. 

These lectures and demonstrations feature performers, songwriters, film composers, and music business experts with experience in the industry. They are open to all students.

Visiting artists are announced at the start of the program. Notable artists who have recently visited Berklee include Amanda Palmer, George Duke, Melissa Ferrick, and Dawaun Parker, among many others.

During the final week of the program, you will perform in at least one of more than 300 student ensemble concerts. Concerts are open to the public and will take place in one of the college's many performance venues including the recital halls, Red Room at Cafe 939, and the Berklee Performance Center, a 1,220-seat, world-class venue. 

Please note: The Berklee City Music Scholarship Concert is the only performance that charges an admission fee. All other shows are free, but may have limited capacity. Admittance is on a first-come, first-served basis.

This lecture class will examine song form, strategies for creating melodies, and effective use of harmony to create forward motion in songs. Lyric writing, as well as tips to help the creative process, will be discussed with the instructor and guest lecturers.

Because technology has allowed the easy exchange of ideas and files, strategies and tools for improving both songwriting and production values through collaboration will be demonstrated. Lastly, an overview of how songs are currently used in film and TV (and other visual media) will be discussed, along with the tools you’ll need to place your songs and start earning royalties in this growing area of opportunity for songwriters.

This course will explore how a modern song is taken from inception to full mix. It includes discussion of song form, songwriting, and how to invoke the best performances from players on the spot. This course also addresses the creative use of modern microphone and recording techniques, the use of outboard and computer processing such as reverb, equalizers, and compressors, and basic mixing techniques. Strong interpersonal skills are needed. An open mind and active participation are required.

This course will provide an introduction to the exciting world of scoring for today’s visual media. Using a wide variety of examples from film, video games, television, and commercials, this class will give you a behind-the-scenes look at the process of composing and producing a musical underscore, from traditional linear scoring to the cutting-edge, nonlinear techniques used in current-generation video games and interactive media.

This lecture class will introduce you to composing and arranging techniques used by important jazz artists. Topics include orchestration, song and arrangement form, music analysis, and the process of creating and harmonizing melodies.

This course will provide you with an introduction to the music business. Students will gain an understanding of how their creative works are protected by U.S. copyright law and promoted by publishers. The contractual relationship between artists and record labels will also be reviewed, with discussions on how to set-up and manage a small business (business formation, band agreements, etc.). Artists’ management and their relationship with the recording artist will be explored. Students will also learn why touring is the holy grail of the music business, showing how artists and promoters budget for a successful outcome. 

Ableton Live is a powerful software tool that allows musicians to develop musical ideas in a unique, non-linear environment and presents a way of working that is fundamentally different from other software used in music production. In this workshop, students will learn to create new musical ideas and produce electronic arrangements using software instruments and effects that come with Live. Emphasis will be placed on developing the basic skills that can be used to write and produce new works as well as create remixes and prepare songs for electronic performance.

Examine many of the essential grooves that continue to define contemporary music. The styles examined may include funk, hip-hop, and music from Brazil and Cuba. Music examples and scores will be analyzed to better understand the rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic components of each style. Documentaries will be shown to support the historical and social aspects of these styles with an emphasis on the innovators who made them popular. 

This class will provide singer-songwriters an opportunity to write and perform their own songs, and learn the tools of the trade. The class will focus on the song: how it’s created and how it is used to express and communicate the songwriter's feelings and stories to the audience. You will develop the tools and techniques used by songwriters today and participate in facilitated song critiques with your classmates. The class will culminate in a live performance.

This is a hands-on course with state-of-the-art DAWs (Pro Tools, Logic, and Digital Performer), along with keyboards, mics, and interconnectivity to all 12 stations, to allow for easy collaboration among students. The course will help students improve the overall production quality of their song demos and learn established tricks of the trade to facilitate worldwide collaboration.

Note: This elective is available by audition only. Registered students will receive more information in the spring regarding the application process.

This course is designed to increase students’ awareness of their technical and creative abilities through investigating movement and how it relates to their stage performance. Students will be encouraged to explore their own capacity and range of movement, realizing its aesthetic, physical, and visual possibilities. The technique portions of class will emphasize increasing your body’s flexibility, strength, control, and awareness. Choreographic exploration will concentrate on the use of space, dimension, time, rhythm, energy, and contrast through improvisation and development of movement phrases.

All levels of singers are welcome in this chorus, which features part-singing in styles ranging from pop and R&B to folk and jazz. The Monday and Thursday rehearsals lead up to a final performance at the Berklee Performance Center.

This workshop is dedicated to the art of slam poetry and spoken word. Great for songwriters, poets, or hip-hop artists, this is for anyone wanting to amp up their stage presence and work past performance fears. With equal emphasis on writing and performing, this high-energy class features special guest artists, writing and editing prompts, vocal exercises, and stage movement techniques designed to emphasize your own unique style.

Hip-Hop Songwriting is a course designed to introduce students to the art of rap music. With an emphasis on studying and writing youth-appropriate material, students will learn a variety of classic poetic and rhythmic devices that have made their way into some of today’s biggest hits. Topics covered include song form and arrangement, chorus writing, freestyle (improv), and rapping with a DJ, among other things.

Drum circles are available to percussionists and non-percussionists alike. This weekly workshop provides an opportunity to develop skills using various percussion instruments from around the world.

Students will develop a basic set of turntable techniques: cueing, mixing, beat matching, cutting, and scratching. By tracing the transformation of the turntable into a musical instrument, students will learn of its development as a major expression of hip-hop culture and thus understand its prominence in contemporary music. The class will culminate in each student performing a DJ set by the fifth week.

This ensemble will focus on large and small ensemble musical theater literature. Strong emphasis will be placed on vocal technique, ensemble singing, and lyric delivery. Students will prepare, rehearse, and perform Broadway-style selections from a variety of productions, leading to a performance at the end of the program.

The first time in a professional studio can be daunting, to say the least. This class explores all the elements of being a performer in a recording session. We will discuss preparing for your session, as well as the people you’ll see in various in-studio roles, including engineers, producers, arrangers, and sidemen. We will discuss the differences between live performance and studio performance. Get suggestions and explore the subtle nuances of your voice or instrument to get the best sound and performance in the studio environment. Over 50 vocalists/instrumentalists will have the opportunity to record music of their choice under the supervision of the experienced producer teaching the course.

In today’s music industry, in addition to their talents, artists must develop and maintain a strong and consistent online media presence. This class will explore and help students learn how to identify and promote themselves clearly and consistently over a broad range of platforms, and will introduce students to the fundamentals of using online marketing tools and strategies to create a personal brand that stands out in the digital marketplace.

Become a better musician through yoga. You will learn to practice meditation approaches and breathing techniques, play using healthy posture and technique, get more out of your practice through improved focus, use your breath to improve phrasing and ease performance anxiety, and play with deeper expression through inspiration. These concepts, exercises, and practice routines present yoga from the musician's perspective, focusing on direct relationships between using yoga and creating music.

The Aspire: Five-Week Music Performance Intensive program offers a laboratory course on assistive music technology for blind students. The course explores digital audio workstations, notation, and Braille music. For more information on the course, contact the instructor, Chi Kim, at cgkim@berklee.edu. For more information on services for students with disabilities, contact Berklee Disability Services at 617-747-2387 or disabilityservices@berklee.edu. 

You can choose to study the following styles:

• Jazz—The repertoire will focus on music drawn from jazz standards, the Great American Songbook, blues, Latin, and modal jazz compositions by a wide range of important jazz artists, including Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, and others.
• Pop/Rock—The repertoire will focus on music drawn from important performers, including Adele, the Beatles, Carrie Underwood, the Black Keys, and more.
• Funk/Fusion (instrumentalists only)—The repertoire will focus on music drawn from important performers and groups such as Herbie Hancock, the Chick Corea Elektric Band, the Pat Metheny Group, and others.
• Pop/R&B (vocalists only)—The repertoire will focus on music drawn from important performers such as Beyoncé, Robert Glasper Experiment, John Legend, Aretha Franklin, and others.

Performance is the centerpiece of the Aspire: Five-Week Music Performance Intensive program. Family and friends are encouraged to attend these performances as all concerts are open to the public. During the program, you will have many opportunities to put your coursework into action.

Students' schedules are tailored to their musical interest and experience level. Each schedule is different, and meeting times may vary. Below is a sample schedule of a typical week.