Composition, Production, and Presentation

This unit expands foundational composition skills into practical techniques for melody, harmony, rhythm, arrangement, and counterpoint while introducing production, score preparation, performance, and distribution basics. Students will synthesize creative methods (effort shapes, phrasing, melodic devices) with workflow, file management, and platform choices to produce rehearsal-ready materials and prepare work for release or licensing.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic examples to identify chord progressions, cadences, modal and melodic minor usage, atonal elements, neighboring tones, appoggiatura, and the five elements of a musical tone
• Apply compositional techniques—such as pentatonic and modal writing, counterpoint, effort-shape combination, front/back phrasing, syncopation, and instrument-specific idioms—to create and revise original short pieces for contexts including musical theater, advertising, and jazz
• Demonstrate production and presentation skills by assembling appropriate gear, managing composition files, preparing a clear score, selecting and producing target sounds (including free-reed timbres), and delivering a rehearsal-ready recorded mock-up for performance or licensing
• Evaluate distribution and rights-management options (e.g., Broadjam, CD Baby, DistroKid, Epidemic Sound) and establish a basic release and workflow plan that supports future portfolio and industry-facing work