Course Coordinator:Briony Luttrell (bluttrell@usc.edu.au) School:School of Business and Creative Industries
UniSC Sunshine Coast |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Please go to usc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
In this course, you will study the foundations of songwriting, live sound, and staged performance. You will be guided by lecturers and industry practitioners as you engage in the basics of songwriting for live performance. You will apply these skills in a number of modes including live sound, stage presence, performance practice and collaborative music making. This course will culminate in a live performance and recording of your original song. Students are expected to make themselves available for autonomous group rehearsals outside of workshop time. Students must therefore consider their availability on evenings and weekends as well as normal working hours.
Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
Blended learning | |||
Learning materials – Online Learning Materials | 1hr | Week 1 | 12 times |
Tutorial/Workshop 1 – In-class face to face workshop | 2hrs | Week 2 | 12 times |
100 Level (Introductory)
12 units
Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
1 | Develop a shared musical vocabulary led by 21st Century popular approaches to music creation | Creative and critical thinker |
2 | Build a knowledge of the key elements of songwriting and lyric writing informed by both artistic and industry practice. | Knowledgeable |
3 | Produce music and lyrical works of your own creation as part of an ongoing process of development for a portfolio of creative works. | Engaged |
4 | Explore songwriting theory in an industry best practice framework according to intellectual property considerations. | Ethical |
5 | Develop critical listening and self-analysis skills essential to songwriting practice in the 21st Century. | Creative and critical thinker |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Not applicable
Not applicable
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Standard Grading (GRD)
High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
An opportunity exists in every workshop to produce and perform creative pieces individually and/or in small peer groups and receive feedback from peers and teaching staff.
Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
All | 1 | Artefact - Creative, and Written Piece | Individual | 30% | 2-5 minutes song plus written lyric sheet |
Week 5 | Online Submission |
All | 2 | Artefact - Creative | Individual | 35% | 2 - 3 minutes plus lyric sheet |
Week 10 | To be Negotiated |
All | 3 | Artefact - Creative, and Written Piece | Individual and Group | 35% | 2-3 minutes of original songwriting (per student) and 500 word critical reflective written work |
Week 13 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All - Assessment Task 1:Song Sketch: Performance of Original Song | ||||||||||||||||
Goal: | The purpose of this assessment is to develop skills in basic songwriting and performance. |
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Product: | Artefact - Creative, and Written Piece | |||||||||||||||
Format: | In this task you will engage in industry-led practices in professional songwriting to write a new song in the form of a 'song sketch'. It must consider the ‘campfire rule’ as discussed in this course and show evidence of lyrics, melody, harmony, and popular song form. The 'song sketch' is delivered as recorded video artefact featuring your basic performance ideas and as a written lyric sheet. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Collaboration, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 2:Collaborative Music Making | |||||||||||||
Goal: | The purpose of this assessment is to place your developing songwriting skills into a common industry framework of practice. |
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Product: | Artefact - Creative | ||||||||||||
Format: | In this task you will develop a version of your original song for a collaborative live performance environment. Your work will include multiple musical layers with different musical functions as discussed in learning materials. You will perform this with your band in a 'rehearsal room' setting. You will also submit a lyric sheet. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Applying technologies |
All - Assessment Task 3:Live Band Performance | ||||||||||||||||
Goal: | The purpose of this assessment is to place your collaborative work in a larger industry-informed process including technical knowledge in sound production and staging. |
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Product: | Artefact - Creative, and Written Piece | |||||||||||||||
Format: | In this task you will engage in an industry-guided live performance of your groups set of songs. You will work collaboratively with peers to coordinate the logistics of the gig including live sound basics and live recording. This set will showcase collaboration, the songwriting toolkit, live sound basics, and performance knowledge you developed during semester. You will also submit a written critical reflective work that details your contribution, intentions, and outcomes. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Collaboration, Organisation |
A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
Students are expected to make themselves available for autonomous group rehearsals. Students must therefore consider their availability on evenings and weekends as well as normal working hours.
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying: The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4% The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale You have not failed an assessment task in the course due to academic misconduct
Late submission of assessment tasks may be penalised at the following maximum rate: - 5% (of the assessment task's identified value) per day for the first two days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. - 10% (of the assessment task's identified value) for the third day - 20% (of the assessment task's identified value) for the fourth day and subsequent days up to and including seven days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. - A result of zero is awarded for an assessment task submitted after seven days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. Weekdays and weekends are included in the calculation of days late. To request an extension you must contact your course coordinator to negotiate an outcome.
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