Welcome to the Berklee College of Music Capstone Project. The Capstone Project is a multifaceted assignment that serves as a culmination of a course of study. This is your chance to use your talent and your accumulated knowledge to create and publish to the course a finished, fully produced song. We'll divide the work into four milestones. You'll develop a song in milestone one and a vision for your project. In milestone two, you're plan is production. In milestone three, you'll record and edit your song and in milestone four you'll do a final mix and post your finished work. Your assignment for milestone one will be to write your song and present it in written form and also to post a very simple recording of it. As you develop the assignment, consider your vision for the project. What gives your song meaning? What should the listener feel? What's the atmosphere that you'll create with your song, with your arrangement, with your production? When you answer these questions, other aspects of your project will come into focus. Will you write a minor or a major scale melody, will you write for a male or a female vocalist? What key then will your song be in? What genre fits your song idea, and what tempo and groove will fit the feelings and the atmosphere of your project? You're well-prepared already. You know some scales. You know some chords. You know language. You know a lot about song-writing. How to record, edit and mix. The task at hand is to coordinate all that knowledge, combine it with inspiration, and create something meaningful. My role will be to help you organize your creative process, and provide practical suggestions and tips. In each of the four milestones, I'll also post my own example assignments using a song that I co-wrote and produced in my home studio with Logic. You know the value of peer review, well by now. It's important to keep in mind that as a group, there will be a large range of experience and other individual talents and assets. We're all on the same boat here, on a continuum of musical growth. The great thing about this process, is that it never ends for any of us. Music, of course, is infinite, so take this unique opportunity to learn, contribute, and be inspired. As you develop the vision for your song, of course, you can change your mind about some of these issues. And as you move to the production phase, planning can really save you some headaches, we'll talk some more about that in the next milestone. As you develop the two parts of the Assignment, the written song and the recording. Keep in mind that the song must have at least three form elements such as verse, chorus and bridge. If you perform it in another language, we'll need an English translation. The lyrics must be suitable for any age and all family members. The written song and the recording both need to be clear and legible. And that's it. Okay let's begin to take the steps to realize your vision. Have fun and go for it.
