As mentioned previously, I took Music Theory and Composition 3 in my fourth term with Berklee Online. It was another really dense and challenging course with a ton of information in it. Each week either had something completely new or was building on information from the earlier MTC courses.

The term started with a review of material covered in MTC2: Major key harmony applied to chords, voice leading, modes and tensions; Minor key harmony applied to chords and voice leading with composite scales; Figured Bass; Borrowed chords (modal interchange); Secondary Dominant chords; Hybrid chords; 12-bar blues form; Bass and drum grooves in various styles and meters; and identifying simple musical forms.

In the following 11 weeks we covered: Extended Dominant Series, Deceptive Resolution of Secondary Dominants and Voice Leading; Substitute Dominants, Related II chords and Extended Substitute Dominants; Augmented 6th Chords, Advanced Figured Bass, and Four-Part Voice Leading; Diminished 7th chords and how they function in different contexts; Non-Chord Tones (classical analysis) and Approach Tones (contemporary analysis); Upper Structure Triads and Polychord Voicings; Modulation and it’s various applications; Different styles of music from South America and the Caribbean (The Chaconne, The Samba, The Chord, Clave and Son, Salsa, Timba, the “Hocket”, Marroons, Mentos, Ska, Rocksteady, Toasting and Reggae); More musical forms introduced (Rondo, Sonata Allegro, ABAC as well as Theme and Variations); Further work with Minor keys (Natural, Harmonic, Melodic and Composite Minor); and additional focus on the Blues.

As with the other MTC classes, time management was key to getting through it all. I was still implementing my “Plan A” (best case scenario) and “Plan B” (worst case scenario) approach to assignments. Usually this was in the form of two questions that I would detail on my whiteboard before starting work: “If I could do this the way I really wanted what would that look like and mean in terms of time? Alternatively, what is the minimum I need to do to meet the requirements of the assignment?”

Most often I would start with Plan B and still be able to get much of what I wanted in Plan A done as well. I think this was attributed to two things. 1. Getting through the coursework as early in the week as possible so that I could focus exclusively on the assignment. 2. Once I got momentum going and knew that I had the minimum covered I could also get the other stuff incorporated before the due date.

Here’s a playlist of some of the pieces that I put together for this term’s assignments.

For my fourth term with Berklee Online I took two classes: Applied Mathematics for Musicians and Music Theory and Composition 3. All in all it was a great term with a lot of ground covered.

Before the term started I didn’t know what to expect from the Math class and was a bit apprehensive as it had been so long since I did any formal study of math. Turned out to be a really enjoyable yet challenging class that I did really well with. To be completely honest though, I was glad when it was over. Let’s just say “It’s a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.” After all, I’m not in this program to be a math major, I’m in it to become a better musician and composer.

As for MTC3 it was similar to the MTC1 and MTC2 classes I took earlier in the year. Great courses with _a lot_ of information. And like the other classes, at times it felt like a bit too much information for just 12 weeks. I go into the specifics about this class in a separate post.

All that being said, I still feel that this is a really well designed and thought out program with great content and fantastic teachers. Thanks, Berklee!

As mentioned before, I really enjoyed the Counterpoint class I took during my third term with Berklee Online. The course materials, assignments and instructor were all great.

As with every other Berklee Online class I’ve taken so far, there was a lot of information covered in the 12 weeks. Some of the highlights were: Consonance & Dissonance, Ratios (1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1 and Syncopation), Vertical Harmonic Analysis, Types of Cadences (Authentic, Deceptive, Half & Plagal), Chord Tones & Non-Chord Tones, Motivic Manipulation, Canons (Simple, Accompanied, Crab), Two Voice Counterpoint with Simple Canon, Three-Part Imitative Counterpoint, Ground Bass, Canons at intervals other than the octave, Double Counterpoint, Prolation & Mensuration (rhythmic relationships between melodic lines) and Augmentation & Diminution.

Here are some of the pieces that I put together for this term’s assignments and exercises.

I was really looking forward to taking this class as it’s the introduction to my major. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped. I think I might have taken it too soon. Perhaps this feeling is due to my (currently) limited vocabulary in orchestral/symphonic music and not feeling up to speed as a “film composer”. Even though I did really well in the class, I imagine that it would have been much more enjoyable being able to do more in terms of orchestration and arrangements.

That being said there was plenty that I learned from this course. The key things for me were: Spotting, Cue Motifs, Thematic development, Sketches to Timings, Timecode Offsets, Cue Layouts, Free Timing, Bar/Beat layouts for sync, Sync Points/Dead Cues, Overlap of Cues, Segues, Underscore, and Source Music. 

Funny thing is that I have found myself using a number of things from this course in assignments for other classes. Particularly Bar/Beat layouts for syncing when writing pieces for video clips. The idea here is to find a tempo that fits while in a meter of 1/4, identify relevant events and sync/beats and see if they fall on down or upbeats (on the 1 or on the +). Then count the number of beats between sync points to determine meter of each section and you are set to start writing the cue(s).

Although I mentioned that I didn’t enjoy this class as much as I hoped, I did get a lot out of it in terms of knowledge and experience. Thanks Berklee!

I took two classes during term 3: Counterpoint and Film Scoring 101. While I learned quite a bit in each course it was Counterpoint that I really enjoyed. Perhaps it was due to the fact that I had some vague notions of Counterpoint was/is but never had any formal exposure to it. Or maybe it was because I hadn’t written much classical music before and it was fun to learn about and write in that style. As with previous quarters I’ll make separate blog entries for each class.

All in all it was a really good term that I got a lot out of. Thanks Berklee!