Songwriting and Production (2024)

Our Focus

Collaboration and Technology

Songwriting is increasingly a collaborative activity. The concept of cowriting has been an accepted method of sparking creativity for years, and production teams and songwriting camps are a fixture for efficient and prolific creative output. Building on these practices, the Berklee NYC curriculum places students in a variety of collaborative situations in order to inspire new ideas and perspectives.

Our Curriculum

New Approaches

Songs and songwriting are ever-evolving. From the Tin Pan Alley writers of the ’20s to the Brill Building (blocks from Berklee NYC) to current writers such as Billie Eilish and Finneas, Max Martin, James Fauntleroy, Erika Ender, and Ester Dean, songwriters have used both time-tested tools and new strategies to write music and lyrics. In additionto reinforcing foundational skills, the curriculum embraces new approaches to collaboration and workflow that increase efficiency and creativity.

Applying What You Learn

Practical Experience

Whether through apprenticeship, mentorship, or practic*ms, synthesizing information and integrating knowledge through experience are key to attaining mastery of any discipline. Students in this program will be guided and challenged to elevate their artistic vision, technical facility, and creative expressionthrough performance opportunities and the constant practical application of their work.

Who We Are Looking For

We seek a varied group of motivated, creative and focused candidates with solid academic and professional backgrounds who can contribute a diversity of experience, insight, and skills that will benefit and elevate the program.

Ideal candidates want to:

• gain deep experience in the elements of modern songwriting and production;
• integrate collaborative skills into their existing creative toolkit;
• develop their creative voices and artistic personas; and
• influence and lead the industry into the future as visionaries and entrepreneurs.

Ideal candidates should demonstrate:

• current creative activity;
• excellent songwriting potential;
• prior academic success;
• an embrace of current practices and trends in music and technology; and
• motivation and focus towards advancing their artistry and career.

Apply Now

The songwriting and production specialization will explore an integrated approach to the creation of popular music through the thorough examination of current practices in collaborative, technology-aided songwriting.

Students will bolster and refine their artistic expression by analyzing current hit songs and writing music and lyrics, as well as furthering their technical skills through the examination of current writing and production styles and trends, using the latest industry-standard software and hardware in the newly renovated Power Station facility.

Students in the songwriting and productionspecialization will collaborate with a creative team as songwriters, producers, beat makers, and topline melody and lyric writers in a variety of real-world professional situations. They will emerge with a sophisticated toolkit of creative strategies and an understanding of the interpersonal and business practices needed to succeed in the competitive field of modern songwriting.

Upon completion of the songwriting and production specialization, students will:

• employ writing, production, and collaborative techniques applicable to a wide variety of fields;
• analyze and understand the development of current trends across a variety of musical styles;
• develop technical facility across necessary songwriting and production software and hardware, as applied to current creative workflows;
• integrate diverse views and experiences into their artistic creations;
• generate artistic content at a high level of technical proficiency and at an objectively professional standard; and
• lead with a spirit of creative entrepreneurship to sustain a career in the arts that is adaptable, is ethically sound, and creates change.

The Master of Arts in Creative Media and Technology program is designed to be completed in one full academic year: consecutive fall, spring, and summer semesters.

Students take a total of 30 credits (12 credits of core courses and 18 credits of specialization courses) with an additional one-credit internship upon completion of the program (required only of students who opt in to the graduate internship program).

First Semester (Fall)

Core Course (2 credits)

Specialization Courses (10credits)

Electives (0–3credits, optional; see full list below)

Second Semester (Spring)

Core Courses (4 credits)

Specialization Courses (8credits)

Electives (0–3credits, optional; see full list below)

Third Semester (Summer)

Culminating Experience (6 credits)

Fourth Semester(required of students who opt in to the graduate internship program)

Electives

Updated fall 2023.