Music production essentials: professional development designed for independent musicians
Date
2024
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The purpose of this Educational Leadership Portfolio (ELP) is to equip aspiring musicians with the knowledge, skills, tools, sources, and resources to create and produce music independently. In pursuit of this initiative, I created a professional development module in music production designed to provide independent musicians with a broad range of instructional materials in music technology, audio engineering, and the music production process, to be consumed asynchronously at the convenience of the participant. This ELP documents the research, development, implementation, and evaluation of the Music Production Module. ☐ The introduction analyzes the evolution of music industry trends, careers, and processes over the past decade. Research highlights the numerous ways in which advancements in technology have improved, enhanced, and streamlined the music production profession, provoking a growing demand for musicians to be more technologically literate, entrepreneurial, and independent in order to have a competitive advantage. However, the music education field has not evolved as rapidly as the music profession, and a majority of university music programs remain founded on classical music pedagogy that prepares students for classical music careers that focus on vocal and instrumental performance as opposed to audio technology. It is this dissonance between the education and the industry that this ELP addresses. ☐ There are too few undergraduate music programs within most universities that incorporate music technology, audio engineering, and music production coursework designed to instruct aspiring musicians to create and produce their music independently in alignment with modern music industry standards. Moreover, the few music programs of this kind that do exist may not be accessible to all who require them. The Music Production Module is designed to provide aspiring musicians with the professional development in the aforementioned areas of study. Grounded in the pedagogy of multiliteracies, the instructional materials focus on Reason 11, a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) designed to create and produce music. Learning outcomes include demonstrating a comprehensive knowledge of building and arranging instrumentals, audio production, voice recording, and Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) based programming. The ELP concludes with an evaluation of the module, and a reflection of the impact of the research and development process on my practice as an educational leader.
Description
Keywords
Independent musician, Music entrepreneurship, Music production, Music technology, Professional development