Writing & Reporting Music

Catalog description

The ability to write about music, musicians, and the music business is essential for anyone who desires to be an industry professional. While this skill is central to the careers of music journalists, it’s also vital for successful executives, entrepreneurs, managers, agents, producers, and engineers. For lyricists, many of the principles of powerful prose often align with those of powerful songwriting. And performers, too, while they are more often the subject of writing and writers, can benefit from understanding the mechanics of wordcraft and the values of reporting; some will use it to create better relationships with fans and critics, and others will, like many great musicians before them, will become multidisciplinary artists who are potent writers and thinkers. This 14- week, 2-credit class — a key part of the Clive Davis Institute Writing and History core — aims to give every one of our students access to those basic skills and techniques. Our course builds writers from the ground up: looking at the nature of powerful sentences; looking at how those sentences are used to convey ideas and create arguments; learning how to write about sound and lyrics with clarity and precision; touring the various forms and structures of music writing, from biographies to reviews to features; learning how to report, research, and edit with discernment. Just as a musician focuses on fundamentals, practicing scales in order to gain mastery of their instrument, we will do the same here with words in order to create masterful writers and editors for life.