I recently did something I just haven’t been able to stop talking about.  I took an online class at Berklee College of Music, www.berkleemusic.com

www.berkleemusic.com

Being an online class, I really didn’t know what to expect.  I didn’t know how it would be laid out, how I would communicate with my professor or even how I would take tests.  Well, I’ll tell you my story and all the fun that went along with it.

I had the choice of 3 classes, and I got my first choice, Music Supervision.  A music supervisor is the person who chooses music for film, tv and pretty much all other media, even video games.  They are also responsible for all permissions and licenses for the music.  Class started and I dug right in.

The class was laid out into 12 weeks, or lessons.  Each week was a different topic including choosing and editing music, negotiation and people skills and requesting and licensing music.  Once a week, we had a video chat.  It was so much fun interacting with everybody.  I really looked forward to the chats, not only to ask questions, but to see my classmates, and new friends, face to face (well, sort of).  Being that the course was online, there were people of all ages and from all over the world taking the class.  And what great classmates I had.  But I am getting ahead of myself.

Our professor, Brad Hatfield was amazing.  He is a very accomplished composer, having his music in such films and TV shows like “Ironman” and “Rescue Me”, just to name a few.  He really knows his way around the industry, and freely shared information and assisted us every step of the way.  Brad was always accessible, and would answer emails within hours.  Although we were all over the world, our group of classmates became really close.  We would interact on video chats, posts in class forums and even cheer each other on after assignments were posted.  We called ourselves “the Bradpack”, in honor of our amazing professor.

Videos from industry professionals were an important part of the curriculum.  We got to see first hand how actual music supervisors did their job, how they got started and the challenges the overcame.  I read the credits at the end of movies carefully now to see their names.  I feel as if I actually know them.

Lesson 7, I remember fondly.  It was about negotiation.  We had to, of course, read about it, but then we were given certain criteria and we needed to negotiate with one of our classmates.  My negotiating partner was on the other side of the world.  How cool is that!!!  Anyway, I had the opportunity to use this real life skill that very week.  Utilizing my new skills, I successfully negotiated a fee for a voice over I was called into do.  Thanks Lesson 7, Brad and Berklee!!!!

Quizzes were something that I found interesting throughout the course.  I wasn’t sure what to expect.  It wasn’t about storing miscellaneous information in my short term memory and then regurgitating it only to forget it the next day.  Quizzes were a true learning experience.  You could take them more than once so you could learn from your mistakes.  I found that the way Berkleemusic.com set up quizzes online, I had better retention for the information and even understood it more deeply.

Assignments were posted weekly.  We were able to comment on each others assignments and I found that helpful.  Another great thing was the way Brad was not only able to comment with text, but also recorded his comments via audio.  Hearing someone’s critiques and compliments with all their vocal inflections is an invaluable part of the learning process.

Our final project combined everything we had learned.  We needed to pick music for 3 movie scenes and for an advertisement (mostly within the Berklee Music Network so the composition students were able to get involved as well), get permission (within the confines of the class-not actual permission) to use the tunes and create all the necessary paperwork.  Wow!  I felt so proud when I got an A.

On the day of our final chat, I felt bittersweet.  I was looking forward to the holidays and a little down time, but the course was ending and I felt a bit sad.  I loved learning about Music Supervision, especially the way it was presented by Berkleemusic.com.  Brad was an amazing teacher who made each student feel special at the same time, giving us his all.  As for the Bradpack, we still stay in touch.  I think we became more than classmates, we became friends.

Thanks for everything Berklee!

To learn more about the Berklee College of Music online classes, please visit www.berkleemusic.com