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MUSI3024 Composing for the Commercial World
Course Type: disciplinary elective for music majors/minors, free elective for others
Prerequisite: NIL
Instructor: Mr. Teriver CHEUNG
Semester: First Semester 2025/26
Time: 2:00pm–3:50pm, Wednesday
Venue: CRT-11.01 Seminar Room
This course cultivates the basic literacy skills needed for commercial music composition. Topics will include pop-song writing, tracking, arranging, producing, beat making, film scoring and so on. Students will be introduced to most up-to-dated practices in current commercial music industry.This course cultivates the basic literacy skills needed for commercial music composition. Topics will include pop-song writing, beat making, film scoring, and jingle production. Students will be introduced to contemporary practices in music industry by way of music demos, instrumental tracking, music arrangement, and music production techniques.
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Course Learning Outcomes
Assessment Methods
Topics
Text & Resource Materials
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
  • demonstrate a diverse knowledge in composition methods and a competence in critical listening, thereby combining them to analyze selected genres for a comprehensive understanding of commercial music structure, style, and distinctive elements.
  • demonstrate the ability to use Digital Audio Workstations (DAW) like Garage Band, Logic Pro for music writing and beat-making, as well as to implement virtual instruments, plugins, sound samples and Artificial Intelligence in music creation.
  • conduct in-depth analysis of mainstream songs by studying their original song files within DAWs, gaining valuable insights into the details of music production.
  • apply knowledge acquired through live interactions with industry professionals and effectively collaborate with peers on assignments that mirror real-world music production scenarios.
  • develop a mentality for continuous learning and adaptation to the evolving music industry, and gain strategic insights into establishing their professional presence.
Attendance and Participation 10%
4 Composition Assignments 40%
A 4-min Song 30%
A 4-min Audio-visual Work 20%
  • Digital Audio Workstations
  • Demos
  • Beat making
  • Top-line writing
  • Studio live tracking
  • Production
  • Working with visuals/videos
  • Virtual plugins
  • Use of Artificial Intelligence tools