Loop-Based Music Composition Course Opens on Kadenze

This University College Cork, Ireland course is the first music composition course to launch on Kadenze, and also brings seasoned distance instructor, Jeffrey Weeter, to the growing catalog of stellar Kadenze Instructors

On Tuesday, March 2, Kadenze Launched “Loop: Repetition and Variation in Music”. This five-session-long course approaches music composition from a minimalist perspective. Through the development and cultivation of analytical skills, students of “Loop” will learn to dissect and decode pieces of music. As they look for and identify the qualities that make a piece of music successful, they will likewise gain the skills to identify issues and potential problems in other musical compositions. At the same time, students will take these analytical skills and apply them to their own loop-based musical compositions, closing the analysis-creativity loop (no pun intended).

Loop is brought to Kadenze by University College Cork, Ireland (UCC).Established in 1845, UCC is one of three “Queen’s Colleges” – at Cork, Galway, and Belfast. These colleges were established during Queen Victoria’s reign and were subsequently named for her. The School of Music at UCC is internationally recognized as a leader in music education, offering students both flexibility and room for creativity as well as a high level of artistic and academic rigor. These tenets not only form the basis of all on-campus studies at UCC, but also those of their Online MA in Digital Music and Media Composition(DMMC), which was developed to teach students the specific skills needed to create content for all types of digital media in an online setting. “Loop: Repetition and Variation in Music” brings both sides of UCC together in a single course on Kadenze.

“In the Time it Takes for a Tornado to Strike” Composition by Jeffrey Weeter

“This is the first time Loop has been offered as an online course,” says DMMC Program Director, Jeffrey Weeter. “It has been running as an on-site undergraduate class for the last five years and is designed to be accessible to music students who are interested in creating music and developing their composition skills.  It’s one of those classes where you can actually]see the delight in students as they realize how a  certain piece of music is put together.”

Weeter is no stranger to the intricacies of distance learning and understands the differences between simply offering Loop in an online setting Vs. offering it as a MOOC.

“The one big difference between the “traditional” online course and the MOOC,” says Weeter, “Is, of course, scale. But scale can really be an asset in this case. For example, students [In a MOOC] have a chance to share their creations with a wide variety of listeners. They will also be getting feedback from that same large diverse group. To hear how your music is perceived by others is essential for any composer, but having a global audience of other interesting music makers is even more valuable for students.”

Students can sign up to audit “Loop: Repetition and Variation in Music” free-of-charge. Auditors will be able to watch all lecture videos and participate in lecture forums for the entire run of the course. Students who are interested in a more hands-on-approach are encouraged to sign up for Kadenze Premium Membership (a  $7/ month subscription based service). Kadenze Premium Members will be able to submit creative assignments, receive feedback on their work, utilize Kadenze’s native portfolio builder, and receive a Verified Certificate of Accomplishment upon the successful completion of the course.New lecture content will be made available to students over the course of Loop’s approximate ten-week run.  

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