Commercial Music

The Commercial Music Certificate of Achievement provides experience and exposure to key components of commercial music, allowing students to combine their passions for technology and music. Students will gain basic knowledge in technologies crucial to the modern recording studio, including use of popular digital audio workstations such as Logic and Pro Tools. Exposure to sound synthesis will provide perspective on the infrastructure of today's music software. Experience with audio hardware and software, along with courses in music business and commercial music composition will provide skills necessary to pursue a career in audio engineering, production, performance, composition, promotion, publishing, and many other options.

10-15

The Commercial Music Certificate of Achievement (CA) supports the commitment of Bakersfield College to be a “comprehensive college.”  Its mission is to provide multi-cultural learning and performance opportunities necessary for the aesthetic, intellectual, emotional, and cultural well-being of the college and its community by offering a comprehensive certificate program fulfilling needs for commercial music training for the technologically-minded, 21st-Century student. The program is being developed concurrently with the proposition and implementation of commercial music courses for C-ID approval. The courses developed for Bakersfield College are in line with the descriptors and were shaped according to the standards submitted for approval. Thus, the certificate will provide students with up-to-date training in commercial music built on soon-to-be standardized curriculum for the state of California.

The Commercial Music CA will support the college mission by providing “opportunities for students from diverse economic, cultural, and educational backgrounds to attain degrees…, workplace skills, and preparation for transfer,” underscored by the Music program mission statement’s reference to multi-cultural learning and to better serve economically disadvantaged students.  The aims to develop a “rigorous and supportive learning environment [that] fosters students’ abilities to think critically, communicate effectively, and demonstrate competencies and skills.” By training students on the latest technology and providing insight into the rapidly changing state of the music industry, students will “engage productively in their communities and the world.”

Finally, the Commercial Music CA will reflect the Music Program’s support of the vision of Bakersfield College by contributing “to the intellectual, cultural, and economic vitality of the community it serves.” In order to do so, the certificate will draw on diverse histories of music production practices in order to provide students with a wide array of cultural perspectives on commercial music. Additionally, the curriculum will reflect a rigorous engagement with technological components of commercial music production in order for students to develop the skills necessary for economic vitality in a competitive market.

Program student learning outcomes:

1. The student will be able to identify and make use of pertinent components of audio recording systems, digital audio workstations, and other musical technologies affiliated with commercial music applications.

2. The student will demonstrate knowledge and application of key concepts in music business. Concepts include digital marketing, contracts, publishing, royalties, and booking.

3. The student will be able to identify and make use of relationships between audio hardware and software. Concepts include consoles, software synthesis, analog synthesis, microphone and microphone technique, signal processing, mixing, and mastering.

4. The student will demonstrate knowledge and familiarity with commercial music composition. Concepts include composing within genres and styles relevant to commercial music, creating production music and jingles, creating composition reel.

Objectives:

1. To provide a local program to prepare students for entry-level positions in graphic design related fields.

2. To introduce students to industry standard software, hardware, and techniques, principles and methods.

3. To provide a course sequence that develops student skills

Total requirements: 18 units

This program proposal is an edit back to the originally proposed program of 18 units. In our campus transfer to eLumen, a second section of Recording Techniques (B34) was mistakenly added. This proposal gets our certificate back to its originally intended 6 course, 18 unit program.

Proposed Course Sequence:

Semester 1: MUSC B30 and MUSC B31 and MUSC B36

Semester 2: MUSC B32 and MUSC B33 and MUSC B34