Note:  This is a four part, intensive course that is geared towards students with a strong desire to compose and learn about music.  For a more introductory course, find my hour long "Video Game Music Part 1" course.

In this four week class, students will learn how to compose their own video game music by emulating the musical styles of some of the greatest soundtracks.  Each week, we will start with listening sessions where we will study an iconic video game melody along with some music vocabulary.  I will guide students with questions (i.e. how fast is this music? how many parts do you hear at the same time?) and teach them new music vocabulary that will help them understand and deconstruct how the music was composed.  Then, it will be the students’ turn to write their own music!   This portion of class will operate as a “laboratory” setting where students will be working individually and I will “circle” the class to check in with students as needed to assist with questions and problems.  Towards the end of class, students will wrap up their compositions and share them with the other students!

No prior musical experience is required to be in this class, but we can always build upon any knowledge you bring to the class.  I will try and give extra challenges to those of us who have more musical expertise!  Our primary method of composing will be done using the website Mario Paint Music Composer, a free and easy to use piece of software that makes composing music a cinch.  However, I am open to students using other compositional tools to develop their music if they already have prior experience.  This includes using their own primary instrument (piano, guitar, etc) or other software (Garageband, Soundtrap, Google Music Lab, etc).  My advice would be to get in touch with me before the first class so we can figure out a plan if you would like to use tools outside of Mario Paint Music Composer.