Creative Conceptualisation: Nurturing Creative Practice through the Popular Music Pedagogy of Live Recording Production

Abstract

Record production is a major aspect of many tertiary-based popular music education programs. It is a practice that involves the capturing of an artist's vision and is realised when that vision draws an emotional response from the listener. In professional practice there are many techniques the producer learns via experience to accomplish this, but as technology develops, processes of past eras risk being brushed aside by technological advancement. The capturing of a live performance was the practical framework used by popular music pioneers and the creative results of this process have particular characteristics that are difficult to achieve by contrasting methods. This article outlines the importance of an education in live recording frameworks to tertiary popular music students; it presents learning and teaching practices that accomplish this and concludes with a case study of a live recording workshop that nurtures the students' developing creative practice.

Creativity and Education

“…Joe Bennett concurs and argues that the: 'curriculum, then, must engender four things: increased domain immersion, an ability to be self-critical and edit work, genre-agnostic creative freedom, and the building of an improved portfolio of work. ' (2015: 47) If students are required to become immersed into a domain of songwriting, and also need to be socialized into its field, where they can learn the mechanisms and criteria for selection of creative work, then the ways in which educators design their curricula around these ideas becomes paramount (Anthony 2015(Anthony , 2018.…”

“…The 'Service Model' of Pop Music Songwriting and Production in Action Educators in formal PME are therefore challenged to provide educational environments and opportunities for creativity to occur, whilst adhering to a formal framework, which typically includes: 'a prescribed learning framework, an organised learning event or package, the presence of a designated teacher or trainer, the award of a qualification or credit, the external specification of outcomes' (Eraut 2000: 114). If students are required to become immersed into a domain of songwriting, and also need to be socialized into its field, where they can learn the mechanisms and criteria for selection of creative work, then the ways in which educators create learning opportunities becomes paramount (Anthony 2015(Anthony , 2018. Some educators have addressed these concerns in teaching songwriting by introducing constraints.…”

“Be the Signal”

“…Central to delivering popular music education is the incorporation of PMP into the curriculum (Anthony 2015; Lebler 2008). PMP is the process of recording, producing, and mixing popular music, engaging students with the vocational aspects of producing music, while encouraging reflective practice (Anthony 2015). PMP education is also increasingly presented with the challenge of keeping up with industry developments (Lebler and Weston 2015).…”

Learning the ‘tracker’ process: A case study into popular music pedagogy

“…In order to allow students to become immersed in their domain and learn the rules that govern the selection of creative work, the environment and context in which learning takes place becomes increasingly important (Anthony, 2015;. Here, formal education can acknowledge current 'cultures of music making' (Folkestad, 2006: 144) and gravitate musical tasks towards a 'real world experience' that can be contextualised within the classroom (King, 2016).…”

“…The top line participant should have suitable knowledge and ability in lyric writing, melodic design and vocal performance so as to write a 'top line' that engages musically with the bed track and in turn manifests an emotional response from the listener (Howlett, 2007). The tracker must also understand the intricacies of how a vocal (or can best be supported by suitable instrumentation; be it computer generated or acoustic-based (Anthony, 2015;Howlett, 2009). Participants of the tracker process often engage in remote collaborations via the Internet (Bennett, 2018;Koszolko, 2017) and these can be combined with face-toface writing or recording sessions.…”