Pulse College - MA in Scoring for Film and Visual Media - mid semester 2 review

We had two wonderful weeks with Andy Hill! He went through many styles of music but focused on the genre of the “uncanny” –looking at what makes music “scary” and how to apply that to film. Andy has a depth of knowledge in history and how it informs our modern perception. He talked a little about psychology when it comes to the "uncanny". It was very interesting. I was very impressed. We studied “The Sixth Sense” and “Alien” as well as other films with him.  Andy even set up an hour Skype with James Newton Howard! THAT was fabulous! He then did a quick look at ethnic music and we composed a cue mixing western and ethnic instruments. The first two weeks were great!

The MA in Scoring for Film and Visual Media at Pulse College as a course has a LOT of potential. The Music Technology course at Pulse College is very much worth the time and money to come here! It is well taught and executed. Greg Magee as a teacher is absolutely wonderful and always willing to give helpful feedback. This semester we also have two wonderful lecturers (Linda Buckley and Fionnuala Conway) from Trinity College to help us prepare for our Final Project this summer. I have really enjoyed their lecture time and always look forward to their class.

That being said, I felt like the other classes have not been as mentally challenging and not Masters level. A lot of it has just felt like busy work. Which, to be sure, being forced to compose more and being involved in studio recordings is a good thing. I still feel like the course is lacking in how to utilize classroom time well. A lot could be done, learned, discussed, discovered in class time. There have been many graded assignments on topics that were NEVER (or HARDLY) discussed in class. It's lacking in an organized progression -- A to B to C to D… I know I have a lot more to learn as a composer and as a musician.

Music Technology, the wonderful visiting guests (called tutors but are more like Master Classes), most of the recording session (although there still needs some thought put into the organization and execution of them) has been fairly good. The day-to-day classes are what have been disappointing. 3 out of 5 courses last semester felt like a waste of my time, money and energy. 1.5 of the 4 this semester are the same thus far. There needs to be better planning to prepare us for composing for the 110 piece orchestra in Bulgaria. Orchestration in semester 1 needs a good solid teacher. More could have been done with Foundations of Music... I still don't really know what I learned from that class other then what Christopher Young taught us the weekend he visited... (These are just a few examples...) 

I am really looking forward to Conrad Pope coming out and have high expectations for our time learning from him. I really hope the recording in Bulgaria is as nice as they have pumped it up to be.
--At the same time, I am a little apprehensive of what to expect since many things they have promised have not been as amazing as it sounded. I am not saying it hasn't been worth it! But that they still have a lot to flesh out and organize to make this course what they promoted it to be.