MUSI10209-MUSI20168-MUSI30233: Glee Singing

Differs based on the level you take the subject at.
•Level 1 is a learning log (25%), weekly 5-question online MCQ test (30%) and participation (45%)
•Level 2 is a learning log (25%), song analysis (15%), weekly 5-question online MCQ test (30%) and participation (30%)
•Level 3 is a research assignment (40%), weekly 5-question online MCQ test (30%) and participation (30%)

Glee Singing is a really fun and easy breadth to take! The lecturer was really enthusiastic about Glee, made the subject enjoyable and catered it so that it was very accessible to those with very little experience in music and singing.

I found some of the lectures quite interesting. After each week (apart from week 12), there would be a 5 question multiple-choice quiz on the LMS about the material covered in each lecture (google is your friend!). You should be able to score really highly in this as long as you are careful, review the lecture slides and attend the lectures. The lectures ranged from topics including lectures about the songs we would sing, a bit about the artists involved, an introduction to different singing styles (legit/twang/belt), vocal health, warming up, song form and structure, performance elements and how the voice works.

Throughout the semester we rehearsed the following popular songs:
•All about that bass (Trainor)
•Firework (Perry)
•Mad World (Jules)/Highest Ground (Wonder) Mashup
•Born to be Wild (Steppenwolf)
•Royals (Lorde)
•Happy (Pharrell)
•Sing (Palmer)

The tutorials also included some warm-ups, singing in rounds and sight reading at the start. The sight reading consisted of the lecturer showing some music on the projector and the group using solfa to sight sing it – rhythmic exercises are also included. Therefore, you do not really need to be experienced in music in order to participate in this subject although if you are, this could be too basic... but there's not so much of it that you get really bored.

Although I overall liked the subject, I found the main thing that detracted from this subject was the somewhat arbitrary marking system for participation, which made up a large percentage of the final mark. Due to the large class sizes, the lecturer could not really assess each individual’s singing ability and hence other than recording the number of tutorials you show up to, quite a large portion of your mark is determined by your ability to recall one line of a lyric of a song during roll call. This would only happen once a semester and hence is a really haphazard way to mark the students’ participation and singing ability, especially when there is more to singing ability than being able to recall one lyric. (I believe just ‘turning up’ to all the tutorials gets you somewhere in the 70s for participation mark). However, the lecturer is considering ways to improve the way this is marked in the future.

The learning log (1000 words) involves recounting your experiences in the subject and what you learnt. The best way to tackle this is to think of some problems encountered during the semester or areas you found challenging in the songs and demonstrating ways you improved on this through practice. I believe this would be quite a bit harder to write a whole essay on if you were already very experienced at singing. The song analysis (500 words) is not an analysis of form, key etc of the song but instead an analysis of how the song (must choose one of the songs studied throughout the semester) is used in society culturally etc. This is very broad and there are many ways you can tackle this task! Of course, lots of further reading is essential in scoring a high mark in both these areas (eg. Do some research and find some papers on the specific thing you found challenging, or why the composer included some particular technique in the song and how that relates to what he is trying to express). The research task for level 3 Glee Singing is again quite broad: 'Pick any popular song from the last 50 years and research how it changed the world or reflected the changes in the world.' (1500 words) Chicago referencing is used.

The public performance is an informal performance like a ‘pop-up choir’ in front of the VCA building for half an hour. There was no opportunity given for anyone to do solos, and you are welcome to bring any of your parents/friends along to watch the performance if you wish, and sometimes passers-by stop to listen to the performance.

I would recommend Glee Singing to anyone with an interest in choir singing and/or popular music. I found the subject quite laid-back as someone who is reasonably experienced in singing, but in order to score a high mark and get the most out of the subject, a decent amount of research should be undertaken for the written components of the subject.

Yes, audio only, and only the lecture portion of the class is recorded.

Vicky Jacobs

No exam, only public performance.

3.5/5

No textbook. For each rehearsal, you get the sheet music in a folder.

1 hr lecture and 1.5 hrs of rehearsal time per week

Sem 2, 2014

H1