GEH1040 - Exploration in Musical Production Review

GEH1040

Taken in: AY20/21 Semester 2

Lecturer: Prof Ho Chee Kong and Prof Stella

Grading:

Group Work

• 10% - Initial Presentation
• 5% - Progress Report
• 35% - Final Submission

Individual Work

• 10% - Draft of Musical
• 10% - Literary Devices Assignment
• 10% - Musical Presentation
• 20% - Weekly Journal

This is a module about musicals offered by YST convservatory of music, originally for (Raffles?) hall students, but opened up to external students. Classes are conducted in YST seminar room. These are "seminar-style" classes, not really like a lecture, and the class is typically quite small (19 students in my semester). The main bulk of this module is a group project, a 10-minute micro-musical done in groups of 3-4.

Beside this musical project that spans most of the semester, the module itself is not very content or work heavy. The first few weeks will give an introduction to musicals while groups are being formed. Afterwards, lessons will mainly talk about how to write a musical — Song structure, lyrics, melody. The group project is split into a few components, the initial presentation is just a presentation done in class about your concept. Progress report, later on, is also showing what you have so far. Then there's the final submission in week 12, and we all got together to watch each other's musicals in week 13. You DON'T need to be really good at music to take this module, trust me. The bar is not that high, and yes there will be some talented people but generally the people in my class were mostly not from YST. Just expect to spend some time on the project, of course. Typically, the musicals are performed live but for this semester, due to Covid, we were allowed to record our musicals, and our instruments need not be played live in the video as well (The music can be added on in editing). We had to wear face shields or masks as well while performing. I quite preferred this because performing live is definitely harder. You should check the module details for your semester.

There's not much for individual work. Everyone in the group has to submit a draft of their own musical idea for the individual component, and then pick one to work on. Around the middle of the semester you have to give a 5-minute presentation on a musical of your choice and its impacts (Typically what the songs or the story convey). Weekly journal, as the name implies, is for you to log your progress and reflect as you work on the project. You're also supposed to include a musical review (~500 words) in your weekly journal in any week (Supposedly the week where you watch it, if possible). The grading was changed in the middle of the semester, but I believe this musical review has been absorbed into the journal's grade. Lastly, there is a short assignment on literary devices just to test that you understood what was covered in class, this was submitted in week 13 along with the entire journal at one go.

Ultimately, I would recommend this module as a GEH if you have an interest in performance and are willing to spend some time on the project. Again, don't be afraid if you have no musical background. I know that didn't stop my groupmates (JOKES!!!!). You generally can expect to score decently (As the profs said) but I'm not sure what it takes for an A. I hope the module will be offered in upcoming years, the two profs are really nice and make for a fun class. Dr. Ho is also involved in many modules in YST so you might see him around if you take other music modules.

Expected Grade: B+

Actual Grade: B+

As a side note, when I registered for the module during modreg, the vacancy was 0. This is because it's reserved for hall or YST students; I don't think it will show the actual vacancy, but you can still register for it!