Faculty Syllabus

This course will empower you to discard the myth that creative people are incapable of being organized and will equip you to organize yourself in ways that are both intuitive for you and practical for collaboration with others. Labs consist of live or pre-recorded conversations with music business professionals about how they organize themselves and their work. Students will receive a more detailed syllabus upon enrollment or request. Please note:

• This course is offered as distance learning (DIL) in the fall semester and in person in the spring semester. 
• The in-person version of this course requires twice weekly attendance at the Highland campus. This is not a hi-flex or partially virtual course.
• The DIL version of this course is asynchronous but has weekly due dates, so it is not fully self-paced. 
• The DIL version requires regular participation in a written discussion board. If you prefer verbal discussion, consider taking the in-person version instead.

After completing this course with good-faith effort to learn, you will be able to:

• Identify organizational strengths and weaknesses in yourself and others.
• Discuss common impediments to organization and present techniques for overcoming them.
• Describe the four realms of organization and categorize work activities by realm.
• Apply organizational theories to evaluate and optimize systems for individual and group time management; project timeline development and fulfillment; communication management; data capture, storage, and retrieval; and organization of physical objects and spaces.
• Evaluate third-party tools, software programs, and apps for fitness as organizing tools and match them to common organizational challenges.
• Describe techniques for maintaining organization in the midst of distractions, stress, and urgency.
• Explain ways to recognize and manage the impact of dissimilar organizational styles and abilities on working relationships.
• Identify ways to support your teams and bandmates in improving their own individual organization and operating efficiently and cooperatively as a group.
• Design your own systems, processes, and tools as future organizational challenges arise.

The above objectives align with the following Music Business, Performance, and Technology Learning Outcomes:

• Acquire insight, skills and expertise in music business, technology and performance
• Identify and prepare for jobs in these fields

You will develop, expand, and demonstrate your learning with a variety of reflective and experiential exercises including:

• Prep-work assignments, including excerpts from my book The Organized Musician, provided to you in Blackboard. There is no textbook purchase required for this course. You will complete each unit’s prep work before that week’s lessons.
• Four projects, spaced evenly throughout the semester.
• Brief, impromptu written reflections (what I call “combobulations”) at the start and end of class sessions (in-person sections) or the end of each week (DIL). In-person students complete these in class, using their smartphone or laptop. Combobulations are like notes to your self, not a group discussion board.
• In-person version only: Participation in live class discussions and Q&As with guests.
• Distance learning (DIL) version only: Weekly Discussion Board posts. For each of the week’s posts from me, you will post a response and also comment on two classmates’ responses.

Resources you will need for this course:

• A computer and internet access to utilize Blackboard, complete and submit assignments, and send and receive email. Contact Student Technology Services if you need to borrow a laptop for the semester.
• Google Docs or Microsoft Word to complete project essay questions.
• Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel to create project spreadsheets. If you’re inexperienced with Google Sheets, check out the tutorial in the Optional Further Resources section of the Blackboard course.
• An app or program to create PDFs of your projects for submission.
• A smartphone or other recording device to record video for your final project. 
• The Concepts Glossary written specifically for this course and housed as a private link to my database (provided in the Resources section of the Blackboard course).
• In-person version only: The Blackboard app to access the Combobulations in Blackboard from your phone during class. (You may use your laptop or tablet if you prefer.)

No required textbook. Readings and other prep-work materials will be provided to you via Blackboard.