Music Scoring for Screen and Stage (PMSFS) at Sheridan College

In Sheridan College Music Scoring for Screen and Stage graduate certificate program, students will collaborate with their peers in Sheridan College renowned arts programs and bring projects to life with music. Students will compose music for animation, video games and apps, film, TV and musical theatre. No other music composition program offers access to these arts programs or provides the broad skill set clients and employers want.

Throughout this program, students will learn orchestration, recording, mixing and editing. Using the latest technology, they will compose music for several of Sheridan College arts programs, and create a workplace-ready demo reel that showcases their ability to work in a variety of media. This program brings music and technology together. Many students have either a formal music background or technical experience, but not both. This graduate music certificate builds on students' existing skill set, while bridging any gaps in experience they may have. Students will have classes in music composition, as well as the technical aspects of recording, mixing and sound design.

Music composition isn’t just an art. It’s also a business. Many of the graduates will become self-employed freelancers, so the Music Scoring for Screen and Stage program prepares students for success with a special focus on business and entrepreneurial skills. Students will learn:

• How to start a small business
• How to market themselves
• How to manage the client-composer relationship

By the end of the program, graduates will have demonstrated the ability to apply their pre-existing musical knowledge to most of the specific skills of writing, arranging, editing, producing, and administering music for film, television, animation, the stage and video games.

• Compose music for at least two of the following: live action dramatic short films, animated short films, live musical theatre or video games.
• Illustrate competency in at least two of the following areas: producing a score recording session, engineering a score recording session, editing recorded music to fit a given visual sequence, arrange or orchestrate a provided musical idea or composition.
• Articulate the unique responsibilities of the principal and key production personnel involved in visual media, musical theatre productions or game design.
• Collaborate with a key creative team in the creation of complementary music accompaniment for a storytelling environment.
• Create original musical elements and deliver to peer content producers within the Sheridan College student community.
• Arrange and orchestrate a given composition within the creative and practical constraints of a production.
• Produce all facets of a score recording session including: writing score parts, contracting musicians, preparation of MIDI or digital “guide tracks”, preparation of click tracks, tempo maps, markers.
• Contextualize differences between composition and composition for stage, screen and games.
• Argue the complexities of musical themes and development in milestone productions of film, television, games and musical theatre.
• Contextualize the various social, political, economic, cultural and artistic influences upon composition for visual media, games and musical theatre throughout history.