Culminating Experience

As the major accomplishment for the one-year Live Music Production and Design (LMPD) specialization, each LMPD student designs and produces a publicly-attended live event on- or off-campus. This Culminating Experience (CE) consists of the production of a live event, clear documentation of the production, three short videos, a written reflection, and an in-person defense of the project attended by faculty and industry professionals.

Timeline:

Semester One

As a group, LMPD students use their core classes and weekly concerts to learn and practice the range of skills necessary to design and produce live events. In their Creative Media and Technology course (CMAT-510), they individually explore the themes, stories, images, and sounds that inform the design of their CE event. LMPD students present a clear vision for their CE by the end of this semester.

Semester Two

Students spend the first half of this semester prototyping and planning for their CE production. This includes creating technical documents, organizing schedules and crew, building a business plan, creating the necessary audio and video media, and producing small events that test important aesthetic and technical aspects of their CE with real audiences.

At the end of this semester, LMPD students produce their live event. This may be done on-campus or off-campus, as long as the event is recorded and well-documented.

Semester Three

The final semester of the LMPD program primarily focuses on documenting and defending the student’s CE. This includes post-producing a video of the entire event, creating a promotional video that places the event in the best possible light, creating a video that demonstrates the process of the CE creation, organizing all technical documentation, writing a reflection on the process, and preparing for a rigorous in-person defense of the production. 

The completed videos will demonstrate the student’s leadership ability and artistic vision. The documents and the defense itself will provide the student with the media and experience necessary to demonstrate to future employers and collaborators that the student can work effectively within the complex technical and interpersonal structures of contemporary live event productions.