Courses Professor Watson Teaches at Berklee College of Music

course offerings:

PST 471: STAGE PERFORMANCE TECHNIQUE WORKSHOP
2 CREDITS. PROFESSOR LAWRENCE “LARRY WATSON
INTRODUCTION COURSE:
B16 Tuesdays
(This is the first course in a sequence of courses Lawrence “Larry” Watson teaches in the Performance Studies area). Students should take this course, or Motown before enrolling in Advanced Stage Performance, not unless the instructor has granted them special permission. Students work with a full musical ensemble. PST472: ADVANCED STAGE PERFORMANCE TECHNIQUE WORKSHOP
2 CREDITS, PROFESSOR LAWRENCE “LARRY” WATSON
B16 Tuesdays
Stage Performance Workshop is a course open to all instrumentalists. The course is primarily populated by students in the Performance Division, but is open to all students enrolled as Berklee students. Students from diverse backgrounds and playing various instruments come together and work on various exercises and techniques intended to increase ones performance literacy. This course counts towards ensemble credit and integrates ones academic studies in the Liberal Arts and ones training as an instrumentalist/musician. The course is intended to be one of the bridges that enables students to apply their theoretical training with the pragmatic everyday responsibilities expected of working musicians. Students are introduced to performance as the object of analysis, using performance as an organizing concept. Students discuss and experiment with various styles of performance that has its genesis in Rock and Roll, Rhythm and Soul, Blues, Gospel, musical theater, and popular music. We study the broad spectrum of performances from Negro Spirituals through Hip Hop. Although the course primarily focuses on physical performance, students are required to integrate theory, performance composition, performance writing, dramaturgy, theories and the practice of acting, directing and technology. There are weekly listening and exercises, viewing of veteran performers, attending local performances and organizing impromptu performances. The course culminates with a final performance and evaluation of the progress one has made throughout the semester. PSPV MOTOWN 361 2 CREDITS
B16 Tuesday
Motown is the most successful record company in the history of recorded music. No other record labels have produced as many American legends in contemporary/popular music. The songwriters affiliated with Motown Records have created the soundtrack for post World War II Americana. No other musical form has enjoyed the longevity and universal acceptance as Motown music. Some of the most memorable and recognizable guitar licks and bass lines can be traced back to Motown Records. Many of these songs are the “Real Book” for popular music over the last fifty years. Students study the history of Motown, dance, choreography, politics and the role Motown played in ushering in dejure and defacto integration in America, the artist and musicians that institutionalized this sound which many credit as the beginning of the POP music era in America. PSPV 333 FOUNDATIONS OF SINGING WITH SOUL 2 CREDITS
B16 Wednesdays
This is a survey course in vocal Blues, Gospel, Spirituals, Rhythm and Soul music. The course challenges the traditional approach to vocal pedagogy, which historically has been European, centered and has not considered those vocal types that characterize the vocal musical styles that are the foundation of contemporary music in America. African writer and international scholar Chinwa Achebe, who states, “Art for Art Sake is nothing more than deodorized dog sh*t”, challenge many students who have a monocultural definition of aesthetics and the purpose of art. Student begin to understand that the execution of the Blues, Gospel, Spirituals, Rhythm and Soul Music transcends just performance and is almost always functional. Therefore, it is imperative that one understands the historical context when singing songs from these genres. By the end of the semester students have developed a survey repertoire of some of the all time classic songs associated with many of the great legends of what is commonly referred to as Black Music. Additionally, students are encouraged to integrate their logic with their emotion and successful deliver performances that are “soulful” regardless of the style of music they are singing. Students work with a full musical ensemble.

1: Fall Semester: Introduction to The History, Culture and Music of African Americans (Peoples of African Descent)
Tuesdays and Wednesdays
This survey course will investigate and expose students to the history. Culture and music of African descent people in the United States. As a survey course, it will be impossible to cover these vast topics and concepts in detail. It is my intention to stress those historical marker events that have significantly shaped American popular culture, and African descent musical expression in particular. This course will cover the journey of those people who arrived in the New World, first referred to as the Africans. Within the first hundred years of their torturous life in the Americas’ these people have been referred to as “colored”, Negras”, “Negroes,” “Black”, “Afro- Americans”, “African- Americans”, “People of Color”, and a myriad of other expressions. Inherent in the evolution of the labels Africans have endured lays the complexity and multi-dimensional aspect of this rich legacy. It is impossible to master the art of playing Jazz, The Blues, Gospel, Soul, Rhythm and Roots music without understanding the culture and the history of the people who have been the principal architects of these musical forms. Thus, we start with the arrival of African Descent people to what has commonly been referred to as the “New World.”

Students can take this course for 3credits and use this course to satisfy their history requirement. Those students are assigned additional work and an additional meeting. LHIST (2 credits) African American Music, History and Culture Part II
(Spring Semester)
This course is a continuation of LHAN-241. These courses need not be taken in sequence. Part two of the course focuses on the indelible impact The African musical and cultural Aesthetic has had on the formation of America's contemporary music soundtrack and popular culture. The course closely examines the intersection of race, class and gender as it pertains to the emergence of the Atlantic Sound, The Philly Sound, The Stax Sound, The Motown Sound, The Buddha Sound, Baptist Gospel Music, and Church of God in Christ Gospel Music, Full Gospel Music, and the Holiness Movement. The course will also focus specifically on those Black musical artists who responded musically to the 60's Civil Rights Movement. Students can enroll in this course for 3 credits and use it towards the satisfaction of their history requirement. Students register for an additional credit and are assigned additional work and meet for an additional session. LHUM 100 –Artistry, Inquiry and Music (2 credits) FRESHMAN SEMINAR-
(offered occasionally)
This seminar provides an introduction to the life of the creative and curious mind. In this course, students will explore the genesis of their creative process; reflect on life choices as a musician and artists. Through a series of discussions, readings, listening exercises, and film and video reviews, students will begin the process of preparing for a life as a musician and/or creative artist. The process and the life decisions to pursue a career as a musician and/or artist is commonly shaped and influenced by what is commonly referred to as “show business.”

Professor Watson also teaches private voice lessons on Tuesdays and Wednesday. His office hours on also on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. If you are interested in enrolling in any of these courses you can contact Professor Watson directly:

Lawrence “Larry” Watson
Professor, Ensemble Department
SaveOurSelves Productions, L.L.C
“If we don’t saveourselves no one else will “
Resident Artist, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice
The Harvard Law School, Cambridge MA
www.lawrencewatson.com
www.saveourselvesproductions.com
[email protected]
617-825-9600