Unit 22: Music Performance Session Styles

Unit 22: Music Performance Session Styles
10 Credits

Aim and purpose

This unit encourages learners to increase their opportunities for employment as performers by developing the ability to reproduce the authentic sounds and performance characteristics of historically and culturally important genres and artists.

Unit introduction

The ability to fulfil the role of session musician in recording and live situations requires the performer to have a wide palette of skills that can be applied in variety of situations, often with little or no rehearsal. In order to do this successfully they must first gain an understanding of the stylistic elements that comprise a wide range of genres.
Learners will be expected to develop their own style or voice by preparing musical material in chosen genres. 
This will be achieved through personal practice and rehearsing with others. Their contributions to these rehearsals should be both stylistically accurate and sonically authentic.
Learners should be encouraged to develop the skills in musical performance, improvisation, sight reading and jamming that will allow them to contribute appropriate stylistic elements to a range of musical contexts with little or rehearsal time, to reflect the typical experience of a session musician.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this unit a learner should:

1 Understand the stylistic elements across a wide range of musical genres
2 Be able to develop stylistically accurate musical material for contrasting genres
3 Be able to apply stylistically accurate elements to a range of musical genres in different performance situations.