Music Industry 105, which invites famed songwriters as guest speakers, to be public to UCLA community
Chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and multiple Grammy Award-winning legend, Jimmy Webb, answers questions about the music industry and his career for Professor David Leaf’s Music Industry 105 class.
By Lynn Chu
April 19, 2012 12:34 a.m.
Sitting center stage with flashcards in hand, David Leaf, a professor in UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, moderates a discussion of his Music Industry 105 course with a renowned rock “˜n’ roll songwriting legend, who is comfortably seated in front of the piano, wearing jeans and a casual button-down shirt.
For those who may not be familiar with the name Jimmy Webb, many more might be familiar with his impressive repertoire of work for artists including Glen Campbell, Frank Sinatra and the Supremes.
The Music Industry 105 course offered through the Herb Alpert School of Music focuses on curating a series of guest speakers, renowned names in the songwriting community, who share their expertise and their journey through the music industry.
Beginning next week and running through the rest of the quarter, these guest appearances will be made public to the UCLA community.
“Everybody wants to invite their friends, and I (thought we would) move across (to Schoenberg Hall) and share these great artists who are so kind to come to campus. (My hope is that) it will enrich the environment,” Leaf said.
According to Leaf, who works as a producer and director for television documentaries when he is not teaching, many of these guest speakers were reached through his connections within the entertainment world.
While many guest speakers are singers and songwriters themselves, the class also plans to bring in individuals outside of the songwriting niche, including music publishers and copywriters.
Kathleen Fisher, production coordinator for Leaf, said that Cynthia Weil, the musical guest speaker on April 9, inspired her with the story of how Weil achieved success as a singer-songwriter in a male-dominated industry.
According to Braeden Henderson, media manager and lead researcher of the course, each lecture gives a voice to the person making things happen, but who, for the most part, continues to remain nameless and faceless to the majority of the public. Among these artists include Dan Wilson, a songwriter who wrote three songs off of Adele’s recent album. “Very few people have heard of Dan Wilson, but everybody has heard Adele’s songs. … (This lack of knowledge) speaks (for) the nature of the songwriter,” Henderson said.
Leaf said that the desire to share these experiences with the next generation through a university setting encouraged many musicians to come lecture as a guest speaker.
“Music is a great chain that extends back hundreds and thousands of years. (Our guest speakers) are the latest link of the chain, and they’re looking out in the audience, who are the next link in the chain,” Leaf said.
Just as these artists feel the need to share their experiences with the next generation, Leaf said people in the UCLA community who share a passion for music deserve the opportunity to observe the magic of songwriting and a music history that continues to change every day.
“As the course unfolds each week, you will see a different side of the creative process of the music industry, and there is no limit to it. We could teach this course every quarter for the next 20 years, and because (we are in) Los Angeles, every year the class will be different.”
