Hi gang.
This past summer, I had the opportunity to visit The ChautauqUA Institute in New York. I was there a few times, once for a weekend, and then once for a whole week. The Institute is a vibrant community of artists; it's kinda like a sort of Disneyland for the Liberal Arts. Music is everywhere, and of all styles. Many are students from abroad who are honing their craft; there are classes and seminars, along with a fantastic lecture series and concert schedule, the access to any of which is included with your weekend or week long paid pass. There is a gorgeous amphitheater in the middle of the enclave, where lectures and concerts are given. In any given week, you can attend lectures featuring historical figures, watch a choral concert from some of the finest groups in the world, listen to solo artists play and discuss music, or watch a full-blown concert from some amazing acts. The full week I was there, Wynton Marsellas was there with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra; and two nights later, I saw Mary Chapin Carpenter performing with her band as well.

It occurred to me that many of the students there probably had their own computers in their rooms; and that some of those students were likely trying to record their own music... So I thought that perhaps offering a week long class in basic recording instruction might be something I could do for the 2017 summer season.
I'm trying to figure out how to submit this course idea/outline to the course committee there; and I was hoping that my pals here on RO might be able to offer some advice on this.

The thing I have to remember is that the people who may be interested in attending this course are musicians FIRST. These are formally trained kids; studying classical, jazz, world/ethnic and even contemporary stuff. So, I have to keep this course aimed with that in mind... I'm not teaching future engineers here, or even EM Composers... I would be teaching musicians on how to best capture their performances on their real instruments to a basic DAW, and how to get best results out of what they have. The general age range of the students is 17-22.
My thoughts are to cover mic types and mic placement techniques, gain structure, connections/cabling, preamps and interfaces, and a basic overview of the tools used in a DAW.
I'm thinking about using a very basic and easy to understand DAW program - perhaps something like Reason or S1 ? ( I think if I tried to use Samp or PT their heads would pop off, LOL)
These students would be focusing on recording acoustic instruments, I don't see much need ( or interest on their part) to cover VSTi's. That being said, am I being too quick to exclude VSTi's?

Also (@Brien Holcombe )... Should I also devote a day on how to temporarily acoustically treat their recording spaces ?)

I need to submit the course outline ( not a full syllabus yet) to the committee by October 1.
Does anyone have ANY suggestions on what to focus on with this outline... Or even something I may have missed in regard to something I need to teach in the course? PLEASE. speak up. I wanna hear all ideas!

ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated. ;)

Tagging audiokid @Sean G, Kurt Foster, Boswell, dvdhawk, kmetal, pcrecord, Davedog, paulears, @Brien Holcombe, @Chris Perra, DogsoverLava (if you're not tagged please don't let that stop you from contributing... I want to hear from everyone! I just happened to tag the members who popped into my head as being the most active here on RO. ;)
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
-Donny.