Sprint Guide
Sprints — where the work lives
Most of your creative output happens in four two-week sprints. Each sprint is long enough to push a piece toward “potentially finished” — not a perfect masterwork, but something real you can hear, export, and learn from.
One sprint, start to finish
- Kickoff — the Wednesday after a feedback week (or the first studio day of the semester): you get the brief, form groups if it’s a collab sprint, and make a plan.
- Midpoint WIP — first Sunday: post work-in-progress and give structured feedback to at least two peers. Rough is fine; the goal is momentum and conversation.
- Finish & submit — second Sunday: export your audio, write process notes and a reflection, and complete the sprint checklist. Collab sprints submit one group artifact.
- Feedback seam — the following Monday: in-class feedback on what everyone just finished, then the next sprint kicks off Wednesday.
Fall sprint order
174 leads collab-first — you build with others before your first solo sprint, riding the energy of the opening weeks:
| Sprint | Type | Domain | Deliverable | Due |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Collab | MIDI & sequencing | Collaborative Groove — 8–16 bar loop; drums, bass, and a harmonic/melodic part, all MIDI; parts divided across the group | Sun Oct 4 |
| 2 | Solo | Recording & audio | Recorded Sketch — ≥30 sec built around your own recorded audio, combined with MIDI, basic edits applied | Sun Oct 25 |
| 3 | Collab | Sound creation | Built-From-Scratch Piece — only team-designed sounds; ≥1 original synth patch and ≥1 sampled/processed sound, documented | Sun Nov 15 |
| 4 | Solo | Arrangement & structure | Arranged Short Track — ≥3 distinct sections, intentional transitions, energy choices across sections | Sun Dec 6 |
After four sprints you’ll have four candidates for the final project: pick your strongest and finish it. Full artifact specs, including what earns an ✦ Exceeds, are in the Course Design document and in each sprint’s brief.
The Sprint Deliverable Template
Every sprint deliverable is a post to a StemShare thread — not a Canvas upload. This is the master checklist; each sprint brief adds its artifact spec.
On every post (the upload form, desktop only)
| Section | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Audio | Stems (multitrack) or a stereo mix — whichever the brief specifies |
| Work → Notes | Markdown process notes + reflection; the thread prompt defines what to cover |
| Tools used | Credit your DAW (and plugins/instruments if relevant) |
| Contributors | Collab sprints only — who did what |
Optional when the brief calls for it: version label, timing & timecode, video, sources & links. After you fill the form, Review files checks the upload before the post goes live; you can upload a new version to the same work later if you revise.
Across the sprint
- ☐ WIP posted to the midpoint thread by Sunday
- ☐ Final posted to the sprint thread by Sunday
- ☐ Structured feedback (four-step framework) given to ≥2 peers in StemShare
Grading — specification grading
Sprint deliverables use specification grading: every item on the checklist must be met for full credit. StemShare makes that visible and computable — it doesn’t reduce grading to a vague “turned it in.”
When you post to a sprint thread, your submission shows a live requirements checklist — tracks posted, peer comments given, articles read, on time, plus sprint-specific items from the brief. StemShare computes a provisional numeric grade from that checklist; your instructor finalizes it. Until then you’ll see something like “Provisional grade: 100 — not final until your instructor finalizes it.”
- Pass/fail on sprint finals — every checklist item met → full points; miss any item → 0 until you revise.
- Revise and resubmit — one window (~1 week) to fix an incomplete submission.
- ✦ Exceeds — optional recognition your instructor can mark at finalize; cosmetic only, it never changes the numeric grade.
- Collab sprints — artifact requirements resolve on the team’s shared post; peer comments and on-time checks apply per member.
Policy lives on Canvas. Late work, attendance, and office hours are in the syllabus. The checklist in StemShare is the creative spec; finalized StemShare grades may sync to Canvas as numbers.
A sprint submission is missing its audio export but has great process notes. What happens? Provisional grade of 0 — add the export, get every check green, and the provisional grade becomes full points before your instructor finalizes. Every checklist item has to pass.
Jams, finals, and what we’re not doing
Opening & closing jams. Each semester starts and ends with a low-stakes small-group jam — a chance to play together, feel collective progress, and celebrate the year. Jams in 174 are about community, not graded performance.
No live final presentations. With ~40 students across two sections, a single-day listening session doesn’t work. Finals are submitted (your first complete track — see the Final Project Guide). The closing jam is the in-person capstone moment instead.
Resources
- The Sprint Deliverable Template on StemShare
- Feedback Session Guide — the four-step framework, async and live
- Studio Session Guide — how Wednesdays run