MUSI2093 Composition Workshop A
A wide range of pieces from the twentieth century (and earlier), which demonstrate material types, technical devices and formal procedures, constitute the basis upon which compositional technique is examined. In Composition Workshop A, students come to be familiar with music in fundamental building block terms, examined in turn: rhythm, line, sonority, and harmony. Projects are based around these.
Co-ordinator: Dr Michael Zev Gordon
Module Details
Title: Composition Workshop A
Code: MUSI2093
Year: 2
Semester: 1
CATS points: 15 ECTS points: 7.5
Level: Undergraduate
Co-ordinator(s):
Pre-requisites and / or co-requisites
For Single Honours Music students a mark of 60 in MUSI 1007 and MUSI 1008 is needed; for Combined Honours Music students as for Single Honours students but a mark of 60 in either MUSI 1007 or MUSI 1008 is satisfactory if only one of these has been taken.
NB There is a combined quota of 24 places on this module across years 2 and 3, offered to the best students in MUSI 1007 and MUSI 1008.
This course is the pre-requisite module for MUSI 2092/3101 Composition Workshop B.
This course is one of the pre-requisites for MUSI 3003 Commercial Composition
To understand and work with some of the basic materials and techniques of contemporary classical music. Through the manipulation of these materials and techniques, students acquire skills and crafts with which to compose small-scale pieces of contemporary classical music in satisfactory forms.
A variety of examples and extracts are discussed and examined, each focusing on a different principal or technique of contemporary art composition.
Study time allocation
Contact hours: 2
Private study hours: 10
Total study time:
12
hours
Teaching and learning methods
One two-hour lecture or practical workshop per week.
Resources and reading list
The best background preparation is to immerse yourself in as much contemporary classical music as possible – listening and examining scores. All can be useful, though composers central to the tradition who should be explored are Stravinsky and Schoenberg, while more recent composers, knowledge of whose works is indispensable, include Luciano Berio, Steve Reich, György Ligeti and Arvo Pärt.
Assessment methods
- Three assignments, each assignment comprising two exercises, comprising together between two and three minutes of music (each 33.3%).