Humanities, University of Southampton

This module is two-fold: embracing (1) detailed analysis of contemporary scores as exemplars of technical and aesthetic issues, including types and levels of material, variation techniques, timbre, new tonalities, relations of the rational and the intuitive, large-scale contemporary forms; and (2) the examination of student work on the basis of technique, craft, instrumentation and aesthetic content.

Co-ordinators:  Dr Michael Zev Gordon and Professor Michael Finnissy

This module aims to further the student's technical and aesthetic awareness of contemporary classical music, leading to the development of a more personal expression, less dependent on past models. Building upon the work in MUSI2092, students acquire a more sophisticated and individual handling of the elements, on both a large and small scale, of contemporary classical music.

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• Semester 1: six introductory two-hour seminars, fortnightly 40-minute individual tutorials
• Semester 2: weekly 30-minute individual tutorials

• Boulez, Pierre, Stocktakings from an Apprenticeship (Oxford, 1991)
• Griffiths, Paul, Modenr Music and After (OUP 1995)
• Nyman, Michael, Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond (2nd Edn, Cambridge, 1999)
• Schoenberg, Arnold, Style and Idea (London, 1975)

• A portfolio of three to four varied compositions, comprising about 20 minutes of music in all. The portfolio will be assessed as a whole.
• A written commentary will also be required on each of the works submitted in the portfolio.