Composition Fundamentals

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• compositional and analytical approaches in a range of musical idioms including but not limited to jazz and blues, common practice tonal procedures (including film music) and modal contemporary composition
• melodic designs and their implied harmonies
• a range of musical forms
• melodic construction
• Roman numerial analysis
• modal composition and minimalist composition techniques

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• create chord sequences and control harmonic voicings
• compose with a range of scales and modes
• compose pieces of music in small forms in a range of different compositional styles
• create a coherent score using Sibelius software
• compose and harmonise a melody

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• analyse tonal music from a range of different musical genres
• work competently with Sibelius software
• understand and work with the techniques of a variety of tonal compositional practices
• respond to a compositional brief

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• analyse a range of compositional works and recognise a variety of music forms
• analyse harmonic progressions using a variety of different notation methods including Roman numeral notations and jazz/pop chord symbols
• engage with a range of different ways of understanding harmony

The following topics will be covered (indicative list):

 Melodic construction

 Major and Minor modes, and a range of other scales including pentatonic and diatonic modes

 Basic and more complex formal designs

 Roman numeral analysis

 Jazz/Pop Chord Terminology and Voicings

 Minimalist Composition Techniques

 Contemporary modal approaches to composition

 A variety of rhythmic techniques and approaches to musical texture that relate to the breadth of compositional practices explored

 Basic skills in using Sibelius software

Teaching and learning methods

Average of two hours teaching time each week through a combination of lectures, small group classes and group tutorials. General pattern of two lectures each week but the teaching method changes according to the topic being covered and the stage in the module. Lectures introduce topics, practical classes consider topics further and group tutorials support the development of assignments. Sessions on Sibelius will take place in smaller groups in the Music Mac Cluster.

Resources & Reading list

General Resources

Duke Ellington: Things Ain’t What They Used To Be / Night Train. Musical works

Arvo Part: Tabula Rasa. Musical works

Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now. Musical works

Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time. Musical works

Sonny Rollins: Tenor Madness. Musical works

John Williams: Star Wars / Harry Potter. Musical works

Sting: Ten Summoner’s Tales. Musical works

Benjamin Britten: Sea Interludes. Musical works

Debussy: Voiles. Musical works

Alan Menken: Beauty and the Beast. Musical works

Steve Reich: Different Trains / Piano Phase / Vermont Counterpoint. Musical works

Textbooks

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (for musical terminology).

Walter Piston. Harmony.

Olivier Messiaen (1956). The Technique of My Musical Language. A. Leduc.

Stephen Citron. Songwriting: A Complete Guide to the Craft.

Mark Levine (1995). The Jazz Theory Book. Sher Music.

Anna Butterworth. Harmony in Practice. Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External