Courses

This course will introduce students to fundamental elements of compositional thought and structure. In a series of weekly assignments, students will create short experimental passages of composed sound focused on isolated parameters of music in order to compare the effect of different strategies. Examples of the basic parameters that students will work with: linear/non-linear, pulse/non-pulse, noise/pitch, register (high/low), timbre (bright/dark), texture (dense/sparse), dynamics, and articulation. Through these experiments, students will experience how different choices affect our perception of time, musical flow and space. The course is designed to be approached by anyone at any level of compositional experience, as indicated by the low course number. The course will benefit musicians with any amount of composition experience.

This is a foundational course for potential composition majors and other interested students which introduces composition techniques in a stylistically open way. It is designed to help students expand their individual writing styles by exploring abstract and non-traditional methods in composition. Students create notated and graphic scores for a variety of scenarios, learn to compose with sound and timbre in creative ways, and develop basic musical ideas into larger forms. Students develop their creative process through weekly writing exercises for solo instrument, chamber music, band, voice, and/or electronic sounds, and collaborate on reading through their scores in class.

During this course the students will explore and master the technique of modulation to the keys both closely related and distant. Using the concepts of three degrees of kinship between keys and the major-minor (minor-major) systems, the students will acquire the skill of gradual modulation as well as sudden modulation. This practical/theoretical approach will both contrast and complement current methods of handling this more advanced area of harmony, and will thus bring about for the student additional practical applications of these concepts.

An introduction for the non-pianist to the fundamentals of composing music that is suited to acoustic instruments. Emphasis is placed on writing melodies and chords that fit the hand comfortably. In addition, importance will be given to creating keyboard figuration that suggests the continuation of melodic lines. The student learns how to elaborate a chordal style of keyboard writing to one that is more expansive and florid with a wide variety of figurations.

The workshop provides opportunities for student composers to hear performances of their own work, and for student performers to gain public performing experience of original student works and works written within the last 60 years. Important works of the 20th century are explored. It is advisable, but not required, for students to have taken MHIS-261 prior to enrolling in this course. This course can be repeated for credit.

Composing New Music for Dance is an advanced class for composers to learn pedagogue of collaboration with choreographers and write new music for contemporary dance.  Lectures cover topics such as the nature of collaboration between sound and body gesture, developing a vocabulary and language for musicians and dancers to collaborate, analysis of iconic contemporary dance and music collaborations, and more. Composers then collaborate one-on-one with a choreographer to create a new work for dance. Additional class time might be assigned to meet with dancers in the dance studio. Composers are free to use any style that suits their collaboration, and are responsible for producing the music performance themselves. Students are encouraged to experiment with new methods of composing and new ways to create music based on dance. 

Discussion of string instruments, their special effects, and proper notation. Principles of string orchestration and voicing techniques.

The course will focus on the acquisition of skills with technological tools for the creation of professional composition portfolios. Production of publication-ready scores and parts using Finale or Sibelius notation software will be emphasized, including nonstandard notation. Basic audio editing techniques will also be presented to create demonstration recordings.

Scoring techniques for full chorus with and without instrumental accompaniment. A choral composition in a traditional style is required as a final project.

Examination of representative solo vocal works from the 19th and 20th centuries (including works requiring nontraditional vocal techniques), with emphasis on dramatic organization, relationship of music to text, and appropriateness to the capacity of the trained singing voice. Special attention given to principles of vocal technique and speech articulation as they apply to composition, principles of vocal notation, and considerations of opera and musical theater. Students will be expected to write specified vocal passages based on assigned texts as well as participate in some improvisation and dramatic reading of texts in class.

This is an intermediate course for composition majors and other interested students which introduces composing with technology in a stylistically open way. Students will use a broad set of tools and techniques in composing with technology such as controlled algorithmic composition, spectralism, and others. Techniques and software in sound analysis, music formalization, and live electronics will be used at different stages of the creative process from the conception of a musical idea to a fully realized composition. Possible software used includes Max/MSP, Sonic Visualizer, Spear, and others. This course culminates with students composing a new electroacoustic work for one instrument and electronics which will be workshopped and presented in class. CM-357 Introduction to Electroacoustic Music for Composers, is a suggested prerequisite for this course but is not required.

Approaches to composition using ideas and aesthetic principles from a variety of non-Western musical traditions. Explorations of diverse concepts of rhythm, melody, timbre, and form as heard in the music of Africa, Asia, India, and South America. Assignments will include a substantial composition illustrating these principles.