Unit name | Composition |
---|---|
Unit code | MUSI10049 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | C/4 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24) |
Unit director | Dr. Kelcey Swain |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of Music |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit is taught over the entire year: Studio Composition in teaching block 1 and Acoustic Composition in teaching block 2 A sub-title for the Studio component (weeks 1-12) might be: Music as Sound/Music as Data. Computers and recordings let us get to grips with the raw material of music (sound) and the ways in which we codify musical materials (data) in ways that could not be imagined previously. Although the unit is called Studio Composition, it is intended to give you insights into the stuff of music whether you are a composer, analyst, musicologist or performer. The acoustic composition component (weeks 13-24) will work in parallel with other first year classes, helping students to develop their listening skills and an appreciation and awareness of many instrumental and vocal combinations, as well as many styles of music. Students will create short compositions and arrangements, developing their musical ideas and objectives, and perhaps even their own individual compositional voice.
Aims:
The acoustic composition portion of this unit aims to provide a thorough grounding in compositional techniques through detailed study of structural models in Western music from medieval times to the present. Practical guidance is given in the production and notation of scores.
The studio portion of the unit offers hands-on introduction to musical uses of computers and recording technology, including the recording, editing and transformation of sound as the raw material for musical composition and the representation of music as abstract data, as in the MIDI protocol. The unit also introduces conventions underlying notation software.
Successful completion of this unit will enable students to:
Weekly lecture (1 hr) and follow-up seminars.
Acoustic composition:
Studio composition: