Music Performance 361: Introduction to Composition (Fall 2005)
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Monday/Wednesday 12:00 - 12:50 pm
Golda Meir Library E280
Instructor: Christopher Burns
office hours: Mondays 2-4 pm, or by appointment
office location: Music 367 (during building renovation, Music 231)
contact: cburns at uwm dot edu
Course description:
Introduction to contemporary music literature and compositional technique.
Prerequisites:
Open to majors in music composition; others by consent of the instructor.
Grading policies:
Semester grades will be determined in accordance with the following priorities:
Participation 15%
Listening / study assignments & quizzes 20%
Weekly composition assignments 50%
Final projects 15%
Students who miss three or more class meetings will
receive reduced grades.
Course materials:
Listening and reading assignments for the course will be on reserve in the Music Library. Robert Morgan's Twentieth Century-Music (Norton), Elliott Schwartz and Daniel Godfrey's Music Since 1945 (Schirmer), and Paul Griffith's Modern Music and After (Oxford) are particularly useful as introductions to contemporary music. Alfred Blatter's Instrumentation/Orchestration (Schirmer) is a good text for instrumentation issues.
Course outline:
Monday, September 5: Labor Day, no class meeting
Wednesday, September 7: composition program orientation: Bill Heinrichs, Jon Welstead
Sunday, September 11: special event
Music From Almost Yesterday concert, John Downey tribute, 3 pm, Zelazo
Monday, September 12: course introduction; basics of contemporary notational
practice
reading:
Elliott Schwartz and Daniel Godfrey, "Notation, Improvisation, and Composition," in Music Since 1945, pp. 394-416.
Wednesday, September 14: rhythm I: approaches to polyrhythm, polytempo, polymeter
listening/study:
György Ligeti Etudes for Piano vol. 1 (nos. 1-6)
David Lang The Anvil Chorus
assignment 1:
compose a violin duet with a different polyrhythm or polytempo in each measure
due Monday, September 19
Saturday, September 17: rescheduled class meets 11 am, Milwaukee Art Museum
Sunday, September 18: special event
Fe-Mail laptop duo, 8 pm, Hotcakes Gallery, 3379 N.
Pierce
Monday, September 19: rhythm II: rhythmic complexity
listening/study:
Brian Ferneyhough Adagissimo
John Cage Music of Changes
Wednesday, September 21: [rescheduled to Saturday, September 17]
Friday, September 23: special event
Convocation, Present Music ensemble, 12 pm, Recital Hall
Monday, September 26: rhythm III: rhythm without meter
listening/study:
Morton Feldman The Viola In My Life II
Karlheinz Stockhausen Kontakte
assignment 2:
compose a piano etude with "free-floating" or ametric rhythms and durations
due Monday, October 3
Wednesday, September 28: pitch I: modality
listening/study:
Benjamin Britten Curlew River
Claude Viver Zipangu
Monday, October 3: pitch II: some nontonal harmonic practices
listening/study:
Olivier Messiaen Sept Haikai
Louis Andriessen De Staat
assignment 3:
compose an oboe solo which mutates smoothly from one mode to another
due Monday, October 10
Wednesday, October 5: pitch III: microtonality
listening/study:
Charles Ives Three Quarter-Tone Pieces
Giacinto Scelsi String Quartet no. 4
Monday, October 10: pitch IV: spectralism
listening/study:
Tristan Murail Desintegrations
Kaija Saariaho Noanoa
assignment 4:
compose a trombone quartet expressing a given harmonic structure
due Monday, October 17
Wednesday, October 12: texture I: timbre composition
listening/study:
György Ligeti Atmospheres
Helmut Lachenmann Allegro Sostenuto
Monday, October 17: texture II: textural line
listening/study:
Luciano Berio Sequenza III
Luciano Berio Sequenza VII
assignment 5:
compose a textural line for viola solo
due Wednesday, October 26
Wednesday, October 19: guest composer Irina Hasnas
Thursday, October 20: special event
Music From Almost Yesterday concert, 7:30 pm, Recital Hall
Monday, October 24: quiz I
quiz:
score & listening identifications, short analysis and discussion of score excerpts
special event:
new visual art, video, and sound works from San Francisco Art Institute, 8 pm, B60
Tuesday, October 25: special event
Jason Kahn / Jon Mueller duo, 8 pm, Hotcakes Gallery, 3379 N. Pierce
Wednesday, October 26: form I: collage
listening/study:
Igor Stravinsky Symphonies of Wind Instruments
John Zorn Cat O' Nine Tails
special event:
Stefano Scodanibbio contemporary contrabass recital, 7:30 pm, Recital Hall
Monday, October 31: form II: collage continued
listening/study:
Luciano Berio Sinfonia movement 3
Iannis Xenakis Nomos Alpha
assignment 6:
compose a brief collage for vocal trio (reciters, singers, or both)
due Monday, November 7
Wednesday, November 2: form III: process
listening/study:
Conlon Nancarrow Study #21 for Player Piano
Alvin Lucier "I am sitting in a room"
Monday, November 7: form IV: variations
listening/study:
Igor Stravinsky Variations (Aldous Huxley in memoriam)
assignment 7:
compose a series of progressive one-measure variations for flute/clarinet duo
due Monday, November 14
Wednesday, November 9: genre I: concerto
listening/study:
Sofia Gubaidulina Offertorium
Witold Lutoslawski Chain 2
Thursday, November 10: special event
Music From Almost Yesterday student composers concert, 7:30 pm, Recital Hall
Friday-Sunday, November 11-13: special event
Music From Almost Yesterday Variety 68, 7:30 pm (2:30 pm Sunday), Zelazo
Monday, November 14: genre II: string quartet
listening/study:
Ruth Crawford Seeger String Quartet 1931
George Crumb Black Angels
assignment 8:
compose a string quartet which enacts a rigorous, gradual, perceptible process
due Wednesday, November 23
Wednesday, November 16: genre III: electronics
listening/study:
Pauline Oliveros Alien Bog
Eleanor Hovda Glosses/Glacier
Thursday, November 17: special event
Electroacoustic Music Center concert, 7:30 pm, Recital Hall
Monday, November 21: [class cancelled]
Wednesday, November 23: genre IV: theater
listening/study:
Cathy Berberian Stripsody
Tom Johnson Failing
final project:
develop a compositional challenge of your own choosing and
compose a work addressing that concept
presentations Monday, December 12, and Wednesday,
December 14
Monday, November 28: genre V: improvisation
listening/study:
Anthony Braxton Composition #118A [intervallic]
Jake Rodriguez Parsnip Maker
Wednesday, November 30: quiz II
quiz:
score & listening identifications, short analysis and discussion of score excerpts
Monday, December 5: review and additional topics TBD
Wednesday, December 7: review and additional topics TBD
Monday, December 12: presentation of final projects I
Wednesday, December 14: presentation of final projects II