Music Performance 361: Introduction to Composition (Fall 2006)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:00 - 12:50 pm, Golda Meir Library E280
Christopher Burns (cburns at uwm dot edu)
office hours: Music 367, Monday afternoons, 2-4 pm or by appointment
Introduction to contemporary music literature and compositional technique. We will study key works from the twentieth century, considering them as models for form, concept, and compositional method. And we will write lots of music, responding to specific technical challenges.
Prerequisites: This course is open to majors in music composition and technology; other students may be admitted by consent of the instructor. Diligence, imagination, and aesthetic open-mindedness will all be key to success in the course. Please let the instructor know if you need any special accommodations.
Course requirements:
1. Students must attend all classes
and arrive on time. If you need to miss a class for any reason, please let
the instructor know in advance. Students who miss three or more classes
will receive reduced grades (one reduction for each absence, beginning
with the third). Concerts listed on the syllabus are also included in this
attendance requirement (though other instructor-approved contemporary
music concerts can be subsituted if absolutely necessary). Please be sure
to find the instructor at each concert and make sure you are counted; you
can also get another member of the composition faculty to sign your
program and submit it to the instructor after the concert.
2. Students must prepare for class by completing all reading,
listening, and score reading assignments. Remember that listening is an
active process; if you are multitasking you are unlikely to get much out
of the experience. The best way to complete a listening assignment is to
listen in the Music Library while simultaneously reading the score. With
short works, you are strongly encouraged to listen to the work multiple
times. You may also wish to take notes on your listening and score reading
- what are you hearing? How is it notated? How does it change over time
(what is the form of the work?) Please arrive for class ready to
participate in the discussion; this will count for 15% of your final
grade.
3. There will be two quizzes (scheduled for Monday, October 30, and
Wednesday, December 6). These quizzes will emphasize the identification of
repertoire studied in the course, from short listening or score excerpts.
Together these quizzes represent 20% of the semester grade.
4. Students must complete all composition assignments in a timely
manner. Assignments are short, focused exercises; they can be typically
completed in a page of music, but the submitted work should reflect
substantial thought and effort, and speak directly to the challenge at
hand. Assignments should be notated by hand, in pencil. These assignments
constitute 50% of the final grade.
5. Final projects represent a slightly larger compositional project
than those addressed in the assignments throughout the semester. Students
should be prepared to propose a project which addresses a specific
compositional challenge, to compose a work addressing that challenge, and
to present and discuss their work with the class. The final project is
worth 15% of the final grade.
Course materials: Listening and score-reading assignments for the course will be on reserve in the Music Library. Reading and listening assignments are also available via electronic reserve. You may find some additional texts useful: 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 is a good text for instrumentation issues.
Additional course policies: The UWM Uniform Syllabus Policy (available at http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/policies.html) is incorporated into this document by reference.
Course schedule:
Wednesday, September 6: composition program orientation / course introduction
no reading or listening assignment
Monday, September 11: the materials of music
no reading or listening assignment