BM Guidelines
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Applied Lesson
Composition is taught in weekly hour-long private lessons and in the weekly Composition Seminar. Undergraduate composers usually study with three teachers over the course of the degree program (one teacher for the first two years and different teachers for the third and fourth years.
The department strongly believes that composing is a practical act and that a consistently high production of music is of major benefit to a student composer. Feedback, growth, and assessment depend upon faculty being able to hear and see a student's developing voice and in helping to identify problem areas, habitual weaknesses, and dead ends. For this reason the Applied Lesson carries some specific expectations for a student's Portfolio and for peformances of student works.
Music composed during the first two years of study should be written by hand, not at the computer. Students may use notation software to make final copies for the portfolio, but until a piece is completed handwritten scores and sketches should be available for the Applied Lesson.
Composition Seminar
This weekly meeting is a 1-credit required course for all Composition majors. There are three seminars which run simultaneously: Freshman & Sophomore Seminar; Junior & Senior Seminar; and Graduate Seminar. These seminars combine for masterclasses, clinics, and presentations.
Seminars each house different performance and composing opportunities which change from year to year.
Listening Assignments
As part of each Composition Seminar students are given listening assignments. It is expected that these works will be listened to a number of times, with the score, and that students will spend time familiarizing themselves with the circumstances surrounding each work's composition and the life of its composer. A final examination tests familiarity with the assigned works.
Concert Reports
Attendance at each concert in the Composer Recital Series is a requirement of the Composition Seminar. From time to time students will be asked to provide written or verbal Concert Reports.
Juries
The Jury provides an opportunity for a student to receive feedback from faculty other than his or her private teacher. It also provides the opportunity for faculty to assess a student's portfolio and to offer observations and suggestions for future direction.
In the final jury of the program students are asked to give a brief presentation on the senior thesis.
In advance of each jury students submit a portfolio along with a Jury Information Sheet listing all works submitted.
Year 1, 2, and 3
Year 4 Fall
Each 15 minutes:
• discussion of portfolio
• private teacher assessment of semester
• general comments and questions
Year 4 Spring
20 minutes:
• presentation on senior thesis
• discussion of portfolio
• private teacher assessment of year
• general comments and questions
Portfolio
BM composition students are expected to produce a growing and sizeable body of work for varied forces in order to graduate. Each work submitted in a student's portfolio must be accompanied by a program note of between 100 and 400 words. Scores should be double-sided, spiral- or coil- bound with a title page and an instrumentation page. CD's should include a printed insert with track listings.
Portfolio Contents
• Jury Information Sheet
• a bound, double-sided score of each work submitted, with title page and cover
• a CD of all works performed during the semester, with printed track listing on an insert
• a program note (between 100 and 400 words) to accompany each score and recording
Senior Thesis
BM composition students are required to complete a senior thesis in the final year of their program. The submission deadline is the first composition lesson of the spring semester. This should be a substantial work displaying the ability to control large forces over an extended period of time. For BM students the requirement is composition of a single-movement work lasting a minimum of 10 minutes for an ensemble of at least 15 instruments.
Performance Requirements
Completion of each semester's minimum requirement is worth 5% of the total final Applied Lesson grade. The following are minimum requirements for works performed on the Composer Recital Series. Workshops, readings, and clinic performances do not contribute to these performance requirements.
Year 1
Fall – one new work
Spring – 5 minutes of new music
Year 2
Fall – 5 minutes of new music
Spring – 8 minutes of new music
Year 3
Fall – 8 minutes of new music
Spring – 8 minutes of new music
Year 4
Fall – 10 minutes of new music
Spring – Senior Recital (an hour of recent music)
Grading
The final grade for the Applied Lesson rests largely upon an assessment of the student’s growth as a practicing composer, taking into consideration completion of the portfolio and performance requirements. The Applied Lesson grade consists of two components: the private teacher's grade, worth 70%, and the jury grade, worth 30%. Both the private teacher grade and the jury grade are calculated from assessment in five areas:
• creativity and originality 20%
• notation: clarity of conveyed intentions 20%
• ability to write effectively for instruments and voices 20%
• progress and growth 20%
• effort and application 20%
• insufficient or incomplete portfolio and/or performance requirements will affect the final combined grade.
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