Composition Seminar
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A weekly meeting, required of all composition majors, providing student composers with tools to foster a sophisticated awareness of contemporary composition, to facilitate familiarity with a broad range of cultural references, and to become focused and articulate when speaking of one's own and others' music.
A wide range of topics will be touched on, including professional development (program notes, commissions, grants, identifying performance opportunities, etc.); introduction to composers and music not covered in other conservatory courses (recent contemporary music, vernacular and popular music); visiting composers, masterclasses and clinics with conductors and performers; analogies to other art forms; issues of orchestration, instrumentation, structure, and form.
Freshman/Sophomore Composition Seminar
MU107/MU207
Fall and Spring Semesters
Credits: 1 per semester
Prerequisites: none
Meeting: Wednesday 2:00–3:50
Instructor: Dalit Warshaw
Junior/Senior Composition Seminar
MU307/MU407
Fall and Spring Semesters
Credits: 1 per semester
Prerequisites: none
Meeting: Wednesday 2:00–3:50
Instructor: Jan Swafford
Seminar Calendar
Fall 2011
| Week 1 | September 7 | |
| Week 2 | September 14 | |
| Week 3 | September 21 | |
| Week 4 | September 28 | |
| Week 5 | October 5 | |
| Week 6 | October 12 | |
| Week 7 | October 19 | |
| Week 8 | October 26 | |
| Week 9 | November 2 | |
| Week 10 | November 9 | |
| Week 11 | November 16 | |
| Week 12 | November 23 | |
| Week 13 | November 30 | |
| Week 14 | December 7 |
Spring 2012
| Week 1 | January 18 | |
| Week 2 | January 25 | |
| Week 3 | February 1 | |
| Week 4 | February 8 | |
| Week 5 | February 15 | |
| Week 6 | February 22 | |
| Week 7 | February 29 | |
| Week 8 | March 7 | |
| Week 9 | March 14 | |
| Week 10 | March 21 | |
| Week 11 | March 28 | |
| Week 12 | April 4 | |
| Week 13 | April 11 | |
| Week 14 | April 18 | |
| Week 15 | April 25 |
Listening Assignments
Weekly Listening Assignments are given each semester. Students are expected to listen to assigned works with the score at least two or three times and to research biographical information and program notes relevant to the assignment.
Scores for each assignment will be on library reserve. Most works are available on the Naxos website. CD's are on reserve for works unavailable on Naxos.
A midterm and a final examination test familiarity with the assigned works by asking students to identify soundclips and identify extracts from scores. The exam also includes general questions about the composers of the assigned works and the works themselves. The midterm tests familiarity with works 1–7, the final tests familiarity with all 14 works.
Freshman/Sophomore
Fall 2011
| 1. Mozart | |
| 2. Reich | |
| 3. Babbitt | |
| 4. Ravel | |
| 5. Dutilleux | |
| 6. Sondheim | Sunday in the Park with George |
| 7. Mahler | Symphony No.7 |
| 8. Berio | Folk Songs |
| 9. Franck | Cello Sonata |
| 10. Messiaen | Oiseaux Exotiques |
| 11. Dvorak | Piano Quintet in A Major |
| 12. Sibelius | Violin Concerto |
| 13. Prokofiev | Symphony No.2 |
| 14. Pink Floyd | Ummagumma |
Junior/Senior
Fall 2011
| 1. Tallis | Spem in alium |
| 2. Schoenberg | Serenade |
| 3. Ives | Tone Roads #1 and Over the Pavements |
| 4. Beethoven | Piano Concerto No.5 'The Emperor' |
| 5. Graettinger | City of Glass |
| 6. Nielsen | Symphony No.5 |
| 7. Ellington |
Ko-Ko, Warm Valley, Menelik: the Lion of Judah, Passion Flower, and The Clothed Woman |
| 8. Stravinsky | Oedipus Rex |
| 9. Milhaud | Saudades do Brasil |
| 10. Simon and Garfunkel | Bookends |
| 11. The Tahitian Choir | Rapa Tui |
| 12. Debussy | En blanc et noir |
| 13. Tippett | Symphony No.2 |
| 14. Mingus | Pithecanthropus Erectus and Moanin' |
Instrumental Clinics
In order to better familiarize composers with the specifics of writing for various instruments, Clinics are held each semester, usually spanning three or four weeks with two group meetings. For the first meeting composers write a brief exercise for the featured instrument. This is the springboard for a presentation and discussion given by faculty and students on effective notation, idiomatic writing, extended techniques, and related topics. After this meeting the composers each write a short work which will be workshopped at the next group meeting.
CRS Concerts
Attendance at each concert in the Composer Recital Series is a requirement of the Composition Seminar. From time to time students may be asked to provide written or verbal Concert Reports.
Song Project
Early in the fall semester composers are paired with Voice majors from the Junior Vocal Performance Seminar for whom they compose a work for voice and piano. These songs will be workshopped throughout the year with Kathryn Wright, the instructor of the Junior Vocal Performance Seminar. A spring semester masterclass with a visiting artist is followed by a concert performance.
Grading
Class Participation 45%
Composition Assignments 15%
Midterm Listening Assignment Exam 15%
Final Listening Assignment Exam 25%
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