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Composition
Philosophy Music is a highly competitive field. The world has more than enough performing musicians to fill the number of gigs that exist. Its worse for composers. Due to the inherent difficulty in making a living as a musician, many of the people I studied music with in college went on to do something else by the time they were 30 years old. Was their musical training a waste of time? The answer to that question lies in how music is taught and in how teachers and students connect musical training and compositional training specifically - to the general impact it has on their lives and the lives of others. The initial assumption from the students point of view is that they are being trained to make a living playing, writing or recording music. My teaching approach is based on creating or strengthening in students the attributes necessary to become the best possible human. I believe that these attributes produce the best possible musician as well.

1. Open-mindedness Students are encouraged to be open-minded through assignments that require them to think about a variety of issues related to composition. They will need to listen to and analyse musics that they may not otherwise expose themselves to. Analysis in this context focuses on discovering useful information and tools with which to write the music the student ultimately wants to write. 2. Curiousity/desire to learn Students are encouraged to be curious by exposing them to familiar material in unfamiliar contexts. It is essential to be interested in something in order to do it well. With this in mind, students are given music that they are familiar with (interested in) and asked to manipulate it with compositional techniques not normally used in that context (that are unfamiliar). Success in this process creates the desire to continue it in other contexts. 3. Desire to share This is encouraged by having students work in groups in order to share ideas that they are using in assignments. This process ensures that students learn the benefit to themselves as well as the artistic community of freely sharing ideas. The instructor makes students aware of this process and highlights instances where students benefit from this process. (ie. So the idea for using that technique came from that group discussion) 4. Awareness of the relationship between composition and the rest of the world OR how living your life effects your compositional ability and how composing effects your life. Journal writing is useful for exploring this area. The journal describes life experience and how it relates to the work at hand. A pass/fail mark is assigned for completion. In order

2 to encourage them to use the journal honestly, the instructor does not read it closely, but skims it to see if requirements are met. Requirements are based on quantity (i.e. a certain number of entries per week). Time can be made in class for discussion of ideas that have arisen from this work. The reasons for this are four-fold: 1. to deepen the experience of journaling; 2. to monitor the students use of journaling; 3. to see if the quality of ideas changes; 4.to remind them to do it.

Curriculum Year 2, Term 1 Intro to Composition (based on 13 weeks of classes, 1 hour class
per week plus private lesson) Textbook: Fundamentals of Musical Composition Arnold Schoenberg Supplementary (if focusing on jazz and popular idioms): 1. Beyond Functional Harmony Wayne Naub; 2. Modal Jazz Composition and Harmony Volume 1 and 2 Ron Miller 3. David Baker's Arranging and Composing for the Small Ensemble: Jazz, R & B, Jazz Rock - David Baker 4. The Songwriterss Workshop:Harmony Jimmy Kachulis 5. Melody in Songwriting: Tools and Techniques for Writing Hit Songs (Berklee Guide) Jack Perricone 6. Music Notation - Gardner Read 7. Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: The Songs, Sounds and Influences of the Beach Boys' Founding Genius Philip Lambert, 8. The Beatles As Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology Walter Everett 9. The Beatles As Musicians: The Quarry Men Through Rubber Soul, Walter Everett 10. Tell Me Why: The Beatles: Album by Album, Song by Song, the Sixties and After Tim Riley 11. The Velvet Underground (Icons of Pop Music) Richard Witts 12. Jazz Composition: Theory and Practice - Ted Pease 13. Modern Jazz Voicings: Arranging for Small and Medium Ensembles by Ted Pease 14. Reharmonization Techniques - Randy Felts These texts are used throughout year 2.

Assignments
Assignments can be organized in the first year as 1) assignments which target specific musical parameters(see below) and give students the opportunity to explore a variety of compositional tools used in 20th century styles (12-tone, impressionism, etc.) within the context of either specific popular music idioms (rock, country, etc.) or the styles now used in Composition I (modal, blues, standards, groove/ostinato, piano variations) and 2) open-ended assignments. The instructor may prefer to introduce 20th century styles in 3rd year courses in order to concentrate more fully on musical parameters and popular idioms or styles. In the first term of the first year, the final assignment can be open-ended. They still have consciously use the parameters, but they can use them as they see fit. The rest of the assignments are designed to get students using the above-mentioned parameters and tools in a focused way in order to solve compositional problems.

4 Parameters 1. Melody 2. Harmony 3. Rhythm/Metre 4. Form First 4 parameters: A two week assignment is created for each of the first four parameters within the context of a popular idiom. The first class is a lecture/discussion/ listening class. The students go away and work on the assignment and then present the work-in-progress for feedback in the next class. The completed piece is handed in the class after that. A duration of two to three minutes is suggested for these pieces. These assignments are within the context of popular idioms: blues, groove-based, ballad, etc. Potential problem: If class is maxed at 10 students, it will be difficult to get all 10 works critiqued (particularly if the 1 hour stated on the course description is actually 50 minutes). A solution may be to split the class into two groups and give feedback to one group for one assignment, and the other group for the next assignment. The private lesson should take care of specific concerns. Final Assignment: This is an open-ended, four week assignment using the 4 parameters. Part of the assignment requires the student to write a short paper defining the relationships between each of the parameters. This is prose, either paragraph or point form and should have some detail. The point is to train their minds to be naturally aware of these relationships and to provide a context for in-class discussion. Classes for these four weeks can take the form of discussions of the relationships melody/harmony, harmony/form, rhythm/melody (and all the other combinations) as well as critiques in the manner of the first four assignments. Performance: The final class is a performance of the pieces. This can be either a MIDI realization or live performance. If its a live performance, then the students may want to write for the instrumentation existing within the class. There is also the option of bringing in student musicians from outside the class. Either way, an acoustic performance requires scheduling, rehearsing, and discovering the possibilities/impossibilities inherent in the instruments they are writing for. Since these are essential skills for a composer to develop, the live performance is preferable. There may be issues in the context of the class that make a live performance difficult if not impossible. In this case, the MIDI realization is an option.

Year 2, Term 2 Intro to Composition (based on 13 weeks of classes, 1 hour class

per week plus private lesson) The instructor may want to continue with the emphasis on popular idioms in order to be comprehensive, focusing on genres not covered in the first term. The option exists to either repeat the first 4 parameters explored in the first term within the context of genres not yet explored, or to look at new parameters. For example: 1. Texture 2. Timbre 3. Register 4. Dynamics 5. Other If the decision is to look at new parameters, then an area of investigation might be the relationships between the parameters explored in first term and those in second term. It depends on whether the individual instructor is interested in breadth or depth at this point. The decision, of course, depends on the quality of the students work in the first term. Do they need more focused time with the Term 1 parameters? If these new parameters are not addressed at this point, they should be integrated into a later term. The instructor may also want to begin applying Term 1 parameters to classical idioms. This should not necessitate a move away from popular idioms. In fact, in line with the intent of the GMC composition department, it can be seen as the first opportunity to expose the students to how the popular and classical idioms are related. Assignments follow the format outlined for the first term. Possible discussion focusing on melody: how is this Mozart aria from (choose an opera) related to the Mark Knopfler guitar solo from Tunnel of Love? Or Billie Holidays version of God Bless the Child? Or Cryin by Roy Orbison? Or Stairway to Heaven? Or Eyes Without a Face by Billy Idol(any power ballad will do)? Possible assignment focusing on melody: Write a Mozart aria in the style of one of the above.

Aside from increasing their competence, Year 2 is intended to give the students a solid awareness of the parameters of music and to get them thinking about the relationships between different types of music. Ideally, all of the above-mentioned parameters should occur to them during the writing of each composition, and they should be able to demonstrate the use of these parameters in their work. A paper which outlines the use of parameters can accompany the final piece.

Year 3 Composition I/II

Presentation of material can mimic Intro to Composition in terms of timelines (two weeks per assignment and then a four week final assignment). Either that or the students are responsible for three larger pieces, each graded equally. An advantage of the latter approach is the introduction of negotiating larger forms since the pieces duration would be longer than the two to three minute pieces from Intro to Composition. It is assumed that students will now be expected to use 20th century techniques. As in the final assignment for Intro to Composition, the assignments require the student to define the relationships between each of the parameters and to make clear their use of 20th century techniques. Again, this is prose, either paragraph or point form and should have more detail than previously. The point is to get them thinking about it and to provide a context for in-class discussion Textbook: Techniques of the Contemporary Composer David Cope Supplementary: 1. Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation (Bradford Books) by David Huron 2. Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music Christoph Cox - the chapter by Kyle Gann on defining minimalism will be useful if minimalism is discussed this term 3. My Music: Explorations in the Application of 12 Tone Techniques to Jazz Composition and Improvisation - Bruce Arnold 4. Composing with Finale Mark A. Johnson - probably better to bring this up now instead of first year, depending on student proficiency 5. Music Notation in the Twentieth Century: A Practical Guidebook - Kurt Stone 6. Serial Composition Reginald Smith-Brindle 7. Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, Sixth edition, Revised by George Perle 8. Debussy in Proportion : A Musical Analysis Roy Howatt, Cambridge University Press (April 30, 1986) - if impressionism is a topic this term 9. Duke Ellington, Jazz Composer, Yale University Press, 1993 10. The Music of Miles Davis: A Study and Analysis of Compositions and Solo Transcriptions from the Great Jazz Composer and Improv Lex Giel - might be a good idea to maintain a link to the Intro and add a bit more detail 11. Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass (Music in the Twentieth Century) - Keith Potter

Group assignment

8 Out-of-class (individual): The out-of-class portion of the assignment is an analysis of a pop tune and is done individually. Students work is brought into class for group discussion and presentation. Students are asked to analyse a piece by a particular pop/rock group in the context of a compositional technique derived from a particular genre while also looking at particular musical parameters. If twelve-tone music is being discussed, then the analyses could focus on the parameters of harmony and melody in the context of 12-tone technique. If minimalism is the genre, then texture and repetition might be the focus. This requires a lecture/discussion of the particular genre and the musical parameters/techniques that it tends to focus on. The instructor may want to do an example of an analysis in class. Students arent necessarily looking for specific genres that may or may not exist in these pieces; it would be difficult to find a 12 note row in most pop tunes. Rather, they are doing conventional analyses with a restricted focus on characteristics inherent in a given 20th century art music genre. The genre itself may not exist in any specific way in the piece being analysed. The point is to see how a particular art music genre relates (or can be made to relate) to a pop tune, and how the techniques of art music can be used in pop tunes. This process encourages the recognition of inter-connectivity as well as inter-textuality in different musics. An analysis focusing on repetition in a techno tune encourages a different type of thought process than simply being asked to write a minimalist piece. If asked to write a minimalist piece after analyzing a techno piece the student will produce something different than if asked only to write a minimalist piece. These pieces are presented for analysis (one per group) depending on the number of students in the class. This means that small groups are created by assigning a particular piece to a specific group of students. In-class (group): The individual analyses are discussed in groups. Each group (2 4 students) is comprised of students who have analysed the same piece. Group A may be looking at a Beatles tune, group B at a Pink Floyd tune, group C at a Tragically Hip tune, etc. The work of the group is to discuss what theyve discovered in their individual analyses and to identify common patterns existing in each tune. These patterns must be related to the technique being discussed. This is then presented to the class and discussion ensues. Correct answers are not the point. Discussion of ideas is. Part of the discussion focuses on the particular contemporary compositional technique and how it might be used in the tunes. This leads to individual assignments in which the original tune is used as source material for a composition or an arrangement. These are graded and are presented in class.

This can be used as a template for however many assignments the instructor wishes to create (ie. each assignment can use a different compositional technique wedded to a different pop or jazz idiom metal and minimalism; smooth jazz and impressionism, etc.). Since it can be made as simple or as complex as the instructor likes, it can be used throughout Comp I IV. Attributes emphasized: no. 1; no. 2; no. 3 . 2. Discussion of quotations Varese: Certain transmutations taking place on certain planes will seem to be projected onto other planes, moving at different speeds and at different angles. In-class: Brief class discussion of quote to focus students. What does Varese mean by planes or moving at different angles? Then group discussion followed by class discussion. This is a brainstorming session. It may be useful to present ways of doing this. It may also work better simply as a class discussion with brainstorming done at the black/whiteboard. Use whatever insights are achieved to compose new pieces. Pieces are accompanied by prose (point form, whatever) to demonstrate the use of insights. This can be used as a template. Find and use other composers or commentators thoughts in the same way. Individual assignments 1. The student is asked to write a piece for an online game. The instructions are to write something somewhere between John Williams and Amon Tobin and to produce a mockup. Five different but related loops are required. This requires knowledge of resources needed to identify the compositional voice of each artist. The student would need to know that JW likes late romantic harmony and how that knowledge helps them. Research and class discussion of late romantic composers would provide names; books like Thesaurus of Orchestral Devices or Orchestral Combinations: The Science and Art of Instrumental Tone-Color by Gardner Read would be useful. They would need to research the characteristics of Amon Tobins music mainly through listening and using on-line resources since books on his music are scarce. The student would then need to use a DAW to produce the music and demonstrate how the loops would interact (ie.each loop must lead to at least two other loops). This would take the form of class presentation which should be envisioned by the student as a professional presentation. A guest speaker from a games manufacturer might be useful for advice on presentation.

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Critique of the presentation could take the form of discussing how to make the music more effective for the medium (does the music pull focus; do the loops end in a musically logical way and lead to other loops convincingly) or on how to make the recording more effective through mixing. This is a first step in the process for the game-maker to see if he/she likes the kind of stuff you come up with. The second part of the assignment would be to re-write the music for the game. It would be simple enough to provide the students with a particular share-ware game and have them tailor their music to it. Another option would be to take a popular game and have everyone write new music for it. This could involve a technical discussion of how to graft music onto images or simply making sure that their music fits the mood of the game. So, different types of research and activities are encouraged leading to a result that would be relevant to a professional. In other words, the assignment isnt abstract. This is most likely what would happen for a pro, especially an inexperienced one. The skills and knowledge involved in this assignment enable the student to say yes to this kind of job the first time he/she is given the offer. This assignment could be done in collaboration with another department in the college if on exists that teaches game design. It could also be adjusted to apply to web design, different types of presentations, etc. Attributes emphasized: no. 1; no. 2; no. 3

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Year 4 Composition III

Textbook: Sonic Design Robert Cogan Supplementary: 1. Fib and Phi in Music: The Golden Proportion Musical Form Charles Madden, High Art Press (March 2005) 2. African Rhythm and African Sensibility John Miller Chernoff 3. Time in Indian Music: Rhythm, Metre, and Form in North Indian Rag Performance with Audio CD (Oxford Monographs on Music) 4. Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound, Da Capo Press; Upd Sub edition 5. All Made of Tunes: Charles Ives and the Uses of Musical Borrowing - J. Peter Burkhoder 6. New Tonality (Contemporary Music Review (M.E. Sharpe)) Paul Moravec, Routledge; 1 edition (January 1, 1992) 7. Alfred Schnittke (20th-Century Composers) - Alexander Ivashkin, Phaidon Press (September 25, 1996)

The students are responsible for two pieces, a minimum of five minutes each. There is now an emphasis on combining two or more popular idioms within the same piece, along with two or more compositional techniques. Classes are run as seminars with student presentation of works-in-progress and discussion. Ideally, Year 3 will have introduced the majority of compositional techniques that the instructor is interested in exploring. Lectures can focus on any that remain and/or provide more time with those already discussed As in the previous two years, the assignments require the student to define the relationships between each of the parameters. Again, this is prose, either paragraph or point form and should have some detail. The point is to get them thinking about it and to provide a context for in-class discussion Year 4 Composition IV Film Music Text: On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring, Second Edition Fred Carlin, Routledge; 2 edition (January 8, 2004) - if you can make them buy another book Supplementary: 1. From Score To Screen: Sequencers, Scores And Second Thoughts-The New Film Scoring Process - Sonny Kompanek 2. . Music for New Media: Composing for Videogames, Web Sites, Presentations and Other Interactive Media Paul Hoffart 3. Game Development Essentials: Game Audio Development Aaron Marks, Jeannei Novak

12 4. Audio for Games: Planning, Process, and Production Alexander Brandon 5. Thesaurus of Orchestral Devices. by Gardner Read 6. Orchestral Combinations: The Science and Art of Instrumental Tone-Color by Gardner Read - nos. 5 and 6 assume an orchestral score and are more properly part of an orchestration class, but the instructor may want to emphasize their usefulness for this particular assignment. The students are responsible for two pieces. The first is five minutes long and can take any form the student wishes: through-composed; miniatures; sonata allegro; song form; other; all of the above. The second piece re-arranges the first piece, and extends it, for use on a short (10 minute) film, or a game. The students should not know about the second assignment while writing the first one. The assignment, then, requires that they take something that isnt intended to be cinematic and make it so. This allows a discussion of cinematic music in a way that is more relevant to the student (i.e. their pieces are used as examples and points of discussion). This assignment requires an eight to ten page paper explaining the approach, the use of techniques, and why these decisions were made in the context of what they were trying to communicate. This requires an in-class discussion of what is possible in the context of communication through music. A possible approach is to break the possibilities down into categories such as intellectual, emotional, spiritual, other.

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