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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Edinburgh College of Art : Music

Postgraduate Course: Compositional Practice (MUSI11064)

Course Outline
SchoolEdinburgh College of Art CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis is a practice-led course where you will be guided towards the submission of a portfolio of original compositions. Written work will contextualise, describe, and reflect upon the compositional work you submit in your portfolio. This course is supported by the Ensemble in Residence at the Reid School of Music.
Course description Through a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops, and supported by individual and group-based creative work, Compositional Practice offers the opportunity for you to develop your own creative practice in music composition. In lectures we will study and discuss compositional techniques, ideas, and current discourse in the field of acoustic composition. While the focus of lectures will be on creating music for voices and instruments, portfolios that include an electronic, mixed media component along with live instruments will be accepted.

Each lecture examines a particular concept or technique, and concludes with a related composition task that allows you to creatively explore the ideas discussed in the lecture. These tasks include both individual and collaborative work, to be prepared for presentation, discussion and feedback in the following week's seminar. One specific compositional task will be developed into a work that will be rehearsed and performed by the Ensemble in Residence in a public workshop.

Creating two Artistic Statements, one developmental and one reflective, will help you to hone and articulate your creative ideas, and to document your progress as an emerging composer.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Define and extend their own creative practice in musical composition.
  2. Collaborate and communicate effectively with peers and professional musicians, and assess the effectiveness of these collaborations.
  3. Prepare and present work at a professional standard.
  4. Describe and reflect upon their work in an illustrative and illuminative way.
  5. Translate the ideas encountered in lectures and creative practice into a critical understanding of the creative and cultural context of musical composition.
Reading List
Ligeti, G. And Varnai,P (1983) Ligeti in Conversation. Eulenburg Books
Oliveros, P. (2005) Deep Listening : A Composer's Sound Practice. iUniverse
Gould, E (2011)- Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation. Faber Music Ltd
Varga, B.A. (2015) Three Questions for Sixty-Five Composers. University of Rochester Press
Rutherford-Johnson, T. 2017. Music after the Fall: Modern Composition and Culture since1989. Oakland: University of California Press
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills - Students will expand and fulfil their potential as creative artists, finding new ways to investigate and solve problems in their practice.

- Through opportunities for collaboration (with composition staff, peers, and professional musicians) students will develop and enhance their communication skills in rehearsal and performance situations, and in their writing.

- Students will develop the passion and confidence to engage locally and globally with industry professionals and other creative practitioners.
Keywordscomposition,creative practice,cultural context,aesthetics,sound art
Contacts
Course organiserDr Thomas Butler
Tel:
Email: thomas.butler@ed.ac.uk
Course secretary
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