BM Guidelin es |
Year 1 Harmony & Counterpoint 1 and 2 Ear Training 1 and 2 Piano Class 1 and 2 Music History 1 and 2 Applied Lesson: Composition Composition Seminar Instrumentation 1 and 2 Liberal Arts Core 1 and 2 Recital and Concert Attendance Year 2 Harmony & Counterpoint 3 and 4 Ear Training 3 and 4 Keyboard Theory 1 and 2 Music History 3 and 4 Applied Lesson: Composition Composition Seminar Music Manuscript 1 and 2 Liberal Arts Core 3 and 4 Recital and Concert Attendance Year 3 Music History 5 Form & Analysis 1 and 2 World Music Applied Lesson: Composition Composition Seminar Conducting 1 and 2 Liberal Arts Core 5 Course in Mathematics or Science Recital and Concert Attendance Year 4 Form & Analysis 3 Applied Lesson: Composition Composition Seminar Applied Concentrate: Piano Electronic Music 1 and 2 Topics in Music Theory & Analysis Recital and Concert Attendance Any Year Ensemble (four semesters) Music Electives Liberal Arts Electives |
Fall
2 2 1 2 4 1 2 3 0 17 Fall 2 2 1 2 4 1 1 3 0 16 Fall 2 2 2 4 1 1 3 0 0 15 Fall – 4 1 2 2 2 0 11 |
Spr
2 2 1 2 4 1 2 3 0 17 Spring 2 2 1 2 4 1 1 3 0 16 Spring — 2 — 4 1 1 — 3 0 11 Spring 2 4 1 2 2 — 0 11 |
c
4 4 2 4 0 4 1 2 6 34 C 2 2 1 2 0 4 1 2 32 C 2 – 1 0 4 1 2 3 28 C 2 0 4 1 –2 22 v 4 4 12 20 |
c 4 4 2 4 0 4 1 2 6 total credits C 2 2 1 2 0 4 1 total credits C 2 – 1 0 4 1 2 total credits C 2 0 4 2 – total credits v 4 4 12 total credits |
| ______________________________________________________________________ back to top Applied Lesson Composition is taught in weekly hour-long private lessons and in the weekly Composition Seminar. Undergraduate composers usually study with four teachers over the course of the degree program, however students may study with one instructor for a second year with permission. 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 and the New Music Festival is a requirement of the Composition Seminar. From time to time students will be asked to provide written or verbal Concert Reports. >Freshman & Sophomore Composition Seminar >Junior & Senior Composition Seminar >Graduate Composition Seminar ______________________________________________________________________ back to top 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 which should include a Jury Information Sheet listing all works submitted. >Jury Information Sheet Year 1, 2, and 3 Year 4 Fall 15 minutes: • discussion of portfolio • private teacher assessment of semester • general comments and questions Year 4 Spring 25 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 various forces in order to graduate. To encourage this practice the department sets minimum requirements for composition and for performances of new works. Every 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. >Score and Part Preparation Guidelines Minimum Portfolio Requirement Completion of the semester's minimum requirement is worth 10% of the total final Applied Lesson grade.
Jury Portfolio Contents • Jury Information Sheet >Jury Information Sheet • a bound, double-sided score of each work composed during the semester, with title page and cover • a CD of recordings of each work 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 >Fall Jury Portfolio checklist >Spring Jury Portfolio checklist ______________________________________________________________________ back to top Senior Thesis BM composition students are required to complete a senior thesis in the final year of their program. 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 10% of the total final Applied Lesson grade. The following are minimum requirements for works performed on the Composer Recital Series. Workshop and clinic performances do not contribute to these performance requirements. Orchestral and Choral readings of new works may be counted toward this performance requirement. |
| Year 1 Fall Spring v Year 2 Fall Spring v Year 3 Fall Spring v Year 4 Fall Spring |
v one new work 5 minutes of new music v v 5 minutes of new music 8 minutes of new music v v 8 minutes of new music 8 minutes of new music v v 10 minutes of new music Senior Recital (an hour of recent music) |
_____________________________________________________________ back to top 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 • notation: clarity of conveyed intentions • ability to write effectively for instruments and voices • progress and growth • effort and application |
20% 20% 20% 20% 20% |
| • insufficient or incomplete portfolio and/or performance requirements will affect the final combined grade. ______________________________________________________________________ back to top Sophomore Promotional The Boston Conservatory's Student Handbook says the following: "Students are admitted to all undergraduate programs at the Conservatory through an audition. In granting admission, the faculty signals its belief in the potential of an individual to reach through training a significant pre-professional level of excellence in his/her field or instrument. During the first few semesters of study, students confront enriching training experiences designed and led by the faculty to provoke and nurture artistic and technical growth and development. These experiences are organized into courses for which students are assigned grades based on the quality of effort, on the process, not merely on the developing product, of work. The Conservatory’s expectation is that all students will engage in this work with energy, commitment and self-discipline. After the first three semesters, the faculty takes a deeper look at the growth and development of individual students through a promotional jury and examination process, asking and answering a fundamental question: is this student manifesting the kind of growth which promises that he/she attain the significant pre-professional level of excellence which is the goal of all conservatory programs? Some students, even though they have confronted the training curriculum with dedication and discipline, may not show promise of meeting this standard and will be dismissed for artistic reasons. A Conservatory, which invites students to devote four years of their educational lives to intensive focus on training in the arts, has a particular obligation to consider thoughtfully the wisdom of an individual student remaining in a program. The Boston Conservatory feels that obligation deeply for two key reasons: 1) it may not be in the best interest of a student to continue to invest in the demands of training work if sufficient progress toward a clear, pre-professional goal is not being demonstrated; and 2) quality performing arts training programs must insure a uniform level of excellence in studio classroom and ensemble activities." At the end of the Sophomore year Fall semester as part of the promotional procedure composition students are given a musical general knowledge test and are asked to write a short self-evaluation. In considering whether to promote a student grades for Music History, Instrumentation, Theory course, and the Composition Seminar Listening Assignments will also be taken into consideration. Students placed on probabtion will meet with the Departmental Chair and be given a letter specifying areas of concern along with clear expectations for the spring semester. At the close of the spring semester the faculty will review how effectively the student has addressed these areas of concern. Sophomore Promotional Portfolio Contents • Sophomore Promotional Information Sheet >Sophomore Promotional Information Sheet • a bound, double-sided score, with cover and title page, of each work composed since beginning the BM program • a CD of all works performed since beginning the BM program, with track listing on an insert. • a program note (100 words minimum) to accompany each submitted piece >Sophomore Promotional Portfolio checklist ______________________________________________________________________ back to top |