Composing and Arranging for the Voice
Syllabus


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Composing and Arranging for the Voice

MU420 
undergraduate registration
MU520 
graduate registration

Fall Semester 2011

MU420 Credit: 2. Prerequisite: MU216 Harmony & Counterpoint 4
MU520 Credit: 1.
Prerequisite: Graduate Theory (exam or proficiency)

Instructor: William Cutter wcutter@bostonconservatory.edu


Course Objectives
This course, offered every other Fall and required for all Choral Conducting MM students, focuses on the challenges unique to composing for the human voice. Weekly creative assignments addressing these challenges will culminate in a performance of a final composition for solo voice, chorus, or chamber vocal ensemble. Important choral and solo vocal works representing a broad spectrum of historical periods and styles will also be studied and analyzed.

Text setting
• honoring the natural stresses and rhythm of words
• conventions of notation
• understanding the function of vowels and consonants in singing
• introduction to I.P.A. (International Phonetic Alphabet)
• text painting

Voice categories
• choral vocal categories
• solo vocal categories (i.e., spinto vs. lyric soprano; coloratura vs. dramatic soprano, bass-baritone vs. baritone, etc.)

Understanding vocal terminology
• tessitura
• passaggio
• falsetto
• chest voice
• vibrato
• belting

Composing for chorus
• spacing, ranges, counterpoint
• acappella vs. chorus with accompaniment (piano, orchestra)
• choral-stration: new ways of thinking about the chorus

Composing for solo voice
• solo voice with piano
• solo voice with chamber ensemble

Arranging and Adapting
• adapting existing choral music for smaller forces and/or for a
lternate voicings
• arranging for chorus


Textbooks
Required texts are available online from www.textbookx.com
CHORAL COMPOSITION: A HANDBOOK FOR COMPOSERS, ARRANGERS, AND SINGERS
Robert Stephan Hines
Greenwood Press
ISBN: 9780313315886

Grading
Homework
Midterm Project
Final Project




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