| MM Guidelines Curriculum Applied Lesson Composition Seminar Juries Portfolio Performance Requirements Grading Oral Comprehensive Exam >Instrumental or Choral Ensemble ________________________________________________________________________________ Curriculum MM in Composition 34 credits |
Year 1 Applied Lesson: Composition Composition Seminar Applied Concentrate: Piano Introduction to Graduate Study Recital and Concert Attendance Year 2 Applied Lesson: Composition Composition Seminar Ensemble Recital and Concert Attendance Either Year Topics in Music Theory & Analysis Seminars in Music History Approved Electives |
Fall
3 1 1 2 0 7 Fall 3 1 1 0 5 Fall |
Spr
3 1 1 — 0 5 Spring 3 1 1 0 5 Spring |
c
4 4 1 2 6 12 C 2 2 1 2 1 10 v 2 6 4 12 |
c 4 4 2 2 6 total credits C 2 1 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. Graduate composers study with two teachers over the course of the degree program. 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 see a student's developing voice and helping to identify problem areas, habitual weaknesses, and dead ends. For this reason the Applied Lesson carries some quite specific expectations for a student's Portfolio and for peformances of student works. ______________________________________________________________________________ Composition Seminar This weekly meeting is a 1-credit required course for all Composition majors. There are three seminars which run simultaneously: Freshman Seminar; Sophomore & Junior Seminar; and Senior & Graduate Seminar. These seminars combine for masterclasses, clinics, and presentations. Seminars each house different performance and composing opportunities (such as the Song Project and the Dance Project) which may change from year to year. Listening Assignments As part of the Composition Seminar, weekly listening assignments are given. Students are expected to listen to assigned works with the score and to spend a short amount of time familiarizing themselves with the circumstances surrounding the works' composition and the lives of the composers. There is a midterm and a final examination which will test 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. >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 graduate thesis. In advance of each jury students submit a portfolio which should include a Jury Information Sheet listing all works submitted. >Jury Information Sheet Semester 1, 2, 3 15 minutes: • discussion of portfolio • private teacher assessment of semester • general comments and questions Semester 4 25 minutes: • presentation on graduate thesis • discussion of portfolio • private teacher assessment of year • general comments and questions _______________________________________________________________________________ Portfolio MM 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.
Graduate Thesis As part of the portfolio MM composition students are required to complete a Graduate 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 MM students the requirement is a work lasting a minimum of 15 minutes for orchestra or comparable large ensemble. The Graduate Thesis may be performed on the Graduate Recital, but this is not required. 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 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 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 5 minutes of new music 10 minutes of new music v v 10 minutes of new music Graduate Recital (an hour of recent music) |
_______________________________________________________________________________ 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. _______________________________________________________________________________ Oral Comprehensive Exam All graduating MM students are required to take a pass/fail Oral Comprehensive Exam. The purpose of this exam is to assess how effectively the student is able to integrate knowledge of music history and music theory with his or her own specific discipline. For instrumental and voice majors the panel asks questions arising from the student’s own program notes for the Graduate Recital. Composition students are asked to write program notes for an imaginary recital of three works taken from the final semester's Listening Assignments. ______________________________________________________________________ back to top |