Composition assignment: melody (music majors)
Construct a short (up to 45 seconds) monophonic piece for your primary instrument (midi realization is ok). The piece should be for a single voice and be based on a short melodic idea.
Construct that melodic line in one of three ways that we discussed in class:
1. Using specific intervals (up to two intervals)
2. Using a tone row and rotation (see Movement IV from Crawford Seeger's string quartet)
3. Using a 12-tone row (you may use www.musictheory.net/calculators/matrix to calculate permutations)
Submit your score in pdf format and a recording. Include one or two sentences on the pdf of your submission describing your process.
Composition assignment: harmony (music majors)
Construct a short (up to 45 seconds) piece for solo piano, in the harmonic style of Kurtag's 12 Microludes (using a pitch center).
Write a short paragraph discussing how you used Kurtag's piece to guide your compositional process.
Pianist Clare Longendyke will record your exercises.
Student's response (along with attached score.)
"For my piece I used the concept of a pitch center from Kurtag's Microludes. Here the pitch center starts in the middle C, in a syncopated, obvious way. The right hand progresses through a series of half-consonant, half-dissonant chords that keep hinting towards a cadence and yet never reach one, spinning off into another chord instead. This deliberate non-cadencing continues into the forte section, where the tonal center of C is reinforced with lower notes, and yet the right hand continues through a series of chords that are always just slightly off from perfect consonance. The steady hammering of the C finally begins to shift towards the end, where the piece achieves a grander cadential gesture, only to finally give the long-awaited cadence but not in the home key. This hints at how Kurtag's piece changes its tonal center in each section. If I were to continue this piece into a series of microludes, too, I would like to play around with this deception."
Writing for the flute (music majors)
Write a sketch for solo flute (45-60 seconds) using one of the options below:
Flutist Nicole Frankel will read and record your works.
- Option 1: Write a short minimalist piece. Your entire sketch should be based on a very short musical idea.
- Option 2: Write a short piece where the flute imitates/becomes the "electric insects" from Threnody I (movement 1) of Crumb's Black Angels.
- Option 3: Write a short piece in which the melody/ies is based on an excerpt of human speech, similarly to Steve Reich's Different Trains. If you choose this option include a recording of the speech.
Resources for writing for the flute:
General: http://andrewhugill.com/manuals/flute/construction.html
General (range and characteristics, you can also check out her blog on "advice for composers in general): https://helenbledsoe.com/?p=1033
Extended techniques: https://www.flutecolors.com/techniques/
Multiphonics finder: https://www.flutecolors.com/find-multiphonics/?muphbase=C%27
Book: The Other Flute: A Performance Manual of Contemporary Techniques by Robert Dick
Tips:
Remember to let the flutist BREATHE ! Singing the part is a good way to find out if they can hold their breath that long.
If you want something to sound legato, slur it. That is the norm in wind parts, otherwise they'll likely play it detached.
Staccato, accents, expression markings that we looked at in string writing are still valid here - remember to use them.
Analysis assignment to complement in-class work (music majors)
In a short paragraph, or using bullet points, briefly explain how the four seasons are represented in Unsuk Chin's Akrostichon-Wortspiel Scene IV: Vier Jahreszeiten in fünf Strophen (Four seasons in five verses). You can see each season/section marked in the notes in the score.
If you have missed class or are participating asynchronously, write an extra paragraph addressing aspects of the work discussed in the recorded class: (i) the form, (ii) different instrumental techniques used, (iii) the relationship between vocalist and other instrumentalists, and (iv) the way the text is set.
Link to 4th movement score with some annotations here.
Full score is also available online through the university library website.
Different Ways of Listening (music majors and non-majors)
Read Michel Chion's Chapter 2, "The Three Listening Modes" from his 1990 book Audio Vision, and watch Oliveros' short lecture on the difference between hearing and listening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QHfOuRrJB8
Summarize the most important points of both, and respond to them, discussing your own opinions and ideas, as well as ways in which you can use the concepts discussed in your own life and work.
Submit 2-3 paragraphs in pdf format.
Composition assignments for non-majors:
Record 5-10 sounds from your environment. Create a 1-2 min. composition with some, or all of those sounds. Submit an audio file in .wav, .mp3 or .aiff format. Only use basic panning and volume control.
Create a 1-2 min. composition using some or all of the 4 samples below. You can cut your files as small or as large as you'd like but use only volume control, panning. For this assignment you can also manipulate the playback speed of your files (See below. ) On Reaper you also have the option to preserve the pitch or not as you do so, play around with all the possibilities and see what you like best.
Write a 1-2 minute piece of program music based on one of the following two texts. You can use part of them or use them in their entirety. Include a note with your submission to specify that and which text you chose. The piece can be purely electronic, for your instrument, instrument + voice, if you want to play and sing (however, do not set the text), or for anything that makes sound. Submit an audio file in .wav, .mp3 or .aiff.
Text options: Carousel by Rebecca Dotlich: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/58537/carousel
or The Listeners by Walter de la Mare: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47546/the-listeners
Create a piece of music with a text score. Submit your text score as PDFs. Make it clear if you want everyone in class to participate, or a specific number of performers, and bring any necessary props with you to class. We will perform it in class next time we meet.
Create a piece of music (up to two minutes) that has a theatrical element. It can be a video, a text/graphic score to be performed in class, your own performance, or a combination of those.