Members Section
Online Composers Forum Schedule
February 12 and 26, 2011
March 12 and 26, 2011
April 9 (Bill Eddins) and 23, 2011
May 14 and 28, 2011
June 11 and 25, 2011
July -- none
August -- none
February Etude assignment due March 19
One-minute composition for a trio of instruments: 1) membranophone, 2) idiophone, and 3) instrument of the composer's choice.
Workshop composing project due June 1
5-6 minute composition for the Minnesota Sinfonia New Symphonies reading: instrumentation and description of the assignment here.
*****
The first term of the Workshop: New Symphonies began on Saturday, September 25, 2010. Registrations for the second term are due in January 2011.
Notes: October 23, 2010
Session 1.2
Next session: November 20, 2010 from 2-5pm
October 23:
-
Announcements:
- Theory in a Box (coming soon)
- Journal-keeping
-
Online Composers Forums
- Saturday, October 30 @ 2pm – Piston woodwind reading, questions
- Saturday, November 13 @ 2pm – Post etudes to the chat, journal assignment analyzing a colleagues etude, discussion on writing for woodwinds, questions
-
Reminder: things to bring November 20
- Journal entries, analysis of assigned piece
- Instrument
- Signed permission forms
- Calendar
- Woodwind trio scores (2) and parts
- Sketches and early drafts of your chamber work
- 2pm Theory: ear-training/theory; M203 and M205
- 2.40pm Break
-
2.45pm Break-out sessions
- Ensemble Group 1 (with Sharon Kaplan): Mimi, Alex, Zack, Ivan, Sean, Dylan; Jazz rehearsal room
- Tutorial Group 1: John, Mandy, Yue (with Jocelyn Hagen and Emmet and Chris (with Randall Davidson); M203 and 205
- 3.20pm Break
-
3.25pm Break-out sessions
- Ensemble Group 2 (with Sharon Kaplan): Mandy, Emmet, John, Yue, Chris; Jazz rehearsal room
- Tutorial Group 2: Zack, Ivan and Dylan (with Jocelyn Hagen) and Mimi, Alex and Sean (with Randall Davidson); M203 and 205
- 4.00pm Break
- 4.05pm Clinic: string etudes, Jazz rehearsal room
Assignment: reed trio etude (oboe, clarinet, bassoon)
Etude Assignment: Woodwind Trio
For November 20, you will write a short etude for woodwind trio.
PARAMETERS
Instrumentation: oboe, clarinet, bassoon
Duration: 1-3 minutes
Emotion: For this etude, you are to choose a poem, text, speech, newspaper story or song lyric and find a way to transcribe the rhythm of the words and to capture the “emotion” or “affect” of the text. You may use any pitches you wish in any octave, but you must express the emotion AND the rhythms of the text. This will force you to be creative using a number of options to keep things interesting.
These are some of the options you have, beside rhythmic unison, to keep things interesting.
- Set the text as if it is a song with two of the parts accompanying the melody.
- Use either one or two instrument(s) at a time while one/two is/are silent.
- Use melismas: singing (or playing) a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, where each syllable of text is matched to a single note.
- Counterpoint (two or more parts that are independent in contour and rhythm and are in some way interdependent). Counterpoint involves writing musical lines that sound very different and move independently from each other but sound like they belong together when played together.
- Use augmentation and diminution of the rhythms to provide variety. Augmentation: rhythmic values are uniformly increased. Diminution: rhythmic values are uniformly decreased.
- Let every instrument play the principal rhythm, or melody.
- Do not use a melody.
- Exploit the full range of the instrument.
- Exploit sustained and very short, legato and staccato notes. Use articulations to express emotion.
- Use a variety of dynamics to express emotion.
BRING 2 COPIES OF THE FULL SCORE AND A COPY OF ALL THE PARTS NOVEMBER 20.
September 25 notes
• Etude Assignment: String Trio
• Syllabus for First Term
• Link from this page to "Theory in a Box" (soon)
• Reminder: Bring signed permission forms to October Workshop
Etude Assignment: String Trio
For October, you will write a short etude for string trio.
PARAMETERS
Instrumentation: violin, viola, and cello
Duration: 1-3 minutes
Pitch: For this etude, you are to choose FOUR pitches from the chromatic scale on which to base your piece. You may use any octave of these chosen pitches throughout the piece, but you must not deviate from them. This will force you to be creative under strict circumstances ~ a skill composers need to master.
These are the tools you have, besides pitch, to keep things interesting:
1. Rhythm
2. Using every combination of the pitches (a, b, c, d, a+b, a+c, a+d, b+c, a+b+c, etc…)
3. Letting every instrument have the opportunity to play the most distinctive part, or melody.
4. Exploiting the full ranges of the instruments.
5. Pizzicato!
6. double stops and triple stops
7. Extended Techniques (sul tasto, sul ponticello, harmonics, etc.)
BRING 2 COPIES OF THE FULL SCORE AND A COPY OF ALL THE PARTS OCTOBER 23rd.
Syllabus for First Term
September 2010 through January 2011
Faculty: Randall Davidson, Jocelyn Hagen, Sharon Kaplan
Ferguson 203, 205, M81
FIRST TERM
Goals:
- Gain a fundamental knowledge of the individual instruments of the standard orchestra, the capabilities and characteristics of each, and a mental conception of the sound of each one alone and together with other instruments. Finally, the orchestra is to be sensed as a single instrument, flexibly employed to present musical ideas with authentic effect.
- Develop a facility composing for standard orchestral instruments by writing:
- one chamber work of 3-5 minutes for 4-6 musicians
- a one-minute etude each for string trio, woodwind trio, brass trio, and percussion trio
- Practice reading music scores with and without recordings.
- Form a basic understanding of the history of the development of today’s symphony orchestra.
- Rehearse and perform at least one chamber work composed by members at the January 2011Workshop.
- Compose or revise a minimum of eight minutes of music a month.
Texts:
Orchestration. Walter Piston. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 1955.
The Study of Orchestration. Samuel Adler. New York: W.W. Norton. 1989.
Treatise on Instrumentation. Hector Berlioz, Richard Strauss (foreward). New York: Dover Publications. 1991.
Orchestration. Cecil Forsyth. Dover Publications. 1983. New York: Dover Publications. 1983.
Principles of Orchestration. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. New York: Dover Publications. 1950.
Dates:
September 25, 2010: Introductions; forming groups; strings
October 23, 2010: Musicianship; tutorials/chamber groups; string clinicians
November 20, 2010: Musicianship; tutorials/chamber groups; woodwind clinicians
December 18, 2010: Musicianship; tutorials/chamber groups; brass clinicians
January 15, 2011: Musicianship; percussion clinicians; presentation of works
Deadlines:
October 23: String etude, two minutes of your chamber work
November 20: Woodwind etude, complete first draft of score & parts of your chamber work
December 18: Brass etude, final revisions of your chamber work
January 15: Percussion etude
What to bring to the Workshop:
- Your instrument(s)
- Staff paper
- Graphite delivery system
- Your latest compositional work: etudes, chamber work
Workshop Group Assignments
First term: September through January
Musicianship 2-3pm
Randall: Mimi, Alex, Zack, Ivan, Sean, Dylan
Jocelyn: Mandy, Emmet, John, Yue, Chris
Chamber ensembles
Group 1, 3pm: Mimi, Alex, Zack, Ivan, Sean, Dylan
Group 2, 3.30pm: Mandy, Emmet, John, Yue, Chris
Composition tutorials 3pm
Randall: Emmet and Chris
Jocelyn: Mandy, John, and Yue
Composition tutorial 3.30pm
Randall: Mimi, Alex, Dylan and Sean
Jocelyn: Zack and Ivan
