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MUS41260

Academic Year 2024/2025

Foundations in Composition (MUS41260)

Subject:
Music
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
Music
Level:
4 (Masters)
Credits:
10
Module Coordinator:
Dr Sean L Clancy
Trimester:
Autumn
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

An awareness and understanding of contemporary music concepts and practices is crucial for musicians working in the twenty-first century regardless of their specialism. Whilst knowledge of contemporary practices is essential for composers, music technologists, and experimental performers who are undertaking their own creative work, it is also an important avenue of exploration for other (ethno)musicologists and performers who may wish to extend their field of study and repertoire.

If you are a composer already engaging with new music, this module will enhance your study by equipping you with the knowledge and tools to discuss and/or practice the latest trends in new music. If you are not yet primarily involved with contemporary repertoire, the module will bring complementary knowledge and experience.

Over the course of this module we will discuss modes of analysis useful for exploring new music, and examine how contemporary composers deal with concepts such as appropriation/translation, race, the internet and Ai as artistic practice, gender & sexuality, music as a sonic healer, and environmentalism. You will undertake your own creative practice and/or research, engaging with relevant scholarship. You will critique other practices as a context for your own thus engaging in reflection and self-reflection. Furthermore, you will develop communication skills through weekly group discussion and your creative and/or written skills through preparing the assessment.

Delivery will take the form of seminar-styled sessions of 2 hours.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module students should be able to:
- Demonstrate detailed engagement with stylistic, aesthetic, and artistic concepts and practices in contemporary music composition and/or performance, situating either your own compositional practice, or that of chosen composers/performers, in a broader context.
- Draw critically on relevant published scores, recordings, research or primary sources, and present the findings of independent work with clarity and refinement.

Indicative Module Content:

1. Introduction & analytical tools
2. Race in new music
3. Appropriation and/or using pre-existing sources
4. The New Discipline
5. Mainstream contemporary music
6. The internet and Ai as creative tools
7. Gender & sexuality in new music
8. Group feedback session-presenting work in progress
9. Minimal music & sonic healing
10. Artistic voice
11. New music and the environment
12. Revision class & group feedback session

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

24
Project Supervision

24
Autonomous Student Learning

152
Total

200

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
In-person seminars 2 hours per week
group peer-feedback
office hours with module coordinator
self-directed research, study, composition and/or academic writing.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Reflective Assignment: Create a journal or diary entry to demonstrate work-in-progress on your final assessment. This will be delivered for group feedback in week 8. Week 8 Graded No

20

 No
Individual Project: Create a piece of music that engages with one or more of the areas discussed in class OR Write a commentary of c. 3000 words discussing the practice of a contemporary composer or performer. Week 14 Graded No

80

 No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Peer review activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback will be given individually to students, post-assessment by written and annotated remarks through the VLE. Feedback will be given orally on work-in-progress in-class. Peer feedback will be given on work in progress in a respectful & structured format.

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