Module overview
The Composition Portfolio is the principal component of the MMus in Composition and represents a year's concentrated work. You will work both individually and in tutorials throughout both semesters to develop and refine your compositional practice. You will be encouraged to increasingly focus on a specific compositional area, which may be defined by a combination of musical idiom, medium, aesthetic issues and technical concerns.
All the pieces submitted in Composition Portfolio are expected to be finished structures and as a whole are expected to demonstrate a range of compositional challenges. In applied compositional practices (film music, video games music, songwriting and musical theatre) these challenges should directly connect to industry realities and standards. Their production (whether in score or other format appropriate to the idiom) should be of professional quality.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- the ability to integrate different media (musical, visual, literary) into a compositional project
- think through extended structures and execute them, with a clear understanding of the relationship between materials and form
- analyse materials of others with the goal of drawing out technical devices pertinent to the development of personal creative work
- enhanced skills of time-management and self-directed study
- enhanced powers of concentration and focus
Subject Specific Practical Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- develop your own technical skills with technologies and studios (for applied composition pathways)
- present your work to professional standard in the format most suited to its idiom
- oversee and bring to conclusion an extended portfolio of original compositions of your own, and present your music in the most appropriate way
- use methods of note production which provide for a good degree of fluency in your chosen aesthetic
- presenting your work, including notated music examples, to the highest standards of academic presentation
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- efficient use of library resources to access musical and textual materials appropriate to your study
- show evidence of clear musical thinking both in terms of invention of strong musical materials and their elaboration in time
- make musical ‘arguments’ that are clear as to their intended structure and expressive content
- reading skills, and the ability to analyse music aurally and visually
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- your own personal aesthetic through your chosen compositional genres, materials, techniques and forms
- current trends in composition
- aesthetic, technical and critical issues relating to contemporary compositional practice
- 20th- and 21st-century musical developments
- a range of techniques for the production of contemporary music pertinent to your developing compositional practice.
Syllabus
There is no prescribed syllabus content for this module. Rather, over the year you will work cumulatively towards the production of a major portfolio of compositions, and have the opportunity to submit drafts of works to your tutor for comment and feedback. Following a plan made with your tutor, you will complete the portfolio over the summer period, when your work will be necessarily self-directed. When appropriate, your tutor will set specific tasks that relate to your work, such as analysing pieces and reading articles.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching methods include
- Individual and small group tutorials
Learning activities include
- analysis/listening to contemporary scores
- close critical reading of texts
- preparation of scores (mostly self-directed)
- Self-directed learning of technologies/ studio skills
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Tutorial | 6 |
| Completion of assessment task | 410 |
| Wider reading or practice | 184 |
| Total study time | 600 |
Resources & Reading list
General Resources
Electronic and experimental music : pioneers in technology and composition. Holmes, Thom, 2002
Music after the fall : modern composition and culture since 1989. Rutherford-Johnson, Tim, 2017
Modern Music and After. Griffiths, Paul, 2011
Formalized music : thought and mathematics in composition. Xenakis, Iannis, 1992
Assessment
Assessment strategy
Assessment Method
Portfolio of Compositions. The indicative length for the creative work submitted in the portfolios is between 30 and 40 minutes in duration. In addition, the creative work should be accompanied by a 3000-word commentary that provides insight into the technical and aesthetic concerns of the work.
Applied composition portfolios (film music, video games music) are likely to consist of a showreel of clips that have been scored/re-scored; a songwriting portfolio is likely to consist of an album; and a concert-music portfolio is likely to consist of a collection of pieces with recordings where possible.
The Portfolio and commentary are marked as an integrated whole; the commentary bears no individual weight.
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Portfolio | 100% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Portfolio | 100% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Portfolio | 100% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External