Music Composition

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Music Composition

• by Dr. Lai Sheung Ping
• 16 January 2008

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Content

• I. Importance of Music Composition in Education
• II. Principles of Compositional Studies
• III. Procedure of Compositional Training in
  Classroom
• IV. A Good Composition Teacher
• V. Materials for Early Composition Lessons
• VI. 20th Century Music Vocabulary
• VII. Musical References

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I. Importance of Music Composition in Education

• Composition as a U. S. National Content Standard
  for Music Education
• Composition as a special type of intelligences
• Composition as an intellectual investigation of
  musical styles and languages
• Composition as a problem-solving discipline

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II. Principles of Compositional Studies

• Motivation
• Nature vs. nurture
• Idea and craftsmanship
• Style does not matter. Quality matters.
• Life-long learning discipline.

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III. Procedure of Compositional Training in
Classroom

• Integration of listening, performing and creating
  in a music classroom since the primary level.
• Basic compositional skills taught at the senior
  secondary level.
• How much to teach depends upon the availability
  of time, the musical background of the students,
  and the learning process of the students.

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• 4. Time needs to be reserved for tutoring of
  individual compositions.
• 5. The writing process of each beginners
  composition should be closely monitored. When the
  student composer becomes more experienced, they
  could be more independent in their learning.

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IV. A Good Composition Teacher

• A good composition teacher a good composer and
  a good teacher in one.
• Be well-equipped having a solid foundation of
  compositional techniques.
• Be caring and be able to communicate with the
  students.
• Be able to evaluate students works based on
  objective criteria and to offer solutions to
  compositional problems.
• Be positive, encouraging and inspiring to
  students.
• Be open-minded with musical styles and students
  ideas.
• Be flexible and creative with teaching method.
• Be patient with students progress.
• Be willing to spend extra time to tutor students
  compositions individually.

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V. Materials for Early Composition Lessons

• A. Melodic Writing
• Melodic Characteristics

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• Tonality and Harmonic Implication in the Melodic
  Line

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B. Melodic Form

• Melodic Units
• Phrase relationship

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• Phrases in Combinations

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C. Harmonic Writing

• Four-part writing is the standard training of
  harmony, but it is limited to one musical style,
  the Bach chorale style. Harmonic writing in
  different styles should be included in the
  training as well.

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• 20th century harmony is based on different types
  of scales (besides major and minor), different
  harmonic progression (other than cycle of 5ths)
  and different harmonic systems (other than
  tertian). It is a different area of study. Before
  getting into 20th century harmony, students
  foundation on traditional harmony must first be
  solid.

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D. Form and Style

• Students should be encouraged to practise with
  different standard formal structures and styles,
  as well as to explore new forms and styles.

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E. Instrumental Writing

• A variety of textures and patterns of piano
  writing could be discussed.
• Students should have a general of knowledge of
  the range and timbral characteristics of each
  instrument for which they choose to write. It
  would be ideal for composers to work closely with
  performers and write music for them to play.

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Writing for Piano Trio(violin, cello and piano)

• Possible combinations of instrumentation within a
  piano trio
• Piano solo
• Violin solo
• Cello solo
• Violin and piano duet
• Cello and piano duet
• Violin and cello duet
• Violin, cello and piano trio

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• Any of the three instruments can play the roles
  of foreground (melody) as well as background
  (harmonic and rhythmic support). Sometimes,
  middle ground (countermelody) occurs as well. An
  interesting sounding trio should involve constant
  changing of roles and relationships among the
  instruments.

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F. Vocal Writing

• The same principle of instrumental writing
  applies to vocal writing.
• Composer must pay attention to text setting
  basically, setting the melody according to the
  pitch inflection and rhythmic characteristic of
  the text.
• There is a limit to the level of complexity in
  vocal writing which is possible in instrumental
  writing.

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VI. 20th Century Music Vocabulary

• Scales

• Harmony

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• Key Centers

• Rhythm

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• Texture

• Timbre

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• Form

• Styles

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Music Composition References

• Cope, David New Directions in Music, 5th
  edition, Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1989.
• Forte, Allen. The Structure of Atonal Music, Yale
  University Press, 1973.
• Kostka, Stefan Materials and Techniques of 20th
  Century Music, Prentice-Hall Inc., 2004.
• Morgan, Robert Anthology of Twentieth-Century
  Music, W.W. Norton Company, Inc., 1992.
• Morgan, Robert Twentieth-Century Music, W.W.
  Norton Company, Inc., 1992.
• Persichetti, Vincent Twentieth-Century Harmony,
  Faber, 1961.
• Schwartz, Elliott and Godfrey, Daneil Music
  since 1945 Issues, Materials and Literature,
  Schirmer Books, 1993.
• Stone, Kurt Music Notation in the Twentieth
  Century, W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 1980
• Turek, Ralph The Elements of Music, 2nd,
  McGraw-Hill, 1996.