Assessment for Learning - Creating/Composition

Assessment for Learning -Creating/Composition by Dr Joshua Chan Department of Music University of Hong Kong

Assessment Criteria (page 1 of 2) • Exhibits originality and innovation in the presentation of ideas and materials, with a strong sense of purpose • Uses outstanding developmental processes to extend and connect ideas, and shows a strong grasp across a wide range of techniques

Assessment Criteria (page 2 of 2) • Exhibits demonstrates inventiveness and originality in the treatment of musical materials to achieve convincing formal coherency • Displays excellent idiomatic writing; having the characteristics and potentials of the performing medium thoroughly explored, with accomplished scoring to represent the intended music effectively

Major Learning Areas • Various Composition Techniques • Musical Ideas & Development • Characteristics of Performing Media • Structure & Musical Form • Musical Notation • Self Appraisal

Key Learning Items • Melody & Rhythmic Organisation • Expression & Articulation • Harmony & Pitch Organisation • Texture & Counterpoint • Timbre & Instrumentation • Variation, Development & Arrangement • Form & Structure • Notation • Solo & Ensemble Writing • MIDI Sequencing & Recording • Programme Notes & Reflective Report

Suggested Topics (page 1 of 4) • Melodic contour • Voice: range, characteristics, form vs tessitura • Melodic writing for solo voice • Flute and clarinet: range, characteristics, articulation • Rhythmic organisation vs notation • Melodic writing for solo wind • Violin and cello: range, characteristics, bowing • Melodic writing for solo string • Piano: range, characteristics, articulation

Suggested Topics (page 2 of 4) • Counterpoint: setting a bass line against a simple melody • Harmony: harmonizing a simple melody with chords • Piano accompaniment: melodic elements in chordal texture • Musical phrasing: cadence and barring • Musical form: standard pop songs • Musical form: sense of direction, textural variety • Variations of a simple motif • Musical form: development, unity vs variety • Arranging a simple melody for piano

Suggested Topics (page 3 of 4) • Contrapuntal writing for two parts • Arranging a simple melody for violin and piano • Percussion: timbral exploration • Drum patterns in rock music: percussion as a textural provider • Adding percussion to an existing ensemble piece • Brass instruments: range, characteristics, articulation • Chinese plucked-string instruments: range, characteristics, articulation • Contemporary techniques: new modes/scales, rational pitch organisation • Contemporary techniques: creative harmonic experimentation

Suggested Topics (page 4 of 4) • Contemporary techniques: atonal & arrhythmic • Extended instrumentation techniques on various media • Large scale formal structure • Creative sound project • Creative ensemble writing • Synthesizer and electronic instruments • MIDI sequencing • Mixing and recording • Programme notes and reflective report

Melodic Contour • Whether it is a good combination of stepwise and disjunct movements • A good mixture of upward and downward movements • comprehensibility and spontaneity

Voice: range, characteristics,form vs tessitura • Whether the melody is suitable for singing • Whether the rhythmic setting of the lyrics are appropriate • Whether different sections of a song highlight different tessitura, so as to maximize the effectiveness of the voice in terms of dynamics/expression

Flute and Clarinet:range, characteristics, articulation • Whether the piece is idiomatically written for a specific wind instrument • Whether the piece utilizes the full pitch range of the instrument, so as to explore the timbral, dynamic varieties on different tessitura • Whether the piece employs various kinds of articulations/tonguing and effects

Violin and Cello:range, characteristics, articulation • Whether the piece is idiomatically written for a specific string instrument • Whether the piece employs articulation/ bowing markings (i.e. slurs), and performing techniques (e.g., pizz.) • As string instruments cover wide pitch ranges, a piece shall avoid focusing only on a narrow tessitura of the instrument

Counterpoint: setting a bass line against a simple melody • Whether the student is able to reduce the melody into a skeleton of pitch movement • It is a basic training of two-part one-to-one counterpoint • Whether the vertical intervals as well as the horizontal intervals are satisfactory

Harmonizing a simple melody • Whether the bass line works with the melodic skeleton satisfactorily in one-to-one counterpoint • Whether the bass notes support the right chord positions (i.e., different positions have different meanings in functional harmony) • Whether the choice of vertical sonority is satisfactory • Whether the voice-leadings from one chord to the next are satisfactory

Piano Accompaniment:melodic elements in chordal texture • Whether the accompaniment is simply a straightforward, square presentation of a chord progression • Whether the upper part or an inner part provides some melodic interest • Whether the accompaniment is also appealing on its own

Musical Phrasing: cadence & barring • Whether the materials are grouped in a two-bar unit, four-bar phrase, eight-bar phrase, or one with an unusual length • Whether a phrase is marked by a cadence and/or rhythmic devices • Since bar lines are places where chord changes, does the harmonic rhythm and cadence reinforce the phrasing

Arranging a melody for piano • A simple melody, especially a slow one, played on the piano by the right hand alone is not very idiomatic • Whether the student can provide extra notes to harmonize the melody • Are there any textural varieties • Are there extra parts to play against the melody • Is the melody presented in various octaves with idiomatic figurations

Contrapuntal Writing for Two Parts • Whether the two parts move independently • Whether they combine to outline a harmonic progression • Whether they have individual characters • Whether the rhythmic activities appear spontaneously or in a square manner • Whether the rhythmic unison they play at some points provides a good textural variety

Arranging a simple melodyfor violin and piano • Whether the three parts (violin, piano right hand & left hand) overlap with each other • Whether one part carries the melody while the other parts not interfering • Whether the chord spacing is satisfactory • Whether timbral differences are taken into account • Whether different roles are given to the two instruments at different places

Percussion: timbral exploration • Do we expect percussion to provide extra chord notes, highlight the rhythmic writing, reinforce the loud parts, supply a fuller texture, or simply provide new sounds/timbre • Does musical notation for percussion indicate the sounds or the performing actions/manner • Whether one uses the percussion economically (i.e., not asking for many instruments but having each playing one or a few notes in the whole piece, etc.)

Drum Patterns in Rock Music • Percussion as a textural provider • How many layers are in the drum part • Whether there is timbral variety within each layer (i.e., snare - hand clap - rim shot; hi-hat - tambourine, etc.) • Whether the fill-in bar is interesting enough to break the monotony of the repetitive bars • Whether additional percussion is added in selected places

Brass instruments:range, characteristics, articulation • Whether one contrasts trumpet-trombone family with horn-tuba family • Whether the written pitches are reasonably not so high • One may consider introducing the issue of harmonic series in the discussion of pitch production in brass • Whether the music comes with precise articulation markings (e.g., tonguing, etc.)

Chinese Plucked-String Instruments • Sound envelope: fast attack and fast decay • Various ways in producing sustained notes (i.e., different types of tremolos) • Whether the characteristic sounds of pitch sliding are featured in the writing

Contemporary Techniques:new modes, rational pitch organisation • Does one use the standard scales (diatonic or chromatic), modes (early music, non-Western), or artificial scales • Does one use twelve-tone serialism, x-tone serialism, limited intervallic patterns, etc. • Does one generate pitches according to some systems of thought • Does the rational pitch organisation make any sense in aural effects

Contemporary Techniques:creative harmonic experimentation • Does one treat dissonance as important as consonance • Whether one defines further various degrees of dissonance • Does the new harmony focus on vertical intervallic relationships • Whether there are any special features in the ways how an unusual chord is presented

Contemporary Techniques:atonal & arrhythmic • Whether there is any governing principle behind the pitch organisation of atonal music • Whether the composer aims to present free atonality or well-organised pitch architecture • Whether one looks for unpredictable rhythmic writing or great rhythmic variety • Whether the flexible rhythms help shaping the music into comprehensible units or phrases

Extended Instrumentation Techniques on Various Media • Thoroughly explore the potentials and characteristics of a the voice, acoustic or electronic instruments • Not avoiding the limitations, but featuring noises as well as standard sounds • Whether the unusual sounds are incorporated into the piece in some meaningful ways; do they appears just for the sake of having them

Large Scale Formal Structure • A logical structure requires a good balance between variety (changed) and coherence (unchanged) • Does the form features the contrast between tension and relaxation • Does one achieve this in careful control of timing and proportion (e.g., whether the climax is longer enough or appears at the right moment, etc.)

Creative Sound Project • As a composition of sounds rather than pitches, one shall focus its creativity on the rhythm, phrasing, dynamics, timbre, texture and structure • All kinds of sounds can be used, not limited to the percussion, but sounds from any everyday objects (newspapers, plastic bags, food, etc.) or toys • May use stories, poems, pictures as the source of inspiration

Synthesizers and Electronic Resources • If one uses synthesizers, electronic equipment, MIDI sequencing or computer-aided sound synthesis, one shall feature the unique aspects of these media (rather than using them as a substitution of acoustic instruments, for example) • Unlike the reference recording for compositions written for acoustic instruments/ voices, the recording quality for pieces written for electronics weights highly

Programme Notes andReflective Report • Besides explaining the use of music elements and compositional devices in their compositions, one may highlight specific issues (e.g., formal structure, programmatic association) which the examiner may overlook • One may also mention the limitations and difficulties of the composition, and explain why these things can’t be overcome (a good way to show the candidate is fully aware of the nature of music composition)

Assessment for Learning - Creating/Composition