Music 219 Graduate Composition Fall, 2009

1. Music 219 Graduate Composition Fall, 2009

2. A couple of important quotations!

3. Saint Augustine (345-430) • Beauty is the splendor of order.

4. Igor Stravinsky • The more art is controlled, limited, worked over, the more it is free. Poetics of Music (p. 63)

5. Paul Hindemith • . . . anyone to whom a tone is more than a note on paper or a key pressed down, anyone who has ever experienced the intervals in singing, especially with others, as manifestations of bodily tension, of the conquest of space, and of the consumption of energy, anyone who has ever tasted the delights of pure intonation by the continual displacement of the comma in string-quartet playing, must come to the conclusion that there can be no such thing as atonal music, in which the existence of tone-relationships is denied. • The Craft of Musical Composition. Book I p. 155

6. Get to know one another.

7. http://arts.ucsc.edu/faculty/cope/music219.html

8. Music 219 Graduate Composition Fall, 2009 David Cope, Instructor Meetings: Thurs. 4-7 Music Center 191A Office Hours: Thursday 2-4 Phone: 459-3417 Email: howell@ucsc.edu

9. Each student will work on five small works Following class assignments. All music must Be presented in either Finale or Sibelius Format and brought in-progress to class on Thumb drives with MIDI instruments assigned. Each student will select one of these works For extension and live performance during the final exam period: Tuesday, December 8: 7:30pm

10. Overview/Basics/Chromatic Tonality Presentations Post-Tonality and Set Theory Presentations Serialism and Integration Presentations Gestural/Timbral Composition Presentations Algorithmic Composition Presentations

11. Ten important concepts for composers.

12. 1. Inspiration Well . . . . .

13. 2. Overviews Not in cement, but important guides. Sculpture versus painting.

14. Ligeti • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXh07JJeA28&feature=PlayList&p=9C166AD81BF9F39F&index=0&playnext=1

15. 3. Titles Before you begin

16. 4. Compose every day Even a little is better than none.

17. 5. Sketching Beethoven’s sketchbooks Don’t use computer notation programs as you compose!!!!

18. 6. Listening • Joonas Kokkonen • Lepo Sumera • Aulis Sallinen • Per Norgard • Kaija Saariaho • Wolfgang Rihm • Shulamit Ran • (Ligeti, Xenakis, Berio, Messiaen, Harbison, Chavez, Tower, Rautavaara, Takemitsu, Ung, Sciarrino, Lewis, Murail, etc.)

19. 7. Real/imagined time.

20. 8. On the wall (1 side) Stravinsky Debussy Afterlife

21. 9. No naked notes

22. 10. Occam’s Razor.

23. Tonality • Tonality usually means notes sounding primarily according to a given scale • Major scales consist of stepwise intervals • Major scale: M2 M2 m2 M2 M2 M2 m2 • Natural minor scale M2 m2 M2 M2 m2 M2 M2 • Notes not in scale called chromatic

24. Key • Keys are defined by scales and can be centered around any one of 12 starting notes • To create the proper intervallic content some keys must have sharped and flatted notes • Key signatures make these easier to read

25. Motives • Motives are groups of 3 to 7 notes that have some distinctive property (pitch, rhythm, etc.) • Motives are varied in many ways (transposition, inversion, extrapolation, etc.) • Motives help identify longer melodic lines

26. Notes sounding together • Are called harmony if they move together • Are called polyphony or counterpoint if moving offset • Fugues and canons are examples of polyphony

27. Harmony • Harmony has function (syntax and semantics) • Harmonic syntax means what can follow what • Harmonic semantics means what constitutes the harmony itself

28. Harmonic syntax and semantics • In tonal music, some harmonies can follow other harmonics but not others • We use Roman numerals in indicate semantics as in a major scale: • I, IV, and V indicate Tonic, Subdominant, and Dominant harmonic called primary functions • ii (supertonic), iii (mediant), vi (submediant), and vii (leading-tone), called secondary functions

29. Harmonic syntax • I can be followed by anything • V is best followed by I (authentic) or vi (deceptive) but never IV • IV can be followed by V (mostly) and I • ii belongs to the IV family, iii the I family, vi the I family, and vii the V family interchangeably.

30. Harmonic syntax • I means home base • IV means moving toward V (pre-dominant) • V means needs to go home

31. Phrases • Music consists of phrases usually as long as a human breath (based on past on singing) • Phrases end in cadences • Cadences usually end in I (authentic), V, (half), or V-vi (deceptive) • Phrases usually come in pairs in tonal music as in (cadences V and then I - question/answer.

32. Modulation • Modulation means to subtly change keys for variety • Best key changes mean to move from a key 1 sharp or 1 flat more of less in key signature.

33. Periods • Phrases group into periods consisting usually of two matching Q and A phrases • Periods can repeat, repeat with variation, or contrast

34. Sections • Sections consist of two or more periods • Sections can consist of contrasting or similar periods

35. Form • Form delineates the material of a work or movement of music • Form is usually described by u.c. letters in alphabetical order • ABA form (called ternary) indicates one musical idea (section A) followed by a contrasting musical idea (section B) followed by a return of section A

36. Structure • Structure is NOT form • Structure indicates relative importance of musical material (hierarchy) • Structure deletes less important musica material in order to highlight the important musical material

37. Example

38. Chromaticism in Tonal Music • Secondary dominants and L.T.7s • Borrowed Notes and Chords • Neapolitan Chords • Augmented Sixth Chords • Regions • Simple Modulations • Far-Related Modulations

39. Chromatic Mediants • Mediants and Submediants with chromatic alterations • Like I, V, and IV, mirror one another around the Tonic • Typically have common tones with previous and/or following chords

40. Chromatic Non-Harmonic Tones • Passing • Neighboring • Anticipations • Suspensions • Delayed resolutions

41. Tristan Sample

42. Some More

43. Do I Dare?

44. Composers? • Name ten composers whose music could be described as highly chromatic tonal but not post-tonal. • Name ten more composers as above but who are presently alive.

45. Compose • Can we compose some examples quickly?

46. Great music is music that: • Sells the most? • Performed the most? • Listened to the most? • Talked about the most? • Differing arrangements the most? • Quoted the most? • Lasts the longest?

47. If so • The best restaurant would be Macdonalds • The best film would be Titanic • The best author would be Stephen King • The best hotel would Best Western • The best music would be the Star Spangled Banner

48. Then what is it? • Best: music that does the most with the least • Worst: music that does the least with the most Or • Best: music that gets better the more you listen to it • Worst: music that you listen to once.

49. Best music is like an onion • Keep peeling off the layers and continue to discover something new.

50. Personal taste • There is no such thing as good music. • There is no such thing as bad music. • There is only music you like or don’t like.