Music 123B: Undergraduate Composition




 This course is a continuation of undergraduate composition, essentially the
technique of composition.  Good composers with great musical ideas are born:
all I can do is explain what compositional technique is and how to work more
efficiently.




 The course meets on Monday from 10:00 until 11:50 and Wednesday from 11:00 PM until 11:50. Wednesdays will consist of a demonstration
lecture which poses a problem that the student will take home and solve in
his/her own style and return on Monday. The following Wednesday will give
more examples and following Monday will be devoted to the rewrites. There
will be three projects and a final project, and they must be completed by the end of 
the quarter. All musical examples will be from the vocal literature, and all texts, 
whether selected by students or studied, will be in English.



Examples in the xerox packet: 



  • Purcell, Dido and Aeneas, Act II.

  • Handel, Acis and Galatea, "Wretched Lovers."

  • Ives, "The Housatonic at Stockbridge" (from 114 Songs, with excerpt from 

  • Three Places in New England, III (for analyzing the nature of the accompaniment).

  • Britten, The Prodigal Son, "Welcome, welcome."

  • Stravinsky, The Rake's Progress, "Fa la la."

  • Menotti, The Medium, "Afraid, am I afraid?"

  • Sondheim, Into the Woods, "Your Fault," Act 2 Finale, Parts 3&4.

    • 

    

    Each student will select three texts: one which could be set as a song, one which could 
be used in a choral treatment, and one which could be an operatic scene (fragment). Since 
it is possible that different students will be working on different kinds of settings at the 
same time, no due dates will be enforced.

    

    A packet of xeroxed materials must be purchased from  University Reader Printing Service. This 
packet has all of the vocal examples mentioned below. In addition, other materials will be 
distributed in class. If you lose this syllabus, check in at the Reale-Rydell Website, 
http://www.minotaurz.com/minotaur under Educational Resources for this document online.

    

    

    

    Monday (1/12) Introduction: Problems of writing for the voice.

    Wednesday (1/14): Read Edward T. Cone, The Composer's Voice, Chapter 4 (first 
example in xerox packet).

    

    M (1/19): Holiday. There will be individual appointments on selection of texts on Thursday 
from 1:00-2:00.

    W (1/21): Analysis of the differences between opera, song, and choral texts, as well as 
in differences in the nature of the accompaniment. This study 
will continue on successive Wednesdays for the first six weeks.

    

    M (2/16): Holiday. Individual conferences on Thursday from 1:00-3:00.

    

    W (2/25): The cast of Sondheim's "Into the Woods" will ilustrate excerpts 
from that piece. John Hall will moderate.

    

    M (3/9): Noon concert of student works. No class on Monday or Wednesday. Individual 
conferences on Thursday from 1:00-3:00.

    

    The remainder of the sessions will be devoted to rewriting the vocal and choral assignments 
with a possibility of choral readings (TBA).



    

     Feel free to call Reale at home any time between 9AM and 9PM  or e-mail him 
p_reale@minotaurz.com for questions.