Skip to main content
 

MUSI3312: Portfolio of Compositions (double)

Please ensure you check the module availability box for each module outline, as not all modules will run in each academic year. Each module description relates to the year indicated in the module availability box, and this may change from year to year, due to, for example: changing staff expertise, disciplinary developments, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback. Current modules are subject to change in light of the ongoing disruption caused by Covid-19.

Type Tied
Level 3
Credits 40
Availability Available in 2023/24
Module Cap
Location Durham
Department Music

Prerequisites

  • For 100% Acoustic Portfolio: MUSI2311 Composition2: New Directions in Art Music. For 100% Electroacoustic Portfolio: MUSI2641 Creative Music Technology. for Combination Portfolio MUSI2311 Composition2: New Directions in Art Music AND MUSI2641 Creative Music Technology.

Corequisites

Excluded Combinations of Modules

  • MUSI3071 Portfolio of Compositions (single), MUSI3332 Dissertation (double) and MUSI3672 Performance 3: Public Performance Project (double), MUSI3672 Portfolio of Techniques (double)

Aims

  • To provide an opportunity for students to express their creativity at an advanced level, through the production of a suitably differentiated folio of musical compositions, using compositional techniques to facilitate a competent and individual compositional voice, capable of demonstrating versatility in terms of musical expression and context.
  • In so doing they will need to demonstrate that they are receptive to the work of other creative artists and yet have the confidence and authority to develop their own ideas within the chosen medium, whether acoustic (vocal and/or instrumental) and/or electroacoustic.

Content

  • The production of a composition portfolio employing the techniques of instrumental and/or electroacoustic compositions that may include or consist wholly of electroacoustic compositions.
  • The format and content of the portfolio is agreed with the module tutor, subject to the approval of the module director.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:

  • Students will become familiar with a range of compositional techniques that are available for the creation of new music, and be able to demonstrate how these may be used creatively and effectively to establish a distinctive compositional repertory of their own.

Subject-specific Skills:

  • In so doing they will acquire the skills necessary to compose with maturity, authority and originality.
  • They will prepare the ground for compositional studies at a more advanced level and also via workshops and/or other presentational environments both formal and informal, engage directly the practicalities of creative communication via the medium of music composition.
  • These experiences will build directly on the aesthetic considerations and compositional techniques they have encountered in their studies at Levels 1 and 2.

Key Skills:

  • Compositional techniques used in an appropriate way to articulate each student's musical ideas.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • Tutorials enable the students to express their own creativity and develop their own compositional voice in response to a range of ideas associated with the development of new music.
  • Through tutorials students acquire additional skills to those obtained at lower levels of study and learn how to articulate their musical ideas clearly and authoritatively, preparing score and parts and/or electroacoustic materials to a professional standard.
  • Opportunities will arise for works or extracts thereof to be performed in the context of workshops and/or equivalent auditory environments such as listening sessions.
  • These experiences will facilitate suitably critical, reflective and research aware appraisals of what has been achieved and provide important guidance as to how such creative outputs may be improved both technically and musically, and how different approaches may be used to extend the nature and scope of their musical language.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

ActivityNumberFrequencyDurationTotalMonitored
Lecture1Week 1 of Michaelmas Term1 hour1 
Composition workshops21 in Epiphany Term and 1 in EasterTerm30 minutes1 
Seminars42 in the Michaelmas Term and 2 in the Epiphany Term1 hour4 
Tutorials1211 across Michaelmas and Epiphany Terms, 1 in Easter Term30 minutes6 
Preparation and Reading388 
TOTAL400 

Summative Assessment

Component: Portfolio of CompositionsComponent Weighting: 100%
ElementLength / DurationElement WeightingResit Opportunity
Portfolio of Compositions (15-18 minutes) with accompanying 1800 word critical commentary. The portfolio of works will be acoustic and/or electroacoustic based on the student's path of composition study. 15-18 minutes100No

Formative Assessment

Weekly tutorials where work on the composition portfolio is assessed and discussed. Individual comments on materials (text, notation, structure etc.) submitted by students for tutorial sessions.

More information

If you have a question about Durham's modular degree programmes, please visit our FAQ webpages, Help page or our glossary of terms. If you have a question about modular programmes that is not covered by the FAQ, or a query about the on-line Undergraduate Module Handbook, please contact us.

Prospective Students: If you have a query about a specific module or degree programme, please Ask Us.

Current Students: Please contact your department.