- Department: Music
- Module co-ordinator: Prof. Martin Suckling
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: C
- Academic year of delivery: 2023-24
- See module specification for other years: 2021-22
Orchestration, but not just for orchestra. Colour, but not just 'colouring in'. Classes will focus on practical exercises and collaborating to hear your own work.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Semester 2 2023-24 |
Instrumentation is not a simple matter of technique, of remembering ranges and registral characteristics, of understanding idiomatic writing, of distributing notes around an ensemble in an effective manner, though of course this know-how is important. Rather, it is creative discovering new sonorities; analytical clarifying (or disguising) structure; and transformative often entailing significant recomposition resulting in a new work at some remove from the original. Orchestration is generally considered in terms of expansion, but when conceived more broadly as instrumentation it also encompasses reduction and transcription: from the virtuoso solo tradition, to the arrangement of symphonies for domestic consumption in the days prior to broadcast and recording media, to chamber versions of large-scale works designed for the concert hall. All of these processes of instrumentation require attention to the following questions which are at once analytical and creative: What is essential in the music and what can be discarded? To what do I wish to draw a listeners attention? What is special about the instrumentation and how can I exploit it? Through the study of scores and a series of practical assignments, this course will encourage participants to form their own answers to these questions. This module is suitable for conductors and instrumentalists as well as composers. All participants must be prepared to play in a class ensemble for which several of the assignments will be written. These assignments will cover traditional orchestration, transcription, and recomposition. The course will be conducted through a series of lectures, workshops, and individual tutorials.
Through meaningful, critical and creative engagement with a range of music, on completion of the module all students should have:
Third years: in their independent work, students should demonstrate Learning Outcomes A1-7, 9 & A12
Task | Length | % of module mark | Group |
---|---|---|---|
Essay/coursework Exercises |
N/A | 25 | Default |
Practical Recital |
N/A | 75 | Default |
Essay/coursework Exercises |
N/A | 25 | A |
Essay/coursework Orchestration |
N/A | 75 | A |
Essay/coursework Essay |
N/A | 75 | B |
Essay/coursework Exercises |
N/A | 25 | B |
None
Student’s choice of option, source music, target instrumentation, essay title, recital programme to be agreed with project tutor.
Task | Length | % of module mark | Group |
---|---|---|---|
Essay/coursework Exercises |
N/A | 25 | Default |
Practical Recital |
N/A | 75 | Default |
Essay/coursework Exercises |
N/A | 25 | A |
Essay/coursework Orchestration |
N/A | 75 | A |
Essay/coursework Essay |
N/A | 75 | B |
Essay/coursework Exercises |
N/A | 25 | B |
Report form with marks to student no later than 4 weeks from submission of assessment.
You should familiarise yourself with standard procedures in 18th- and 19th-century orchestral music – the best way to do this is simply to listen to as much of this as possible! Get to know the symphonies of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms - listen, and follow along with the score (easily available on IMSLP, also plenty of copies in the library).
Here is a (small!) list of interesting recompositions / transcriptions, some of which will be explored in more detail during the module: