Improvisation
and Composition
Musc 424
Instructor: David
Means, Associate Professor
Office: 805 Mpls.
Campus
Phone: (612)
659-7159
Description:
Creating new music is the focus of this applied study. Students will directly engage the materials
of sound; explore various methods and forms of improvisation, create
compositional structures that define and notate the creative process; and produce
performances and recordings to document the study. Improvisation and composition are treated here as a creative
continuum which begins with an individual or group idea and expands to
incorporate a variety of structures, techniques and creative applications of
musical thought. Students begin with individual lessons while undertaking
readings and listening to refine and expand their musical knowledge. Individual
and group projects will evolve where students investigate and explore the
possibilities of creating new music through improvisation and composition. Through experiments, presentations, critiques and discussion, we
will increase the skills and enhance the experience of creativity in music
improvisation and composition. Building
on a foundation of personal experience, students will be introduced to a
variety of cultural and historical approaches to music making from readings,
listening and guest artists associated with the Strange Attractors
Festival. Students are expected to
undertake one major creative project while creating a portfolio of original
performances, recordings and compositions.
Students will receive individual and group lessons, and can participate
in optional “Open Improvisation Studios” Thursday evenings from 6-9:20 in the
Fine Arts Studio.
Materials:
• A
creative journal / score book
• Sound materials and/or music instruments
Competence:
• Knows
and understands principles and applications of the improvisation and music
composition as demonstrated through creative assignments and a final creative
project involving music improvisation and composition. Can apply the understanding of improvisation
and music composition to enhance personal aesthetic awareness of music making
and to create original musical compositions and performances.
Evaluation:
• 1/3 Regular engagement with creative
materials (critique)
• 1/3 Readings,
listening and creative journal / score book with summary (analysis project)
• 1/3 Final
Creative Project
Bibliography:
Adorno, Theodor. Philosophy of Modern Music. Seabury, 1973.
Attali, Jaques. The Political Economy of Music. University of Manchester Press, 1985.
Born, Geogina. Rationalizing Culture: IRCAM, Boulez and the
Institutionalization of the Avant Garde. University of California Press. 1995
Taylor, Timothy.
Strange Sounds: Music,
Technology & Culture.
Routledge, 2001.
Goldberg, Roselee. Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present. Abrams,1979.
Kahn, Douglas. Noise Water Meat: A History of Sound in the Arts. MIT Press, 1999.
Revill, David. The Roaring Silence: John Cage:
A Life. Arcade, 1992.
Musical Thought and Practice
Brun,
Herbert. “Drawing Distinctions Links
Contradictions”, in Perspectives in New Music #15. 1973.
Cage, John. Notations. Praeger, 1969.
Cage, John. Composed
in America. Ed. Marjorie Perloff
and Charles Junkerman. Univ. of Chicago Press. 1992.
Cope, David. New Directions in Music. Wm. Brown, 1989.
Ho, Fred and Sakolsky, Ron
ed. Sounding Off: Music as Subversion/Resistance/Revolution.
Kostelanetz, Richard, ed. John Cage: Documentary
Monographs in Modern Art. Praeger,
1970.
Lochhead, Judy and Auner, Joseph. Ed. Postmodern Music, Postmodern Thought.
Routledge, 2002.
Means, David. “Zone of Magnified Power” in Public Art
Review #22: Public Hearing. Forecast, 2000.
McClary, Susan. Feminine
Endings: Music, Gender and Sexuality. University of Minnesota Press. 1991.
Nyman.
Michael. Experimental Music: Cage and
Beyond. Schirmer, 1974.
Discography (Partial):
Cage, John. Sonatas and Interludes (1948)
Ho, Fred. Boy
George and the Bullies of Babylon. (2002)
Macunius Ensemble.
Music With Numbers. (1999)
Monk, Meredith.
Dolmen Music. (1978)
Videography /
Artist Profiles:
Greenaway, Peter.
4 American Composers. BBC/Mystic Fire Videos.
Monk,
Meredith. Book of Days and Ellis
Island.
Cecil Taylor
Brian Eno
Roland Kirk and
John Cage
Steve Reich
Dan Senn –
Percussive Videos
Part I Improvising: a Call to Adventure
I. Introduction: The
Creative Continuum of Improvisation and Composition
Review Syllabus
and Assignments
Elements,
Aspects and Expectations
Frames
of Reference (personal--------------->public)
Place,
Space and Aesthetic Awareness
Venue
and Reception
Identity
and Personal Expression
Collecting
Musical Thoughts and Ideas
Drawing on
Experience (Conceptual Graphic Scores)
Assignment: Collect a CD or video to analyze; select a
book from Bibliography to review Develop materials for a
solo improvisation
II. Organizing Musical Materials – The Solo
Acoustics and
Technology
Combining Voices and Visions
III. Introduction to Musical Practices - Improvisation
Scale and
Transformation of Sounds and Images
Sound
Processing and Recording
Assignment:
Perform or record a solo improvisation
Part II
Improvising Culture and Composing the Creative Practice
IV. Transition to Musical Practices - Composition
Graphic Scores: Shaping
Images and Sounds into Symbolic Messages
Music, Structures and Space
Assignment:
Develop a graphic score
V. Chaos, Culture and Creativity
Assignment: Begin Implementing Final Projects
VI. Form and Structure in Time and Space: Giving Spirit to Substance
Past
(perspective)
Present (perception)
Future (vision)
Consultation: Continue Final Projects
Part III
Perspectives on Improvisation and Composition: Personal----->Public
VII. Guest Artist: Steve Goldstein
Consultation: Final Projects
VIII. Guest Artist: Carei Thomas
Consultation: Continue Final Projects
IX. 12/4 Presentations,
Exhibitions and Performances: Open
House
Complete
Instructional Improvement Questionnaires.
Analysis
of CD/Video and Book Review Due
X. 12/5 Selected
Performances at Strange Attractors XI Festival