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NEC Summer School 2009:
Classes & Ensembles
Music Theory, Musicianship, and Composition
- Introduction to Composition
- Composing for Film and Multimedia
- Form in Tonal Music
- Solfège
- Introduction to Music Technology
- Learning Sibelius CANCELED
Introduction to Composition
Stephen Savage
June 9-July 21 (seven meetings)
Tu: 6:00–8:00 p.m.
Beginning composition students are encouraged to realize their musical conceptions. Basic concepts introduced include pitch and scale organization, rhythm, tone color, motive, phrase, melody, texture, and gesture. Rudiments of counterpoint, harmony, and stand forms are considered, with emphasis on the balance between repetition and contrast. Specific exercises are given, but students are also encouraged to write freely and to develop a style of their own. Compositions are performed in class when possible.
1 CE credit: $525
Non-credit: $375
Composing for Film and Multimedia
John Mallia, Director, NEC Electronic Music Studio
June 8-24 (six meetings)
MW: 6:00–8:30 p.m.
This project-based course will introduce students to concepts, compositional strategies, techniques and technologies associated with the combination of music, sound and image in film and other collaborative multimedia settings. Stylistically diverse music by a variety of composers, taken from both historical and current film scenes, will be examined for its role in controlling the depth and speed of the viewer/listener’s awareness of shifts in the underlying narrative thread and changes in the psychological make-up of characters. Examples of multimedia collaborations and their treatment of time and space will also be discussed. Sound/image timing and synchronization techniques, MIDI instrumental mockups, and digital sound manipulation will be demonstrated, practiced and utilized in short scene-scoring and multimedia projects suitable for a composer’s portfolio. The class will meet in NEC's Music Technology classroom, and each student will be able to use workstations including all the necessary software (Digital Performer/Reson). A portion of each evening's class time will be treated as a hands-on composition lab.
1 College UG/G credit: $1050/$2100
1 CE credit or Non-credit: $525
Form in Tonal Music
Deborah Stein
July 6- 29 (8 meetings)
MW: 6:00-8:30 p.m.
This course will examine the principal tonal forms from 18th- and 19th-century music, from small Baroque dance forms and 19th-century instrumental and vocal miniatures to larger sonata and concerto forms. Study will include both written analysis from scores and aural analysis from CDs. Composers will include Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wagner, Mahler, and Wolf.
1 College UG/G credit: $1050/$2100
1 CE credit or Non-credit: $525
Solfège
Larry Bell
July 7-30 (eight meetings)
TuTh: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
This course stresses knowledge of tonality as represented by scales and scale-degree functions. Topics: treble and bass clefs; melodies in major and minor keys; rhythms in standard meters; modulations to the dominant, relative major, and relative minor and their functions in small forms. Materials include Dandelot’s Manuel Practique, Danhauser Book I, and Bona’s Rhythmic Articulation. Students must demonstrate sight-singing competency in a final exam to pass the course. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
1 CE credit: $525
Introduction to Music Technology
John Mallia, Director, Electronic Music Studio
July 13-29 (six meetings)
MW: 6:00–8:30 p.m.
This course will provide a hands-on introduction to the fundamental techniques of Music Technology and Electronic Music Composition.
Topics will include digital audio editing and mixing, signal processing, synthesis, and MIDI. Software programs such as Digital Performer, Peak, and Reason will be used to demonstrate a variety of techniques important to digital music making, but emphasis will be placed on the theory and compositional application of these techniques so that students may transfer these methods to many other commercially-available software programs.
1 CE credit: $525
Learning Sibelius
CANCELED
July (online only; 8 sessions)
updated 15 June 2009