| Module Title |
Creative Approaches to Text |
| Module Code |
MPA1082 (ITS: MC516) |
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Faculty |
Theology, Philosophy & Music |
School |
Humanities & Social Sciences |
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NFQ level |
9 |
Credit Rating |
10 |
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Description
This module will explore, via a combination of lectures, lecturer-led and student-led seminars, and composition workshops, the creative approaches to text and text setting employed by composers of choral music, with a focus on repertoire from the late 20th century to the present day. Students will engage with a wide variety of primary sources (both textual and musical) and compositional approaches to develop a deep understanding of text-setting considerations when composing, performing, or conducting choral music. This module incorporates an ‘analysis through composition’ approach to the topic of text-setting, which encourages the students to engage with these ideas as composers and thus enabling a ‘composer’s-eye’ view of the repertoire.
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Learning Outcomes
1. Analyse and evaluate a given text in terms of its literary content and its capacity to serve as the basis of a compositional sketch for choral forces.
2. Identify devices of musical rhetoric used by composers to convey their personal understanding of a text.
3. Analyse and interpret standard and non-standard approaches to text-setting in the work of a range of contemporary composers.
4. Evaluate the effect of creative approaches to text-setting in performance.
5. Demonstrate the practical application of creative (both standard and non-standard) approaches to text-setting in the composition of a choral work.
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| Workload | Full time hours per semester | | Type | Hours | Description |
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| Lecture | 22 | Lecture-Seminars | | Independent Study | 50 | Score analysis and annotation | | Independent Study | 50 | Independent study: music listening | | Independent Study | 78 | Independent study: research | | Independent Study | 50 | Independent study: composition |
| Total Workload: 250 |
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| Section Breakdown | | CRN | 20775 | Part of Term | Semester 2 | | Coursework | 0% | Examination Weight | 0% | | Grade Scale | 40PASS | Pass Both Elements | Y | | Resit Category | RC1 | Best Mark | N | | Module Co-ordinator | Seán Doherty | Module Teacher | |
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| Assessment Breakdown |
| Type | Description | % of total | Assessment Date |
|---|
| Essay | Analytical written paper (2000 words) | 40% | Week 25 | | Music Composition | Composition Assingment (5 minutes) | 60% | Sem 2 End |
| Reassessment Requirement Type |
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories;
RC1: A resit is available for both* components of the module.
RC2: No resit is available for a 100% coursework module.
RC3: No resit is available for the coursework component where there is a coursework and summative examination element.
* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a coursework/summative examination split; where the module is 100% coursework, there will also be a resit of the assessment
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Pre-requisite |
None
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Co-requisite |
None |
| Compatibles |
None |
| Incompatibles |
None |
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All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml
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Indicative Content and Learning Activities
Music and Rhetoric
Relative patterns of stress and metre in a variety of languages; rhetorical features; types of accent: metric, agogic, dynamic, melodic (contour and melisma); open and closed vowels; vowel modification; open and closed syllables
Text
Types of text (poetry, prose, and phonetic; nonsense texts); the condition of the text; the vocal style(s) employed; the intelligibility of the text
Text/Music Relationships
Types of music/text relationships: direct mimesis, displaced mimesis, non-mimetic relationship, arbitrary association, synthetic relationship, and anti-contextual relationship
Analysis seminars
Analysis seminars in which students present their own research on their choice of contemporary choral compositions
Composition workshops
Composition workshops in which students present, conduct, perform, and critique their own creative outputs
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Indicative Reading List
Books:
- Alwes, Chester Lee: 2015, A History of Western Choral Music (2 vols.),
- Cook, Nicholas: 2014, Beyond the Score,
- Cook, Nicholas: 2018, Music as Creative Practice,
- Cook, Nicholas, and Richard Pettengill (eds.): 2013, Taking it to the Bridge: Music as Performance,
- De Quadros, André: 2012, The Cambridge Companion to Choral Music,
- Gould, Elaine: 2011, Behind Bars: The Definitive Guide to Music Notation,
- Henson, Blake, and Gerald Custer: 2013, The Composer’s Craft,
- Henson, Blake, and Gerald Custer: 2014, From Words to Music,
- Hines, Robert Stephan: 2001, Choral Composition: A Handbook for Composers, Arrangers, Conductors, and Singers,
- Hurty, Jon: 2018, Improvisation for Choirs: Building Community Confidence and Creativity,
- Roma, Catherine: 2006, The Choral Music of Twentieth-Century Women Composers: Elisabeth Lutyens, Elizabeth Maconchy, and Thea Musgrave,
- Sharp, Avery T: 2002, Choral Music: A Research and Information Guide,
- Shenton, Andrew: 2018, Arvo Pärt's Resonant Texts Choral and Organ Music 1956–2015,
- Shrock, Dennis: 2009, Choral Repertoire,
- Strimple, Nick: 2002, Choral Music in the Twentieth Century,
- Warburton, Annie: 1981, Melody Writing and Analysis,
Articles:
- Moran, Peter: 2016, Analysing the Music of Jennifer Walsh, Association of Irish Composers New Music Journal, 65065
- 1989: Towards the Analysis of the Relationship of Music and Text in Contemporary Composition, Contemporary Music Review,
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Other Resources
- Score: Contemporary Music Centre, 2012, Choirland: An Anthology of Irish Choral Music,
- Score: Agnew, Elaine, Bread,
- Score: Barry, Gerald, 'Long Time' and 'The Coming of Winter',
- Score: Britten, Benjamin, Rejoice in the Lamb,
- Score: Clarke, Rhona, The Old Woman,
- Score: Cleary, Siobhan, Theophilus Thistle and the Myth of Miss Muffett,
- Score: Dellaira, Michael, The Campers at Kitty Hawk,
- Score: Gee, Erin, Mouthpiece,
- Score: LeFanu, Nicola, On the Wind,
- Score: MacMillan, James, Seven Last Words from the Cross,
- Score: Pärt, Arvo, Tribute to Caesar,
- Score: Rautavaara, Einojuhani, Ludus verbalis,
- Score: Saariaho, Kaija, Nuits Adieux,
- Score: Shaw, Caroline, Partita for 8 Voices,
- Score: Walsh, Jennifer, Duration & its Simple Modes,
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