Matthew Burtner: Materials of Contemporary Music

Materials of Contemporary Music
Focus on European Experimental Composition

Course Overview

MUSI 747/447 is a graduate-level composition seminar on materials of contemporary music . This semester, the class will concentrate on European experimental music of the 20th and 21st centuries. The rapid development of technology in the arts serves as an anchor for exploring experimentation in music of the avante garde. Classes will consist of discussions of listenings, readings, and projects. The class projects are creative in nature, directed towards exploring notational concepts of the 20th and 21st centuries.

MUSI 447/ MUSI 747, Materials of Contemporary Music (3 credits)
Maximum Enrollment 12
Schedule Number: 40050 (447) and 40762 (747)
Instructor Number: 6655

Tuesday, 2:00 to 4:45 Rm. S008, Old Cabell Hall (downstairs in the Music Library)

Instructor: Matthew Burtner - mburtner@virginia.edu
office hours: Wednesday 1-3pm, OCH 201 and by appointment

Class email lists: MUSI747-1@toolkit.virginia.edu, and MUSI447-1@toolkit.virginia.edu

Requirements and Grading

- Attendance and Class Participation %20
Includes attendance of the Technosonics Concert and Forum on February 7 (3:30pm OCH 107 and 8pm OCH Hall) and the Winter Raven on March 28 (8pm, OCH Hall). It also includes helping produce the Earth Day Soundings concert on April 28 (setup during the day, concert time 8pm).

- Composition Assignments: %40
There are four (4) composition assignments this semester as described below

- Writing Assignments: %20
described below

- Final Project %20 (including an in-class or concert presentation and submitted documentation/recording)
described below

View grades online: http://toolkit.itc.virginia.edu/2003_Spring_MUSI747-1/gradebook

Syllabus

Part 1: Week 1-3 (Jan 21, Jan 28, Feb 4)
Technology and Experimentalism in European 20th Century Music

Overview

Lectures and discussions will question the role of technology in the formation of a European avante garde. The rise of Futurism, and the music of Arnold Schoenberg and Eric Satie will be examined as seminal points of departure. Turn-of--the-century instruments and their relationship to existing notational systems will also be discussed.

Readings

"Noise Water Meat: A History of Sound in the Arts" Douglas Kahn: Introduction:
--- Listening through History: Prelude: Modernism, Explanations and QualificationsÓ

"Keyboards, Crankshafts and Communication: The Musical Mindset of Western Technology", Geoffrey Hindly
class handout

"Noise Water Meat: a history of sound in the Arts" Douglas Kahn: Part 1:
--- Chapter 1: Emmersed in Noise
--- Chapter 2: Noises of the Avante Garde

"Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music" (1906) by Ferruccio Busoni
on library reserve ML90 .T47

The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism by F.T. Marinetti (1909)

"New Directions in Music" David Cope
--- Chapter 1: Origins
--- Chapter 2: Atonality and Serialism

Art of Noises by Louigi Russolo (1913)
and on library reserve ML3877 .R8713 1986

Listening

String Quartet II, Arnold Schoenberg
Gymnopiedie, Eric Satie

Assignment

Composition 1: Appropriate a technology of your choice, define it as an instrument, and write a piece for it to be played in class. Design your own notation for your instrument.
due date/performance: Feb 4

Part 2: Week 3-4 (Feb 11, Feb 18)
Syntax and Structure: Specificity in Music Notation

Overview

Notational specificity and the extreme paramatization of sound will be examined. Music by composers such as Stockhausen and Ferneyhough will function as catalysts for an examination of the syntax and structure in music of the avante garde.

Readings

"New Directions in Music" David Cope
--- Chapter 2: Atonality and Serialism

"Parallel Universes" Brian Ferneyhough :in "Aesthetik und Komposition" on reserve

Performance notes for "Time and Motion Study II," Brian Ferneyhough

Listening

"Time and Motion Study II", Brian Ferneyhough
"Mikrophonie I", Karlheinz Stockhausen
"Sequenza III", Luciano Berio

Assignment

Composition 2: Choose a single parameter of sound and create a highly specified piece focussing on just that parameter. The composition should be short (c5 measures), written for one instrument, and it does not need to be played by you in class. Devise a synatactic structure that allows for an extreme degree of specificity.
due date/in-class presentation: Feb 18

Part 3: Week 5-7 (Feb 25, March 2 (Spring Break), March 11)
De Natura Sonoris: Notational Techniques for Sound Mass Composition

Overview

The music and scores of Penderecki and Ligeti are analyzed in terms of extended techniques for control of texture. Notational techniques allowing for the modulation from specified counterpoint to sound mass will be explored.

Readings

"New Directions in Music" David Cope
--- Chapter 3: Texturalism
--- Chapter 4: Timbralism and Tuning

"About the Element of Chance in Music" Witold Lutoslawski, article on reserve

Listening

"De Natura Sonoris II", Krystof Penderecki
"Concert for Piano and Orchestra," "Monument," and "Atmospheres", Gyorgi Ligeti

Assignment

Composition 3: Compose a sound mass composition for 3-12 players.
due date/in-class presentation: March 11

Writing 1: Short paper on a subject related to extended notation
due date/in-class presentation: March 25

Part 4: Week 8-9 (March 18, March 22)
Buildings, Mobiles and Sculptures as Musical Scores

Overview

Music by Varese, Lutoslawski and Xenakis, among others, is studied in terms of the relationship of the music to architecture and sculpture. A study of sculpture reveals possibilities for generating multi-dimensional approaches to the musical score.

Readings

Eskhate Ereuna: Extending the Limits of Musical Thought Ð Comments on and By Iannis Xenakis, Brigitte Robindore interview with Xenakis.

Assignment

Composition 4: Map a sculpture into sound using a mapping strategy of your design.
due date/in-class performance: April 1

Part 5: Week 10-11 (April 2, April 9)
Improvisational Systems as Musical Scores: Influences of Jazz on European Experimental Music

Overview

Music by Stravinsky, Satie, Kagel, Cardew, Peter Brotzman, Mats Gustafson and Evan Parker is studied. A look at the free improvisation scene in Europe functions as a point of departure for considering improvisational systems as scores, and for an attempt to uncover performative energy in composition.

Readings

"New Directions in Music" David Cope
--- Chapter 5: Indeterminacy

Assignment

Writing 2: Write a report on an artist from the European Free Improvisation Pages at http://www.shef.ac.uk/misc/rec/ps/efi/ehome.html. Your report should discuss things like: 1) what context is the artist working in? 2) who are the artistÕs influences and how can they be heard in the music? 3) biographical data, 4) Is there a community of collaboration surrounding the artist? 5) how does the artist create structure? due date/in-class presentation: April 8

Part 6: Week 12-13 (April 16, April 23)
Environmental Systems as Musical Structures and Earth Day Soundings

Overview

This part of the class will look at environmental contexts as means of creating musical structure. The work Ukiuq Tulugaq (Winter Raven) will be studied and students will prepare for the Earth Day Soundings concert.

Readings

TBA

Assignment

Final Projects: Compose a piece using techniques studied in the class. The piece may be performed at the April 22 Earth Day Soundings Concert if they are ready in time.
Final projects must be turned in no later than the final exam time, May 6, 12pm.

Materials

Required books for this course are available in the UVa Bookstore


David Cope "New Directions in Music"	Douglas Kahn "Noise Water Meat