Module MUSI41930: Orchestration and Arranging

Department: Music

MUSI41930: Orchestration and Arranging

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

Aims

• To facilitate the acquisition of advanced skills and techniques on orchestration and arranging through close engagement with specific learning contexts within the context of the Western Classical Music tradition
• To enable students to develop a critical understanding of and reflective approach to the practice of orchestration and arranging

Content

• Representative topics to be dealt with in a given academic year may include (but will not necessarily be limited to):
• arranging for chamber ensemble
• arranging for wind orchestra
• arranging for string orchestra
• arranging for chamber orchestra
• arranging for symphony orchestra
• Students will be guided through various means of producing arrangements, which will develop and exploit specific skills. The student can tailor aspects of the module to their own interests and learning needs.

Learning Outcomes

• students will develop an advanced understanding of a range of advanced techniques of orchestrating and arranging, as well as the perspectives and critical understanding required to apply them, where appropriate, to their own research.
• critical understanding of theories and methodologies pertinent to the academic study of orchestration and arranging
• advanced knowledge of relevant musical repertories from a range of historical periods and geographical locations
• advanced knowledge of relevant creative and performative praxes.

• students will acquire the skills necessary to produce orchestrations and arrangements with fluency and authority.
• an advanced ability to engage critically with theories and methodologies pertinent to the academic study of orchestration and arranging
• an advanced ability to describe and analyse works from a range of musical repertories, informed by an understanding of the socio-cultural matrices from which they emerged and of their specific formal and stylistic features
• an advanced ability to draw upon appropriate theoretical perspectives and methodologies to study orchestration and arranging while simultaneously deriving independent intellectual and creative insights from this activity
• advanced competence in musical literacy
• advanced competence in engaging with musical materials of different kinds, whether as physical objects (e.g. scores) and or in electronic formats (e.g. recordings, audio-visual materials)
• advanced competence in engaging with musical materials of different kinds, whether as physical objects (e.g. scores) and or in electronic formats (e.g. recordings, audio-visual materials)

• engage in close readings of a wide range of challenging texts (musical, verbal, audio-visual, as appropriate)
• deploy independent research skills using appropriate specialist tools and resources;
• synthesise complex materials from a wide range of sources and to present them cogently in the form of written documents, oral reports, presentations, and musical performances, as appropriate
• demonstrate competence in information technology skills to support MA learning and research (e.g. by means of: word-processing and music-processing software; databases; presentation software; audiovisual editing and analysis software; graph- and image-processing; web-based resources; relevant technologies)
• deploy advanced knowledge of professional conduct in meeting academic standards, including appropriate use of relevant ethical codes of practice and correct referencing of sources
• deploy problem-solving skills
• deploy organisational skills, including time management.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The seminars will enable students to express their own creativity in response to a range of arranging and orchestration practices. At tutorials, students will acquire skills additional to those already obtained at lower levels of study (e.g. how to articulate their ideas about arranging clearly and authoritatively; preparing scores and parts to a professional standard).

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Brief orchestration/arrangements and a variety of other formative tasks (e.g. study of set works) as prescribed by the module tutor.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University