This is an archived handbook for a previous year. The current undergraduate and postgraduate handbooks can be viewed using the links above.
Undergraduate Handbook 2025-2026 (archived)
Module MUSI3762: Techniques Portfolio (double)
Department: Music
MUSI3762: Techniques Portfolio (double)
| Type | Level | Credits | Availability | Module Cap | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tied | 3 | 40 | Available in 2025/2026 | None. | Durham |
Tied To
- LA01: Liberal Arts
- LA02: Liberal Arts (with Year Abroad)
- LA03: Liberal Arts (with Placement Year)
- W300: Music
- W302: Music (with Year Abroad)
- W303: Music with Placement Year
- W3V5: Music and Philosophy (with Year Abroad)
- W3V6: Music and Philosophy with Placement Year
- WV53: Music and Philosophy
Pre-requisites
- MUSI2601: Advanced Historical Composition Techniques.
Corequisites
- None.
Excluded Combinations
- MUSI3751 Portfolio of Techniques (single).
Aims
- To provide an opportunity for students to express their creativity at advanced level through the production of a portfolio of pastiche compositions using a variety of techniques and styles from the 16th, 17th, 18th or19th centuries, or broadly 'tonal'styles from the early decades of the 20th century.
Content
- Guidance will be given in tutorials on the composition of larger-scale works, including, but not limited to fugue, chorale prelude, variations, sonata form movements, partsong, concert overture, symphonic movement, big band composition.
Learning Outcomes
Subject-specific Knowledge
- Students will become familiar with a range of compositional techniques that are available for the creation of music, and will be able to demonstrate how these may be used imaginatively and effectively.
Subject-specific Skills
- Students will acquire the skills necessary to compose with maturity, authority and originality, building on the aesthetic considerations and techniques they have encountered at Levels 1 and 2. A greater ambition is to be encouraged regarding the size and scope of composition at Level 3.
Key Skills
- Compositional techniques used in an appropriate way to articulate each student's musical ideas and to demonstrate an identification with various established styles.
Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module
- The module will be delivered through individual tutorials through which students will be assisted in the preparation of a portfolio of pastiche compositions.
- Portfolio of Compositions -lasting between 15 and 18 minutes in all (excluding exactly repeated sections such as sonata expositions), with an accompanying 1,500 word commentary
Teaching Methods and Learning Hours
| Activity | Number | Frequency | Duration | Total Hours | Attendance Monitored |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tutorials | 12 | Spread out through the year, mainly in Terms 1 and 2 | 30 minutes | 6 | Yes |
| Preparation and Reading | 394 | ||||
| Total | 400 | ||||
Summative Assessment
| Component | Component Weighting | Element | Length/Duration | Element Weighting | Resit Opportunity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio of Compositions | 100% | Composition | 15-18 minutes with an accompanying 1,500 word commentary | 100% |
Formative Assessment
Excerpts will be submitted on Blackboard through the first two terms and discussed at tutorials.
Students who do not attend monitored activities shown under Teaching Methods
and Learning Hours, or who fail to complete the summative or formative
assessment(s) specified above, may be subject to the Academic Progress
procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be
required to leave the University.