Lee, Michael James (2011) Composing music to explore and teach compositional techniques of twentieth century and contemporary music at GCE Advanced Level. (MA(R) thesis), Kingston University, .

Abstract

This dissertation examines the composition of music with the purpose of exploring and teaching the compositional techniques and principles of twentieth century and contemporary music. This is achieved through the composition of a portfolio of educational pieces, which demonstrates and models various compositional techniques and principles of twentieth century and contemporary music. The techniques and principles chosen were those that would demonstrate some of the important trends in twentieth century and contemporary music and be practical for students to perform analyse and imitate. As the pieces are intended to form part of a programme of study in composition, there also needed to be a sense of progression with each piece building on and extending techniques and principles explored in previous pieces. The effectiveness of the portfolio in supporting the teaching of composition and the compositional techniques and principles of twentieth century and contemporary music was determined through examining its use as part of a programme of study in composition at GCE Advanced level. The students studied the composed pieces through listening, analysis, performance and imitating the techniques and principles in compositional exercises and in their own compositional work. An examination of student feedback and an analysis of student's compositional work demonstrated that the portfolio was successful in developing and extending the compositional skills and knowledge of the students, as well as their knowledge of the compositional techniques and principles of twentieth century and contemporary music. Through the modelling of compositional techniques and principles, the teacher was also able to explain the process, thinking and decisions behind the compositions. In this way students were able to learn more about the compositional process than through analysis alone.

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