Competences developed in the course

Transversal competences:

CO1: To know the main repertoires of the Western tradition and other musical traditions, and to acquire the ability to fully appreciate the expressive, syntactic and sonic aspects of the corresponding works.

CO2: To acquire the necessary training to recognise and evaluate different types of musical and sound structures both aurally and intellectually.

CO3: To analytically interpret the construction of musical works in each and every one of the structural aspects and levels that11: To acquire a singular and flexible artistic personality constitute them.

CO5: To master the techniques and resources of the main historical and recent compositional styles.

CO7: To develop the interest, abilities and methodologies necessary for musical research and experimentation.

CO11: To acquire a singular and flexible artistic personality that allows adaptation to multiple creative environments and challenges.

General competences:

CG1: To know the theoretical principles of music and to have adequately developed skills for the recognition, understanding and memorisation of musical material.

CG2: To demonstrate appropriate skills for musical reading, improvisation, creation and recreation.

CG3: To correctly produce and interpret the graphic notation of musical texts.

CG8: To apply the most appropriate working methods to overcome challenges arising in personal study and collective musical practice.

CG10: To argue and verbally express points of view on diverse musical concepts.

CG11: To be familiar with a broad and updated repertoire, centred on their speciality but open to other traditions. To recognise the stylistic features that characterise this repertoire and describe them clearly and completely.

CG12: To demonstrate sufficient knowledge of musical phenomena and their relationship with the evolution of aesthetic, artistic and cultural values.

CG13: To know the foundations and structure of musical language and to apply them in interpretative, creative, research or pedagogical practice.

CG17: To be familiar with different musical styles and practices that allow understanding, within a broader cultural context, their own field of activity and enriching it.

CG18: To communicate in written and spoken form the content and objectives of their professional activity to specialised people, using appropriate technical and general vocabulary.

CG19: To know the pedagogical and educational implications of music at different levels.

CG21: To create and shape their own artistic concepts, having developed the ability to express themselves through them based on acquired techniques and resources.

CG22: To possess broad and diverse musical resources in order to create or adapt musical pieces, as well as improvise in different contexts based on knowledge of diverse styles, formats, techniques, trends and languages.

CG23: To value musical creation as the act of giving sonic form to a rich and complex structural thought.

CG24: To develop capacities for self-directed learning throughout their professional life.

CG25: To know and be able to use study and research methodologies that enable continuous development and innovation of their musical activity throughout their career.

Specific competences:

CO1: To know the main repertoires of the Western tradition and other musical traditions, and to acquire the ability to fully appreciate the expressive, syntactic and sonic aspects of the corresponding works.

CO2: To acquire the necessary training to recognise and evaluate different types of musical and sound structures both aurally and intellectually.

CO3: To analytically interpret the construction of musical works in each and every one of the structural aspects and levels that constitute them.

CO5: To master the techniques and resources of the main historical and recent compositional styles.

CO7: To develop the interest, abilities and methodologies necessary for musical research and experimentation.

CO8: To know the most recent trends and proposals in different fields of musical creation.

CO11: To acquire a singular and flexible artistic personality that allows adaptation to multiple creative environments and challenges.

Learning outcomes (general objectives)

1. To contextualise the factors that motivate and enable compositional activity within its historical and social context.

2. To assess the different trends, methods and approaches used by composers, relating them to the ideological, cultural and social aspects that determine each composer’s environment and perspective.

3. To acquire a broad range of sound production and organisation techniques, as well as the different approaches, applications, conditions and functions that underpin musical creation at an aesthetic and social level.

4. To develop personal criteria that allow the structuring and development of compositional work.

5. To create musical works emphasising prior approaches and choices, and their constructive, aesthetic and formal implications.

6. To compose for musical groups made up of available instruments and performers in order to perform the written works and assess the results obtained in relation to the work.

7. To explore new creative, theoretical and analytical methods and perspectives regarding diverse problems in approaching musical phenomena, and to identify themes and lines of action that can guide the final project and, eventually, postgraduate research.

8. To know musical instruments and their technical and timbral characteristics, and to combine and balance the timbres of different instruments and sound layers.

9. To technically and timbrally control instruments in various formations (duos, trios, quartets, quintets, chamber ensembles, orchestra).

10. To understand timbre and instrumentation as parameters of structural and formal organisation.

11. To critically assess different forms of contrapuntal imitation as techniques for organising musical material and form, and apply them in real musical contexts in direct relation to all musical parameters involved in shaping musical form.

12. To extend knowledge of musical construction and organisation techniques, including scalar and harmonic structures extended across diverse tonal and atonal contexts.

13. To apply the main techniques and methods of musical construction and organisation developed throughout the 20th century to the present day.

Contents

Creation of works encompassing diverse areas of creative musical activity, including works for solo instruments, duos, trios, quartets, quintets, chamber ensembles, orchestra, with or without soloist, with or without text, programme music, incidental music, and works using electroacoustic, audiovisual and other media.

Acoustic, technical and idiomatic characteristics of orchestral instruments. Traditional instrumental combinations. Perceptual aspects. Instrumentation techniques according to different historical periods and their relationship with the lines of thought of composers from each stylistic period. Recent instrumentation techniques and their relationship with the ideas and languages of contemporary composers. Timbre and instrumentation as compositional parameters.

Experimentation with instrumental possibilities through collaboration with performers of different instruments. Analysis of instrumental writing in works and composers from different musical periods and styles. Transcriptions and arrangements of musical passages adapted to the characteristics and possibilities of different instruments. Listening and analysis of the instrumentation of works produced in different periods of music history and considered paradigmatic in the evolution of instrumentation techniques up to the present day.

Use of contrapuntal imitation techniques as expressive and formal constructive methods. Relationship between imitation techniques and the other elements involved in the organisation of a musical work. Adaptation of imitation and fugue concepts and techniques to tonal materials and diverse musical contexts. Integration of imitation and fugue concepts and techniques into analysis and composition. Musical analysis and composition from a creative perspective that considers other elements of musical evaluation.

Variation as a compendium of diverse compositional techniques and as the generator of the twelve-tone method. New systems of musical organisation and their formal implications. Chromaticism. Extended harmonies. Polytonality. Polyrhythms. Atonality. Twelve-tone technique.

Use of the techniques studied as expressive and formal constructive methods. Relationship between the techniques studied and the other elements involved in the organisation of a musical work. Adaptation of the concepts and techniques developed to tonal materials and diverse musical contexts. Integration of the concepts and techniques studied into analysis and composition from a creative perspective that considers other elements of musical evaluation.

Use of the techniques studied as constructive, expressive and formal methods, closely related to the other elements involved in the organisation of a musical work. Adaptation of the concepts and techniques developed to diverse musical contexts, integrating them into musical analysis and composition from a creative perspective. Research, experimentation and conceptualisation of new technical and aesthetic proposals in relation to new situations and the evolving needs of music.

Teaching methodology

The teaching-learning methodology in individual classes involves the review and guidance of the student’s compositional work. The methodology of group classes includes master classes (topic presentations), discussion and colloquium sessions, group work sessions and student presentations. Independent work involves compositions, study of works and written assignments, carried out individually or in groups.

Assessment systems