• Offered for Year: 2022/23

• Module Leader(s): Ms Nancy Kerr Elliott
• Lecturer: Ms Kathryn Tickell, Ms Imogen Gunner

• Owning School: Arts & Cultures
• Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus

Semesters

Aims

•       To further develop the student’s understanding, confidence and practical ability in arranging, composing and songwriting within and beyond folk and traditional genres.
•       To further build upon and apply the student’s theoretical knowledge and music writing skills, and so develop both a musically intelligent practice and a practical musical intelligence through the medium of composition and arrangement.
•       To explore the crafts of musical composition and arrangement in the folk genre through practical engagement with a range of creative methods and techniques selected from a plurality of repertoires and artists.
•       To encourage engagement with and understanding of relevant musical examples, increasing awareness of the field.
•       To facilitate independent, student-led creative practice.

Outline Of Syllabus

An optional module which will further develop and apply skills in arrangement and composition and the use of musical notation systems.

This module continues the line of development started in stage one theory and composition modules and will provide the bridge between theoretical understanding and creative application of the skills developed through composition and arrangement. The teaching will be responsive to particular areas of interest, and is intended to enable a fluid interaction between written, aural and practical creative approaches to composition and arrangement.

Students will learn about a range of approaches taken to composition, arrangement and songwriting by musicians working within or responding to the field of folk and traditional music, often using folk repertoire as inspiration for original composition. A range of case studies and practical creative techniques will be studied and then put into practice in students’ own creative work. The module will be delivered in a combination of synchronous seminars and workshops and supported by non-synchronous lecture materials. The assignments will be prepared in independent study time, and students must be prepared to share and discuss their own work in group sessions. Independent study time may also involve gaining additional practice in software such as Sibelius or home recording software, the knowledge of which will be required for this module.

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lecture materials outline and illustrate techniques and approaches to composition and arrangement, guiding students in the acquisition of core knowledge and skills, which inform their practice.

Seminars and workshops provide a forum in which students will acquire further information and exchange ideas, providing the opportunity to work collectively, share creative work and exchange ideas. Students thus gain peer-to-peer feedback, and lecturers can can monitor students’ progress and understanding.

Regular independent study and creative practice is integral to the development of compositions and arrangements.

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Assessment methods allow tutors to track skills development and monitor learning, making possible responsive teaching. This module also extends learning into areas of creativity. Formative composition, arrangement and analysis tasks will be set and formative feedback offered by lecturers and peers in group seminars and 1:1 tutorials.

Reading Lists

• MUS2050's Reading List

Timetable

• Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
• MUS2050's Timetable