Experimental MusicExperimentalMusic108
Experimental MusicThe course is aimed atcomposers, performersand improvisers working inexperimental music and wishing towiden their experience. It exploresnotated music, focusing principally ontext, graphic and extended notations,aiming to develop strategies forcomposing and realising scores.It also engages with instrumentalisingobjects (both acoustic and electronic)and improvisation. As with all theMMus pathways, there are moduleswhich involve producing a collaborativeproject, developing research skills andacademic writing, and a final project.The course is a practical one,with sessions involving realisingscores, improvisation and discussion,supported by tutorials. As a composer,you will create a portfolio of work andbe involved in its performance, as wellas contributing to projects by fellowmusicians. As an improviser, youwill present a series of live events,developing your personal languageand instrumental setup andcontributing to group projects. As aperformer, you will make realisationsof existing work and that by fellowmusicians on the course. Everyonewill be involved with practical activities,and take part in extra-curricularperformances with our twoexperimental music groups: Material(mostly notated, instrumental/vocalmusic) and/or Behaviour (mostlyimprovised, electronic music).Course structure and contentIn full-time mode, the course runsover three trimesters, September toSeptember. The first trimester givesa thorough grounding in researchmethodology in the Context andMethodology module, and theExperimental Music Workshopmodule provides a forum fordiscussion and performance of corerepertoire, alongside new pieces bystudents. The second trimesterfocuses more on experimentalapproaches to sound production anddeveloping skills in improvisationthrough the Improvisation andInstrumentalisation module. Allstudents also take the Collaborativeand Interdisciplinary Practicemodule, which gives an opportunity to work with peers and across subjectboundaries, with the possibility ofworking with other creative disciplines(film- and theatre-makers, dancersand choreographers etc.) as well asmusicians. The third trimester isresearch-based, with studentsundertaking an individual MajorProject which allows them to explorea chosen area in depth.The course may also be takenpart-time over two years. In this case,the first year comprises ExperimentalMusic Workshop, followed byImprovisation and Instrumentalisation.The second year comprises Contextand Methodology, followed byCollaborative and InterdisciplinaryPractice, and concludes with the MajorProject over the summer. We welcomeapplications for part-time study, andanticipate grouping teaching on asingle day each week to facilitate this.ModulesTrimester 1Experimental Music WorkshopThrough a series of weekly seminarworkshops,and supported byindividual tutorials, we will exploreexisting experimental musicrepertoire alongside new work bystudents. Sessions will include bothdiscussion of topics emerging fromthe music and individual research,and practical activities, such as therealisation of compositions in class.The purpose of the module is tointroduce students to exemplars of experimental music practice, toconsider approaches to notation, anddevelop strategies for realising piecesin performance.Context and MethodologyThis module is intended to fulfilthe requirements of a researchmethodology module. However, sincea large part of the this programme ispractice-based, and the methodologyfor this aspect of students’ work willbe covered by other modules in theprogramme, it is intended to combinea study of research methodologywith a study of context in termsof the student’s own practice –specifically of a set of paradigmsthat characterise the field’s current,creative boundaries. The primaryteaching method for this module willbe a weekly lecture/seminar, withsome tutorial sessions that focus onpathway specialism. The assessmentitem will be a 5000-word topic review,demonstrating an understanding of the methodologies covered by the module and an awareness of the contextual siting of the student’sown practice.Trimester 2Improvisation andInstrumentalisation(Experimental Music)Students will gain an aestheticawareness of, and practical skills in,improvisation through explorationsinto possible performance instruments(including existing, found, and custom-made or adapted acoustic and electro-acoustic instruments) currentsonic languages, and strategies forimprovisation. Each student will worktoward devising bespoke performanceinstruments, guided by a notion of‘instrumentalising’ sounding objectsand technologies. Structures forimprovisation will be nurtured froma recognition of the student’s existingknowledge base in acoustic, electronicand digital sound production andprocessing, and referent strategiesthat are informed by the sonicpotential of their performanceinstrument. Weekly presentations,seminar-workshops, and opentutorials, develop toward facilitatedrehearsals and performances.Collaborative andInterdisciplinary PracticeThis module encourages studentsto collaborate, with other studentson the Experimental Music pathway,with students taking our other MMuscourses, or indeed with creativeindividuals outside of the course. Itallows students who are so inclinedto look beyond their core discipline109