Music Composition: Beginning the Journey

Each composer’s path is a unique journey.  In this course you will being discovering your own path as a composer.  The course will focus on creating a melodic line, then harmonizing it, developing it, and finally orchestrating it. We will examine diatonic music, modal music, and loop-based music. Students will create motives and develop one instrumental, and one vocal composition throughout the course. Other topics include setting lyrics or text, using harmonic and rhythmic devices, and basic counterpoint. A working knowledge of music theory is helpful, but no previous composing experience is required. Course author and presenter; Vince Leonard, with special guest instructor: composer Leslie Burrs.